Decks, Bears, and Kids

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



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



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



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

Visitors, Picnics, and a Yurt Day

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



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


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

Three Hours in the Life of a Yurt

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



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



And here it is in artistic view.



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

Good News and Bad News

Good News:

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

Bad News

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

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

Here is how we bath Leo.



Our mountain baby on the historic Iditarod trail.


Leo watching his favorite thing - trucks


Pre meal Leo


Post meal Leo


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

A Quick Check In

We still don't have power or gas and only have a little bit of water. But progress has been made. The garage has been sheet rocked and will hopefully be ready for painting early this week. We have a gas heating and cooking stove installed, though we still have no gas coming onto the house. All of our furniture has been moved in and we were able to have our first meal at a table in the yurt.



We also now have a resident great horned owl "who" likes to hang out on the trees right beside us. Even when we can't see him we hear him hooting all the time. Here is a picture taken from the yurt.



The mountains around us have had a few snowfalls as well. Don't worry it has only been on the mountain tops. Although we got pretty cold last night, especially by morning. We hope to have heat soon. Here is a picture of the mountains to the south of us.



So I've been growing out my Alaskan mountain man beard.

But sadly, I couldn't take it any more and broke down and shaved it all off. Now I'm cold and the mosquitoes are attacking me.


The power company has promised us electricity by the end of this month and that means the middle of this week. A working fridge sure would be nice. When the garage painting is finished we can start moving stuff into it. This means we will be able to move things out of storage and get the yurt more organized, it has a lot of random construction things inside of it that need to go to the garage. This hopes to be a week full of all sorts of great progress!

We are connected.

I'm typing this blog from the comfort of the loft of my yurt. This is the first time we've had Internet up here. Sweet civilization. Here is how we are getting our electricity, a gas powered generator.

It has been a busy week here. We painted, have been putting together lots of furniture and working on electrical stuff. Here is what the inside of the yurt looks like now.

We also have a mattress now. it's the first time Nicki and I have slept on a real bed in two months. Here is a picture of Nicki all ready for bed.

I also have taken on a new hobby. Chainsaw carving. here is my first project - a chair for Leo.

Leo and I did a small hike further up the valley from and looked back and could see the yurt. It is on the hill behind the trees behind the wooden viewing deck. I'll try to repost this picture later on and circle the yurt on the picture.

I zoomed in on the yurt on this photo.

Life in a Yurt in Alaska

Greetings form an Eagle River laundromat, the yurt is still not a hotspot. I did use my computer at the yurt yesterday though. We have a generator up here now, and it was the first time I have ever started a computer by pulling a cord.
We have been very busy here for the last couple of weeks. Progress on the inside of the yurt has gone fairly quickly, although we still do not have electricity or gas and very little water. Nicki is busy with work and adjusting to her new role as doctor. Leo likes playing in the dirt and has a new extreme fascination with bubbles. I work on the yurt and keep Leo entertained. Both are full time jobs. The following are photos depicting our life in Alaska.

Nicki and Georgie enjoying themselves out on top of the garage.

Georgie ignoring the view outside.

My dad, Mark analyzing the view from Hatcher pass.

Our kitchen.

Our bathroom. The orange bucket is for water to flush the toilet with.

Our Shower room. Notice the lack of walls. This had led to a few embarrassing moments.

Oh! And here is a picture of me throwing a 56 pound weight at the Eagle River Highland Games.

This is a ladder my father in law, Scott, and I made to get up into our loft.

Here is the loft where Nicki and I sleep. We hope to put in some kind of railing at some point.

Internal walls

Leo being a big help.

Thanks to Lia

and Jason for coming up and visiting us. They helped install flooring and carpet.


We will be putting on our last layer of paint later today, finishing up the flooring tomorrow, and then hopefully start putting our furniture together. We are still a long way off from being moved in but we are getting there.

Thanks for being patient with me as computer access have been tough for the past few weeks. We may be able to get Internet and voice mail starting next week. Woo hoo.