Tranquil January

With 2013 underway and in full swing, I have enjoyed nearly an entire month of solitude and peacefulness at our home.  December was full of deadlines and preparations for not only our house, which we wanted to have dried-in before winter hit in full force, but also for Tanner's absence in the month of January this year.  When Tanner isn't completely immersed in building our house, and helping to care for our yurt, he travels to Antarctica, and places like it, to drill ice core samples for scientific research.  When he isn't working in the field, he designs, engineers, and helps maintain new and existing drills used for such work.  Tanner loves his work and enjoys traveling to such a special place, for such interesting projects.



This being said, I have been left to hold down the yurt while he is away this year.  Compared to most years, this has been a short season, and as busy as our year has been, we have anticipated a shorter absence.  Some have asked why we wouldn't want to live in the yurt for a longer period of time than one year; take our time building the house.  Well, the fact that I run the show solo while Tanner is away, would be the main reason why.  Tanner and I both, were looking forward to a month or so away from the frenzy of construction on the house, anxious for some time to reflect, relax, and maybe even do some playing in the snow.

Our barometer, showing a storm's arrival

Buddy, Chilko, and Moose, on our ski in the woods

Winter arrived in full force, and my free time was soon gobbled up by shoveling snow, hauling firewood, raking snow from shed roofs on the house and the roof of the yurt, building fires, and thankfully, skiing with the dogs for dual exercise and therapy sessions.  Mind you, this is all on top of regular chores, including laundry at the laundromat, and cleaning up after three very large dogs.  This also means, ladies and gentlemen, that all spiders have been killed by yours truly.  Just in case I had a moment to plan anything too relaxing or extra curricular, a whole garden of issues have sprouted up over the last couple of weeks, which have called my attention, including but not limited to, a fender bender with my neighbor, a clogged shower drain, and a nasty flu bug that has been trying to wear down my immune system.

Moose and Chilko

As I look back on all of these things that have filled my last four weeks to the brim, I am exhausted, but also so proud of myself.  I dealt with all of these things.  By myself.  I won't deny that I had my fair share of phone calls to family, and from Tanner, in which I needed a pep talk and a lot of encouragement; but I'm so thankful for those who were there to offer advise and help.  I dealt with said neighbor, and the insurance company for my (very minor) accident.  I grabbed a coat hanger, my leatherman, and a bucket, and showed that shower drain who was boss.  I've been staying in, getting lots of rest, fighting this head-cold tooth and nail.  All the while, I've been soaking up all of the grandeur around me, and reminding myself how wonderful things really are.

January Sunrise

January Sunset

Having five other years under my belt, this solitude comes as second nature to me anymore.  I'm sure, for those who don't know me personally, you might suspect that this get-your-hands-dirty kind of work comes as second nature to me.  I do believe, however, that I've pushed myself to be as resourceful as I can be, and most times, I surprise myself.  I don't know if my way of live makes my own career an unlikely one, but I love it as equally as Tanner loves his.  I work as a hair stylist.  I make people look pretty.  I change how people look, how they feel about themselves, and encourage them to be the best that they can be.  It's fitting, because I know first hand what can be accomplished with a little encouragement.  (Stubbornness helps too)  I laugh at how my activities change so dramatically from morning to evening when I start out my day giving someone highlights and a haircut, and in the evening I'm getting built-up goo out of the shower drain.  Many hats I wear.  I don't think I'd want it any other way.
 

Christmas Yurt

Well, the holidays are upon us once again, and we couldn't be happier to celebrate them in our cozy yurt.  We took the opportunity of having lots of crowded little trees on our property, to cut one to adorn our home in a Christmas fashion.  As we were getting started with our Christmasing, Tanner's folks came for a visit, assisting in the festivities.

Tanner, Bob, the pups and I, hiking home with our Tree...

Entering the yurt...

Denise and Bob, looking rather comfortable with our yurt life

Tanner, helping to decorate the tree....

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Thank you Pinterest for some great decorating ideas.  Tanner and I are loving our starry night lights in our 'bedroom' of the one-room yurt!

Even my wine is getting festive...

Bob helping to get our firewood cut

Splitting and stacking

With Bob's help, we have a healthy looking wood pile for our winter in the yurt.  Our Jotul stove is working nicely, but we really need to keep it running all of the time to keep it comfortable in the yurt.  Thankfully, we have had reasonable temperatures, and our wood is lasting longer than we thought-such blessings!!

Snow arrives, followed by a blue bird day.

With winter in full-swing, we are figuring out what maintenance we'll need to keep up on with snow removal, fires built, etc.  When we were shopping for yurts and discussing experiences with people more knowledgable, most people said that once you built a fire inside, the snow slid off the roof of the yurt; in which case you'd only need to worry about keeping snow away from the sides.  In our case, we insulated the b'jesus out of the roof of our yurt, with two layers of mylar bubble wrap insulation with wool in-between, double bubble wrap for the walls, and 2 inch thick rigid foam insulation below the floor of the main yurt.  Our final product leaves a very warm living space, but the snow isn't sliding off the roof!  Problem solved: roof rake purchased and we'll get a great arm workout keeping it clear of heavy snow loads!!

With this out the front door, who would complain?!

some major icicles around the stove-pipe

yurt glacier!

Santa brought me a heater!  This should help keep the yurt from getting in the 40's at night.

I had hoped to be a burly Montana woman who could deal with whatever elements this yurt living could throw at me, but apparently, my shivers and cursing in the morning as I was getting ready for work, was too much for my loving husband to take!  He loves me enough to make sure the yurt will have some base heat, and I am not complaining!!  The heater will hold the yurt at a base heat of 55 degrees, which will also keep us from worrying about pipes freezing when we are gone for extended periods.

First Cross Country Ski of the season!

So glad to be skiing!!

Winter is here, and I don't know Anyone who is more excited than our three fluffy mutts!

We have So Much to be thankful for this holiday season.  We are so pleased with the progress of all of our efforts, and look forward to hunkering down for a snowy winter.  We hope that all of our friends, family, and blog readers have a lovely holiday!!
Cheers!
Stephanie and Tanner

Dormers and Decking, and Ceiling, Oh My!

Our next step in getting a roof on our home consisted of framing dormers in the loft of the house.  As this was being accomplished, the ceiling decking was being set in the main section of the house.  These changes made a significant change in the overall appearance and have caused major excitement and motivation for the next steps in house planning. 

Winter arrived in full force during this process, and thankfully, with the finesse of our carpenters,  there was little to no delay in progress.

Dormers being built under the giant tarp, due to unpredictable weather

South view of the house and east dormer

View through the roof from the loft; Charlie adding ceiling decking

Once the ceiling decking was in place and the dormers finished, the guys started on framing in the east facing deck.  While this step doesn't seem necessary at this stage in the building, we need to have it set in order to complete the roof in one step.

Building east deck

Contending with snow, building east deck

East deck with roof

It's looking cozy

The ceiling decking for the house turned out beautifully.  My brother Nathan and his business partner Caleb, sanded and stained them for us, since we had our hands plenty full with all of the rest of the wood that is the bones of our home.  They will be proud owners of Kaleidoscope Painting as of the first of the year 2013!

The ceiling of our great room

Looking into the loft; you can see the dormers framed in at each side

We sure like it!

We are approaching our building goals for year-end quickly.  When I think of all that has happened this summer and autumn, and all of the immense work and effort that has been made to get us this far, I am simply baffled.  Tomorrow, insulation will be placed upon the ceiling decking, and then we will have a sealed tar paper to cover it for the winter.  We had hoped that we could get the metal roof in place for the winter, but the schedule, (and snow load) proved too swift for that goal to remain reasonable.  Regardless, we will be able to have it closed in and safe from the elements until spring!
Cheers!

BEAMS!

Well, somehow an entire month has escaped me between posts.  This is truly evidence of tremendous success in our house plans and how they have transpired.  

A lot of time was spent sanding and staining beams.  Many hours and hands went into the preparation.  Kyle was back to help with a large portion of the work, his lovely bride Kim came to help on her day off, I put in hours here and there as I could, and Tanner topped of the rest.  While it wasn't as messy as working in the trenches of the foundation, the dust proved to be all-encompassing... the boys looked like father Christmas when they were done for the day!

Tanner, staining ridge beams until after dark

Stephanie, bundled and staining in the COLD!

Kyle, Sanding

Jerry and Charlie, precision cutting

Kyle and Buddy, enjoying some sunshine

Ridge beams with support plates

 On the morning of the cranes arrival, we had clear skies, and our last opportunity to stand in our house with no roof above us.  While I enjoyed the vantage point from the loft, Tanner, Jerry, and Charlie worked diligently in preparation for a smooth day of setting beams.

Sweet view from my loft

                                            

Jerry and Charlie, prepping the house

Beams ready to be set via Crane

Our contractors made the chore of setting the beams for the house look easy.  All of the beams were cut so nicely, the fit right as they were planned, with only two minor adjustments.  

Charlie Scott

Jerry Croskrey

 Not only were J & C willing to dangle from the rafters, they did a great job.  The beams and rafters are beautiful.  The crane did great work, and again I am baffled at all they can do with a small remote control to operate such large machinery.