Photos to Accompany the finished yurt

Alex working hard in our living room to cut
the panels out of the plexiglass for the
sky light

Putting the skylight together.  There are 5 panels
4 panels of plexiglass and one that is sheet
metal that the stove pipe will go through.

Cutting some sheet metal into a circle to cover the very top
of the skylight

Alex's sheet metal cutting tools. 

A test fit for the stove pipe. 
It looks kind of massive sitting here on my floor
but it isn't really so weird. 

The stove, kind of ugly but free and delivered straight to the
yurts front door via the mighty mahindra tractor,
of course that was after Alex dug the stove out of a rather
large snow pile

A view from the inside with the skylight
 and stove pipe in place

The outside.  Alex nicely cleared that path on the
roof by dragging the skylight up the front there.
Very effective for clearing the snow off.
Oh and there is a Jasper in this picture
for a size comparison

Close up of the skylight and stove pipe

A view of the yurt in the distance.  It would be cooler
if the yurt was sitting on the rocks I sweated to
move into place further in the woods but whatever

The yurt survived its first ice storm.  Unfortunately
I don't think this will be the last ice storm it sees
this winter. 

The door being put together in the green house

A view if the inside of the door

The outside of the completed door

Propped up against the yurt waiting for installation.  The
brackets have already been put onto the side of the yurt

The inside with the door attached.  The yurt gets a lot of natural sunlight
it is pretty awesome. 

Awww isn't it cute. 

The stove in the center.  Obviously it hasn't been
lit yet since the floor is still covered in snow.
Alex has been using the emergency shovel
from my car to shovel the snow out of the yurt.

After another large snowfall

Alex lit the stove up for the first time and nothing catastrophic happened
pretty cool right?

HIs car parked next to the fence he built to keep the deer out. 

Yurt is finished!

Alex has been working amazingly hard on the yurt this last month.  I think partially out of desperation.  As it has gotten colder and snowier up here in Maine he just wanted to done and set up.  We are officially declaring it done, even though there are a few small touch-ups that still need to be done.  But lets be honest, aren't there always a few minor things to work on!  I am sure my cousin Megan would agree with that statement, she just bought her first house and has also been working very hard on it! 

PicasaWeb is being silly and not allowing me to upload the photos onto the blog so in the meantime a bit more about the yurt.  The stove has been installed but it will still need to have the stove pipe completely caulked into place.  Alex bought a fire mat thing to put under the stove and now he just needs to get a few people to help lift the stove so that the mat can be slid underneath.  Even without the mat he did a test firing of the stove the other day and it worked just fine.  It didn't even fill the yurt up with too much smoke!

We are still debating whether the stove will keep the yurt warm enough for me to possibly come over for a weekend camp out this winter.  I still haven't seen the completed yurt, actually I haven't seen it once in person since he has set it up a few months ago...  If Scott and Zizi ever leave to go to Mexico like they were planning to I will definitely come check it out.  In the meantime I just really haven't felt like it...  I know that is a little immature of me but the truth is the truth.

While Alex's sister was living with us she did a bunch of work to help raise the yurt as well.  Going out in the snow and freezing cold with Alex to raise the roof beams.  Personally I have never been so happy that I need to work 10-5 every day in my life.  It was bloody cold out there!

Yesterday Alex went on a walk in the woods searching for the perfect door handle for the inside of the yurt.  He claims to have found one that is just lovely and has a perfect bend in it :)  There are some rumors floating around our apartment that Alex will bring his kickwheel into the yurt so that he can spend some weekends throwing pots.  I have to admit that his yurt would be a wicked awesome studio.

On another note, Alex would really like to make a few more of these now that he has "worked out the kinks"  So if you or anyone you know is in the market for a hand made in Maine yurt let us know and we can work out a fair cost (probably not too much more then the raw materials).  Plus as an added bonus I will throw in Alex setting up said yurt for free!  Woot.  How is that for a bargain.  For an extra 50 bucks he'll even take his shirt off while he works...  Nah, I'm just messing, he'll keep his shirt on while he works. 

I hope everyone has enjoyed watching the yurt come together.  I can honestly say I have loved watching Alex work on it.  Who knew I was dating such a smart guy!  In a moment I will switch browsers and see if I can post some photos to show how everything wrapped up.

Don't forget to keep watching the blog for more yurt adventures, though at this point our adventures will probably be of the camping variety.  Plus we have a friend who has a yurt up on Sebec Lake in Maine which we are considering cross country skiing out to for a weekend.  There will definitely be some awesome photos of that.

Yurt Photos

Alex uploaded 79 pictures of the yurt with captions to his Picasa web album.  So I'm not going to recreate the wheel here.  If you would like to see the yurt essentially finished check it out here:  https://picasaweb.google.com/105887024639551658307/Yurt02#  All that is missing is the door, and the skylight.

Woot!