New Addition

After a long-awaited return to construction and progress on our building project, we have been busy getting tools, machinery and appliances ready for phase two of our exodus in home building.  Tanner returned from another successful Antarctic season, ready to tackle the task of beginning the years arrangements for construction.  The first order of business, was one that Tanner had spent a lot of time thinking about while he was out on the ice.  We had no way of clearing snow from our property, and this greatly concerned him, being that he isn't home when the majority of our snow falls in the winter.  This year, we had our neighbor take care of our plowing, and he did a great job; however, we wanted to be self-sufficient in this chore of home-ownership.  Tanner had researched various options, and decided on a walk-behind Bobcat, that would have different attachments for snow blower, scoop bucket, and forks for moving various earth and items in the construction and landscaping process, as well as annual snow removal.

Meet Wall-E, the newest member of our family; with the snow blower attachment

Scooping snow out of the way to move some tools...

Testing the snow blower

Adding forks to move machinery

Needless to say, Wall-E has come in handy in the construction process, but as we bought it used, Tanner spent quite a bit of time getting it cleaned and in optimum repair for use on our property.  Currently, it's as good as new, with all new fluids, and completely clean, ready for all we can throw at it for projects this year.  It's first chore was to move Tanner's joiner from the yurt to the house, so that Tanner could continue getting all of the tools ready for framing in walls for the house.

All of the saws, joiner, and planer, needed a little bit of TLC, and they were ready for action.

While Tanner was getting his arsenal of tools ready for the next phase of building, I was enjoying the other concern that filled his thoughts while thinking of our home while on the ice sheet in Antarctica...

 Yep, I've got my very own washing machine, and dryer!  No more trips to the laundromat for this girl.  I couldn't be more happy about it.  Our new set of twins live in the warm room of the yurt, in the 'basement', and they have made life so much easier, as anyone who has ever had to do all of their primary washing at the cleaners can attest to.

With all of our new added luxuries to the yurt we have had a few hurdles to overcome in our day to day yurt life.  We briefly had our hot water heater completely die on us.  We were able to get it replaced, and only had to make do without it for a few days.  The compost toilet has been giving us some grief.  Tanner was advised, by another manufacturer of composting toilets, that the SunMar toilet didn't really compost, and we are finding out first-hand that he was right.  We have been trying to figure the science behind what will make all of the waste break down properly, and we haven't found the magic formula yet.   That being said, do not purchase a SunMar composting toilet!  If you must do a composting system, go with a Phoenix, otherwise, go for the old-fashioned pit toilet:  it's much better that dealing with it first-hand, literally.

Overall, as spring nips at our heals, and the lovely blanket of snow reveals a lot of mud, and all of the construction mess that was left from last fall, I look back at our winter in the yurt as an incredibly comfortable one.  Winter 2013 in Montana was impossibly mild, and when we predicted the looks of our firewood pile this last fall, we were sure that we would be cutting more wood when Tanner returned in February.  As it turned out, we didn't even get through a cord of wood by that time, and we are looking comfortable for the remainder of spring with the original pile.  The yurt stayed comfortably warm, and I'm glad I spent so much of my free time insulating it this fall!  Here's to an early start on firewood for next year, and welcoming sunshine for spring!
Cheers!