Autumn Song

 The whisper of Autumn in the air means many things to those who live in the mountains, and incidentally, those who live in a yurt.  The western larches begin to turn their golden color, basking in the warm light against the bright blue skies, vivid in the crisp air.  Huckleberry bushes turn all radiant colors of red, orange, and yellow, creating a rainbow carpet along the forest floor.

Work pants have seen better days, as they have worked overtime building the house.  Time to switch to a sturdier, less air-conditioned pair...
The yurt has been getting progressively colder each morning, and the crackle of the wood stove keeps us warm when the frost arrives in the early mornings.


With colder temperatures we are once again preparing for our wood-burning season.  Summer left us abruptly this mid September, and Autumn came in full force, reminding us that we tend to live in wool for most of the year, here in the northwest corner of Montana.  As opposed to last year, we have an abundance of firewood that has been drying under the hot sun all summer, and under a tarp when the rain arrived this fall.  Our firewood is dry and easily accessible, and my brilliant husband decided that Wall-E was going to do the hauling for me this year.

Pallet block unit

With an abundance of wooden pallets, Tanner devised a plan to stack the split wood on this unit, in order for Wall-E to deliver it conveniently next to the yurt.  The original pallet block was a bit too large for Wall-E to accommodate, but with some small adjustments, hauling turned out to be a very quick job.

Nice looking wood pile, autumn 2013

Oops, not sure how that one got on here...

On the house front, things have been going well with the help of expert advise, some spare hands here and there, and of course, Tanner's undying commitment and deadlines in getting this thing finished.  Plumbing has been getting established, but pictures for that are still in progress.  Wiring and electrical has been in progress at the same time, and a timely visit from Tanner's parents, gave him an extra hand installing outlet boxes and pulling wire.

Kitchen outlets and oven fan vent

Tanner, pulling wire in the loft

Tanner had Bob get into all of the tight spaces

The meeting of the minds

As always, the dogs are of no help

Soaking after a day of wire installing

We have about a week and a half before we have insulators coming to install on our second-and-a-half stories, with plenty of wiring and plumbing to complete.  You can rest assured that Tanner is working like crazy to get it all done, and I think he'll be roping me in on my days off to help get things finished.  Updates to come!  Cheers!