Mac Smith, our contractor, has started building the yurt platform that will be the foundation of our new 27' Rainier Eagle yurt. We are excited to add this building to our Kitsap property. The holes were drilled today, and he will spend the next week building the platfrom, with the help of volunteer Don Nolte.

Stay tuned for more pictures as the platform is built and the yurt is raised.

Once the floor was installed in the yurt, it was time to think about lights and electricity. Volunteers Scott & Martha Eby and Brian Lindvall started the wiring process, but once they encountered some obstacles, it was time to call in a professional. But where to find help when our budget was almost depleted?

After a few phone calls, we found Greg Fairley, Spectrum Electric, who came to the rescue - donating expertise, ideas and lots and lots of time to our project. 

Our first challenge was deciding what type of light fixtures to put in the yurt. We wanted to preserve the beautiful lines of the inside of the roof while providing general lighting for the entire space. We had been stumped until Greg game up with the idea of using track lighting on the rafters. It was a brilliant solution and we are thrilled with the results.

This project took many more hours than originally estimated, and Greg worked 12 hours that first day to make sure that we had lights working for the Yurt Open House that started Memorial Day Weekend for the opening of our spring show, Fiddler on the Roof. 

The work was completed in July and we now have lights and electricity in the yurt shed as well as the yurt. Greg was helped by Steve Hamilton in completing this project, and we thank both of them for their many hours of volunteer labor on this project. If you need any electrical work done at your home or business, we recommend Greg Fairley and Spectrum Electric very highly. Not only was the work top-notch and professional, Greg's good humor and willingness to tackle all of the challenges with a "can-do" attitude was very much appreciated. Greg, you rock!!!

As an added bonus, after volunteering many hours on this project, Steve applied for and was chosen as the caretaker for the Kitsap property. We are thrilled to continue our working relationship with him.

How do you find an affordable floor to finish the unique yurt when you are on a budget? We solved that problem by finding some beautiful oak flooring on craigslist that was being removed from a house set for demolition. With a lot of volunteer labor, time, and sweat, plus one talented craftsman – we went from the picture on the left to the picture on the right. To see more pictures of this journey, please go to our photo gallery, click on "Yurt at Kitsap" and go to photos #55-#64.

Thanks to Craig McCoy for providing the truck and volunteer time to help load the flooring, transport it to Kitsap, and start grinding off the nails. Josh Brown, Brian Lindvall, Trey Morgan, Gail Foster, Nancy Estill and Gala Lindvall all helped with the grinding, wiping and stacking of the wood. It took three days of work to go from the flooring at the original house to the flooring stacked in the shed ready for installation.

Special thanks to Chris Greyell from Milllwork Installations for providing the expertise and spending an entire weekend from dawn to dusk laying the floor. He was helped by Trey Morgan, son of Angela Morgan, a cast member of our spring show, Fiddler on the Roof. 

One of the joys of working on shows at the Kitsap Forest Theater is meeting new people – and finding actors and their family members who immediately start jumping in to help with roofing projects, felling trees, cleaning up, cooking and keeping this place humming. We thank everyone who helped with the yurt, and who help all around the property. You are all continuing a Mountaineers tradtion that started in 1923, and hopefully will continue for many more generations.