Back with a separate and probably last blog till this summer....to speak more on Ole man winter not leaving Southwest Va as of yet.

  Southwest Va has been dumped on by ole man winter once again with his wrath of unmerciful cold and snow. Well, perhaps the cold wasn't as much as in the past 3 or 5 weeks (in the negative digits) but it got in the teens again with arctic cold blast of winds with record snow falls for many areas in the southern states of Southeastern U.S.
 
   Parts of southern Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina was dealing with unusual weather conditions with some areas  not equipped to deal with.  Atlanta was one of the most hardest hit areas with no idea how to handle such cold and icy snow conditions.  Even though Blue Ridge Mountains in our location has known what snow and ice can dish out, the conditions became a challenge for us as well with the last storm that hit this area recently.

   With snow fall measuring from 18" to 25" in Carroll and Floyd county along with many other counties,  people were having to deal with life threatening decisions of trying to get to work or just becoming a hermit for a few days till road conditions were safe to continue on.  Many businesses closed due to the weather conditions and of course a lot of employees deciding that it is just too dangerous to hit the roads that V-Dot hadn't even touched yet.  The first 24 hrs of the storm it was all V-Dot could do to "try" to keep the interstates passable.  Main roads were beginning to get to cleared off within 72 hrs of the storm starting.

   With our road on the third and last list of roads to be cleared (dirt road) we had a local farmer come down with his truck and blade and cleared off a single route.  However, our drive is long and downhill so we stayed put for the entirety of the storm and then some.  Fortunately for us Steve and I didn't have a need to run to the store for "milk and bread" like every else seem to have.  We keep a stock of groceries for just mishaps and with wood/coal heat we have no fear of electricity turning off as well.  We have food, stored water and shelter along with our solar panels for back up power when needed, from any storms, hardships that may come through.

   However, with snow predicted of 20"+ I decided that our yurt experiment was at risk of life threatening to me..... Yes, I became chicken......of  the significant snowfall amount and what it might do to our yurt roof. I fled to the safety of our house knowing that the chances of the house roof was much better than the yurts.   Sorry, safety is one of my main concerns and this was a concern to me.

   Turned out that many roof structures, personal and businesses was reported through out many surrounding counties had collapsed over the weight of the snow loads.  Some were older buildings some were only 10-12 years old is all.  BUT, to my surprise the our yurt of 6+ years still stands today with no harm to the roof from a 20" snowfall that sit on it for about a week before the rains came and melted all the snow off.

   I figure with a a little research on snow fall weight per inch, there was approximately over a half ton of snow on this 20ft yurt roof. 
 Calculation: S x 1.25 = P where: S = Inches of snow on the roof (depth) 1.25 = Weight of 1 sq ft of snow for each 1-inch of depth P = Pounds per square foot (lbs/sq ft)
   Example: If the snow on my roof is 20-inches deep, what would that equate to?
20-inch roof snow depth x 1.25 lbs/sq ft = 25 lbs per sq ft of roof snow loadThat's amazing for a home structure for temporary living quarters.... to me perhaps permanent living quarters in the future and maybe sell my house and get out of debt.  I'll keep my land to enjoy. 
-----got this information from website: 
                  http://building.cdaid.org/images/Handouts/Shovel%20Roof%20Snow.pdf

   I am "VERY" impressed with our yurt.  With only a 20 degree slope our yurt roof has overcame 6 winters of average snow, ice, high winds and now this year with the most heaviest snow and ice load on record for over 30 some years in our area.  ............................YURTS RULE!!!!

   below is a few pics of the yurt during the storm with the snow load and from inside the yurt door.

Also, here are some pics of my car buried in the snow and some pics of the deck at the house to show the deepness of this snow...

I realize that this snowfall may not be significant to some who live in places where this is probably normal for most winters.  However, this area in the last 30+ years is a rare event and is recognized for its beauty and strength of who is "really" in charge. 

We  have since moved back into the house due to the thaw out once again bringing spring like temperatures to enjoy and hopefully will give way to a coming new season.  Which will be a welcome to our area after this winters harsh winter.   The front yard of the yard is once again standing water and I have had enough mud to track through this winter, so I am residing to my house until spring and summer gets here with a new adventure of wanting to be back in my NEW 30 ft yurt I hope to have up in the woods soon.  With all the improvement of what I learned with this yurt I should have the perfect yurt to enjoy and perhaps stay next winter in........ 

More pics of snow of 2014 in at our home in the Southwestern Blue Ridge Mtns, Dugspur, VA;

 steve with a yard stick coming back from walking and taking pics of the yurt and area.

 our drive way shown to the crest of the hill going toward the road which you can't see from the upstairs window of the house.

 *notice the small building looks like a out house BUT NOT,  lol  its the guinea house on the right side of it about 30 ft is the yurt.  cant' see it... just giving an outlook of the layout of our land.

 front yard of the house and coming up the drive toward the house (you can verily see through the trees) Steve was walking while snowing hard so it was difficult to see a good distance ahead. this is the second side drive to our house.  

 This pic taken from the front of the house is the drive going toward the road (road is actually behind the second row of trees over hill.

 this picture is taken in front of the yurt door showing the drive to the road behind the trees.

 beautiful yard pictures of the snow..............

This is the picture week and half after the snow hit and now with temperature averaging in the mid 50's and a rain yesterday the snow has finally mostly melted away.  This shows more of the drive and with the guinea house showing along to the right you can see the yurt roof (tan and grey steep over the hillside.  it is still standing strong. taken from the deck of the house.

pictue from crest of drive to the road below... shadow of guniea house where the yurt sits on a semi muddy level now on the right.

 This picture shows after the snow fall but also as you see a route dug from the yurt to the edge of the hill to drain water accumulating under the yurt causing issues of small leaks in the yurt with tiny holes from the rock penetrating through the fabric floor due to inadequate clearing before placing the yurt down.  This occurred through out 6 years of traffic inside the yurt but I don't believe this would have happened if it was on a deck or some sort of platform... plus i believe the yurt has settled down into a low place in the ground through the years as well. As you can see the from the dome that it leans more toward the front due to settling in the years as well. this has nothing to do with the recent snow load, it has been doing this for the last year or so.  Steve has prompt the front door frame up several times trying to avoid more settling throughout the summer, fall and winter.... I believe we will take this one down and relocate it with a proper scraped ground area or if possible a small platform for it to sit on this summer.

 a closer look at the mud I mentioned throughout thawing and freezing this winter, overwhelming me also to move back to the house..... for now.  I will probably have to reseed the yard this spring.

Ice and snow still in front of the yurt week and half afterwards.