The final day was the hardest! We showed up with sledge hammers and a demolition mindset! This deck was comin' down! Even though we destroyed a lot of the pieces of the deck, we were able to keep most of them. Dewayne, our hired helper, turned out to actually be a super-hero in disguise that Maddie named, "Epic Ninja." I'm not sure what we would have done without him. Dawn Ryan's family showed up again and did incredible work! It tooks us another nine hours on the final day, but we finished at 5:00 EDT/4:00 CDT. The truck was packed at 16 feet, which saved us about $200 (which paid for most of the hired help we received).
We began driving back to Springfield, Missouri to pick up our little Beatrice and stay the night with Monica's parents. We had a great feeling of "OMG, we can't believe what we just did" combined with "OMG, we can't believe how tired we are!" It took some tag-team driving, but we arrived safely at Grandma and Pawpaw's house at 12:30am!
The truck will be picked up by the ABF driver on Monday and will begin transport to Little Rock. It should arrive around Friday of this week. We are all tired and sick, but satisfied that one major hurdle to our pursuit of mortgage-free, ecological living has been passed! Now all we have to do is build us a deck, put up the yurt, build the interior loft, etc. But I think we have shown ourselves that much more is possible than we ever thought before!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Day Three
Today was really, really hard! Taking apart the floor is proving to be an arduous process, and loading up sheets of plywood onto the truck is tiring! We are still not done!!! We have our hired helper arriving at 7am to begin working without us, and we will show up at 7:30. Storms are set to begin around midday, so we don't have much time left-- not to mention that that rapture thing is supposed to happen! WE WILL GET DONE TOMORROW!!!!!
Thank you to Dawn Ryan and family for putting us up tonight! They are the best!
Thank you to Dawn Ryan and family for putting us up tonight! They are the best!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Day Two
Today was filled with a lot of hard work, but we learned a ton and still had fun! We hired a man off of Craigslist to help us, but he ended up getting sick before the end of the day! Dawn's 70 year-old mother, Eddie Sue, helped, and she was an inspiration to say the least! I think she may have out-worked all us younguns!
We loaded in the 500 pound woodburning stove, removed the vinyl covering that serves as the exterior wall and roof, and we removed the rafters and the center ring that hovers above it all! We are all achy and sore, but with a good night sleep, we will be ready to go tomorrow! Oh, I also learned a lot about using solar panels to generate power!
Tomorrow, we will need to take down the lattice walls, the door, the loft, and dismantle the deck! We are hiring TWO men to help us tomorrow and Eddie Sue has instisted that she will return to help as well! There is a lot of work to do tomorrow and we are hoping to get it all done, especially considering that, according to the weather report, tomorrow is our last sunny day! Send us your good thoughts and energies!!!! ONE DAY MORE!!!
We loaded in the 500 pound woodburning stove, removed the vinyl covering that serves as the exterior wall and roof, and we removed the rafters and the center ring that hovers above it all! We are all achy and sore, but with a good night sleep, we will be ready to go tomorrow! Oh, I also learned a lot about using solar panels to generate power!
Tomorrow, we will need to take down the lattice walls, the door, the loft, and dismantle the deck! We are hiring TWO men to help us tomorrow and Eddie Sue has instisted that she will return to help as well! There is a lot of work to do tomorrow and we are hoping to get it all done, especially considering that, according to the weather report, tomorrow is our last sunny day! Send us your good thoughts and energies!!!! ONE DAY MORE!!!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
DAY ONE
The past 48 hours have been a whirlwind for us! We left Beatrice with Monica's parents in Springfield on Monday, and we started driving to Indiana to pick up the yurt! Despite several attempts to actually enter yurts before, it may surprise some of you that neither Monica nor I have ever been in a yurt-- that is until yesterday!!! We spent last night in the yurt that will be our home, and it was so much fun! We also got to use the composting toilet, which was really not that bad at all! It kinda makes us wonder why we Westerners poop and pee in perfectly drinkable water and flush it down everyday! It really makes no sense when you think about it, especially when there are people around the world who don't even have enough water for their own citizens to drink!
Today, we began loading in all of the furniture, walls, and, yes, even the kitchen sink! We were a bit surprised to discover that the moving truck had to be parked a considerable distance from the yurt! However, Matt and Connie have a truck that we load up and drive to the moving van. It actually was a lot less trouble than we had feared! We had our friends, Dawn Ryan and family who live in Indianapolis come to help us, and we had a fabulous time visit as we worked together. Day one of moving was really wonderful!
Tomorrow, we will begin taking yurt apart, moving the wood-burning stove, and possibly even begin taking the deck apart. We have another friend, Dawn's mother, helping us tomorrow and we have hired someone who answered our ad on Craigslist. Stay tuned!!!
Today, we began loading in all of the furniture, walls, and, yes, even the kitchen sink! We were a bit surprised to discover that the moving truck had to be parked a considerable distance from the yurt! However, Matt and Connie have a truck that we load up and drive to the moving van. It actually was a lot less trouble than we had feared! We had our friends, Dawn Ryan and family who live in Indianapolis come to help us, and we had a fabulous time visit as we worked together. Day one of moving was really wonderful!
Tomorrow, we will begin taking yurt apart, moving the wood-burning stove, and possibly even begin taking the deck apart. We have another friend, Dawn's mother, helping us tomorrow and we have hired someone who answered our ad on Craigslist. Stay tuned!!!
Friday, May 13, 2011
4 More Days!
Though I can hardly believe I'm writing this, there are only four more days until we leave to pick up our yurt in Indiana! We're very excited, but also have a lot of concerns and worries. Will the truck be big enough? Do we have enough adults to dismantle the yurt and the platform? Do we have enough money for gas and food and all the other unforeseen things? This is a little scary, but we're taking it one day at a time.
We have had a little trouble getting help with the actual dismantling and move. My awesome cousin, handyman Mike, was blessed with a great new job, but that unfortunately meant he couldn't come with us. We'll definitely miss his spirit and his expertise! Then a friend from church who has grandkids in Indiana thought he could come along with his truck and a flat bed trailer. Sadly, we just heard from him today that he has a conflict after all. It was so wonderful of him to even offer, though!
So now, it's just us. One really strong but scrawny man, one really not scrawny but super scrappy woman, and one 12 year old who is way stronger than she looks. (The preschooler is exempt and is staying with Grandma!) The man we're buying the yurt from will be there to help, too. Can we do this? I think we can. We're going to try to find some local help in Indiana, perhaps through our local UU church or through some friends we have there. Wish us luck!
We're also gearing up for our fundraising and awareness-raising concert this Sunday night, at the UU church, at 7pm. It's us and five other super-talented friends of ours, singing songs we like and showing a short video about alternative and affordable housing. It's been fun to put together--I really hope we can raise the money we need to bring the yurt back! We've raised most of what we need through various extra jobs and shows, but we're still a bit short. Several people have already donated through the Paypal button on this blog, so we're off to a good start! (Thanks--you know who you are!)
We've decide on the spot for the yurt on our land--it's on a hill, near the front of the property, close to the garden. Very secluded and we can just SEE the yurt there, when we look at the space. Strangely, when we first moved to the land, it's where we put the campfire, even though it was very far away from the camper. Perhaps we knew it was the soul of the land and would eventually be the site of our hearth.
I could bore you with all sorts of details about composting toilets, hot water heaters, heirloom tomatoes, flooring options, etc., but I think that's enough for now. Besides, I have a million billion papers to grade and laundry to do and an ailing great-aunt to go visit. Much love to the cyber-world!
We have had a little trouble getting help with the actual dismantling and move. My awesome cousin, handyman Mike, was blessed with a great new job, but that unfortunately meant he couldn't come with us. We'll definitely miss his spirit and his expertise! Then a friend from church who has grandkids in Indiana thought he could come along with his truck and a flat bed trailer. Sadly, we just heard from him today that he has a conflict after all. It was so wonderful of him to even offer, though!
So now, it's just us. One really strong but scrawny man, one really not scrawny but super scrappy woman, and one 12 year old who is way stronger than she looks. (The preschooler is exempt and is staying with Grandma!) The man we're buying the yurt from will be there to help, too. Can we do this? I think we can. We're going to try to find some local help in Indiana, perhaps through our local UU church or through some friends we have there. Wish us luck!
We're also gearing up for our fundraising and awareness-raising concert this Sunday night, at the UU church, at 7pm. It's us and five other super-talented friends of ours, singing songs we like and showing a short video about alternative and affordable housing. It's been fun to put together--I really hope we can raise the money we need to bring the yurt back! We've raised most of what we need through various extra jobs and shows, but we're still a bit short. Several people have already donated through the Paypal button on this blog, so we're off to a good start! (Thanks--you know who you are!)
We've decide on the spot for the yurt on our land--it's on a hill, near the front of the property, close to the garden. Very secluded and we can just SEE the yurt there, when we look at the space. Strangely, when we first moved to the land, it's where we put the campfire, even though it was very far away from the camper. Perhaps we knew it was the soul of the land and would eventually be the site of our hearth.
I could bore you with all sorts of details about composting toilets, hot water heaters, heirloom tomatoes, flooring options, etc., but I think that's enough for now. Besides, I have a million billion papers to grade and laundry to do and an ailing great-aunt to go visit. Much love to the cyber-world!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Let Me Catch You Up. . .
I know, I know, I haven't written an entry in well over a month. Forgive me--I was holding possibilities so gently in my heart that I could not put it down on this blog. Much has transpired over the past six weeks! Some grass has been growing, although right now our land looks like a 14 year-old boy trying to grow a beard! Three garden boxes have been planted, filled with peas, kale, swiss chard, potatoes, carrots, spinach, romaine, and more. Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, beans, zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers will be planted starting April 15th. A Master Gardener friend cautioned me to never, ever plant warm season veggies before April 15th in central Arkansas. Since she's a "Master," I'm gonna stick to that rule!
We got a storage barn with 2 lofts--it's 14' by 16', I think. We moved most of our boxes and other storage stuff into it. We payed $225 down, and we pay about $140 a month for a couple of years. The crazy thing is, we still had so much room in the barn after moving all the stuff into the lofts that we decided to turn the main floor of it into a bedroom! We fit our queen bed, our couch, a twin bed, two dressers, and a TV comfortably into the barn. We even have a space for our seven new baby chicks and their heat lamp under the entertainment center! The cabin has a window that we've been putting a fan in when it gets hot. We also got an extension cord and put a power strip in the barn so that we can have lights, TV, and a space heater for cold nights. Are we crazy? Absolutely! But we love our "Magic Cabin," as we have dubbed it. We even hung up pictures and decorated with colored lights! It's much more comfortable sleeping there than in the camper. Of course, the kitchen and the bathroom are in the camper, so we spend lots of time there, too.
Let's see what else is going on? Oh, yeah--WE BOUGHT A YURT!!!!! There's a lovely family in Indiana who posted their yurt for sale on the internet. I'm a Facebook fan of the Tiny House Blog, which I HIGHLY recommend, and they happened to feature the classified ad on their Facebook page. I responded to it, asking if they would consider payment arrangements as opposed to immediate full payment. And omigoodness, they said YES! As it turns out, most people who are in the market for a used yurt don't have thousands of dollars laying around. We didn't have the time off or the extra money to make the trip to Indiana to see the yurt, but we had a friend who lives there go for us and take pictures. That, along with pictures from the owners, convinced us that this was a perfect choice for us. The yurt comes with all sorts of extras, including the wood for the deck, the loft, a large wood stove, kitchen counters, solar panels, a solar shower, a composting toilet, and many other goodies. The outside certainly has some wear, but the essentials are in excellent condition. And we can purchase new outer vinyl coverings from the company that made the yurt for a very affordable price down the road! We feel so blessed right now, and we can't wait to go pick up our yurt--we get it in the middle of May. The total price tag? $11,000, paid out over a year. Not bad, huh? We signed the contract and mailed it off just today!
We're still fairly worried/concerned about putting up the deck, siting the yurt, fixing some erosion problems, and affording things like water hook-ups and sod and all the little things we're not even thinking about. But we're working a LOT, trying to save money, and we're just going to take things one baby step at a time. Patience, patience, is the lesson for us on this journey. May we learn it easily and well!
Here's a couple of pictures of the yurt we've bought:
We got a storage barn with 2 lofts--it's 14' by 16', I think. We moved most of our boxes and other storage stuff into it. We payed $225 down, and we pay about $140 a month for a couple of years. The crazy thing is, we still had so much room in the barn after moving all the stuff into the lofts that we decided to turn the main floor of it into a bedroom! We fit our queen bed, our couch, a twin bed, two dressers, and a TV comfortably into the barn. We even have a space for our seven new baby chicks and their heat lamp under the entertainment center! The cabin has a window that we've been putting a fan in when it gets hot. We also got an extension cord and put a power strip in the barn so that we can have lights, TV, and a space heater for cold nights. Are we crazy? Absolutely! But we love our "Magic Cabin," as we have dubbed it. We even hung up pictures and decorated with colored lights! It's much more comfortable sleeping there than in the camper. Of course, the kitchen and the bathroom are in the camper, so we spend lots of time there, too.
Let's see what else is going on? Oh, yeah--WE BOUGHT A YURT!!!!! There's a lovely family in Indiana who posted their yurt for sale on the internet. I'm a Facebook fan of the Tiny House Blog, which I HIGHLY recommend, and they happened to feature the classified ad on their Facebook page. I responded to it, asking if they would consider payment arrangements as opposed to immediate full payment. And omigoodness, they said YES! As it turns out, most people who are in the market for a used yurt don't have thousands of dollars laying around. We didn't have the time off or the extra money to make the trip to Indiana to see the yurt, but we had a friend who lives there go for us and take pictures. That, along with pictures from the owners, convinced us that this was a perfect choice for us. The yurt comes with all sorts of extras, including the wood for the deck, the loft, a large wood stove, kitchen counters, solar panels, a solar shower, a composting toilet, and many other goodies. The outside certainly has some wear, but the essentials are in excellent condition. And we can purchase new outer vinyl coverings from the company that made the yurt for a very affordable price down the road! We feel so blessed right now, and we can't wait to go pick up our yurt--we get it in the middle of May. The total price tag? $11,000, paid out over a year. Not bad, huh? We signed the contract and mailed it off just today!
We're still fairly worried/concerned about putting up the deck, siting the yurt, fixing some erosion problems, and affording things like water hook-ups and sod and all the little things we're not even thinking about. But we're working a LOT, trying to save money, and we're just going to take things one baby step at a time. Patience, patience, is the lesson for us on this journey. May we learn it easily and well!
Here's a couple of pictures of the yurt we've bought:
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Winter Blahs
Leave it to us to choose to move into a camper in the country during the worst month of weather in a decade! I don't recall a winter in Arkansas with this much snow and freezing temps since I was little. Yes, we're staying warm. Yes, we're still certain of our decision to move here. But we are SICK of the winter!
The land is beautiful in the snow and we are happily planning our garden. But cabin fever--or shall we say, camper fever--is a problem. We're expecting a pretty hefty snow late tonight and most of tomorrow. Joy. We knew there would be times when this wasn't easy.
Meanwhile, Greg's show is supposed to open tonight. He's had a good time and he looks lovely with his new short haircut. I just secured a gig with the local wind symphony doing a historic portrait performance of a famous Little Rock woman for their summer fundraiser. Should be lots of fun.
I'm also working on an exciting new book about a forgotten bit of Civil Rights era history. I have high hopes that it will be published. We'll see. More shows coming up, and all that money is going to the yurt fund. Our goal for delivery of the yurt is 11/11/2011--isn't that perfect?! It's the ultimate wishing event!
We gave our heirloom seeds to a local master gardener that has her own nursery. She starts them for us for only $8 a flat! Try though I might, I can't seem to grow seeds inside. Plus, she invited Maddie and I to go over there every other Friday to work and learn. Maddie is going to take her herb seeds and learn about herb gardening. Wanna see where I buy my seeds? I just love it when these catalogs arrive in the mail! It's the perfect cure for the winter blues!
http://rareseeds.com/shop/
www.southernexposure.com
www.seedsavers.org
OK, I don't know why those last two wouldn't become a link, but you can copy and paste, right?
The land is beautiful in the snow and we are happily planning our garden. But cabin fever--or shall we say, camper fever--is a problem. We're expecting a pretty hefty snow late tonight and most of tomorrow. Joy. We knew there would be times when this wasn't easy.
Meanwhile, Greg's show is supposed to open tonight. He's had a good time and he looks lovely with his new short haircut. I just secured a gig with the local wind symphony doing a historic portrait performance of a famous Little Rock woman for their summer fundraiser. Should be lots of fun.
I'm also working on an exciting new book about a forgotten bit of Civil Rights era history. I have high hopes that it will be published. We'll see. More shows coming up, and all that money is going to the yurt fund. Our goal for delivery of the yurt is 11/11/2011--isn't that perfect?! It's the ultimate wishing event!
We gave our heirloom seeds to a local master gardener that has her own nursery. She starts them for us for only $8 a flat! Try though I might, I can't seem to grow seeds inside. Plus, she invited Maddie and I to go over there every other Friday to work and learn. Maddie is going to take her herb seeds and learn about herb gardening. Wanna see where I buy my seeds? I just love it when these catalogs arrive in the mail! It's the perfect cure for the winter blues!
http://rareseeds.com/shop/
www.southernexposure.com
www.seedsavers.org
OK, I don't know why those last two wouldn't become a link, but you can copy and paste, right?
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