Showing posts with label Alaska winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alaska winter. Show all posts

Friday, February 19, 2010

Fake springtime in Alaska, it's 40 above!

summer gertee 2009
ceiling and windows made from scraps

It's our early spring and we're loving it. Last year it warmed up and all the snow melted in January, but this year the big teaser is later and a bit milder. Good thing too, can't get too much warmer or the trails will turn to mush. Fred and I are finding ways to get outside, and this weekend Copper Center is hosting sprint dog musher races, but there's no link to it online. Tim's been busy helping drag their trail, and rumor has it a few more old time Redingtons might be at Camp Redington this weekend, with their kennels. Go Team Redington!

Decided to take a position up in Talkeetna for the summer. I can manage a coffee van there and set up a gertee model as a screened-covered sitting area for the customers. I'll finish the gertee book by April and then no matter how the sales go I can be secure in knowing I have a "real" job lined up that is a proven moneymaker. It was a good experience to see what all can be done with very little cash and my reader's support, but now that I've proven to myself and shown my level of commitment to ACL research, I don't feel such a strong compulsion to keep doing it the same hard way. I'd like to start moving gertee up just a tad and with a good summer I can put in hardwood, heated floors and fully plumb the 20 footer. The trick will be installing it so that it can all still be moved. I'm ready for a propane stove top too. And cupboards that close, or even plastic slides to keep the dust out.

It's been a trip seeing all the places that linked to the tinyhouseblog article, I did a google search for it and there's probably a 100 different sites. It's kind of a shame that some people assume it will always look like it does when you start with scraps. Some don't understand that's the emergency version. Gertees can be made out of any materials... why limit the possibilities? Rich people could make them unbelievably beautiful, even if they only use the leftovers from their curtains and couch coverings. ") All those long scraps I bought from the dollmaker on ebay are very nice pieces... the word "garbage" doesn't quite describe them correctly.

How to cook 2 eggs, 6 slices of bacon and 2 slices of toast
on top of a 12x14" wood stove cook space

new shower stool out of a box of scrap wood and rope

winter shower in plastic tub now
waste water dumps into metal pan behind stove

Fred training himself how to "hong on!"


My job this summer! Starting on June 1! Thanks sister!
http://fishtaxi.blogspot.com/2008/06/chitina-candy-van.html

For my family :)

Here's a cute little yurt a lady made for $35 Canadian, in a response to a post on gertee! I knew there had to be more people making their own! http://www.maryostler.com/2009/06/thoughts-on-a-35-yurt/

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Alaskan Yurts in the NYT

Stuart Isert for the New York Times
©2010 Stuart Isett/www.isett.com

Thanks to my sister fishtaxi for sending this link! She found a very recent New York Times article about a family who live in a $14,000.00 yurt in Seldovia. The maker of their yurt, Nomad Shelters, a Homer based manufacturer, have their yurts all over Alaska now. They've narrowed their line to one model, an Alaskan 4 season dwelling.

This is very good news for Gertee and yurt dwellers everywhere. Now, obviously, there's a political slant behind this article, and it wouldn't suprise me to learn these scientists are in the same league as WISE.

It's reassuring to see interior pictures of another Alaskans' yurt.. it's as cluttered as mine, filled with everything from snowpants to water jugs, uh huh! I really like their dome covers. They only have one layer on their walls though, and the article says it's below freezing when they wake up. They say they feed their fire every half hour or so, and with our insulation we feed ours every couple hours, even in 40 below. (It doesn't get this cold down where they live, Homer is on the other side of the state.). It was ten above in here when we "woked up" and 36 below outside. So, I think my model with interior wall covers over the khana holds a lot more heat. :)

Just think of the millions of people who saw this already and are now a bit more "open" to the idea of living in the round. People who can't afford the 14k will soon find out they can build one themselves for a fraction of the retail cost. I couldn't have paid for better exposure. Now I want to buy an ad for my Tutorial Package in the online Times!

Broadband, Yes, Toilet, No.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/garden/31yurt.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

40 below in Kenny Lake

Here's a video I made last month of Tim skinning a 9 foot griz. Very graphic, not for the squeamish. I thought I'd throw it on here today to highlight the difference between Alaska and Kansas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbr6szW6V0A

The winter garden

We can hear the trees popping

%Well it's 40 below and I don't give a f**k
there's a heater in my truck and I'm off to the rodeo%
The Rodeo Song by Gary Lee and Showdown
http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=491


Saturday, November 14, 2009

Over a foot of snow dumps on Kenny Lake

Me with Wyatt, Tim's grandson (and my first friend in KL)
He got his first caribou with Tim last weekend!

Yes, Susan! Bread made in my new Granny's Oven.

20 foot gertee carrying the whole load so far

Cleared snow off the 16 foot roofs twice already

Got a phone line hooked up in little gertee finally, so I can get back to work now on some of my online projects. Got a good jumpstart on the Gertee book and found the tone I want it to have. I also wrote a first draft response to Myers about Society Rights.

Need to spend some time researching the term Society Rights. I'd like to know how many legal documents use it in the same way so many constitutions use the term Individual Rights. Has there ever been a constitution that arose naturally from any society that was based upon protecting society rights?

Lining and edging the fur blanket by hand
I'm asking Santa for a Singer sewing machine.

Nothing like piles of clean fresh snow!

Osa's 3 years old now... and still retarded.

She says she can't wait to go mushing!

Huge ice buildup on roof and walls

Shoveled snow around outside walls for insulation

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Contemplating another Alaskan winter in Gertee

Winterized Gertee pods - detachable

Sister fishtaxi brought us the green roof tarp!

I'm doing a radio interview on October 1 at 8pm EST with the Patriot Dames on Talkshoe.com. Be nice to write a new article before I go on but still too much work to do before real winter sets in. I know people want an updated synopsis of how many communitarian programs and laws are in place now, and actually, so do I. Many thanks to artist Charles Kraft for suggesting us.

Here I am starting to "camp" for my fourth year in Kenny Lake, and it's been a trip to think about what changes have happened to my life since that first winter here in my trusty Girl Scout wall tent. I spent months freezing my off ass in that tent, wishing at least once every day that I had a yurt. I dreamed of owning a portable tent I could insulate well enough to hold some heat. Now, three years later I have not one but three gertees, and a lot more other things I need.

I took two bages of R-19 insulation from Tim's pile that's been under his porch for a year and installed it in the walls of my new16 footer. It's attached to my original 16' gertee which is now just an entryway, kitchen, pantry and dining room. The woodstove is heating both so far, but it's still above zero. I'll have to install some kind of fan to the stack; Ron suggested I modify a bathroom exhaust fan. I'm still using all the wool pieces and the RadiantGuard aluminum reflective foil for ALL my ceilings, plus stuffed up a few random pieces of styrofoam insulation I got out of a clients "to the dump" pile. Our friend Rick said he has 4 bags of the same insulation Tim has and I can have them whenever I drive over and pick them up! This means I can cut 15 more 6' posts and insulate the 20 footer! I'll use it right where it is and hope it holds up to the wind. Still waiting to get a big enough piece of solid waterproof something to put on the roof before I install the insulation. Learning about actual constuction materials now and how stupid I've been to not use visqueen sheets that come as wide as I need them! Plus there's amazing red tape that goes with it. This also means that EVERY city in the USA has enough leftover materials from building sites to build thousands of gertees for the homeless people. I didn't know there's almost 100,000 homeless people in LA! 100,000!!????? Gertees would be SUPER easy to make for that climate... I think I need to finish the gertee book asap.

Moved my shower spot into the kitchen right next to the woodstove, have a 21 inch metal tub that catches most of the water. I use about a gallon in the 4 gal sun shower. For extra heat and a ready supply I've got a 20 gallon metal pot filled with water set next to the back of the stove and three large pots on the metal shelf on the left side. The top of the shelf has ceramic tiles and makes a nice cookspace. To the right of the stove I have a small metal stand that also has ceramic tile on top. Behind that is a metal baker's rack with the bottom half for wood storage and the counter has 2 metal washtubs for dishes. Tucked in behind the baker's rack there's a small metal typing table I got from Tonsina Lodge 4 years ago, it makes a perfect dish drying spot.

New interior canvas wall cover

Had to scratch the plan to only add layers on the outside of the summer kitchen gertee, too much wind came through in the big storm the other night. Put up a layer of old felt from big gertee on the west side of the kitchen and covered it with the new burgandy canvas I've been using for the exterior walls. We like it so much I'll do the same thing in the eastern kitchen side with what's leftover from the bright yellow.


My first winter camp in Kenny Lake

My friend Caya is 10 now and says she's old enough to be really happy to see meat hanging, whereas when she was "younger" it made her sad. I had to tie every one of these huge chunks to the ceiling while Tim and Ronnie held them up. We're canning and freezing it now.

Me, a moosehead and a caribou

Gerteeville, Alaska, still under construction
Please send all your leftover building materials
to us or to your local homeless shelter!

Recycled homes are better than no homes at all.

Monday, September 21, 2009

"2020: Our Common Destiny" on ebay!

Sean put 2020 on ebay! Thanks Sean. Be interesting to see if it sells there. We haven't really done any marketing for either of our books so this is a great start. The books have always just been something we have available for visitors to the ACL but yes, marketing is important.

You know you're Alaskan when you're happy the thermometer still only reads 20 above zero F. I've got so much to do yet to get ready for winter, but it's coming along and the new gertee made all kinds of space for Freddie, visitors wood and water jugs in the 16' kitchen/dining gertee. The new 16' is so well insulated I can heat it with the woodstove from the kitchen! This changes everything. Now I'm taking the 20' down and rebuilding it the same way I did the new 16'. We are gonna be WARM this winter for sure. And ... since I got my first moose we'll also have plenty of meat AND fish this year.

Many thanks to Bill for sending this link on reinventing government, haven't read it all but it looks to be very important to our work. I mention this program in ACL research and remember being very shocked to find it so openly available. I assumed our constitutions made the very idea of changing the US government and system illegal unless it was done via constitutional means. This paper gives a lot more detail than I took the time to find:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14120054/Reinventing-Government

me making the walls for the new 16'
the new pic on my info is for you Pete :)

using the shower roofring which only has 6 poles
so I cut 13 spruce posts and tied them to the walls

installed R19 fiberglass insulation between the posts
(how many times have I moved that pile of rocks?!)

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Why do people want to live in Alaska?

I found this article on a Fairbanksan's facebook links, and I can't figure out how to link to the newsminer story but it's too good to not share with all the people here who've asked me "Why Alaska?" Anyone who's ever lived in Fairbanks, as I did for many years, will appreciate this. Anyone who's ever wondered about my choice of living where I do now (where the temps get just as low... only not lately!) will understand when I say "I got out of the ice fog." If only I could find a way to explain communitarianism as well as Tim Mowry explains an interior Alaskan winter. Enjoy!
Cold snap makes you wonder: Why do we live in Fairbanks?

By Tim Mowry
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Published Thursday, January 8, 2009

Why do I live here?

That was the question a hitchhiker I picked up on Chena Hot Springs Road last week posed as we descended down the Steese Highway into the cloud of ice fog that has been disguised as Fairbanks for the past 10 days.

Even after more than 22 years in Alaska, I didn’t have an answer for him.

Cold snaps like the one we have endured for the past week and a half are really the only time that I wonder what I am doing living in Fairbanks.

What am I doing living in a place where you have to cut your way through the ice fog with a chainsaw?

What am I doing living in a place where thermometer watching is considered a spectator sport?

What am I doing living in a place where I have to dress up as if I were skiing across Antarctica just to drive to work?

What am I doing living in a place where I spend half my time hauling, cutting and stacking firewood in the summer and the other half time unstacking, hauling and burning it in the winter?

What am I doing living in a place where I have to fill and haul five-gallon jugs of water at 45 below?

What am I doing living in a place where you’re happy when the weather forecast calls for a high temperature of 35 below.

What am I doing living in a place where you can’t see a stop light that’s 10 feet in front of you?

To be honest, I’m tired of it.

I’m tired of fighting my wife, Kristan; 10-year-old son, Logan; and three Labradors for space around the wood stove.

I’m tired of seeing nothing but two dashes on my indoor/outdoor digital thermometer, which “only” goes down to 30 below before the dashes appear.

I’m tired of wondering when the only one of our three vehicles that is still running will break down.

I’m tired of bolting upright in bed every time the furnace comes on in the middle of the night, which is my Pavlov-conditioned cue to go stoke the wood stove because the temperature in the house has fallen below 50 degrees.

I’m tired of wearing bunny boots for slippers because the tile floor in our house is so cold you’d frostbite your toes if you didn’t.

I’m tired of letting my car warm up for 20 minutes only to climb in and find the seats as stiff as plywood.

I’m tired of not going skiing because it’s so cold I can’t muster the motivation to do so, even though I know it won’t be that bad when I get out there.

I’m tired of watching movies from Blockbuster because it’s too cold out to do anything else.

I’m tired of wearing polypropylene underwear 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I’m tired of having square tires every time I park somewhere for more than an hour.

I’m tired of waiting for the renters who live in my old cabin to call me and tell me their water pipes are frozen or the Monitor oil heater stopped working or the door is frozen shut or some other cold-related problem that I will have to try and fix.

I’m tired of everyone you talk to on the phone who doesn’t live in Fairbanks asking what the temperature is.

Most of all, though, I’m tired of people like me griping about the cold and wondering when the cold snap will break.

This is Fairbanks and for some crazy reason we choose to live here.

I’ll let you know when I figure out why, but first I’ve got to go start my car to let it warm up, assuming it will start.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Camp Redington - winter camping in Alaska!


Camp Redington

Winter camping in Alaska!

Following rabbit tracks

down the rabbit hole

new outhouse by tent spaces

Snowmachine trails throughout the camp

8x10 rental cabin with trails outside door

The changing face of Gerteeville

Sunday, December 21, 2008

This is your president speaking

Chris Bieber sent me a link to his comments to a post about Bush's "admission" at http://johnseilerblogs.com/. I went there but got sidetracked and took the blogger's link to Washington's Farewell Address. One of the lines from Washington's address is our mission statement at the ACL (and Alexander Hamilton is said to have written most of it).

As I've come to expect, this blogger calls Bush's politics "socialism." (Communitarianism isn't even a topic on his list.) But, I've got several emails lately from people who have been calling it "neo-socialism" for lack of a better word to describe what they see. Now that they have been introduced to communitarianism, they can easily see that's what the new political system is actually called. And, they're grateful to see how much valid information there is about it for further study.

It still doesn't really matter so much to me if it's the Illuminati or the aliens from Atlantis who guide the elites. It's a personal choice of how I spend my time. While it's extremely interesting to read all the theories and speculate which ones hold more water, if our interest veers more toward current events and we want to know what's actually happening today, there's an abundance of verifiable, factual, current publications about communitarianism, written in every language, around the world. This doesn't mean there are not a lot of verifiable current UFO sightings and mysterious activities performed by secret societies as well as Satanic ritualists, covered in mainstream. MK Ultra and the psychological and drug experiments are all also verifiable. Chemtrails, whatever they are, are real. What I mean is, while many people refuse to even consider that there is an entire political/religious/legal synthesis they're never once considered, others, like me, are absolutely fascinated to find it exists and are astonished at how organized and well presented it is. That we can see how it ties to every issue is mind blowing, because we had never heard of it before. How can something so huge be so unknown to so many educated readers?


This is your president speaking, in 1796:
"Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard." Geo Washington http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp


This is your president speaking, in 2008:
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said in an interview Tuesday he was forced to sacrifice free market principles to save the economy from "collapse."

""I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system,"" Bush told CNN television, saying he had made the decision ""to make sure the economy doesn't collapse."

"At a G20 summit last month in Washington, Bush resisted some proposals for global financial regulation and argued free market principles still held true despite the global economic downturn. "http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081216/usa/finance_economy_us_bush

We are in big trouble if Bush is the best debater we have at the global table arguing for free market principles! Come on. What is market-socialism, state-corporate capitalism and/or communitarianism? Would not the world be better off if all our leaders (and not just Klaus) were openly talking about what KIND of global system we're all volunteered into building?

Here's an interesting historical account of the laws forwarded to the ACL inox from Florida that shows how we were led into economic meltdown. This letter names the exact laws and executive orders at the root of the crisis. Verifying this would require a team of researchers, and again I find something that ties into what Todd wants to teach me. Maybe by Jan I can resume my core studies. http://home.absolute.net/xode/nwofraud/Bankruptcy_Fraud/Bankfraud2.htm

This is your 2009 vp president-elect speaking:


"According to US media, Obama's team is looking to craft a package worth between 675 and 775 billion dollars over two years, but it could swell to 850 billion as it moves through the legislative process. Some news reports have predicted it may even top a trillion dollars.

"The US economy has been the foremost concern of Americans for months, as it continues to nosedive despite a 700-billion-dollar Wall Street rescue plan agreed in October.

"Vice president-elect Joseph Biden Sunday would not be drawn on precise figures of a second stimulus package.

""What we're doing is putting together what we think will be the economic package that will do two things. One, stem the hemorrhaging of the loss of jobs, and begin to create new jobs," Biden told ABC's This Week.

""At the same time, we provide continuing liquidity for the financial markets."

"But he admitted that since the Democratic team's victory in the November 4 election, the economy has turned out to be in much worse shape than previously thought.

""Every economist that I've spoken to ... from well-known economists on the right, conservative economists, to economists on the left, and everyone in between, says the scope of this package has to be bold; it has to be big.

""There's going to be real significant investment, whether it's 600 billion dollars or more or 700 billion dollars. The clear notion is, it's a number no one thought about a year ago," Biden said." http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/081222/usa/us_politics_obama_economy_11


No one thought of, eh? If we were to translate Bush and Biden's double-speak above, what would it sound like? Anyody want to try? :)

In unrelated Gerteeville news:

Weather dropped considerably, having to cut wood loads twice a day now and if I want it warm I have to get up and feed the fire every 2-3 hours. I did that for a few days and then last night I said to hell with it and slept almost 11 hours straight. Ron said he thinks that's why Alaskans get cabin fever, mostly from sleep deprivation from keeping the fire going all winter. It was 30 below outside and 4 degrees above inside when I woke up but I slept with my hat on (I'm "mama in her kerchief" in Twas the Night Before Christmas!) and put my 10 dollar beaver coat over my sleeping bag. I love this coat and it helps me get up. Then I remember I can also just slide into my soft fuzzy warm booties and be warm while I start the fire. I have a nice comfy little stool right next to the wood stove (where everyone who comes in cold always sits). The water in the jug wasn't frozen so I could fill my teapot and start heating water for instant coffee (or my press) right away. It's hard to roll cigs when it's 4 degrees so I'm not smoking first thing every morning anymore. Heh. Took my coat off and was ale to use electronics after about an hour.

The other morning I woke wide awake at 4 am. It was still 40 above in here and I was surprised that woke me. I wanted to fall back asleep but I couldn't, so I made a pot of coffee, went out and sawed a huge load of wood and made myself a roaring fire. I had pancakes cooking and was cleaning up when suddenly I heard the worst screeching noise and crunching snow soon after a loud truck had passed by. I listened, heard nothing else and I went back to what I was doing. About 20 minutes later the dogs started barking and I heard clomping and snow crunching coming toward my doorway. I covered the damn window when I insulated the door so I couldn't look out. I kept yelling "who's out there?" and all I got back was a banging on the door. I was like, holy crap man, WHAT is out there??? and got my gun. Turned out to be a neighbor kid who rolled his truck about 1/2 mile away from me, saw my smoke and stumbled all the way here with only one shoe on (lost the other one in the wreck). He had no hat and no gloves and was near froze to death, but it just so happened I had a big pile of wood and a roaring fire and a hot cup of coffee for him to put his hands around. His timing was so perfect I told him I think the Lord didn't want his momma to have to deal with him dying just yet. I don't know him. He said he's lived here all his life and was hoping he wouldn't get shot coming up to my door. His throat was froze shut.

Marco decided it's too cold for him outside and yeah, okay, the dogs can start sleeping inside. There's room.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

The difference between 20 below and 30 below


Moon through the skylight

New woodstove, hot water pots, and not enough wood

Got down to 30 below last night and I burned twice as much wood to stay warm. The new stove is hooked up, that was kind of stupid to install it in 25 below because it smoked like a tire burning and I had to open the door and air gertee out before I choked to death.

Put it together myself but got stuck on the stack piece. After struggling with the metal cutters I took it up to Tim's shop and he sawed off the 4 inches while I held it steady. Cutting metal with an electric saw is not something I ever wanted to learn how to do. It's just another one of those things that when I ask a man out here to help me with it they say "okay hold that end still" and next thing I know I'm freaking out wondering why we're not wearing safety glasses or something. I am still so afraid of saws and electrical tools, and I keep having to face that fear head on. I used the nail gun this summer and I did not want to try that either but man, am I glad I did, ended up wanting to nail a whole bunch of stuff. My brother Jimmy thinks I'm tough now but I'd still be a lot happier if he was here doing all these manly carpenter things for me. :)

Thank God I'm over my horror and just have a healthy fear left of the chainsaw because I sure need to cut wood now. I was getting so spoiled with the above zero temps and was wearing so few layers of clothes it was like I was in Seattle again. But that's over. Right now I still have my snowpants on and my hat because I want to be HOT after being outside for the past half hour. It is incredibly beautiful this morning though, the moon is right THERE above the hostel and I barely needed my headlamp on to see what I'm cutting. I couldn't help but be happy I had to be out there, and that is part of the appeal of this lifestyle. Now I think I know why mushers run the Iditarod, and I was imagining myself mushing into the crisp mtns and having to melt snow and feed and see to my dogteam, and then I ran back inside to warm up.

Anyway, I'm getting lots of great contacts from the last few blogposts and I have to say a huge thank you to all the people who are digging on this with me. Silvia in New Zealand (who has the cutest little gertee in her backyard) is working on a new gertee model. Tracy at Possum Living said the nicest things about me and my ACL work, the Survivalist News is linking to me now and my sister Susan may come visit Gerteeville next summer with her good friend Jane who I met in Madison in 1974. Those were the good old days when Madison was full of free spirits and friendly people. I'm thinking I should be ready for a fun summer, and that's what will keep me going for the next four months of this hard wintertime living. I sure hope I'm not glamorizing this in any way because that would be just wrong. This life is plain brutal, and so far nobody has asked if they could come visit me now, and why would they. Paris sounds oh so much better, right Sue?

The thing I've learned about myself in this is that I'm way better off if I don't think about the hard things I have to do before I do them. Thinking about putting on all my gear and going out there and tugging big logs off the pile and sawing them carefully and bending over and picking them up one by one and loading them on the cart and then carrying them inside and stacking them by the stove... it kind of depresses me. And there's no point in thinking about it anyway. I know what has to be done and I know it has to be done every day. It's when I put it off that I think about it and worry that I'm gonna run out before I get off my ass and go get more. My sister asked what I do when I get sick and I realized I haven't been sick since I started living like this. So then I decided I better have a stash of extra wood inside in case I do fall ill. But I know me, I'm gonna burn it like I have every other stash, I'll be like oh yay, I don't have to cut more right now cause I have that other pile in the corner.

This would all be so much easier if I was burning oil or propane and I did consider installing the oil stove Rick brought over. But the price of oil was so high then that I didn't want to get dependent on it and then not be able to afford it. Now it's less than $3 a gallon and oh well.

The Manifesto is finished!!! For real this time. Nord's picking up the proof tomorrow and if it looks good she's placing the order. Great Originals is pretty fast once we have it ready and the orders should go out by the end of the week. Some people have waited a long, long time for their books and I've stressed over it for almost a year now. We've had a lot of things happen that slowed things down but Nordica never gave up and I'm very lucky she's so committed to making it all come together. I was ready to give everyone's money back and she said "No mom, just chill, we can do this."

I've also been introduced to an amazing new thing called Earthing Technology. I'm going to get to try one of the bed pads! Thanks Bob!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Winterizing a 20 foot yurt for 40 below (F and C)

First model gertee waits for spring rescue

RadiantGUARD roof insulation

Extra layers along the walls and floor

It's been getting down to 20 below F. every night and it was freezing in here even with a roaring fire and the fan on. This new yurt is sitting on a 20x24 foot wooden platform with no insulation and was originally designed to be used as a summer museum at Camp Redington. I moved in here at the end of the summer. I've had some serious challenges, what with the big wind and the foot of leaking snow, but I think I've managed to avert any future crises in these areas. One thing is for sure, these little huts were absolutely designed to stand up to the wind. I have a lot more confidence after that last big storm. It blew shingles off people's roofs around here and sent some pretty big things flying across yards. Everytime I run into one of the old locals out here they make sure I know they noticed I didn't blow away. (They notice I have wood now too.)

The RadiantGUARD arrived and changed everything. I order it direct from the manufacturer in Texas. It cost me $129.00 for 1000 square feet plus $20 S&H. There is nothing comparable on the local market and I made sure I looked. Insulation is VERY expensive normally so this stuff is a real find. Once on the ceiling it warmed up 10 degrees at face level, but then the cold air rerouted itself downward and came hissing across the floor and froze my feet. So next I put a layer of RG along the walls and floor and then covered it with another 18 inch wide layer of wool (the ironing board covers we got from the military). Next I'll cut pieces of carpet and secure the edges. It's already amazingly warmer inside tonight (14 below outside at 9pm) and it's incentive to keep working on this cumbersome job. I feel like I've been building and rearranging for over 2 years, because I have. And of course we'll be moving it somewhere else after break-up.

Now I think I understand how to layer the materials, even though I still can't do it properly since everything outside is frozen stiff. Put the RG on top of the ceiling beams (rather than slide it under the beams like last winter) so there's an inch or so of air space behind it. Now the outside roof covers will stay frozen until spring so there shouldn't be any more leaks. The key is (for those like me who didn't know this already) is to make sure the outer layer of the roof stays the same temperature on both sides. Then, ideally I would have a layer of plastic on the inside of the RG (for a vapor barrier) and another layer of materials over that. I'm going to just cover the RG on the roof with a patchwork of materials I cut up or find. In the spring I'll try to get the new roof tarp up before it gets warm enough to melt and drip through again.

The ACL is ready for Trick-or-treaters!"

first of the recycled RG going up on the roof

Laying up sheets of RG, attached with 1/2 inch staples

I have one more layer to put up over the RG because they say it can combust if there's direct sunlight on it and I'm assuming there's some degree of danger from the woodstove heat too. So if anyone has access to 3 to 20 yards pieces of materials (felt and wool will hold more heat but any fabrics I get are going up) then we'd sure appreciate your sending them to us USPS Parcel Post or Priority Mail which is the cheapest way for most shipped items out here. UPS can be outrageous! My mailing adress here is:

Niki Raapana
HC 60 Box 326-A
Copper Center, AK 99573, USA

My blessings come in the most unusual ways. I'm pleased to say that Philip Jones and I have not only reconciled my angry reaction to his articles, in the course of working things out we've found we share the same basic reasons for doing our work. He's a very nice man and I'm honored to say we have another contributor to 2020, the next time we go to print it will include a British/Danish/European perspective. I'll also make pdf copies of the additions and make it available to everyone who has already purchased a previous edition.

We're working on Jack's book again, and I think we may just be warm and comfortable enough to relax and work on it together, in peaceful harmony. Heh. We love his book idea and it inspires me to think about the ways this work has changed my life, and what it does to the soul.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Winter Camping in September! Whoo hoo!!!

Yesterday was the clearest most beautiful day. I heard the drops about 3 am when I was working on the Rebuilding America post. By 5am I finally went to sleep trying to ignore my panic about not being ready for snow yet. It really came early this year. This was the worst summer on record (our summer was a Seattle winter) and now we get dumped on before October. Man I wish global warming would get here soon. But I do love the snow, I forget how much until I get out in it and just start doing whatever it is i have to do. Yesterday I got to dig in a big burn pile and dragged out enough to keep the fire going until my wood guy gets a permit to cut it. We're surrounded by millions of square miles of trees and we're scrambling for firewood; crazy.

Waking up to the first snowfall of 2008-9!

Can the twenty footer stand up to winter?

Bbq and firepit ready for winter guests!

Materials for Freddies recycled slippers:
1. wall tent rain cover canvass soles
2. Radiant Guard
3. Army's ironing board felt covers
4. velour scrap from a t-shirt

Leather top from cut up coat.
Felt hat string added to the back.

Perfect fit, too bad there's only one!

Artic entryway under construction

Chainsaws aren't made just for boys anymore.
I love my Husquvarna!!!! Too bad it runs on gas.

Gertee's canvass walls bear the "Girl Scouts of America" logo