Portland has been experiencing an unusually long, warm, and dry autumn, but on Friday, after nearly two months of rain-free days, the dry spell was broken. For the first rainstorm of the season it was pretty impressive. All day long it poured buckets and people scrambled from building to building. As the ground became saturated and the leaves clogged up the gutters the puddles in the potholes became little lakes in the streets. I hadn’t brought my rain pants to school with me, so I was drenched by the time my bike and I made it home again. But once I was there I was delighted by the experience of rain on my Home, Sweet Yurt. The drumming of raindrops on the skylight is really a magical sound.
My dear friend Sarah arrived in town just as I got home and it was nice to share the rainy evening with her. We cooked up delicious burritos and then enjoyed tea and chocolate as we listened to the rain. Sarah is a hardy soul and she’s lived on a farm in a tent with an outdoor kitchen so I knew she would like my new abode. But she has a lower body fat ratio than I do so when she started shivering I decided it was time to get my Envi heater set up.
I hauled it out of the box and remembered that the Envi Heat doesn’t work unless it’s hung on a flat wall, 8 inches from the floor. I glanced around, remembering that in the yurt I don’t have any flat walls! So I decided to attach it to my dresser. With the help of a screwdriver and the included template it was installed, plugged in, and heating the house within 10 minutes. I’ve kept it on the lowest setting ever since plugging it in and it’s been very cozy.
On Saturday I spent a couple hours helping Derin build the walls of the gable ends of his UrbaNest tiny house. Then Sarah and I had a great time exploring Portland, including breakfast at Pine State Biscuits, wandering along Belmont, a pot of chai tea at Tao of Tea, a couple hours in the kids’ section at Powell’s, bacon maple Voodoo donuts, and a stroll along the waterfront. It was a lovely way to spend the first rainy weekend of the season!