CardiganHideaway

A great winter slide show of a yurt weekend!

2012-01-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

One of our guests made this after her MLK weekend at the yurt, 2012. It was COLD!

Google Earth view of the trails at Cardigan Hideaway

2011-12-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

And these

2011-12-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

Jackpot on the critter cam!

2011-12-27T05:52:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, Ric took the critter cam to the top of the property. We had seen even the first year we owned the property that the moose were bedding down up there in the winter. Yesterday, he went up the snowy slope to change the card. He not only saw two moose up there, we have many movie clips of moose! Enjoy.

Spring!

2011-04-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost spring at the yurt - more like mud season up there. Went up today to start doing some spring chores. Took up some vinca for the slope next to the yurt, and a bunch of raspberry canes - they're overgrown at our house, so we really need to get them going up at the yurt - I'd hate to move up there and have no raspberries! I'll do some more digging in the garden and get some more up there on Sunday. And dig out a bit more vinca for the slope. MMM. . . next? Probably rhubarb.

Also took a walk up there today with dog along the road. Some some HUGE turkey tracks right done one side of the road, but lost them before we got back to the property. Also saw a tree across the street with a HUGE pile of fresh wood chips at the bottom from a woodpecker. The pile was probably two feet deep. All in all, a good day. And Monday, it's going to near 70! Yippie!

Winter pics of the yurt

2010-12-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

First pic is now from 12/30/10. I shoveled, the snow from roof dumped on deck, shoveled again - but most of it melted over New Year's weekend.

Winter is finally readied. . . on to the dreaming part.

2010-12-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

I broke down last week and had a cord of wood delivered and stacked by two nice young men. That means that I don't have to fuss any more about winter at the yurt, or worry that every time I go spend a couple of days, I'll be denying guests warmth! That's a good thing!

Now I'm looking forward to "what next?" Another yurt is too expensive for the time being, but I want to be able to stay up there while I have guests - to be able to take advantage of weather for working at the property. So . . . . next year is "tent year." By "tent," I mean a semi-permanent affair that I can stay in and work closer to the house site. I've pretty much picked out the tent, but not size. Colorado yurt makes some great tents designed to go on platforms. Now I just have to pick out the size, and decide how to furnish it, decide on how to store tent things in the winter, etc. It will have chimney hole, so it will be at least a three season tent!

I tend to think about all kinds of things such as Log furniture, or something more storable? Reenactment themed, or just practical? Bear-proof food storage - home made or seriously industrial? All to be decided in the coming months. For now, it's off to find some wrapping paper, scissors, and ribbon. I made cookies all morning, and I seriously don't have the energy do much else for a bit.

Enough wood for the winter?

2010-12-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

It seems as though the fall is generally a time of stacking wood, moving wood, collecting kindling, and generally trying to get ready for the long winter. I started out thinking that we had plenty of wood for the winter. We've been busy with a lot of guests, however, and each time someone left, I replenished the wood pile with as much wood as could get on the deck to replace it. Well, the snow is about to fly, and all but a few sticks are on the deck! I spent the last two days replenishing our kindling box by dragging downed wood out of the woods surrounding the yurt, and not a small amount from the trees blown down by storms over the last few year along the road. For the amount of effort I've expended, we have pitifully little to show for it. The kindling box is full, and i've stuffed more kindling in spaces between larger logs in the big, covered woodpile. I'm still thinking that I'm going to have to limit rentals until spring, however.

I'll try to get up there later this week and get as much as I can, but once we get more than a couple of inches, it's almost impossible to harvest much. One change I'll make: Ski pants! It was cold up there!

Fall is winding down

2010-11-14T17:00:00.000-08:00

I have two sets of renters set to come next weekend and over Thanksgiving. Good thing Ric and I finished getting the yurt ready for winter this past weekend! Stacked more wood on the deck, got it under cover, cleaned the chimney, and Ric recaulked the chimney rain diverter to the chimney. All set now. I found this pic of the yurt from last year on my computer. There is a wood pile to the left as you look at the pic now, and the outdoor shower is down for the year.

The generator shed is done. . .

2010-10-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Except for the painting and tacking some shingles to the top. And I finally finished the "loveable loo." It's operational!

Getting down to the point where all the projects will be log-built. Now that the generator home is built, it's on to the new wood shed and outdoor shower.

The weather wasn't so great there this week until today, but the leaves are great to be in all the same. Here's a shot I took on the road to the yurt.

Fall is here!

2010-09-24T17:01:00.000-07:00

I had some great days working at the yurt this week - had to come home to go to a legal education course today - but I'll be back up there tomorrow. Working on a permanent home for the generator - eventually there will be a new wood pile - not sure if it's going to get done this year or not.

The weather this week - until today - has been great - cool mornings, and temps not over 80 - one day it stayed below 70 all day - got a lot of work done! I love those temps.

Here's the new generator home - not yet finished. I bought a heavy (13/16) sheet of plywood to top it - to hold the huge snow load that will slide down from the roof - it's too big for me to get it to the sawhorse to cut it - so Ric will help me do that Sat or Sunday - meanwhile, I still have to make the front doors and paint it.

Since I just recently knocked down the framework for the old woodshed there, this is the first time the NE window had been rolled up to admit light to the yurt. Turns out, with three other windows, it doesn't add that much more. . . . but at least the view isn't of the back of the woodpile. . . I'll head up tomorrow to work on the front door for the shed.

Also - I now have email at the yurt via my new phone. Web inquiries welcome. Even if you want to stop by to visit, CardiganHideaway@comcast.net

Welcome to Cardigan Hideaway's blog

2010-08-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

I'll try to post as often as I can here. Let's start out with why Cardigan Hideaway exists. This all goes back to our 15th wedding anniversary in 2004. We had been living in the city for four years, and I wanted to get away to someplace dark and quiet. It was the first four years of our marriage that we had lived in the city. I made arrangements to go to a hunting camp for a weekend - and paid a huge amount of money to do so. When we got there, the quaint gas-lights of the cabin turned into a noisy generator that ran 24/7. Worse, they had placed a flag on their waterfront, and lighted the flag pole all night - so our "dark, quiet weekend" was anything but. Actually we did have a good time during the day on that weekend - we went biking and kayaking in the area - and it was as remote as promised - we saw a mamma and baby moose on our kayak ride, as well as some loons on the lake. Fast forward to a few years - I had always thought we'd retire to the White Mountains, but Ric had other ideas. I spent some time looking for a large piece of land in SW NH, but the prices weren't very good for what I wanted, and I found that many of the properties came with deed restrictions - I wanted some place we could have the family for parties eventually. The plan is to eventually have three or four yurts or tents and a retirement home for central gatherings. We started small, with one yurt, closer to the road. That still isn't bad, because our property is bounded by state forest, front and back, so we'll never have neighbors across the street. We can walk from the yurt straight to the top of Mt. Cardigan and never run into another home within sight of the street - we do have one neighbor to the north who is building a home further back on his property, so that will never change.

So - it's plenty dark. The only night sounds, aside from the very occasional car going by, are those of nature - water and critters. We have a critter cam on the property, and have caught deer, moose, bear, bobcat, turkey, fox. That's about it for why it exists.