How To Raise A Yurt on YouTube!

I finally uploaded a rudimentary yurt slideshow to YouTube, complete with royalty-free music that spans several genres.  It's long, and hopefully enjoyable (TWSS!). 

Off The Grid: A Brief Book Review

5: The number of books found on each of our nightstands at any given time.
10: The number of books I have overdue from the Library right now.
Whoops.

Luckily, the latest book to nightstand-hop was loaned to us by family.  It is called Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America by Nick Rosen.

The first part of the book was a fascinating history of "the grid", which I really enjoyed, and also touched on the history of the off-grid movement. He then travels around the country staying with (and interviewing) off-gridders who come in all shapes and sizes.  The range of people he communicates with (or writes about) is baffling - marijuana growers, Daryl Hannah, Earthship creator Michael Reynolds, Amish multi-millionaires, and the The Last American Man.  Rosen definitely keeps you guessing, and challenges majority assumptions.  Worth a read.

Should we call it snow?

So far, this winter has been defined by shorts, t-shirts, bare feet and sunburns.  Although we're practically in drought conditions, we're definitely not complaining - last winter was really cold.  Here are a few photos we snapped during the winter of 2010-2011 to illustrate.

Should we call it snow?

Maia is happy to hide out in her pup-tent next to the warm fire, thank-you-very-much.

Hmmmm.  High winds.

Someone told us to "let the shower drip" to avoid pipes freezing.  Obviously, the pipes still froze, as did the shampoo, and we created a shower-stalagmite!

We'll call it snow-in-training!

A Day in the Life of Our Yurt

It's been over a year since I've posted to this blog, but it never felt right to end with a photo of pie. So here are some snap shots of the life of the yurt over the past 18 months.

future bathhouse

bathhouse completed

bathhouse + composting toilet hut (clear wall is the shower)

summer day

bathhouse on a sunny day

makeshift kitchen before we got a fridge

gathering with family

quiet evening at home

If you're reading this blog and have questions about yurt, living in yurts, composting toilets, etc, I have 101 things to say about it. Just ask.

PIE!

I promised pie, so here's pie. I've made two more since this one, but none compare to this masterpiece.

mmmmmmmm

Fake-out

Ha!

Dug my last hole, did I?
Mixed and poured my last bag of concrete, did I?

I think not. After a two week hiatus from Mendocino and the yurt, Erin and I returned home to a request from Mom to extend the decking further around the south side of the yurt. Did we have time? Mom asked.

Of course!

So, this past week has seen us digging a hole for one more pier, and mixing our last bag of concrete. Luckily, Mom had an extra pier sitting under 6 inches of dirt and ivy in her back yard, so we dug it up, put in a new piece of wood and recycled it.

We're planning on using a lot of the extra scrap wood that's still around the property, but we were short on 2x8"s, which we needed to complete the decking joists (treck up to Rossis's). We also used two 2x8s (bolted together) in place of a 4x8 girder. And wouldn't you know it, the entire sub-structure went up in a couple of hours.

We consider ourselves seasoned deck-builders now, and hope to lay the deck boards next week once the rain/hail/wind has abated.

A Celebration of Helpfulness

Mom hosted a Sunday night Shindig in honor of those who helped with the yurt raising.

From Left to Right: Charles, David, Bill, Emily, Mom, Maddie, Dad, Linz, Erin.
Not present were Manda, Mickey & Evan the FedEx driver. Manda's presence especially was sorely missed.

Bill & Mia kicked off the party with a couple of laps around the pond.

David got the fire going, and Charles went off in the lawnmower to fetch more firewood.

Charles took over the grilling of meat and tofu, and I was in charge of toasting buns.

A delicious dinner was had by all.

We enjoyed a bit more campfire before retiring to the yurt.

The first (and only) piece of furniture mom moved into the new yurt was the ping pong table.

Several exciting games ensued.

Mom started to rethink her lack of furniture as the spectator's butts became numb.

Maia had the best seat in the house.

So many many thanks to everyone! Stay tuned to the Blurt for future postings & photos of a possible watertower, windmill, 18-hole permanent disc golf course, 200 yd. zip line, lazy river and a 12 ft. yurt hanging from some trees!

The Slideshow Supreme

We made it successfully through Yurt Raising Day 2. Though there was a little less action than on Day 1, it was equally satisfying and compelling.

The slideshow has over 150 photos right now. I know, there are some repeats, but just look at it as a preliminary attempt to show the world that yes, we finally have our yurt!

Tips for better viewing:

• First, press the pause button at the bottom of the slideshow screen.
• Click through the photos at your own pace using the forward arrow key.
• OR, adjust the viewing time to 4 or 5 seconds and press play for an automatic show (you might not have time to read the commentary this way).
  
• The back button on your browser will bring you right back here to the Blurt.

So pop some popcorn, turn down the lights and start clicking.

Slideshow Supreme

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Teaser

Yurt Raising Day 1!

Thanks to Mom, Bill, Erin, Me, David, Charles and Emily, we made it successfully though day 1 of the yurt raising. And dang it was fun! Soon, I will post a slideshow here of the 100+ photos we took throughout the day yesterday, and I'll add today's photos to it. I'm still working on putting everything into the right order and adding commentary to the show, so be patient.

It looks awesome, as you shall soon see.

FROLF

The prop was overtaken this weekend by the Mendocino FROLF Club (Frisbee Golf). Nine baskets were strategically placed around the property to incorporate the best of the pond, the field, the trees and the yurt platform. With a total of 18 holes and 12 FROLFers, the round took over 4 hours (so I'm told) and a glorious time was had by all. It just so happens that the course designers placed the 18th basket on the island in the middle of the pond, and a canoe was supplied for players to complete the putt. Erin reports that it took over 1/2 an hour to shuttle 6 players back and forth in the little red boat, allowing time to putt and search for any lost discs. Unfortunately, 5 discs were lost in the watery depths of the pond, and Erin plans to petition Mom to siphon off the water in the spring to recover lost property.

Our time today at the prop was spent playing a few holes, paddling around the island in our continued search for discs, and teaching Maia to become a firsbee dog. Let's just say that her "chase" instinct is right on, but her "retrieve" instinct needs a little more refinement. But she sure gets excited about it!

Today and tomorrow will be a drizzley couple days, but we're planning on a Thursday morning yurt-raising! We hope not to dissappoint.

the benderboard...a milestone

Remember those 1/2" pressure treated plywood sheets we ordered from ROSSIs way back in the day? The plywood that's been sitting around the site for so long, neglected and forgotten? Remember when we hastily cut the plywood into 8" strips in anticipation of wrapping the benderboard? Well, about a month later that plywood is finally wrapped around the yurt perimeter. I consider this a definite milestone because the next step really, truely, is setting up the yurt. No more construction on the platform. Any screws screwed will henceforth be part of the upward yurt structure. Yahoo!

But we're still waiting for good weather. Friday was our one sunny day in over a week, which allowed us to peel back Big Blue completely, as well as unstaple all the clear .6mil plastic that's been covering the floor. Needless to say, Big Blue is far from a breathable layer, so condensation gets trapped on the inside of the tarp and creates its own weather patterns - unfortunately they are moist, humid and partially raining weather patterns. But Friday was the Great Dry Out.

the scaffold as a temporary drying rack

Slight breeze and full sun made for a pleasant work day and the bamboo got to shed a layer of moisture. We spent about 3 hours completing the benderboard with cutouts for both doors. The french doors will look out towards the pond while the regular door will face the orchard. They are directly across from oneanother so we stretched out our 100' tape measure around the perimeter, found the half-way mark and cut the benderboard. It should have been easy, but we were both hungry and relying on eachothers faulty reasoning and mathematics to get us through. Definitely a signal to stop for lunch.

french door cutout

With a few more rainy days in the forecast we began to completely recover the whole thing again before we lost our daily dose of sunshine. It's a good thing too, because today is Saturday and it's rainy, misty, moist, cloudy, dismal, wet, foggy and damp. We seem to be in a perpetual holding pattern here, but sincerely hope that next week will afford us a minimum of three rainless days. It feels good to know that we'll be ready when they come.

so satisfying

and we only got half way. There wasn't a drop of sun in the sky, but there were no drops of rain either. So we got underway, unscrewing and untying Big Blue and peelin her back. The benderboards are a little damp, but we're moving forward anyway. The benderboards are getting screwed into the ends of the 2x4 joists, and also into the plywood subfloor. Sometimes we'll use a block when the end of the 8 ft. benderboard doesn't quite line up with a joist (did I say we were done blocking?). We also cut out one of the benderboards for the space where the door will be. Mom has two doors in her yurt, 1 french door and 1 regular door. Our first task when we finally get to the erection process will be to put the doors in place.

I didn't take photos today, but will hopefully have some photos tomorrow of a completed benderboard. We're going to wait to set up the yurt until we have three days in a row forecasted without rain. Might be a while.

I suppose we'll laugh when it's all over

Yesterday was - you guessed it - another bummer. If you look at the 10 day forecast for Mendocino you will not jump for joy, neither will all your prayers be answered. You will see rain, drizzle, wind, clouds and more.

Erin talking benderboards with Dan from CYC, who proved most helpful

Our day began with a call to Colorado Yurts to get some final benderboard logistical questions answered. Upon arrival at the prop we quickly got to work uncovering the bamboo and towel drying the wet spots. This took the better part of an hour, but the sky was partly sunny and the wind seemed to be finally drying things out instead of making them wetter. Erin attempted to make me take a bet on an afternoon cloudburst, but I didn't bite. Just as we were contemplating peeling back a corner of the tarp to get some work done, a giant gray monster reared it's head above the trees. In five minutes we scrambled to recover the floor and put away all the tools. In twenty more minutes everything was soaked and the cloudburst was over. Double Dog Dangit.

Our temporary work environment

After a break for lunch the weather situation improved. We started in on scribing a line on the plywood with a ball point pen and our giant 15' compass. After much debate we have decided it will be best to hand-cut the plywood with the jigsaw and we will need to follow this line very closely. Unfortunately, Erin ruined three pens before we got the contraption to work properly, and after drawing only a few feet of the line our last pen was toast. I jumped in the car and returned from town with a 10-pack bag of BICs. Unfortunately we went through three more pens before the circle was completed, leaking massive amounts of blue ink on the plywood in the process. The highlight of the day, in retrospect, was Erin's unprecedented use of profanity to express himself as the trials of the day wore on. A sample:

F**K, F**K, F**K, THIS F**KING PEN JUST F**KING BROKE. THIS F**KING IS THE WORST DAY EVER. I WOULDN'T DO THIS WORK FOR $100 AN HOUR. I F**KING HATE THIS F**KING TARP. MY BACK HURTS! IF THIS F**KING TARP TOUCHES MY HEAD ONE MORE TIME I'M GOING TO F**KING DIE! F**K! I NEED A HAIRCUT BECAUSE I HATE MY F**KING HAIR! THIS LINE IS SO F**KING BAD I CAN'T EVEN DEAL WITH IT. IF THIS LINE GETS ANY WORSE I'M GOING TO CUT MY HAND OFF. F**K!

We had a good laugh about this as we drove home for the day, having finished cutting exactly half of the plywood with the handheld jigsaw. We quit with intentions to return the next day and complete the job in better weather.

However! The next day (today) is awful. The drizzle is incessant with occasional downpours. The crazy part is that tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be "partly sunny" with little chance of rain. But we just can't seem to get ourselves in a position where we're ready to erect the yurt. The rain continues to foil us.

We were able to complete the cutting this morning, despite Erin's vows to never do ANYTHING under a tarp again ever for the rest of his life. Benderboards were impossible with the rain coming down heavily, necessitating the continued use of Big Blue.

benderboards awaiting installation, & our pathetic tarp, Big Blue, in the background

Crazy dinosaur plants by the pond

Erin and Maia testing out the pond fountain