Fire and New Words

Work on the yurt is going great. The last major thing to get done is the electrical work downstairs in the garage. After that it is just a matter of getting things done on my own time. I even had time to build a small fire ring the other day. Here are Nicki, Georgie, and our new friend Mike, from London, enjoying the fire.



Things have even quieted down enough that I took some time off from building to enjoy a little hike. Here are Mike, Georgie, and I enjoying the views just a few miles from downtown Eagle River.


And, what would be a blog post with out a little Leo info. The little bugger has begun talking quite a bit. Here is a video of all the very important words we have been teaching him lately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELi5z7joeHg
It is not the best picture quality but you can get the idea.
Take care!

Decks, Bears, and Kids

Our contractor just got done building a beautiful deck and railing around the yurt. It is now enclosed enough that we can let Leo run free out there and not worry about him falling off.



This morning, I luckily got up a little earlier because I got to see my first black bear on our property. I was standing on the mountainside of the deck and there it was on the road below us.



Leo got to see the bear too. Here he is on a recent canoeing adventure pouring one out for his homies and the bear.



And lastly, here is Leo playing in the mud and becoming a real Alaskan baby

Visitors, Picnics, and a Yurt Day

Nicki and I were lucky enough to have a visit from Wayne from Australia and Christine from Switzerland. We met Wayne at a campground in BC where he was stranded due to some broken bike parts. He and his friend Cristine finally made it up to Anchorage and payed us a visit. Our first overnight guests.



The family enjoying some much needed sunshine. The deck is turning to a great place for picnics.


And finally a little more dabbling in time lapse. Here is what a typical day in Eagle River valley looks like. Sunshine, Clouds, rain, and rainbows. Pictures taken every 15 minutes.

Three Hours in the Life of a Yurt

There are some pretty dramatic clouds that move through the valley here, and I found a way to share them with you via a little time lapse photography. It is a windows movie file and is about 1 and a half MB. This is 3 hours worth of photos taken every 2 minutes and condensed into 30 seconds.



We have water now. Ah flushing toilets, hot showers, doing the dishes. All things I used to take for granted and probably will again very soon. It was pretty bad there for awhile there because the little water we did have shut off while we the new well was drilled. I had to makeshift a water trough with metal siding and bucket water into the house. Here is the system I made.



And here it is in artistic view.



The yurt is totally hooked up with utilities now. We will be putting in a washer and dryer in the garage when the painting is done, and we have some more shelving and cabinetry to finish. Alas our work is never done.

Good News and Bad News

Good News:

• We have power
• I have gas. (no really in my house...err yurt)
• Water is on its way
  

Bad News

• We currently have to buy water or carry buckets from the spring outside our yurt. It's like a 30 foot walk. That's like walking across my house
  
• my camera is broken

Since my camera is broken here are some Leo Pictures from way back when, like 2 weeks ago.

Here is how we bath Leo.



Our mountain baby on the historic Iditarod trail.


Leo watching his favorite thing - trucks


Pre meal Leo


Post meal Leo


The other day I told Nicki I was thinking about buying a new camera. The next day I accidentally set the camera down a little too hard. Nicki is skeptical and she should be, but hopefully I can get a new camera soon. Things are really shaping up around here and things need to be documented.