The Schneiders - An Alaskan Yurt Family

Lots of Snow

2012-01-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

There has been a lot of snow and cold temps in Alaska lately. Leo continues his apparent imperviousness to cold by taking a nap outside at sub zero temperatures.

Lots of snow on the yurt.

The snow is piling up on the railings.

Our lamp post hads a big fluffy hat.

The dogs had to be dug out of their houses.

But, the kids were ready for it.

Pulks on the Cheap #3

2012-01-02T21:19:00.000-08:00

In making the latest pulk, I was able to figure out the pulk to pull bar connection. It involved attaching a foot long length of metal tubing to the metal tubing of the bike trailer. This metal tubing has just a slightly larger inside diameter than the outside diameter of the pull bar. You can see it on the lower right corner of this photo.

The tubing was drilled out at the mid point and then towards the back. These holes allowed bolts to be threaded through it and the bike tubing (also drilled out by me). Locking washers help keep everything tight and together. A closer look at the connection can be seen below.

The small hole perpendicular to the ones holding the bolts was drilled out to fit a locking pin. This pin runs through the metal tubing and through holes in the ends of the pull bars. You can see the pull bars and the locking pins keeping them in place in the photo below.

The locking pin is attached to the metal tubing using a strap so it doesn't get lost. I put a grommet at one end of the strap and attached it to the tubing using a screw.
I also added a little bit of art work to the wheel saddle for a little extra flare.

So there it is. I spent less than $30 on each pulk. Things that might add to your cost is not having old skis laying around to use or not having a bike trailer. Old skis can easily be found for cheap at garage sales, thrift stores and on craigslist for less than $50. Old bike trailers can be found the same way. I don't think it is unreasonable to be able to do this project for less than $150 starting from scratch.

It's been a pretty fun project and I hope it helps people get their kiddos out in the winter time. Getting outside makes winter so much more enjoyable (and seemingly short).

From Yurts to Barns

2011-12-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

It is with mixed feelings that I announce the end of our current yurt adventure. We are in the process of buying a house north of our current location. We are moving into a barn. OK, we are moving into a house with a cambrel roof that makes it looks like a barn. It has the same basic lay out as the yurt (open loft master bedroom over a kitchen with an open living room and utilities and garage in the basement). Oh, and room for a yurt. Sometime this summer we plan on moving the yurt to our new property and using it as a playroom/guest house/workshop. I'm going to try and post information about taking down a yurt and our new floor plans later on in the year.
But for now.....
a few photos of the things that have been going on around here in the last month since I posted.
We have had a big thaw and a couple of wind storms. One of them picked up our canoe and pitched it into the forest.

Thankfully we are back on track and filling in with snow.

Fresh tracks on a Christmas ski at the nature center.

A visiting goshawk right off of the yurt deck

Is Nicki pampering her dogs a bit too much? A pawicure, really?

They seem to like it.

Leo and Nisha buddying up.

Leo getting ready for a peewee mushing race.

Leo and Georgie crossing the finish line after Georgie going the wrong way, stopping, and Leo falling off.

The Schneider ski train (thanks for the photo Lia). Great resistance training.

Kaya showing off her usual smile.

One of Leo's many amazing lego creations.

Christmas morning.

Pulks on the Cheap #2

2011-12-01T14:49:00.001-08:00

So here is the completed pulk made from a bike trailer.

I bought some replacement backpack hip belts from REI. They only cost $5 and they worked great for attaching the pulk poles to. I attached grommets to the belt and then threaded bolts through the poles and hip belt to attach them.
Here is the hip belt with the grommets, the small gold circles.

I originally wanted to put the grommets through the cinch strap (black) but it proved to be too far forward. Luckily there was some additional material else where that was trickier to put grommets through but worked fine.

The usefulness of this zipped pocket was eliminated.

I used electrical conduit and bent it with a conduit bender. I drilled it out with normal drill bits and a cordless drill. When drilling metal you need to use slow speeds, and you need to start with a small bit and slowly increase the diameter of the bit as you change them out (1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4). It takes awhile but it works.

Here is the attachment to the hip belt. The gold grommet is where the fabric on the hip belt will go. From left to right - locking nut, washer, pipe, washer, grommet, washer, bolt head.

After trying it out on the driveway, I found that it glides great and is pretty comfortable.

The bike trailer actually had holes and an attachment system for poles. So, on the next trailer the pole to trailer connection is going to be the big thing to figure out.

November Snow

2011-11-19T19:37:00.001-08:00

Life is complete again as snow is once again covering the yurt. It'd be nice to have the temperatures in the positive numbers, but hey you can't have everything.

A clear night with a full moon and new snow, excellent skiing conditions.

A day back-country skiing out at Arctic Valley yielded great views of Denali.

Who needs playdough when you have freshly fallen snow.

And, who needs to pull a sled when you have THREE dogs (Nisha is in there somewhere) to do it for you. (photo credit goes to Ted)

Happy snow play every one.

Pulks on the Cheap #1

2011-11-19T18:55:00.000-08:00

Once the cold weather sets in it can become very difficult to get our little guys out. Chariots and Burly ski systems are great ways to bundle your kid up and take them on a ski or hike, but those systems are very expensive. Most of us, however, already have enclosed bike trailers. These bike trailers can be cheaply converted into a pulk. I haven't finished this yet, but I've done the first step which is to attach the wheels of a bike trailer to skis.

But first, here is the original inspiration and end product of this bike-trailer-into-ski-pulk project.

http://www.akskedaddle.com/2011/10/repost-and-update-ski-pulk-diy.html

Here is what I came up with. The cradle for the wheel is a 2x4 (shaped to match the circumference of the wheel) sandwiched between 2 pieces of plywood. The skis are some old downhill skis I cut in half (Which is unfortunate because the tails had the word "RADICAL" written across them).

I drilled holes into the ski and fastened wood screws through the skis and into the wooden cradles.

I filled the holes for the screws with epoxy, sanded them flush, and then hot waxed the entire base. I used this process to attach the hardware for a split board I made a couple of years ago and the epoxy holds really well and doesn't add any drag.

I used zip ties to attach the wheel to the cradle. Here are the holes drilled through the cradle to thread the zip ties to.

Here are the zip ties threaded around the rim of the wheel and trimmed.

And the final product.

I'm helping a friend with this and I only have the wheels to her bike trailer, so I can't show you what it all looks like with the skis on the trailer. Hopefully I will get another post up soon to show how we attach the bike trailer to a person, what the entire system looks like, how it well it's working, and tips for how to keep your kiddo toasty warm inside it.

2011-10-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Woosh, it's been a long time since I posted. There has been a lot of puzzle work and running around. But, we have been having a beautifully sunny and warm fall. The wild flowers were a big tangled mess this year but still brought us plenty of color in the late fall.

Kaya is up and running and becoming a great hiker. Here she is running away from us down the driveway,

and keeping up with big brother at the Nature Center.

During September the setting sun shoots beams of light right down the valley creating perfect conditions for rainbows.

Leo got to practice his rock climbing skills out on the dew mound trail.

The kiddos enjoying the view out by dew lake.

We haven't had any significant snow fall on the yurt yet, but it is definitely coming.

Visiting Friends and Blueberries

2011-08-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

We had some good friends from Seattle come and visit in the middle of August and we were fortunate to have several breaks in the weather. We were also fortunate that they were enthusiastic picture takers. Here is the family on the cruise boat on Portage lake with the glacier in the back ground.

We took the ferry from Whittier to Valdez and were blessed with sunny skies, sea lions, humpback whales, and even Orcas that were surfing the wake of the ferry. Valdez didn't disappoint either with it's wall to wall pink salmon running in a local stream. Surprise, surprise we caught a few of these.

On the way over Thompson Pass we pulled off the side of the road and did some scenic blueberry picking. Here are Dunes and Ramona with their daughter doing some serious picking and eating.

The weather did not hold for the entire trip and our one night of actual tent camping ended up being pretty wet. Luckily there was a picnic shelter for some dry cooking and eating. Here are the 3 kiddos in their ducky out fits.

We also spent some time hanging out at the yurt. Here is Ramona engineering the baby train.

It's my second favorite time of year, berry picking season. (ski season being the first) Lots of locals have been complaining about the lack of blueberries around this year, but you just have to know where to go.

Dipnetting and Fairbanks

2011-08-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

July in Alaska means fish. This Summer, we got our act together and were able to participate in an Alaska resident only fishery, dip netting. You basically stand in belly deep in a river emptying out into the sea with a really large net hoping fish will swim into. Here I am catching the best fish in the sea.

Literally thousands of Alaskans show up at the mouth of the Kenai river for the return of the salmon. We were lucky enough to be there during a 30 year record for the number of fish to return in one day, 230,000, and have excellent weather. If you click on this next photo you can see all the people lined up on the opposite shore. You are literally shoulder to shoulder with the other people fishing.

We caught 25 fish in 2 hours, but netting the fish is just the beginning of the work. Next you have to process them. Here are Nicki and Kaya at their first ever fish cleaning session.

Nicki has the month of August off and we have been taking advantage of it by getting out and traveling. Kaya is already brushing up on her backpacking skills.

We took a trip to Fairbanks to the Tananna Valley fair. Leo has really gotten into roller coaster rides, but we got him to tone it down a bit and ride the ponies.

The raspberries are ripe and abundant. Leo is showing Kaya the ropes on berry picking.

On the way back we were caught in a freak snow storm near Denali park. Leo was very excited to throw the first snow balls of the year.

hiking and dog houses

2011-07-12T13:54:00.001-07:00

Now that most of the snow is out of the mountains the hiking season has begun. Leo has impressed us all with how much more motivated he is to go long distances than he was last year. Here Leo is at the highest point of his second annual father son Mt Baldy hike. Required brownie in hand.

Nicki's parents were in town for awhile and we hiked with them for a little ways on their traverse of crow pass. Here's Kaya enjoying lunch at the pass.

Leo doing the same.

After they finished their hike, Nicki's parents watched the kids and let Nicki and I do the same traverse. Here is Nicki on our first backpacking trip since moving to Alaska.

Here I am testing how cold the water is.

Leo found this eagle feather on a recent hike. Sweet find, but there were a few tears shed about not being able to take it home.

Ranger is slowly making his transition to being an outdoor dog. We made a dog house for him this past weekend and he seems to be taking to it. Good Boy.

Camping, Catan, and Siblings

2011-06-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

More wildlife sightings. This time from the safety of the yurt. You can barely see Leo in the front doing a moose dance.

Nicki just went on a well deserved 4 day sea kayaking trip. Here she is, on the left, lounging by a block of ice with a couple of fellow paddlers (Barb and Jenny).

While she was out camping on her trip, I took the kids out on our first camping trip of the year with our good friends the Taygans. Here is Kaya hanging out by the fire with Will and Lucile.

A sunny May made for a good time on an Eagle River gravel bar.

As Kaya gets more mobile, (she is walking now) she and Leo are finding more and more things to do together. I don't usually know exactly what they are doing but here they are in Kaya's toy box.

Two other "stay at home" dads (Roger and Bill) and I hiked our first mountain of the year, Harp.

We recently made some improvements to the yurt puzzle by making the windows and skylight yellow for an illuminated look and trying out a sunset sky.

And finally, as a diversion from puzzle making, I made this wooden Settlers of Catan board. The border pieces snap together with magnets embedded into the wood.

Hopefully I'll get to use it in the next day or so.

Happy June everyone.

Wildlife at the Yurt

2011-05-19T00:18:00.001-07:00

There has been a furry flurry of activity here at the yurt recently.
Example #1:

Example #2:

Oh, and there's a moose back there somewhere. We've seen about a moose a day from the yurt for the past week.
Example #3:

This guy was eating grass on the driveway for about 30 minutes.

Easter and Danger Boy

2011-05-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter and May Day (past), Cinco de Mayo (present) and Mother's Day (future).
We had a fun Easter with multiple Easter egg hunts. Here is Nicki with our baby bunnies.

As Leo gets older it becomes more and more difficult to keep him occupied and out of mischief. Now that the weather is warmer getting him outside as much as possible is a necessity. Here are 2 of my most recent projects to burn off some of that kid's energy.

April Stuff

2011-04-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

With the return of the sun comes the end of the snow. Except for a few patches, it has entirely left the property. We are still getting out to ski up high, but dog sledding is done for the year. Once the sunset clears the ridge on the other side of the valley, our daily direct sunlight dramatically increases. Right now it is at about 12 hours a day, 9 to 9. Here is a photo of the sunset just barely clearing that ridge.

Kaya has hair long enough to pull into pig tails. It doesn't look that good when I do it.

Leo is practicing being a stay at home dad.

And, is getting pretty good at riding a bike, the required stick still in tow.

Warmer weather means rainy hikes.

Some day I'll convince Leo that the 2 year old duck poncho is too small for him.

Byers Lake 2011

2011-03-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

We took our annual "spring" trip to a Byers lake public use cabin this past week. We really lucked out again with sunny warm weather.
Denali from out on the lake.

Kaya reading to Georgie in the cabin.

Leo driving the sled,

riding in the sled,

and taking a well deserved nap out in the rain.

We have made this trip 3 years in a row now, and you can tell by this video that his sense of fun really hasn't changed much, he is just more coordinated.

Compare that to this post 2 years ago (our first trip out there).

Fabulous March

2011-03-09T23:15:00.000-08:00

March is always our favorite time of year around here. Lots of snow and lots of light. Here are some so-far march highlights.
Last week we were treated to a rare occurrence - the northern lights. It is the first display I have seen in the two and a half years we've lived here, and, WOW, it was a big one.

Finally made it onto the upper stretch of the frozen Eagle River. I brought my new neighbor and fellow "stay at home" dad with me, and boy was he excited!

Here is our now traditional Nicki high-fiving a musher photo at the Iditarod restart.

Created a new-to-us sport called parentjouring or parents pulling their kids on skis.

Another proud papa moment. Leo is getting pretty savvy on those skis of his.

Don't worry. If Leo ever gets hurt our live in doctor, Dr. Kaya, is here to help.

And, I finally got around to making a yurt puzzle.

Whoosh! Third of the way through this month; lets see what else we can make happen!

Birthdays, Shadows, and Closets

2011-02-07T14:51:00.001-08:00

Snow, as you may know, is one of our favorite things in the world. But sometimes life gets in the way and we have a hard time enjoying it. One of my favorite ways to sneak in some snow play is by using our driveway to make some lazy turns. No matter how difficult it can be to get UP our driveway coming DOWN is usually a fun time. Here are some ski tracks that were made after a good snow and before the kids woke up.

I finally got up into the mountains behind our house (faintly seen in previous photo) and it always amazes me we have this terrain just a few miles from the yurt. Here is Ranger enjoying it too, stoically.

Kaya had her first birthday and her first cakethis past week .

The favorite present, for both kids, is a purple puppy cart. Leo is having a bit of a hard time sharing, but they work it out most of the time.

The sun is back on the yurt now and Leo and I went out for some fun with shadows. Nothing makes you appreciate your shadow more than losing it for 2 months.

And, finally, to lay a rumor to rest, Kaya indeed lives in a closet. But, as you can see, she doesn't much mind.

It works great for right now but in 6 months? Anyone have any good bunk bed plans?

Dog Sledding Family

2011-01-25T07:59:00.000-08:00

After its much anticipated arrival Nicki's dog sled has arrived.

It coincided with a slightly lighter schedule for her, so she has been getting out with it every chance she gets. Here she is with a kiddo riding in the sled bag.

Talk about hard core. We stayed a night in one of the nature center yurts and here she is with Kaya on the back, Leo on the front, and a fully loaded sled. Talk about a bad (as in good) mama. The dogs are less impressed.

And, finally, here is a video of her in action.

If the video doesn't work here, here is a youtube link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc_B5e1WFJA

Mushing and the Lotus Postition

2011-01-09T17:24:00.001-08:00

Cold, sunless weather led to some pretty fantastic icicles coming off the yurt.

Unfortunately, we had a warm rainy spell that melted all of our snow, and now we are back to cold. All of the trails are extremely icy, even for walking. It's back to wood working, playing inside, and holing up until we get more snow.

During our warm spell, Leo made family history by being the first member to guide a dog sled on his own. Some friends of ours put on a junior race, lent us a sled, and let us hook our dogs (and Leo) up to it. Here are a few photos of Leo's epic, 1/4 mile, 1 min journey.
Getting ready

starting off

home stretch

victory

Despite Leo's complacent looks he was very excited about running the dogs, just not about having his picture taken.

In baby news: Kaya has perfected sleeping in the Lotus position.

Idaho Vacation

2010-12-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

The family got to spend Christmas in Idaho this year. It was a fantastic snowy adventure. Here are Leo, Kaya, and Opa watching the excitement at the bird feeder.

Oma and Opa gave Kaya her first ride on a chairlift. Yes those are cross country skis Opa is wearing.

Leo had his cross country gear on for his first trip on a chair lift. He was the youngest telemarker out there.

Leo and Nicki soaking up some sun before heading home.

Kaya enjoying some of that airport entertainment.

Nice outfit!

Last light, Warm Kaya, Cold Leo

2010-12-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

It's been over a month since I last posted. My camera has been broken, but I just fixed it with a strategically placed screw. The whole but-my-camera-broke-so-I-need-a-new-one excuse wasn't going to work this time. So in the last month:
The sun has disappeared for the year. Here is one of our last glimpses.

Coincidentally, Kaya has learned to pull herself up and does so most often by the fire.

She has also expended her diet. (When she actually gets some in her mouth.)

Leo turned four.

And, He has begun skiing. One of the proudest moments in my life. (Look out for the dog Leo!)

Hawaii and Family

2010-11-12T01:07:00.000-08:00

Nicki and I had a fantastic Hawaiian vacation this past week, and, thanks to my parents, we got to go without the kids. So what do we do in Hawaii without the kiddos?
Here is what I do:

And, here is what Nicki does:

No just kidding. The surf was way up when we were there and we had the chance to see (and photograph) the professionals ride some big waves.
Speaking of rides, this little gecko clambered out from underneath the hood of our rental car and onto our windshield while going 45 mph. Don't worry, I took the photo after we stopped.

Upon reaching home, we found that Kaya had progressed to a point where she was reading to unicorns.

Meanwhile, Leo had regressed to sitting in baby walkers.

We also returned to find that the snow had finally claimed the valley. Here are my much relieved parents (no more kid duty) enjoying a walk with us before their flight. Thanks Mom and Dad for the wonderful vacation.

Waiting for Snow, a New Family Member, and 8 Month Kaya

2010-10-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

The river has icebergs floating down it and the north side of the yurt stays frosty all day. We have the cold, but now we are just waiting for some precipitation. Come on snow!

Here we are getting the dogs ready for winter pulling.

Notice Ranger hanging a foot behind Georgie so his line is slack and she is pulling everything. He is a goofy dog but he is definitely not dumb. We are hoping that his will be the year we can get a dog sled and get another Alaskan merit badge.
The Yurt has gotten a bit more crowded with the addition of a hermit crab to the family. Here is Leo putting Nicey's home together.

Kaya is eight months old now and is very close to crawling.

She was introduced to Cheerios recently and couldn't be happier. Her and one particular Cheerio have become life long friends.

Sunny to snowy

2010-10-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderfully sunny fall with a lot of time spent out on our deck.

We are still spending time on the deck but the weather has turned and we are welcoming in the snow. Here is Leo trying to net it.

Our wildflowers always seem to be in bloom just as the snow hits.

First snow fall on the yurt. Nothing really stuck at our elevation.

But, it did up in the mountains.

You can tell Leo is excited. Kaya is a little unsure, and Georgie doesn't care.

Camping Birthdays, Yurt Washing, Homer Trip

2010-09-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

One of Leo's friends had a camping trip birthday party. Nicki was working so I took the 2 little one's solo. I was a bit nervous, but I had plenty of help from the other families in entertaining Leo. Here is Kaya enjoying some light reading and getting extra head layers from her brother.

We took advantage of the nice weather and gave the yurt its annual wash. Mild soap, washcloths, a mop at the end of a long stick, and a spray down with the hose was all it took. Here's Nicki making yurt washing look oh so good!

During a visit to Homer this past weekend we received a healthy mix of fog and sunshine. Here we are all bundled up on the beach.

An eagle decided to pose for us.

Nicki captured a sweet sunset shot on our last evening there.

Speaking of sunsets, it's harvest moon and equinox on the same day this year. Hope for clear skies!

Fair, Berries, 7 months, Lakes, and Birthdays

2010-09-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

We made our yearly trip to the fair and were pleased to have a nice sunny day, a rarity this summer. We watched the lumberjacks and the horse acrobats, rode ponies and rides, and got to see big vegetables. One of the new highlights this year was seeing the dog weight pull competition. Leo even got to ride in the cart the dogs were pulling. (Leo not in this picture.)

There have been a lot of people complaining about the poor yield in blueberries this year. Not if you know where to find them :) (hint: hike in a couple of miles)

Kaya is 7 months old and is beginning to develop some personality. Here is crazy Kaya.

We found a new lake to paddle on. Fire Lake in eagle river is a great place to watch the float planes land and take off, have a picnic on the island, and muck around in the canoe.

Nicki's Birthday is tomorrow. Hold on pal, that cake is for her.

Oregon, Rainbows, and Bears

2010-08-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

The last of our siblings just got married and we were down in Portland for the festivities. Leo had a great time playing with his cousins, visiting the Chinese Gardens (where the ceremony was held),

and picking black berries.

Sorry, no photos of the wedding, I was on Kaya duty for most of it. Thanks to all of Nicki's relatives for a fantastic visit!
The recent sunshine put together with evening rain showers has created some fantastic rainbows, some of them doubles.

The salmon are in at the Nature Center viewing decks. Leo was big into walking the dogs on the way out there.

And, of course, when the fish are in so are the bears. This one was out by the viewing deck with her cub.

We don't have a TV at our yurt but we do watch movies on the computer. Kaya has recently gotten into it and shares the past time with her brother.

Just for the record, Leo does have clothes on.

The Family is All Hitched and U-picks

2010-08-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

What a summer of wedding this has been for us. From July to August, my two siblings and Nicki's two siblings have all gotten married. Nicki's little brother and my little sister were married in early July. Here is my little sister, Beth, her new husband, Jared, and their son, Jacob.

My older brother and Nicki's older brother are getting married in August. We just got back from a whirlwind tour of Seattle visiting family and friends and attending my brother's wedding. Aaron is the third man in our family to some how trick a smart, sophisticated, attractive woman into marring them. Myself and my father being the other two. Here he is with his new wife Milana.

Visiting Seattle friends was one fo the big highlights of the trip.

Leo got to spend time with his great-grand parents. The man reading the book is, as we called him that weekend, Leo Schneider (the elder). He is who our Leo (the younger) is named after.

Kaya spending quality time with her cousin Jacob and her grandpa.

A visit with Nanna and Grandpa. You can tell she really likes grandpa.

Our Oregon cousins brought U-Pick blueberries to share in Seattle. They were so good it inspired me to see what the U-Pick situation was here in Alaska. I found two of them and now have 4 pounds of raspberries. Here is our friend Lindsay looking a little nervous about what crawled into her wagon.

The only way I could get Leo to look at the camera was to let him throw cabbage leaves at me.

A week of excitement and one Hersey kiss later and this was all that was left of Leo.

Air Show, 6 month Kaya, Summer Garden,

2010-08-02T16:14:00.000-07:00

Elmendorf airforce base had a recent open house/airshow and we went to check it out. We got to go inside of several planes, watch the Canadian version of the Blue Angels (the Snow Geese), and see a harrier jump-jet in action. It was all pretty loud, so we brought the head phones.

Kaya is 6 months old tomorrow! Such a happy baby!

Despite the lack of sun this summer, our garden is doing fabulous. Our strawberry plants are producing, we have new raspberry bushes, carrots are getting huge, and "wild"flowers are sprouting up every where. Here are a few photos from the garden.

Kaya 5 month photo, Bear Paw, Scribbit

2010-07-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here is Kaya's 5 month photo. As you can see she has taken a definite interest in her fingers.

The family went down to Eagle River's annual festival, the Bear Paw. We went on rides, ran a 300 yard race, and ate food. Here is a photo of everyone enjoying the parade.

Notice, Kaya is still looking at her fingers, and Leo is wearing some spiffy new glasses!
I put another post on Scribbit explaining why I am writing for a motherhood magazine and introducing our family. You can check it out here.

Scribbit Post

2010-06-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

I'm doing a little bit of blogging for another site. Scribbit is a Motherhood in Alaska blog and this honorary mom has had the chance to do a little writing for them. I wrote a story about a recent hike that Leo and I did together.

4 month Kaya, Girl Time, Alaskan Kid "Summer"

2010-06-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Here she is, a 4 month old Kaya.

Yoga time with Mama and Oma.

We had 2 weeks of bright sun-shiny weather, what people outside Alaska call "summer weather." Here in Alaska much of our summer time is overcast and rainy. Here are some photos of an Alaskan Kid enjoying an Alaskan summer.
Playing in his underwear in the rain AND the sunshine.

Building forts with chairs and blankets. Not a bad view for a kids fort.

Feeding the musk ox.

Oma and Leo releasing lady bugs into the vegetable garden.

Balancing act out to a rock island on the Eagle River Nature Center trails.

Hope everyone's summer is going great!

Outside in May

2010-06-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

May was a great month for getting outside and enjoying some fabulous weather. I had another Mountain Mama sighting out along Turnagain arm during our first hooligan fishing expedition. Yes, she is dip netting with Kaya on her front.

With our fiends, who let us tag along on the expedition, we caught about 170 of the 8 inch fish. Lots of fun and good eating.
We were visited by a moose while setting up the tent for our first deck camping trip of the year.

We spent lots of time lounging in the sun. This beach on the Eagle River is a fantastic one before the weather gets too warm and the river level rises.

Leo made his first unassisted assent of Mt Baldy. He walk up the steep trail all by himself. Here he is (dirt and all) with his summit brownie (the big motivator for getting to the top).

That was Leo's new camera smile. It comes standard when ever you ask him to smile for a picture.
Kaya is of course proud of her big brother.

Alaskan Spring

2010-05-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

We have leaves on the trees!

That's one of the things that make me feel like spring has finally reached Alaska. Some others are planting the garden, taking all of the extra insulation down from the yurt, and watching Leo playing with the garden hose (doing his part to add to the greenery).

Here's Nicki enjoying some spring, baby, and dog time down at the Nature Center.

Here is another sign of spring; we can start our hiking trips at 8:00 PM. In the next photo I am up on top of Baldy, a local mountain at 10:00PM. That small, rectangular patch of white on the left in the local Eagle River Fred Meyer. So beautiful and so close to home. The scenery I mean, not Fred Meyer.

Spring also marks the frantic, get-every-summer-time-activity-done-before-it-is-over-and-covered-in-snow mayhem that Alaskans experience during their four "warm" months of the year. Hence the late night hiking.
Spring is also time for skiing. That sun softened snow is the perfect thing for making easy turns. I recently made a Mountain Mama (Nicki) sighting. Here she is making her way up to the top of the local, closed ski area.

She was later seen shredding her way down with magnificent grace and technique. Leo had the foresight to have dinner ready when she returned to the car. Go easy on the Zoo Juice there buddy!

In Kaya news: She is reaching for everything in sight. Guard those toys Leo.

Kid, Yurt, and Moose Photos

2010-05-02T23:38:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot to report from the last couple of weeks so I'm just posting some obligatory photos of the kids for grandmas, of the yurt for yurters, and moose for.....people who like moose.
Kaya is still proving to be an easy keeper. Her favorite thing to do is sleep, just like her mother. She is really filling out and is quite easily busting out of her swaddle.

She likes cutsey outfits.

Though it is not all fun and games. Sometimes she is wailing like any other baby. But, don't worry because Leo has found a way around this. His "headphones," as he calls them are never far from hand.

The snow is gone from around the yurt and we are looking forward to some snowless hiking, gardening, and long sunny days. This photo was taken at 10:00 PM just as the sun was going down.

Here is the moose that visited us the other day and almost trampled our dog Ranger. I took this photo from our well looking at our neighbor's house.

This year's photographic goal? Get a photo of a moose with the yurt in the background.

Kiddos, April snow, afternoon skiing

2010-04-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's happened. Leo is showing signs of developing an attention span. He has been working on wood projects for hours at a time. He especially likes the painting part. Here he is painting an ambulance block puzzle.

Kaya has been enjoying conversations with the other smaller female in the house.

April brought us a good snowfall making it a "winter" wonderland one last time this season.

Taking advantage of this snow fall I went out and did one of my favorite ski trips. With all of the sun we have this time of year I can get out after Nicki comes home from work, do this ski and be back in 3 hours.

Looking down from the top.

My tracks are the wide snowboard tracks in the middle.

On top of the second run there was some fun light so I stopped to take pictures of the models that always seem to follow me around on these trips.

Good bye winter. We will miss you!

Family Trips, Easter, and a Worker Man

2010-04-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

In a mad rush to take advantage of the final 2 weeks of Nicki's maternity leave, we took a couple family trips; one North, towards Denali and one South on the Kenai.
The Beyer's Lake public use cabin was our first destination. We stayed here on our way out to Fairbanks last spring. Playing on the frozen lake was a ton of fun especially when we found this snowman out there. We later found out that some family friends of ours stayed at the same cabin a couple of days earlier and had made it.

Nicki worked on the dogs for their up coming tandem aerial competition.

We took this nice family photo with Denali off to the left. Leo was off in the bushes somewhere and didn't want to be associated with us.

We made a quick stop at home for what might be the last snow fall of the year to stick.

Then off to Homer....after we navigated some avalanche debris. We had to stop while they were clearing the railroad tracks and highway of snow from a recent avalanche.

We spent time on the beach exploring. Here are Nicki and Leo contemplating some barnacles.

We took part in an Easter egg hunt with a few other families inside of an Anchorage greenhouse. It was way too much for our little 2 month old.

Speaking of 2 month olds. Here is her 2 month photo showing off that newly acquired smile.

As an Easter present I bought Leo his own set of REAL tools and made him a work bench. My Dad bought me my first set of tools and a tool box and it was really cool doing the same for Leo. Thanks Dad for starting a fabulous tradition.

Leo (and the chocolate on his nose) is pretty excited about it too.

Family Skiing, Sunny Yurt, and Leo News

2010-03-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

Having two adults around the house has done wonders for our ski time. Even Leo has begun taking a great liking to the sport. Here is the whole family (Kaya is in the front carrier on Nicki) out on a local ski trail.

The weather has been gorgeous lately. Sunny, warm a only a slight breeze here and there. We are quickly losing our snow and the drive way is turning into a slushy mess. The mounds of snow in the front of the yurt are from shoveling the stuff off the deck all winter.

Here are the Schneider ladies enjoying the warm sunshine. You can see the windows of the yurt hanging on the railing. It has been nice to air the place out after being sealed up from the cold for the past 4 months.

Leo is taking a great liking to his sister. Here he is helping out by giving her a binky.

We have decided Leo is Alaska's version of Huck Finn. Get some shoes on those feet, boy!

It is marshmallow roasting season again so we dug out the fire pit and Leo could not be happier!

Kaya One Month Photos and The Iditarod.

2010-03-08T11:54:00.000-08:00

To demonstrate Kaya's rate of growth this first year we will be taking monthly photos of her next to a stuffed animal. We did this with Leo too. Here is Kaya's one month photo.

The proud papa!

The Iditarod began this past weekend and we were there with a number of other families to see them off. You may remember this post from last year when we did a similar outing. http://movingtoak.blogspot.com/2009/03/ididarod-and-puzzles.html
This year the weather broke for a day and we had sunny skies, lots of food, and many friends to enjoy the experience with. Here is one of the teams heading down the trail.

Leo didn't pay much attention to the dogs but he had a lot of fun eating, shoveling snow, and pushing the chariot around with his friend.

We were able to keep Kaya plenty warm while hanging out in the 20 degree slightly breezy weather.

We also had a tent to get out of the weather and nurse.

Here is photo of Nicki and Kaya giving a musher a high 5.

The phrase for the day, "GO, DOGS! GO!"

The Baby Routine, Kaya Faces, and a Weird Brother

2010-03-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

We have been getting into the swing of things with baby Kaya. We have been thrown back into diaper changes, feedings, and constant soothing. Despite extra hospital trips the second one has been an easier lifestyle adjustment than the first. Here is Nicki multitasking by reading a book to two kids while nursing Kaya at the same time.

So far She has been a great sleeper.

Also true to form, we have been slacking on taking pictures of the second child. Yesterday we made an extra effort to capture some Kaya moments.
Here is our beautiful walleyed baby. Don't worry girl, they will straighten out eventually.

Cheeky little thing is already making faces at us.

Does she look a little nervous in this photo?

Well, you would be too if Leo was your brother.

Sunny Yurt and Kaya Comes Home Again

2010-02-14T23:46:00.000-08:00

Ahhhhhhhh. The best thing about February is more sun light. When it isn't cloudy, snowing, or raining that is. When the sun is out and it warms up, we take off our window covers and insulation inserts (which have been closed all winter for heat retention) and let the light pour in.

A sunny day after a big snow.

In family news: Kaya is wearing every one out!

We actually just got back from a 5 day stay at the hospital for a respiratory virus Kaya contracted. She gave us a good scare but is home now and doing well. Here is the happy mama and her bewildered baby just home from the hospital.

Kaya being well again and coming home today was the best Valentines gift we could have received. The chocolates were nice too though.
Thanks to every one who helped take care of Leo, the dogs, brought us things in the hospital, sent us warm wishes, and offered to help us out. It made us realize how fortunate we have been in the past year and a half to make such wonderful Alaska friends who we consider to be our Alaskan family.

Introducing Kaya Rivera Schneider - A New Yurt Baby

2010-02-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

Here is Kaya just home from the hospital:

She was born Feb 3 at 2:00PM at 7 pounds and 7 ounces. Look at that hair!

Both mama and baby are doing great!

Kaya has been asleep for almost the entire time.

Papa enjoying the sleeping baby.

Leo got to visit at the hospital but was much more interested in watching TV and riding on the elevators.

The Pressman family will be happy to know that Kaya has inherited Nicki's hic-ups.

First Sun of the Year and Glissading

2010-01-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

We have been waiting for 2 months for this and today it finally happened! The sweet sun has finally returned! Here it is in all its glory.

The obligatory hoar frost/sun photo.

I also did a great trip up the ridge behind the yurt today. It extend my sun exposure by chasing the sunlight to the top. Here is the Eagle River Valley just before the sun began to dip back down.

We glissaded (slid down on our butts) off of the top of the ridge. Here is the aftermath of that adventure.

Welcome back sun!

Baby Prep, Sleepy Moose, and and Young Super Stars

2010-01-13T16:59:00.000-08:00

Nicki is well into her 8th month of pregnancy. We are just playing the waiting game now since the yurt is all set up for baby sister's arrival. Part of our preparedness was to empty out the pantry and create a baby closet. The crib had to be taken apart to fit inside and there was about an inch to spare on either end when reassembled.

I also set out to build a bassinet. The first step was to find some quality building materials. I acquired some hot pink skis at a ski swap and wanted to use them for the side boards with the word "RADICAL" facing out.

But, the product manager (Nicki) axed the idea, knocked some sense into me, and I just used some birch plywood. The end product was probably a little more tasteful.

In wildlife news, Leo spotted a moose sleeping near our lower road and we spent some quality time looking at it and other things with binoculars.

The yurt and Leo received some exposure on the Pacific Yurt photo gallery. Follow the link and look at photo 29 (five over and 5 down) to see what I'm talking about. http://www.yurts.com/gallery/photo-gallery.aspx
Nicki and I are taking the stardom in stride, but I think Leo is letting it get to his head a bit.

Though, I think he needs to get lunch off of his face before anyone takes him seriously.

My Favorite Alaskan Photographer

2010-01-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

I've been following Nathaniel Wilder's photography work for awhile now. He has an exceptional eye and a lot of creativity with his focus and depth of field. While wedding photography seems to be his bread and butter, he also does some great landscape, journalism, and adventure photography. Most of his stuff in Alaska based but he shoots all around the country. He just posted his 2009 favorites and they are amazing. Follow this link to take a look at the slide show.

http://ngwphotography.blogspot.com/2010/01/thank-you-2009.html

A Year of Yurt

2010-01-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

A year long project has finally come to an end. I've been taking pictures of our yurt almost every day from our well for the past year. The following link is to a you tube video of a year long time lapse of our yurt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSocyQh8W9s

I was able to take 275 photos from January 1st to December 31, 2009.

Christmas at the Yurt

2009-12-29T00:05:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year with Leo being aware of things like presents, Santa, and decorations. We were also lucky enough to share it with 2 of our Seattle friends and former Nature Center volunteers Steve ad Eve. Here they are with our friend Lia skiing up the Eagle River Rapids.

Eve is the speck on the left. Lia is in blue in the middle. And, Steve is the orange topped one on the right.
Here is Georgie cuddled up by the tree.

We had a similar shot of her last year with the tree in a different spot.
Steve and Eve forgot to bring their stockings, so here is Eve with our newly named "Alaskan Stocking." A mud boot. Steve got one too.

The most popular toy of the year.....A cork gun.

Once you become really good at it you earn your cape a goggles.

(Superhero outfit brought to you by S and E Ltd.)

Holy Snowfall Batman

2009-12-18T17:25:00.001-08:00

The biggest snow fall of our yurt stay just ended last night. We got 2 feet in 4 days. It's been cold to so it is nice fluffy skiable powder. I have been cross country skiing a bunch lately, but hopefully we'll be able to make some turns this weekend. So here are some recent snowy pictures.
We started out like this on Monday.

And, on Friday we look like this.

This photo was taken on Wednesday during a momentary break in the storm, and we got another 8 inches more afterwards. The snow started toppling off the railings before the full load could be taken.

Snowy yurt.

Snowy nature center cabins.

Snowy moose.

Snowy viewing decks after the weather finally broke.

In a non-snowy note, here is the cutest pregnant woman ever.

Christmas Trees, Fata Morgana, Fog and Movies

2009-12-14T20:16:00.001-08:00

Like all kiddos this time of year, Leo is a little bit Christmas crazy. He has been wanting to decorate his yurt ever since he saw the decorations go up at Fred Meyer. Here he is with his masterpiece tree.

Don't worry folks that's not my camera he is holding. Whoa there cowboy!
The weather in the Anchorage area has been inverted and foggy. While these conditions are a bit of an annoyance they also create some really cool effects. One of those effects is called Fata Morgana, or mirage. During an inversion, warm air on top traps cold air beneath. When light passes through that shift in air temperature it refracts light and acts as a lens. On a recent ski trip we looked over the Knik arm and saw a mirage looking band going across the mountains. It kind of looks like the middle of the mountains have been stretched out vertically. Right where that band is located is where the temperature is shifting from cooler to warmer. Click on the photo below for a better look at this.

Another fun thing about fog it that, when the temperature is in the single digits, you get some awesome frost. Here are some Eagle River trees.

Ans some frost on our railing.

And, here's more frost on our railing.

Those crystals were approaching an inch long. It is snowing again here today which is covering and collapsing many of those crystals.
We have been feeling a bit under the weather here at the yurt. Not much outside play, but lots of movies! Here is Leo getting comfortable in his self made movie throne.

Playing in the Snow

2009-11-27T13:46:00.000-08:00

Leo and I had an excellent birthday with a sledding adventure at Arctic Valley and a potluck at the yurt. We had enough people packed into the yurt that we probably went over its maximum occupancy. It was a great day! Thanks to everybody who made it so.
Here is a recent picture taken while skiing up just outside the Alpenglow ski area.

If you have never skied here it is a great place to go: family friendly, close to Eagle River and Anchorage, and is volunteer run.
We got the pregnant lady out for a few ski trips. Here we are out by the nature center.

Leo and I enjoyed a couple hours of playing in the snow around the yurt today. It has been snowing all day and we went sledding, skiing, and snow man making. Here is Leo Jumping off of the bottom layer of the snow man.

And, here is the finished skiing snowman.

Leo has been begging to make a snowman since the first snow fall, but it has been too cold and the snow too dry to make that happen. He was pretty excited when he woke up to perfect conditions. Here is another snowman that showed up at our back door.

We wrapped up snow play for the day by roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.

The snow is building up on everything. Here is a picture of our railing with trees caked with snow in the background.

Everything includes power lines, and the lights have been flickering on and off every so often today. Being close to the end of the line has it's good points and bad points.

The River is ALMOST Frozen and the Yurt is Decending into Wintery Darkness

2009-11-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

Today was our first day of the year that was entirely sub-zero temperatures. So, of course, it was time to get the skis on and go take pictures. Here is a picture taken from one of the bridges off of the lower Albert Loop.

The hoar frost (white flecks on the ice) is amazing on the river before the ice gets covered up with snow. Sections of the river are still not so frozen over. Here is a photo of one of those sections making a nice set of ice rapids.

Be careful out there if you decide to go. There is a lot of overflow going on and a few narrow ice bridges between flowing water to cross. In another week and a little more snow it should be awesome!
Here is the view of the mountains off of the big viewing deck.

Georgie with her ice goatee after a few miles of subzero romping.

Today was possibly the last clear day before we lose the sun completely, so I took a time lapse of the sun flitting behind the mountains. You may remember one from last year withe the yurt in the foreground. This one is from today, is the view off the yurt deck, and goes from 10:00 to 1:00.

Nicki Takes a Baby Up a Mountain and a Snowy Yurt

2009-11-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Nicki had a few days off last week so we dumped Leo at child care and took off hiking. Lazy Mountain near Palmer was the destination and what a beautiful hike it was. Here is Nicki showing off her newest project half way up the mountain.

And here she is at the top looking back towards Eagle River.

Things have been cooling off and darkening around here. It hasn't been above freezing much in the last few weeks and we only have 2 weeks left before the sun disappears for the year. Here is a picture of some fractalish ice on the Eagle River (for all you former SOWers).

Last night we had about 6 inches of snow fall. I couldn't sleep with the sound of the snow sloughing off the roof so I went out and started taking pictures. Here is the yurt at 6 AM.

And a picture of the yurt a few hours later, after sun"rise."

Flowers, Snow, Fake Smiles, and Halloween

2009-11-01T08:41:00.001-08:00

After a very warm ans sunny fall, the Anchorage area is finally getting cold and a little snowy. We are down to about 3 1/2 hours of direct sunlight on the yurt, down into the teens at night, and the river is starting to freeze over. However, we have been amazed at the color that is still hanging on. The wild flowers we planted around here are truly the hearty Alaskan variety. Here is one from just a few days ago.

We had our first snow on the yurt recently.

And, you'd have expected that snow to take out the flowers. But, no.

We have still been getting out and about but are really yearning for enough snow to start skiing. On a recent hike to the river, Leo began practicing his father's fake smile.

For Halloween, Leo was a ladybug-butterfly-thing, and we once again went to the zoo and visited mom who was working at the hospital. The poor kid is much more aware of things this year, and some of the skeletons and spiders really freaked him out, but he collected a small fortune in candy and got the obligatory sugar high on the way home. Hear is a photo of this year's pumpkins.

Notice the fourth, tiny one for baby sister. 3 months to go until we meet her!

Oma, Opa, and a worn out kid

2009-10-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit from Nicki's parents, Bev and Scott, this past week. They lucked out with breaks of beautiful weather between the typical fall rain. Here is a picture of Leo with his Oma and Opa out at Kincaid park.

Bev and Scott are big into projects and staying busy so we cleared the property of downed timber and let it burn. Here is a picture of the small fire.

Also on the agenda was putting the shed up on blocks, digging ditches to improve drainage on the driveway, installing a lamp post, spreading rock to even out the lower road, and getting a giant dump truck unstuck from the mud on the lower road. (We needed a second dump truck to come pull it out. ) Even though we worked hard we also played hard. A trip up a windy Harp Mountain, down to Hanging Valley Lake, and end of year blueberry picking on the way out (those berries are still out there) was an excellent break. Here are a few photos of Scott hiking up Harp.

Leo of course had a great time with the grandparents. He was so worn out he didn't even make it to his bed to sleep.

Yurts on a Square Base

2009-09-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Most yurt companies will tell you that it is impossible to erect a yurt on a square base, and this is absolutely true. However, the circular base needed for the yurt can be attached to a square platform. Here is a brief outline of how we were able to accomplish this.
The first thing you need is a square base. Our square base came in the form of a garage but could also be a deck, cement platform, or other foundation. Our garage roof has a slight slope to it, about one inch, to allow drainage. The top of the garage is covered with tar paper. (A tar paper deck, classy I know.) If you live in a warmer climate and use tar paper you will may want to cover the tar paper not under the yurt. This will keep it from melting in the hot sun.
The first step we took was to attach wooden anchors to the top of the deck. This allowed us to have something to tie our circular yurt deck to. This picture shows these anchors.

If I remember correctly these are pressure treated 1x4's. We put a layer of tar around the bottom perimeter of the board, kind of like a tar sandwhich, to seal them up, and then screwed them down into place. In addition to the parallel beams you see we also made a ring of beams on the outside perimeter. The next photo will illustrate that a little better. We also put giant screws through the perimeter 1x4 anchors and through the roof, all the way down into the garage, and anchored into some free floating boards below. Hard to visualize? Let me know if you need more info. We used this extra bit of anchoring because of the high winds we get around here. We didn't want the whole deck, yurt with it, blowing away.
In the next picture you can see how we laid out the 2x6's to get ready for the floor boards.

Lastly, is this picture you can see the completed yurt deck.

We put down insulation between the joyces and completed the wiring before we put the floorboards down. We also made sure the bottom edge of our drip edge was sealed up with the garage roof as much as possible. We wanted as little water seeping under the yurt as we could manage. We sealed it up with expanding spray foam and silicon caulking.
If I had it all to do over again there are a few things I would do differently.

Have a surface other than tar paper.
Get bottom side of the drip edge closer to the top of the garage so it was easier to seal it.
Level the deck. It has a one inch slope to it, the same as the garage roof. This was great for roof drainage and made construction of the yurt deck easier, but it made hanging doors and putting up shelving inside the yurt really tricky

I apologize about the lack of clarity in the photos. I didn't think I was going to be writing about this or helping other people do it when we were putting it together and taking these photos. I hope you find this useful and good luck with your decks.

Last Days of Fall

2009-09-25T23:38:00.001-07:00

Fall is coming to a close here as the leaves are dropping and a snow line is forming in the mountains. Here is a picture of Nicki and Leo on our last tundra walk of the year.

Can you find Leo in the picture below? (You might have to click on it.)

Snowline is down to 2000 feet and is supposed to be lower tonight. Snow on the yurt?

We had ice on our freshly weatherproofed railing. Got that sealant on just in time.

And finally, here is Leo enjoying his first snowballs of the year up at Hatcher Pass.

Getting Your Yurt Ready for Winter

2009-09-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

As cold weather approaches us (or is already here) many yurt dwellers worry about staying warm. Here are a few things you can do to help retain the heat. Most of these are things you can do after you have erected your yurt and after winter has already come.
Yurts are full of gaps where warm air can escape out into the cold. While, you will probably never be able to completely seal up your yurt, you can reduce the amount of drafting. Most holes occur at the top and bottom of the wall and around windows. By using ratcheting buckles and long straps, you can cinch up the gaps around the walls. Here is a picture of a ratcheting buckle with a 100 foot length of 1 inch wide strap.

Buckles can be bought at most hardware stores and the strap had to be special ordered from a sporting goods store. Most buckles come with a pre-attached strap that will have to be removed or tied into.
The straps are simply put around the perimeter of the yurt at the base of the wall and the bottom of the roof. You can see those straps in place above and below the door of our yurt.

Tightening the buckles sandwiches the wall fabric between the yurt frame and the strap. This closes off any gaps between the yurt frame and the wall fabric.
Another ratcheting buckle can be used on the rope that is attached to the bottom of the roof fabric that the wall is hung off of. This rope can often sag over time or be stretched during high winds or as the yurt expands in the sun. Sagging can create gaps between the wall and the roof. By adding a ratcheting buckle to this rope you can easily take up any slack that might occur. You can see the buckle in the upper left of this photo.

On the inside of the yurt adding more insulation and weather stripping can decrease the amount of heat loss you experience. Weather stripping around the door frame and door is a great idea.
A more ambitious project is to add foamboard insulation to the ceiling. Pie shaped wedges can be cut from foamboard and wedged into the space between the rafters. Here is a picture of one of the wedges half way removed from it's place in the ceiling.

I used in inch R-tech foamboard. R-tech has a reflective side that I painted over with latex primer to keep the inside of the yurt from looking like a solar oven. While this paint works it ended up being very fragile and flakes off easily if it is bumped into. I cut the pieces with a hacksaw blade with out the hack saw. I taped the cut edges with white duct tape to keep the foam pieces from crumbling and getting every where while installing it. If you have a yurt whose rafters are not anchored to vertical supports, you can get away with cutting all the wedges uniformly and push the rafters into place around the foam. If, however, you have those vertical supports to increase your snow load, like we do, you will need to measure each space between the rafters and cut the foam to match. If done correctly the foam wedges will stay up with friction. It is hard to quantify how much the foamboard helps, but as I was putting the foamboard up snow fell on the yurt. The snow on the roof above the foamboard took a lot longer to melt than the parts of the roof with no foamboard. If you have another questions about this process, just let me know.
And, finally another use for the ratcheting buckle. We have fairly high winds during the winter, and that wind can cause the wall fabric to flap quite a bit. The flapping can cause sagging in the wall fabric and a lot of noise on the inside of the yurt. This buckle and strap is simply put around the perimeter of the yurt at the center of the wall. Here is a video we posted earlier in the year of that strap at work.

Make sure you talk to your yurt manufacturer about all of their insulation ideas and acessories. We have a full wind and snow load kit from Pacific Yurts. We also have their insulated window inserts for all our windows and use them all winter long.

Good luck this winter if you own a yurt and if you are a prospective yurter, winters in a yurt can be cozy and warm with the right preparation.

Family, Berries, and a New Yurter

2009-09-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

We just wrapped up a great visit from my mom and her friend Jeanette. One of the highlights was our awesome fall hike and blueberry picking trip. Here is a picture of our visitors and intrepid travelers still smiling despite the fact that I just made them climb 2000 ft.

On our way down we found a great blueberry patch and picked to our heart's content. Here is a picture of the view and the fall colors we enjoyed while picking.

Here is Ranger guarding our spoils.

Mom and Leo excited about berries!

And, it looks like Leo is going to have to share those berries next fall. Nicki is about 4 months along, due in early February, and it is going to be a girl!

Now we need to figure out where in the yurt we are going to put her. Time to change the floor plan!

Lakes, the Fair, Musk Ox, and Banana Mobiles

2009-09-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

I used one of my days off to go and hike up to Eagle and Symphony Lakes. These lakes are really cool because they are right next to each other but Eagle Lake is glacier fed and Symphony is not. So Eagle has this bright, opaque, blue color and Symphony is clear.

We also went to the fair. Here we are on the big slide.

Here is my blue ribbon puzzle.

Here is the blue ribbon cabbage. Almost 126 pounds.

My mom and her friend Jeanette are up visiting and waited for a long time to get on this Ferris wheel.

Leo after too much fun.

We also got to visit the musk ox farm in Palmer. Here is the beautiful 800 pound ox named "little man."

Always looking for new projects, Leo made a banana mobile.

Yurt Floor Plans and Loft Plans

2009-09-06T23:00:00.001-07:00

I have had a number of people asking for the floor plans of our yurt. So here we go:

We have a 30 foot Pacific Yurt with the tall wall option.
Our yurt sits on top of a 30 foot square garage with a roof over hang of 2 feet on 3 sides of the garage to form a deck around the perimeter of the yurt.
Our washer, dryer, shower, water heater, and furnace are located in the garage.
We have a stairwell that leads from the inside of the garage to the inside of the yurt.
The yurt has internal walls with a lid that forms our loft.
Most of out furniture is from IKEA.
Drawings are to scale as close as I could get them.
Lines for the walls are not drawn to thickness but to the center line of the wall.
Click on the floor plans to make them bigger and easier to read.

Here is the main floor of the yurt with the loft taken off.

Here is the loft. Part of the loft over hangs the kitchen and another part of it does not entirely cover the kids bedroom.

If you need a visual on all of this to compare to, visit our yurt walking tour on youtube. Some of the furniture has been rearranged since the video was made but the major appliances and walls, of course, are all in the same spot.
I hope you find this helpful. Let me know if you have questions.

Fall is Coming and a Glacier is Near By

2009-08-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

The salmon are in, trails closed due to high bear activity, the heat is being turned on at night in the yurt, and leaves are already starting to change color. Fall is just beginning here in Eagle River.
Another sign of this change in season is the fog. As it gets colder the water stays condensed longer and just hangs right above the river. Here is a picture of the yurt above the fog.

Rose bushes are one of the early color changers.

We recently had a gathering of friends at the yurt. Here is a picture of Leo showing off the Wiggles (an Australian kids' show) to his "big" friends.

Here is Leo wondering why his father has no concern for his safety.

I had yet another success in gaining a new perspective of the yurt. Here is a picture of the Eagle River Over Look from the yurt. It is the tallest point.

An here is a panorama from on top of the over look. The yurt is on the far left, Y, and Eagle Glacier is on the right, G. You might have to click on the picture to see the Y.

Eagle Glacier is about a 13 mile hike from the Nature center and about 14 miles from the yurt.
Finally, a nicer, though misty, picture of the glacier.

HEY! Where did the G go?

Saturday Market

2009-08-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

Eagle River Puzzles will be down at the Anchorage Market this Saturday the 22nd. Here are two new designs I've come up with.

As always we will have our yurt photos and the yurt book "Living in the Round" out for any one wanting to talk about yurts. If you are living in the Anchorage area and want some yurt questions answered, come down and visit.

Big Sun, Ice Wedding, and a New Mountain

2009-08-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Bethel gave us a parting gift before we left, a glorious sunset visible from our front door.

The weekend after returning, we got to go out to the Matanuska Glacier where our friends were getting married. Here is Leo by the glacier.

But, they weren't just getting married beside the glacier, they were getting married ON it. it was about a half hour walk to where the ceremony took place. You can see the procession following the bride in this photo.

One of the bride's maids donned bunny boots for the trek out there.

Here is the family near where the wedding cerimony took place.

The dogs and I hiked up a new mountain. Mount Magnificent gave us yet another perspective on the valley. A little hazy still from forest fires but still incredible.

The dogs, Georgie and Ranger, had a great time too.

On the way back I spent about 3 hours collecting a gallon of blueberries. For those 3 hours Georgie spent the entire time eating berries herself. We were in constant competition for the best berry paches. I never knew a dog who could down so much fruit. I suppose I'll need to believe her when she is whining to be let outside tonight.

Water Pipes, Sand Pits, and Blueberries

2009-07-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Another post so soon?! Well it's all part of my way of keeping busy out here. Here are some more spotlights on our time in Bethel.
In addition to having homes on stilts, all of the water and sewage is pumped above the ground. During the winter, each house has a water heater that the water circulates through and helps heat the entire utility system. The picture below is of the outdoor pipes that house foam insulation, water lines, and a sewer line.

Leo and I have discovered the sand pit a hundred yards away form our place. Rolling in the dirt, playing with trucks, and climbing "mountains" are ways we have been using this resource.

We also took the opportunity to work on our speling. :)

The far side of the sand pit opens out onto the tundra where we have discovered our favorite Bethel activity. Leo demonstrates in this picture. Recognize that fake smile?

Here are the fruits of about an hour of labor.

And then the final product: blueberry pancakes!

We are hoping for a double blueberry season. One in Bethel and one in Eagle River. We're keeping our fingers crossed anyway.

Oregon, Yurt, Bethel

2009-07-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

Leo and I just got back from the Seattle and the Oregon coast, had a day at the yurt, and we are now in Bethel, Alaska visiting Nicki. Bethel is way out in Western Alaska, off the road system, and has a few thousand residents. We have been quite the traveling family and now all three of us are in the same place at the same time. Here are some photos of our travels.
Leo with a jellyfish he found while exploring tide pools.

Leo flying a kite by himself for the first time.

Leo all tuckered out on the train

We had a day back at the yurt before we went out to Bethel, so Leo took advantage of the garden while he could.

Alright, enough Leo cutesy stuff. We were delighted to see our wild flowers in bloom and many more veggies. I harvested as much as I could and then gave it away or packed it out to Bethel. Here is a photo of the garden.

In Bethel all of the building are up on stilts to keep them from breaking up as the ground shifts. We are in permafrost country so frost heaving is a big problem. Here is a picture of part of the elementary school.

Bethel is also the flattest place I've ever been in Alaska. You can look out on the tundra for miles. Here is a view from the road near the house we are staying in.

More tundra adventures to report later.

Smiles and Smoke

2009-07-09T16:06:00.000-07:00

People visiting the yurt from outside Alaska is one of my favorite events. It gives people a window into our lives and a reference to the things that I blog about. Our friend Zeta is the latest to come out and stay awhile. She is on her way to Barrow where she will begin her sailing voyage through the northwest passage and ending in New York sometime in September. She is part of a program called Around the Americas. You can see what this adventure is all about by following this link http://www.aroundtheamericas.org/ And, once it is posted to, you can follow her blog at http://arcticzeta.blogspot.com/
Here we are standing on the deck of the yurt. (from left to right Zeta, Eve, Steve, Ben)

Notice that hazy appearance of the sky behind us? It isn't actually a cloudy day. It is smoke that is lingering in the valley originating from forest fires in the interior of Alaska and from down on the Kenai peninsula. Here are some photos of the yurt a few days ago and then today.

Although, we are a bit disappointed that Zeta can't see the mountains, the smoke is making for some cool photographic conditions. Here is the rising sun above Cumulus Mountain.

Guests, a New Perspective on the Yurt, Big Raddishes, and Time on the Water

2009-07-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

As usual, we have had a very busy couple of weeks here at the yurt. Our good friend Todd (remember the tree house?) from Juneau, currently teaching in China, paid us a visit during his summer break. Here are the two bears protecting their den.

Todd and his sister Heidi came along on a hike to the top of Harp Mountain. I've wanted to get up this one for some time now and we finally made it. It is supposed to be a good back-country skiing spot and also offers a unique view of the yurt. Here we are looking at the mountain from the yurt. (Harp always seems to be beneath this huge black arrow!?)

And here is the yurt from the mountain. Click on the picture and you can see the yurt more clearly and directly in the center of the photo.

One month into planting we are pulling up some spectacular golf ball sized raddishes.

After the resident camp-out down on the Kenai peninsula we went floating down the Kenai river. We got to witness combat fisherman, see eagles, and enjoy a lot of sunshine.

We have been doing so much paddling that Leo is doing his own boating now. Here he is maneuvering his canoe on Eklutna Lake.

They grow up so fast, don't they?

Midnight Sun Mania

2009-06-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

Steve and I just got back from a sunny, 11 mile hike up the valley to some waterfalls. I had my first run in with a bear this year and the first one ever on the trails. It's a good way to get your heart pumping. We saw it as we came around a bend in the trail and stopped about 30 feet short of it. It was a medium sized black bear and luckily it decided we were not something it wanted to mess with and moved quickly off the trail. Sorry no pictures. I got my bear spray out before my camera.
Since we are only a week away from solstice, it is daylight here for almost 24 hours. Here is a recent picture of the yurt at about 11:30 PM. The sun is still barely touching the mountain tops.

All this sun is creating some great growing conditions for our garden. Compare this picture to the one 2 posts ago that shows this same veggie box 10 days prior.

Nicki is currently out there right now thinning and harvesting our radishes.
Leo got to go on his first rafting trip a few days ago. We joined our friends Jenny and Eric on their inaugural trip of their "new to them" raft and floated down the Eagle River. The great thing about it? The put in is only a few miles from our house and we got to see a view of the Valley we had never seen before. Here is a picture of Nicki calmly rowing with the other occupants freaking out.

It has also been bird-palooza around the yurt. I was working inside when I heard 4 or 5 different angry bird calls going on at once. When I looked outside robins, magpies, and wood peckers were harassing this owl.

It had set up shop about 15 feet from the woodpecker's nest and the little birds were not happy.
I spent this past weekend at the Anchorage weekend market selling puzzles. Here is a picture of the tent I shared with my friend Sarah.

You can see my puzzles and the butterfly jewelry shat she sells. It is pretty cool stuff and is made out of real butterfly wings. Check it out at www.socialbutterflyjewelry.net. I sold 8 puzzles and only 2 of thse were to people I kow. I also did some trading with other venders and got Leo a new wooden trainset and Nicki some wooden jewelry boxes. Now that the market is over, I have begun my online selling. You can check it out at www.yurtmade.etsy.com.

Selling Puzzles

2009-06-10T01:27:00.000-07:00

I'm going for it! This weekend I'll be huddled under a tent trying my best to sell puzzles to who ever might be interested. Let's hopes for lots of customers. This is s big experiment to see if this puzzle making is going to be viable or not. I'm hoping for it to be able to at least pay for itself but won't be too disappointed if I actually make some money. Here is a photo of a puzzle I did showing off the Eagle River Nature Center logo.

Anything I don't sell at the market is going to go on sale later this month on an online market place for handmade goods called Etsy.
Wish me luck!

Visitors, Hikes, and Veggies

2009-06-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Steve and Eve have come up from Seattle to work at the nature center for the summer. We are super excited to have them around for so long and got them quickly integrated into yurt life by roasting marshmallows out back.

Leo once again over does it with the marshmallows. Everything in moderation buddy.

Eve, Ben, and Steve out on a hike. Hey! We lined up in spectrum order! (look at our shirts)

The family hiked up to the top of Mt Baldy (just outside Eagle River) after a recent snow. Yes! in May.

Two and a half weeks after planting our veggies, things are going strong. We have squash, radishes, onions, sugar peas, broccoli, lettuce, collard greens, and carrots all coming up already. Go 24 hours of light.

We are looking forward to a busy summer of visitors, traveling, and of course harvesting

Garden, Cabin, and Warm Days

2009-05-19T22:50:00.000-07:00

We have been so fortunate to have had a few weeks of warm weather and it has caused a burst of outside activities. Building a garden was one of our big accomplishments. Here is a photo of our poor car pulling a trailer with 12 two-by-sixes and 2 cubic yards of soil.

Notice the rocks behind the tires? We were only able to make it half way up our driveway until we lost traction on some loose rock and started slipping backwards. After we removed the wood for the garden boxes we were able to get the rest of the way up. And now, here is a picture of our garden (the boxes).

The ground is so rocky that digging holes to fill with dirt is almost impossible. Also having them up in boxes helps keep them warmer during the day, which this time of year is almost always.
We also spent some time at the public use cabin on the nature center trails.
Here are Nicki and Leo enjoying time outside the cabin.

Here are Nicki and Leo inside the cabin.

Leo eating toasted marshmallows.

Our friend Danny who works at the nature center came out to visit us at the cabin and brought the Alaskan hiking essentials in her purse: Bottle of wine, bear spray, and wine glass.

Back at the yurt, here is a picture of the smaller members of the family enjoying the abundant sunshine.

And finally the view from the deck of the now extremely green valley.

Landscaping, Marauding Moose, and Leo the Robot

2009-05-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

With the snow gone we have come to realize that the bare ground around the yurt is quite unattractive. Our solution? Landscaping. We have been busy spreading grass and wildflower seed and making rock pathways. We have some plans for some flower boxes and a small vegetable garden. Here is a picture of the new rock pathway leading from the yurt deck to the shed.

We also did some more work on our fire pit to make it more permanent and better lined with rocks. Some how I manages to landscape the number 6 into our yard.

Right by the shed you can also see a sand(rock)box we made for Leo.
The leaves are returning to the trees for their short growing season. They will be all gone again by late September. Here is a picture from the deck with the greening trees and low lying fog (also a strictly summer phenomenon.)

There are a lot of moose about now. They are having a great time nibbling on the willow and alder buds. We were woken up one morning by Georgie's loud barking to find this guy hanging right outside our window.

Leo and I had to run away from one the other day while we were playing in the driveway. I was clearing brush and Leo playing in water of the culvert and a moose decided to amble on towards us. The dogs were out so after I got Leo inside I had to round up the dogs who were attempting to round up the moose.
Oh, and speaking of Leo, the rumors are true. He has officially turned into a robot.

April Happenings

2009-04-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

The snow has finally left the yurt property. There are only a few more patches left where the winter plowing piled it up high. Getting Leo outside is much easier without having to bundle him up in 5 layers. Here Leo is roasting a hot dog in our fire pit out back.

He loves roasting them but absolutely refuses to eat them. By the end, this makes for a very full papa.
The inside of the yurt has been full of music and dancing. Here we are at another refined and somber Schneider meal.

Besides listening to music from inside the yurt, we have also been listening to woodpeckers. They have moved in with force (sometimes 3 on a single tree) and we hear them knocking all day long. One has even taken up residence and is pecking out a home in one of our trees.

I'm still busy making puzzles. Here is one that I gave to the nature center auction. It depicts the view of the valley from our house.

Even though the snow is gone from the house we are still out there enjoying it. Here is a picture of a parasailer we saw on a recent cross-country ski trip. It seems Eagle River is a bit of a hot spot for this sport. I recently saw 10 of these guys floating around at one time.

We are doing our best to squeeze in some back-country skiing before the snow leaves the mountains. Nicki and I got out with a few friends for some fun, earned turns.

Here is Nicki enjoying a break at the top with her doggies.

Bye for now.

"Spring" Break

2009-04-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

The family had a great time on our "spring" break adventure. Most people enjoy going south to warm places like Hawaii, California, or Jamaica, but for some reason we decided to go north....to Fairbanks.....to the cold. Nicki argued that, "it's after spring equinox, as you go north there is more daylight." She is technically right, but some palm trees would have been nice. Actually, it wasn't a bad trip and we saw lots of cool stuff and had a great time.
It all started out with some volcanic activity. Redoubt decided to puke some ash all over us the day before we left. It basically made the air smell like sulfur and the sky get smokey. I put some pantyhose over the air intake of the car and we were ready to go. Here is a picture of ash trying to blot out the sun.

The first night of our spring (sheesh) break was spent wallowing through hip deep snow to get to this Public use cabin near Talkeetna. It was a fantastic sod roofed cabin that used tree burls to make shelves on the inside and benches on the outside.
Here is a picture of the cabin. If you click on the photo and look closely at the snow on the roof, you can see a layer of ash.

Here is a video Leo enjoying himself on the shores of a FROZEN lake. He could have just as easily done this on a sandy beach, in my opinion. Listen for the "weee"'s as he is rolling around.

North to Fairbanks now. Near Denali park we saw some Caribou. We had never seen any in the wild before. Now we have seen about 30. Here is a picture of them getting dumped on with snow during our "spring" break.

The next night we stayed at some hot springs outside of Fairbanks and then off to another public use cabin. Here is Nicki tailgating outside of the cabin with some pina colada. Very warm and sunny sounding, right. You got the sunny part right.

The sun Lingered on the horizon long enough to take a hundred pictures of it through icicles. Here is one of the better ones.

After getting a bunch of water to drip on the camera, it fogged up and created a kind of cool effect. Here is Leo with Sam the Fox and his baby lion (the pillow).

We spent the rest of the time hanging out in Fairbanks and visiting with our friends mom who let us crash at her house for 2 nights. Thanks, Sally!
We came back on Friday and spent the weekend skiing. I hope all of you in the northern hemisphere are enjoying warmer temperatures. Our snow is quickly melting and we are getting some 50 degree weather. Finally, a SPRING break!

Mountains, Ski Train, and Volcanoes

2009-03-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

We have had an adventurous couple weeks here with lots of skiing, skijouring, and train riding. Here is a picture of me on my first splitboarding trip on top of Mt Gordon-Lyon. You can see the mountains above our house to the far left way in the background.

I also had the opportunity to get on board the annual ski train. It's an event put on by the Anchorage nordic ski club. About 500 skiers climb on a train, travel 130 miles to a spot off the road system, ski for 3 hours, and then get back on and go home. To top it all off they have a live polka band.

The car I was seated on was a bit of a wild one. Here are some happy passengers at 10:00 am.

Thankfully, the ride back was a little more subdue. Between the party on the way up and skiing, I think some of them were a bit worn out. Here is a picture of the unloading of the train and people getting ready to ski.

Here is the engine with people enjoying a bonfire (behind the mound of snow.)

As many of you have probably heard Mt Redoubt has been causing some commotion around here. I was able to take a picture of it from South Anchorage just after sunset. The picture is of a steam plume erupting a few days before the bigger eruption.

All for now.

Ididarod and Puzzles

2009-03-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Nicki had her life long dream come true this past weekend. She got to go to the Iditarod. We were greeted with sunny skies and and a windless day out on Willow lake. Here is Nicki beside herself with excitement.

Here is a picture of one of the mushers with his team.

We went with 3 other families who all had kids under 6 years old. We built a fire, pitched a tent, made snow couches, and had an all around good time. Here is Leo after a lot of excitement and one too many marshmallows

I've been exploring a new hobby over the last few months. Wooden puzzle making has been a great creative outlet and way to spend down time. Not to mention, a great way to make Leo cheap new toys. Here is a school bus.

And here is what I'm calling a landscape puzzle.

We're shaking off the winter blues around here with lots of sunshine and 40 degree days. It's a welcome change.

Ram Valley

2009-03-02T17:42:00.001-08:00

Nicki and I dumped the kid at childcare last week and completed a trip that we have wanted to do for a very long time. Looking up the hillside our yurt sits on you can see a snowy point. Here is a photo of it marked with a blue "A". Raina Peak is behind it.

I went up here in December with Nicki's parents but it was really snowy and visibility was bad. This time, however, it was a brilliantly sunny and windless day. Here is a photo of Nicki making her way to A point (not seen off to the right).

From the top we could look back down at the yurt. Many people have asked me if we have any neighbors. Well here is a photo of the yurt (centerish) and our neighborhood taken from A point.

While up there, Nicki got this fabulous shot of ranger jumping. Click on it and see if you can spot the cookie he is going for.

This is the view looking down river towards the town of Eagle River with the Knik Arm (water) and the Alaska range in the background.

And this is what it looks like looking up river. Raina Peak is on the left, Ram Valley further to the right, Cumulus mountain in the middle, and Eagle River Valley is on the right. Click o it to get a better view.

As the crow flies, a point is about a mile from our house. Nicki and I were driving in the car the other day and we made the astute observation, "We live in a yurt in Alaska." Sometimes it still feels strange and unbelievable. I hope you all get to visit some time and share this with us.

Leo trucks, Eagles, Sun, and an Old Movie

2009-02-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

We had a bit more snow here over the past week, about 2 inches. Add a bit of sunshine and playing outside is a must. It struck me as somewhat unique that Leo uses his toy truck to dig in snow instead of sand. Uncle Andy should be so proud. I think my next project will be to build a snow box. Yeah...probably not. Here is Leo and his truck helping me shovel off the deck.

We were also visited by a bald eagle this week. This picture was taken from the deck of the yurt.

And, as you can see the sun is well above the mountains now. This picture was also taken from the deck.

Now, for something not from the deck. During our first couple of months of marriage Nicki and I made this ski movie. Unfortunately, during the shooting I didn't have the sound on for Nicki's interviews, but it made for some creative subtitling. It is kind of a big file (23 Mb) and about 6 minutes long.

Woosh! What a silly time. I thought you all might like a glimpse into when Nicki and I were a bit more hard core. :)

Fun in the Sun and Snow

2009-02-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

We have had a lot of fun around the yurt for the last couple of weeks. There has been lots of outside time and Nicki has had a lighter schedule so we have seen a lot of her. On a recent photo expedition I went tromping around off trail and found this amazing tree. Some time ago a bear had been through the area and had clawed it.

Leo has been blossoming quite a bit in the last few weeks in regards to his imagination. He has been telling us stories about him riding bears, visiting friends, putting out fires, and cooking food. Here is a picture of Leo off to fight a fire. His version of a fire hose is a silver colored belt.

Ever increasing sunshine is a constant source of joy at the yurt.

Miraculously, Nicki had a day off and I was able to ditch the boy so we headed out to Hatcher Pass for some back country skiing. The weather and snow were awesome and the lighting made for some fantastic photographs.

In fact I got so caught up with the picture taking that I wasn't watching where I was going. I tried to ski (skins on) and take pictures at the same time. This resulted in me falling off a cornice. Now, that might sound bad but it was only a 5 foot fall onto soft snow in a shallow gully. Lucky me I guess. The worst part about it is that my camera got caked with snow and I couldn't take any more pictures that day. Here a snow spotted picture of me looking back up from my fall to my rescue party.

And, for all of you who are experiencing warmer temperatures, Leo has a fashion tip for you.

Leo's Bedtime

2009-02-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist posting this video. Leo has a very exciting way of getting into bed.

Welcome Back the Sun

2009-01-28T22:07:00.001-08:00

We waited for 2 months and now the sun has finally come back. It had been cloudy for the past few weeks but on the 22nd the clouds cleared and we had a nice surprise. Here is a picture of my first glimpse of the sun:

Yeah it was cloudy and hazy, but it was still magnificent. A few days later the skies cleared and the sun really showed it's brilliance. We even opened the yurt windows and let all sots of natural light come flooding in. Here is a picture of Leo enjoying the novelty of shadows:

In fact, he was so excited we came inside and celebrated with ants on a log. (you know celery with peanut butter in the groove and raisins in the peanutbutter) I had to give him very small logs or this happened:

Keep those fingers away from the camera buddy.
Here is a picture of a phenomenon known as a sundog.

Can you see the faint rainbow off to the left? It's caused by sunlight shining through ice crystals in very high (cirrus) clouds. Sometimes, if the conditions are right, it makes a full rainbow around the sun. I've only seen that once.
Lastly, here is a repeat of a photo composition I posted in early November.

Unfortunately, the last time I took it I had my image quality on its lowest setting. No good for wanting to print pictures. When the opportunity presented itself again, I just had to grab it. I thought a little bit of yurt was a nice touch too. It might look like the sun is just rising but is is actually appearing and disappearing from behind the mountains. The sun is not traveling across the sky but rather doing a shallow arc above the horizon. I took thins photo at 1:00pm.
I hope you all are getting to enjoy some sunshine too!

Bitter Cold to Windy and Mild

2009-01-15T17:33:00.000-08:00

Last Friday Nicki did a wilderness medicine and survival course. She got to practice emergency medicine, start fires, and sleep in a snow cave. All this took place between -35 and -20 degrees. Go winter survival. Here is a picture of Nicki holding a signaling flare.

Another cold, clear, full-moon night led to some more great picture taking. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get away from the yurt to take advantage, but I made the most of it.

This photo shows you what happens when the neighboring valley is sunny and ours is cloudy. The sun projected the outline of the ridge onto the clouds. When things cleared up we were able to match the actual ridge with the picture of its outline.

Three days after the previous photos were taken things started to warm up around here. We went from the negative teens to the 40's in the space of 48 hours. It has been pouring rain and the wind has blowing extremely hard. Here are two pictures of the property taken two days apart. Man, things can change quick.

Nicki's brothers, Andy and Peter, got us a wind gauge for Christmas. The fastest wind it has recorded so far is 50 mph, but we think it has been blowing harder than that. I think I need to get it up on a pole and off the railing to get a better reading.

And, finally a quick video of our fun in the wind. The beginning of the video is for all you yurt owners or potential owners. It shows you the cinch buckle and strap we added to the yurt for wind. It helps keep the window flaps and side wall from moving. It has made a really big difference and only needs to be put up when wind is in the forecast.

Wish us luck getting up and down our driveway. With all this slushy ice, We'll need it.

P.S. If you have a blogger site and wish to be updated when I post, you can click on "follow this blog" to the right.

Icy Times at the Yurt

2009-01-08T16:36:00.000-08:00

With temperatures deeply entrenched in the negative degrees (it has been hovering between -15 and -10 for about a week), ice has been taking hold on both the outside and inside of the yurt. While temperatures inside the yurt remain in the 60's, ice has been forming on any surface that even lets a little bit of the cold air in. The bottoms of the doors, and top and bottom of the wall, and the base of the skylight are affected areas. Here is a picture of one of our doors.

While not too much of a problem now, I'm not looking forward to having it melt and spread across the floor. Occasional interior ice removal missions have been executed.
The cold temperatures have also had an effect on our driveway. The spring, that runs along it and then beneath it through a culvert, has frozen solid and is now making it's way on top of the driveway. I'm calling it Schneider Glacier.

Again, while not much of a problem now, when this glacier advances for the next 3 to 4 months of winter, we may have a bit of difficulty getting in and out of the driveway.
Not that ice is all bad. It has some beautiful effects as well. The snow cave I built Leo has been a perfect place for very large ice crystals to form.

Crystals like these are also forming on the yurt any where air is escaping. Here is one of our wind flaps with a nice layer of feathery crystals.

I don't want to dedicate the entire post to ice, so here is a picture taken from our deck of a waxing half moon above a shoulder of Cumulus Mountain.

The night time skies are already brightening with the approaching full moon. It should be clear and cold, excellent photo opportunities. Hopefully, my next post will have had some warmer temperatures (+20's), pictures of the yurt in moonlight, and, dare I say it, in the sunlight. :)

A Yurt Christmas

2008-12-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful and cold Christmas this year. We ate a lot of food, took naps, and talked to family members on the phone. Here is a picture of our Christmas tree.

Nicki and I got to go skiing with some friends while the grandparents took care of Leo.

We might hit the negative 20's in the next couple of days. Yikes! The places with open water on the river are closing up with those dropping temperatures. Here is a picture of that happening. I'm calling it agate ice. (for all those geology nerds like me)

You can already tell there is more sunlight streaming into the valley. Since solstice we have already gained an hour of daylight. The constant twilight makes for some really cool alpenglow on the mountains.

Our friend, Jason, did the triple black diamond on his belly. He's crazy, and here is a picture of the after math.

We hope you all had a great Christmas and have a wonderful new year.

Full Moon, skiing, and Oma and Opa

2008-12-19T16:47:00.000-08:00

Clear skies and a full moon lent itself to some fun late night skiing and picture taking. Here is a picture of the Eagle River Nature Center at about 11:00

The shadows in this picture are being made by the moon. Since it was so bright with the moon reflecting off the snow, I didn't have to use my headlamp to see or a flash for the camera.

A tree that over hangs the frozen river.

That same tree during the day. Notice the sunshine on the mountains in the background. We are pretty excited about solstice and getting that sun back.

Oma and Opa Pressman are up for a visit and ans you can see, Leo is really wearing everyone out.

Here is is, the triple black diamond down the septic field. Yes, Ben does have a lot of time on his hands.

Cold Temps, Frozen Ski Trips, Snowcaves

2008-12-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

We finally hit negative temperatures here at the yurt. I added some extra insulation to our skylight to prevent heat loss through its relatively thin plastic. As you can see it was pretty cold by early evening, but we were warm and dry inside. (Hopefully, this will hold true when the teperature dips down into the double digit negatives.)

What to do when the temperature drops this far? Go skiing and check out all the frozen stuff. Here are the dogs pulling me on my skis. We are headed out to the frozen Eagle River to check out some frozen rapids.

This is where the Eagle River valley narrows considerably. This is looking up river towards the rapids.

The water freezing on the surface of the river would push up the layers of ice on top. This created some pretty fantastic terraced ice, and some unstable conditions. You had to cross the river a few times over ice bridges made from constantly shifting ice. Yikes!

Lot's of great chandelier ice.

We did about 10 miles of skiing and skijouring in single digit weather, and this is what you look like after you are done. Notice the ice on the eyelashes.

The latest projects at home have been building stuff in the snow, building shelving for Leo's toys, and getting ready for Christmas. Here is a picture of Leo in a snow cave out by the shed.

Coming up in a future post - the triple black diamond ski run down the septic field.

Snow, Birthdays, and Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T23:09:00.001-08:00

The snow has been falling fairly steadily here. Lot's of play time out in the snow for every one.
Here is a picture of skiing along the frozen Eagle River

Playing outside with the dogs. Notice the icicles dripping down the side of the yurt.

Snowy Yurt.

No two snowflakes are the same.

Leo and and his second birthday.

Thanksgiving Settlers of Catan.

I've been boarding down the driveway lately. Pretty Fun!

3 Blinding Sun Bursts

2008-11-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to show this short video. It's a time lapse of the sun moving across the sky in the Eagle River Valley. On November 18th, we got 3 glimpses of the sun, one 10 minute showing and 2 twenty minute ones, about 50 minutes of direct sunlight. By Thanksgiving there won't be any sunlight and we won't see it again until some time at the end of January. Anyway, here is the video from 10:00 to 1:00, photos taken every two minutes.

Bear Tracks, Light, and Cabins

2008-11-14T14:22:00.001-08:00

With fresh snow in the area, it is a lot easier to see what critters have been around and where they are going. Here are some grizzly bear tracks on a frozen tributary of the Eagle River.

The low light conditions have really been contributing to some dramatic landscapes. This picture was taken around 11:00 AM.

Nicki had a 5 day weekend and we took full advantage of it by skiing/skijouring out to a one room public use cabin on Eklutna lake, just north of us. We had a fast ski in on a well packed trail. Then, about 8 inches of snow fell over night. Here are Nicki and Leo enjoying the sunrise from the warmth of the cabin.

Here is a picture of the sunrise from down by the lake where Ben was enjoying the sunrise in the freezing cold. Click on it for a larger view.

The way out was not nearly as fast with all of the new snow. I didn't see my skis for most of the trip out. Here is a picture of the dogs who are pulling Nicki, who is pulling Leo with my sled attached to the chariot.

My sled kept flipping and really slowing us down so Nicki agreed to add it to her load. What an amazing woman. On the way home we stopped for hot cocoa and pizza. A truly amazing combination.

Halloween and Ice

2008-11-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

A demon enjoying a raging fire? No, it is just Leo in his Halloween costume. Can you guess what he is? Same thing as last year except funnier because he is walking and talking. This picture was taken at the Alaska Zoo, where we went trick or treating. He had to wear full snow gear beneath his costume so he even waddled a bit like Yoda.

Leo was also very into this whole Jack o' Lantern idea and even named each pumpkin after a member of his family. Try to guess who is who.

We have had clear skies and very cold temperatures for the past few weeks, and while skiing has gone down hill (ha ha), the ice has been amazing. Here is a picture of some hoar frost (feathery ice crystals) that have been forming outside of the yurt.

It has also been cold enough for Eagle River to freeze over. Once the ice gets thicker and we get some more snow you can actually ski and snowmobile on the river all the way up to Eagle Glacier at the head of the valley. The hoar frost on the river was a couple of inches tall which is big. Here is a panorama of the frozen river. Click on it for a larger picture.

Last but not least, the reason for all this cold. No sun. We have about 3.5 hours of it now. I did a time lapse of the sun moving across the sky. Unfortunately, I didn't think about doing it until after the sun rose and right before we are starting to cloud over again. So here is a time lapse of about a half hour after sunrise, 11:00, and until sunset, 2:00. If I can I'll post a better one later.

Get out and vote!

Sledding, Hurt Dogs, and Getting Colder

2008-10-27T23:16:00.000-07:00

We took Leo on his first sledding trip. A nice grassy slope in Eagle River (he is scared of going down our driveway) was all we needed to let him go for it. He even got to ride down by himself once.

He ended up getting a little bored of that so we started training him for some biathlon (skiing and shooting) competition. This is for next winter of course and only squirt bottles for now. But, look at the intensity in that kid's face!

In sadder news, I almost cut Georgie's leg off with a pair of metal edged skies. We were making some backcountry turns when she ran in front of me and decided to stop. I ran right over her and the result was a 2 inch gash that exposed muscle, tendon, ligament, and all that. (Sorry about the graphic stufff, Dad.) The vet got her all stitched and bandaged up and she seems to be feeling fine. No ball throwing for 3 weeks though.

It just keeps getting colder and colder. Here is what our thermometer read earlier this evening.

S0, we are keeping warm but we still have 2 months until solstice. The Sun comes up behind the mountains about 10:30 right now and sets again around 3:00, although it's light out from about 9:00 to 7:00. The temperature on the shady side of the yurt hasn't been above freezing in a couple of weeks and we are dealing with some pretty major ice build up. (Pictures of ice and icicles later.) Nicki and I spent a short sunny afternoon breaking it up with shovels and hammers and trying to get some vitamin D. I hope you all are warm cozy right now. I am. I'm in the yurt.

SNOW, 100 mile per hour winds, and a new dog

2008-10-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

Snow has definitely come to Eagle River and the yurt. We haven't had any huge dumps yet but here is a picture of the yurt after a 4 in snow fall.

And, here is a picture of it later in the day after it cleared up a bit and some of the snow melted.

A couple days after this snow the valley really warmed up and we ended up having 80-100 mile per hour winds rip through. The yurt held structurally but we almost lost our dome skylight and a piece of the outside wall fabric came loose. The fabric was flapping like crazy during the wind and was incredibly loud. We lost power for about 6 hours and telephone for about 12. Talking to some of the long time locals around here it sounds like that storm was as bad as it gets, thankfully. With a little bit more tightening down I think we will be in much better shape for the next time this happens. Sorry, no pictures I was too busy keeping my home in one piece.

Leo has taken a big liking to the snow. (surprise surprise) It turns out that our driveway is an excellent sledding hill. Here is a picture of Leo throwing snow on his poor dad.

It was decided that Georgie needed a companion so here we are introducing Major. (We are working on changing his name to Ranger) He is a sweet.... large dog. He has a bit of refining to do in terms of commands but he is calm and good with Leo. Georgie isn't exactly thrilled about sharing the house but she'll get there. Here is a picture of Nicki with Georgie (left) and Major.

Finally, a picture of the Eagle River Valley just beginning its snow covered winter.

Nicki and I have each gone out skiing and hopefully we will soon have enough snow to start pulling Leo around on the sled too. Winter fun here we come!