Now, this is impressive to watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=RobaJKGMMiE

The ger is gonna work real nice

After being up for a week, I took it down today with minimal help. I figured out how to put the roof on and off by myself. At this point I have to:

glue the second roof ring together
make 8 more rafters
add the pins to the second set of door frames
assemble the second khana (we're ripping the last of the wood tomorrow)
Modify roof #2
Cut and hem the second set of wall canvas
Paint the second ger (khana is pre painted prior to assembly already)

And I have 2 weeks to do this. Its gonna be busy but can do most of the canvas work while I watch tv at night and I plan to glue the ring tonight. My goal is to set up both gers with canvas in 2 weeks. That leaves 2 weekends to repack the camp gear and resupply.

Blueberry... yummm!!

I racked the blueberry mead the other night and sampled it. This is a
good mead. :) I will definitely be making more of this stuff because it
won't last. :)

Instinct is a good thing...

This morning I noticed Tigger starting to do nature's thing and quickly
got him in to the litter box. Once he was done, instinct kicked in and
he covered it up. Hopefully litter training will go quickly.

another expensive day

It isn't cheap being a home brewer, but well worth it in the end and I
will save money in the long run. I just ordered almost $200 in
equipment, but that is another carboy (I have 4 now), bottle washer &
drying stand, 10 gallon fermenter for the fruit wines (fruit takes alot
of space in the bucket), corks, some bottles, airlocks, and other odds
and ends. Since the blueberry and apple are pretty well done I need to
do one more racking before I bottle in another month. Pretty much
everything is ready to rack off into other containers now, and I'm all
out of carboys. The good part is with the exception of cleaning supplies
and corks, everything I have bought so far is reusable from batch to
batch, so it gets cheaper from here on. All I should need to buy is some
more carboys on occasion as I start more batches of mead or wine. I
figure a batch ties up a carboy for at least 3 and maybe as much as 6
months, so I'll end up buying another 6 or so carboys in the next 6
months. That'll give me the capacity of 8 6 gallon batches in progress
at any one time with one empty for racking when needed.

New kitten(s)

We have 2 7 week old kittens right now. Fred is going to keep one of
them but Tigger, the male, is ours. We have the baby gate up in the hall
to keep the kittens in the kitchen & living room for now until they get
a little bigger.

OMFG that's good *#$&

I racked the strawberry wine to the carboy after 2 weeks in the bucket.
Well, let's put it this way... This is some good #($&!! It's at 17.25%
alcohol based on the math and tastes good! :) I may very well bring some
to Quest.

Getting closer...

$170 later and I am almost done with ger #2.

We have canvas.. :)

The canvas is here for the roofs. :) Now to see how they fit this
weekend. I'm fighting the urge to unpack them now.

Good customer service

Ok, so I ordered rope a month or so ago for the Ger and request 35'
lengths. I got one piece at 25'. I called today and they are shipping a
35' piece at no charge to correct the mistake. Now, that is what
customer service is supposed to be. :)

I should have canvas any time now

According to UPS, the canvas is on the truck for delivery. :) I should
be able to check the fit Sunday perhaps.

The ger is progressing

I bought the canvas drop cloth for the walls for one ger today. I'll
work on those over the next few weeks. All I need to do is split it down
the middle and sew it together to make a 30'x6' piece. The rafters are
starting to look sharp - yellow. The ring will be red. The sun will
always shine inside our Gers. :)

Hardware wars

I so remember this as a kid!!!!

The canvas shipped

I got shipping confirmation today. The canvas should be here Friday. :)

Ger update

Yesterday I ordered 2 20'x20' canvas tarps for the 2 Gers. I hope they
don't take too long to come, but I do have a few weeks before I really
need them. $500 out the door just like that... ouch.

New photos in the galleries.

I just uploaded cabin party photos and some others to the galleries.

Ger update

I just got done redesigning the door frames for the ger because I found
a design flaw that could have led to catastrophic failure of the door
frames. If this had happened, the entire roof would collapse. The ger
page is updated with details and photos.

Drum Roll, Please....

The full sized ger is a thing of beauty. I set it up in the back yard today, minus canvas.

Final dimension when set up:

• +/- 16' diameter
• 5'10" ground to roof band
• 8'9" ground to bottom of roof ring

Photos are up on the site for anyone who wants to see.

http://irvinefamily.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68:full-size-ger&catid=46:yurt&Itemid=63