Snow Blown

We set up the ger on Saturday, Sunday we had a mini blizzard, about 2" of blowing snow. I just came in from sweeping most of the snow from the roof of the ger, and it looks like we'll have a couple days of sunshine coming up...

It does look nice - inspirational in a challenging Winter.

The woodstove is the "Sheepherder's" model, a name which delighted Urnaa, my Mongolian visitor.

The stove still needs a little adjustment - another section of stovepipe and more protection where the pipe goes through the roof.

One more note - Browser, my cat, was attacked Saturday night, possibly by a coyote (they're howling every night now, very close). He's coming around, favoring his rear right paw, but is otherwise uninjured except for some matted hair on his back. This morning, 36 hours later, he's still a little shaken. He'll be more cautious from here on...

Mongolia Calling!

My old friend Bari (we met about 27 years ago at Lama Foundation) and his new wife from Mongolia, Urnaa, came to visit, set up and blessed the ger, and spent the night. Her many insights and affinity for the lifestyle greatly added to my continuing education in Mongolian cloud houses.

Video of the blessing in Mongolian...

The weather, very warm for the first day of March - about 60º - makes mud still a real problem, but because of the cold nights, at least it's melting fairly slowly.

The road to my driveway...

I've been diligently keeping the dug footings for the new addition dry after chipping out the accumulated snow and ice. The boards over the trench let me easily throw a tarp over the whole thing when snow or rain threaten (like today).

We've made a list of materials for the next step - creating the forms for the concrete and all the structural, plumbing, and electrical doodads that will be a part of it.