October 23, 2006

Well, we finally figured out what the bear was after. We recently went back up to the tepee to bear proof as much as possible and discovered a small bag that was zipped closed that we had forgotten about. It had a few scented candles (cinnamon and vanilla) in it which is most likely what the bear smelled in the tepee because the paw prints were just on the other side of the canvas where the bag was stored. We felt like such idiots when we figured out the source of our little problem. Since the last bear incident we have been staying with Kirk’s parents because we were afraid that the bear was after us and it seemed as if it wasn’t afraid of humans anymore. We luckily ran into a Department of Wildlife guy in town that gave us a lot of good information. He said the bear is just doing its last minute scavenging before it hibernates and that usually they have a circular track where they make rounds every couple of days to look for food. Obviously our property is on that track and we need to break its memory that there was any source of food there. If not it may come back after hibernating in search of food again. He gave us some M-80’s and some rubber buckshot just in case we need them. However, he told us that even if you have a shotgun, you better know how to shoot under duress and you better shoot to kill. That means never shoot them in the head because their skulls are too thick. Shoot them behind the shoulder where their heart is. If you happen to miss the bear or shoot it without killing it, you will succeed in just pissing it off and it will for sure pursue you at that point. Yikes! Kirk does have a shotgun, but we haven’t been keeping it up at the tepee because we haven’t had a reason to up until now. The DOW guy also told us to put some ammonia around because the smell is so strong that it will kill the smell of anything else. That was good advice because it seemed to work. We put ammonia inside the tepee and all around it. We also put it around our composter and our shed. When we went back up to the tepee there were no signs that the bear had returned. It had snowed and there were no tracks to be found around the tepee or anywhere on our property that we could see. We think the bear has either gone into hibernation or just realized there was no food for him on our property. Whew!

We are still staying with Kirk’s parents though because we are still a little traumatized by the whole thing. It’s pretty scary knowing the only thing between you and a hungry bear is about 5 feet and a sheet of canvas. In the meantime, Kirk and I have been offered a pretty sweet house sitting gig in town. A local businessman and his wife have a large house with a guesthouse behind it. They asked us to stay in the guesthouse and caretake the property while they spend the winter in Arizona. We eagerly said yes since it sits on a private pond that you can ice-skate on in the winter, it has an outdoor hot tub, it’s very cozy and it even has a steam shower and a guest bed as well as being in a beautiful location. We feel a little defeated since we had made up our minds to winter in the tepee before the bear incident, but we’re also ready for a little comfort. One thing we really miss is having a real kitchen to cook in. We didn’t get to cook much at Pole, so we really enjoy it now especially since it is getting colder out and it feels like baking season. Personally I’m also excited to unpack some things for a little while. I realized just the other day that Kirk and I have been living out of a suitcase now for 3 years (the duration of our marriage). All of our stuff is still in storage and will remain there until our house is finished. If anything that is good incentive to get it finished faster!

Speaking of the house, we’re almost done with our house plans (I know we keep saying that!), but they’re kind of on the back burner right now. Our business has suddenly become pretty busy, so as soon as we slow down again we’ll be able to finish up the house plans. It’s exciting though the closer we get fine tuning the details.

Our shower/camp toilet facility 

Our bedroom in the tepee (our tent) 

October 11, 2006

Ugh! Stupid Bear! We finally went back up to the tepee last night to check on it and see if our little friend had come back or not. We haven’t been up to our property since last Friday morning after the first bear incident. We were in Denver for the weekend for a wedding and then came back late on Sunday night so we stayed with Kirk’s parents in BV. Monday the weather was cold, rainy and dreary so we decided to stay one more night at Kirk’s parent’s house. We woke up Tuesday morning with a dusting of snow everywhere. It was lovely! We were kind of sad we hadn’t stayed up at the tepee since we know it would have been a beautiful sight up there with the snow covering the ground. It ended up being a sunny warm day so the snow melted quickly. We headed up to the tepee last night in the late afternoon so that we could still have the daylight to check it out. We decided to stay since it didn’t look like the bear had been back while we were away. When we were ready for bed, Kirk tied the tepee door closed as best as he could to secure it from the inside. Then he put a tarp on the inside of the tepee door and wedged it between the poles and the inside of the door so that if the bear came back and tried to get in we’d hear the crinkling of the tarp right away. The wind was cranking last night and the tepee poles were steadily creaking. Believe it or not, the tepee barely moves in high winds, but because the poles all lean into one another at the top, when they shift they creak. Not in a way where it feels like it will fall down though. It’s a pretty sturdy structure. The wind made it hard to sleep soundly all night. Anyway, while we were both still half asleep we heard the sounds of an animal on the tepee at about 5am this morning. Immediately following that we heard the crinkling of the tarp being moved around. Kirk thought maybe he didn’t hear me get up and I was going out to use the bathroom and I thought the same thing about him. Then Kirk said, “Jodi is that you?” I said, “NO! I’m right here!” We started yelling and grabbed the whistles that Kirk’s mom gave us and started blowing on them to scare the bear away. The noises didn’t stop right away. Obviously the bear has become braver because he kept trying to get in for a few seconds (which seemed like a lot longer!). Then we heard it banging around outside. We figured it was trying to get into our composter. Eventually it went away and we laid there waiting for the sun to come up. We cautiously emerged from the tepee and saw that the bear had gotten into a trash can that we had outside. We didn’t think it had any trash in it because we never use it. When some friends came to visit several weeks ago they must have thrown their trash in there because there wasn’t a lot, but there was trash strewn around.

We are very sad. We thought that the bear was just scavenging before hibernating and that it would leave us alone. Apparently now it is curious because it came back and this time went straight for the door. Fortunately he hasn’t figured out that he can claw into the tepee, but we don’t want to be there if he does. We’re trying to figure out what our next move is. We’re considering renting an apartment in town. We’re bummed that it feels like we’re being kicked off our property even though we realize the animals were there first.

Muddy paw prints on the lower part of the door flap and door hole 

Paw prints left by our visitor 

Sunrise October 6th 

October 6, 2006

Yikes! Last night I woke up to the sounds of something of significant size coming in the tepee. We are used to hearing the occasional scurrying of rodents and sometimes hear them try to come in by running around between the tepee liner and the tepee. Sometimes they succeed but most of the time they don't. We think they must be after the warmth because we don’t keep any food in the tepee since we really aren’t interested in attracting animals into our home. Well, Kirk didn’t hear anything because he had his earplugs in. We sometimes wear earplugs because the wind kicks up in the middle of the night which makes the tepee poles creak loudly. I’ve become used to the wind and the creaking so I don’t wear my earplugs as often anymore. Thankfully I didn't because I was able to hear this animal pawing the canvas and trying to get in. I thought it was probably one of our friendly little ground squirrels. Then I heard a loud thump like something big was knocked over inside the tepee. I freaked out, sat up and shook Kirk screeching, “There’s something inside the tepee!”. Kirk woke up cranky because he thought I was overreacting to a rodent. When I woke Kirk up I must have scared it off because I heard whatever it was thump around outside of the tepee. I figured I could unzip our tent and take a peak through a little slit to make sure the coast was clear. I saw the canvas door to the tepee was open. That’s very unusual. Even in high winds that door never blows open so I knew something had come in the tepee through the door. I told Kirk to take a look and he immediately wasn’t cranky anymore when he realized I wasn’t overreacting. He saw a big rip down the side of the oval door hole. We were hesitant to get out of the safety of our little 3 man tent (even though it’s not really “safe”) but we emerged slowly to take a look. Thankfully whatever it was wasn’t curious enough to come after us in the tent and was scared off by my voice. We keep pepper spray in our tent for just this reason so we had that in hand ready to fire just in case. We were sad to see the tepee was ripped and as we looked it over the thoughts were settling in that whatever it was had big enough claws to puncture the tepee and put a nice 8” rip down the side. Eek! Kirk proceeded to mark his territory around the tepee in the hopes in might help to keep it from coming back. We searched for any reason why it might have come in the tepee. We think it was because I had used a handy wipe on my hands before going to bed that had a lemon scent. I threw it in the trash inside the tepee. Kirk also had his bathroom kit with shampoo and toothpaste hanging inside from the tepee liner. That’s the only thing we had in there that could have possibly smelled like food. We figured it was most likely a bear that was trying to scavenge some last minute food before hibernating. Bears are known to be curious animals so he also could have just been seeing what this crazy cone shaped thing was that was erected on the ground.

We were both a little wigged out so we moved our sleeping bags into the back of the truck and slept there making sure to lock the topper. We had a crappy restless night of sleep, but woke up to an amazing sunrise. We checked out the tepee as the sun was brightening everything around us and saw muddy paw prints on the side of the tepee as well as mud prints on the door. Yep, it sure was a bear. I proceeded to sew up the rip and curse our little friend. Hopefully he won’t come back.

This is the first incident we have had of this nature. So considering that we've been there since early June I guess that's not too bad.

Jack Frost arrived this morning at the tepee

Kirk making pancakes in our kitchen 

Kirk with his prizes after the race 

Now that's a happy 2nd Place Weiner! 

October 1, 2006

We woke up this morning early because Kirk was participating in a mountain bike race. The sunrise was absolutely breathtaking! The sun’s rays illuminated the aspen grove across the road and made it look as if it were on fire. I quickly grabbed my camera to shoot some photos before that amazing light disappeared. We made a nice breakfast of pancakes so that Kirk would have good fuel for his race. Then we packed up and drove to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs where the race was to start. The race was about 7 miles straight up Mt. Princeton. Kirk loves to ride uphill so he was excited about this race. He has participated in a couple other mountain bike races this past summer and has come very close to placing, but always left without a prize. He didn’t even win anything in the raffles they have during the awards ceremony. So he was determined to try and win this one. I dropped him off so I could run some errands in town. After the race he rode his bike over to his parent’s house to meet me since they live so close to the Hot Springs. He rolled in and told me he thought he did well in the race. We drove back to the Hot Springs to attend the awards ceremony. About 50 people participated in the race. The first place winner went to a kid in his early twenties who finished in just under and hour. We’re not sure how Kirk placed overall, but he was 2nd in his division (men age 30-39 expert) coming in at 1 hour and 14 minutes! He was awarded a painted tile that has the race name and 2nd place on it as well as a $15 check. We were both so happy! They were doing raffles of great prizes and I kept praying Kirk would win something. Well he ended up winning the very last prize they gave out in the raffle which was 2 baseball hats, a t-shirt, a bike stem, and a $100 gift certificate. Woohoo! Finally! Kirk decided he is going to try to get sponsorship since he has been riding over the finish line with sponsored riders in every race. He has a really nice Airborne titanium disc brake mountain bike that he purchased on a pro deal while at Pole. He loves the bike and wrote the company to see about getting a sponsorship from them. We’ll see what happens!

We drove home later that afternoon and were so sad to see that the wind had stripped the aspens of their leaves. Good thing I took a picture that morning!

All I can say is, "Wow!" 

Sunrise at the tepee 

Pink peaks in the sunrise 

Rays of morning firelight on the trees  

The same day the wind came and stripped the trees

October 1, 2006

Well, good news! We received our septic and driveway permits. Now we just need to get our building permit. Kirk and I worked on our house plans on Saturday and they are coming along nicely. We expect to be able to submit them sometime in the next couple of weeks. It’s coming together even though it’s been really hard to go through so many iterations of plans trying to work out how much square footage we need and how to fit everything into that space. You would not believe how many house plans we have made. Kirk actually started a set at Pole and we came up with several different plans while there. Then after coming back to our property and actually living there for the summer we changed our minds about many things. That’s the great thing about actually living on your property prior to building though is figuring out what will work best at the site through witnessing the weather, the natural light at different times of the day and just getting a general feel for how it will be to actually live there permanently.

We started with a rectangular design with about 1000 square feet of space including 2 bedrooms and one bathroom. We like the idea of the living, dining and kitchen being all part of an open type space. This is because I am a very social person and enjoy throwing parties. Having an open kitchen that communicates with the rest of the living space just feels right since that is typically where a party tends to congregate. So we started with those thoughts in mind and I think I made at least 100 different floor plans. Our architect friends gave us their input and told me that my plans were a little too crammed. They also gave us some great plan ideas. Then I had a friend email me a website with plans of some modern prefabed homes. I loved the plans! So I took one of those floorplans and modified it to our liking. As of yesterday I think I finally have it the way we want it. It took a long time to figure it all out, but with a lot of other people’s input and our own ideas we sorted it out. Now I just need to get the final details on the drawings in order to submit them. It looks like we’ll have to have a structural stamp for our foundation and roof plans, but thankfully we have a couple of friends that will do that for us. We ended up with a plan that is about 1400 square feet of exterior space and 1200 square feet of interior space. We managed to put in 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a loft. It will be a modern looking house with 2 flat roofed spaces split by a high walled entry area with a shed roof in between. We think it will be beautiful and very functional for us.

The foundation will be slab on grade so we won’t have a crawlspace or a basement. That’s just fine with us though because for a solar home it actually works better to have a slab on grade foundation that is insulated. It also isn’t really worth it to us to pay extra for square footage that will only be for storage anyway. We plan on making our garage big enough for plenty of storage and we’ll have our 8x12 shed as well. Our philosophy has become that the more space you have the more you fill it with "stuff". We already have enough "stuff" and we really don’t feel it’s necessary to acquire more. It’s funny though. Everyone seems to think that when you build a house it should be your Barbie Mansion Dreamhouse. That just doesn’t fit our lifestyle. As you probably have figured out by now we are kind of minimalists. We are also trying to do this without a mortgage. The whole idea of owning a house free and clear is very appealing. We look at it as we traded our lives of quantity in Denver for lives of quality here in Buena Vista. We hope to only have to work part time so that we can go out and enjoy the big playground of outdoor opportunities that surround us. We can’t wait to leave a message on our phone saying, "You’ll have to call us back tomorrow...it’s a powder day!". This is the life we dreamed of while at Pole. Now it’s finally happening. Sometimes it’s surreal and we think, "Oh my gosh, what if this is all a dream and I’ll wake up back at Pole." Ugh! But then we look around us and realize it really is happening. I know sometimes I make it seem like everything is so great. Well, honestly we have our struggles just like everyone else. But it does feel so good to appreciate what life has given us now knowing how low we can actually feel like we did at Pole for our second year. In the end Pole gave us a better outlook on everything here despite the hardships of every day life. I don’t regret going to Pole for that reason, but I know now that I would never go back. I wasn’t so sure about that when we were about to leave Pole and even while we traveled. But after being home I realize that I want some roots. I want to unpack our stuff out of our storage unit and have a house and home to call our own.

My sister and I were talking and she said, "You and Kirk certainly haven’t chosen the easiest path for your first couple years of marriage." Isn’t that the truth! But in our challenges we feel great accomplishment. Sometimes we get muddled in the process, but we always seem to make it through. I guess we both like to challenge ourselves and we’ve found that we enjoy experiencing life in an unconventional way. Occasionally it gets to me and I get impatient. I mean, I’m very ready to have a house, but I’m not ready to move out of the tepee into a rental situation. Everyone keeps asking us how long we’re planning on sticking it out there. We don’t know, but certainly as long as we can. Yes, sometimes it’s inconvenient and sometimes it’s chilly, but it’s also wonderful to wake up everyday knowing the land you are standing on is yours. No one can take it away, you don’t owe anyone for it and it’s surrounded by beauty. That’s what makes it so worth it to live in the tepee. I honestly think we would get depressed if we move out and move into a rental house in town. It’s not that we’re not willing to. If it gets cold enough we’ll do it. We have heard of other people living in tepees (and I’m not talking about Indians) through the winter, so realistically we think we can too. My dad thinks I should have been born in the pioneer days. I think that’s hilarious. I’m not a pioneer by any means and I’m not really all that tough. I think the American people’s visions of life nowadays are just watered down with materialism and necessities that really aren’t necessary. All we really need in life is food, water, clothing, shelter and heat. We have all of those things. We cook our meals in our shed on our campstove. We have several 5 gallon jugs that we fill with water at the park in town (for free..yes we’re dirtbags) and haul up to our land. We have plenty of clothing and lots and lots of fleece. We have a tepee and a shed for shelter and we heat the tepee with the patio heater. We also have several down sleeping bags for warmth. So there you have it. All the basics are covered.