I’ve been hesitating to write this entry since everything happened on Saturday night, it’s hard to go back to. But here goes...

Have you ever had an experience that came on as a complete surprise, even though in retrospect you should have maybe seen it coming? Me too! Just recently in fact - Saturday night. Arwydd and I had a very busy day volunteering at her school, dropped in to two birthday parties, and I found a cedar closet at the antique mall and got some friends to help me move it into the yurt, score! Arwydd lost a tooth and we put it in her little snowman box on the door frame, ready for pick up by the tooth fairy. Arwydd told me that she asked for gold coins this time and when I mentioned that the tooth fairy might only have access to US currency she said in an exasperated voice “no mom, she can ask some mermaids to get the gold from a sunken pirate ship for me!” Obviously.

I fixed dinner, tidied up the house, got all my laundry together, read to Arwydd, and we were off to bed. What a great day that was...

I woke up to the sounds of thunder and looked out the west window, sure enough, clouds and lightning. No big deal - the weather has been such a tease lately, all that promised rain never quite gets to us, right? Just to be safe, I closed the bubble at the top of the yurt and went back to sleep. I don’t know how much later it was when I woke up to hear the buckles on the outside of the yurt being violently thrashed into the sides, a sprinkle of rain on the roof. Jumping out of bed I went to the door, thinking to zip down the windows to keep the water out... I opened the door and the side cover (aka walls of the yurt) ripped out of the frame.

Slamming the door I screamed to Arwydd “get up, get up now!”
“Mooom, no I’m tired”
“This is IMPORTANT, GET UP!!” At that, she knew I wasn’t messing around and leaped out of bed. I grabbed her hand and ran with her to the Eco Nest, a small timber framed building about 30 feet away. “Stay here, don’t move, don’t open the door for any reason!” I yelled before running back out.

The side walls were peeling further and further back and I rushed to grab them and pull them back together. It was all I could do to hold them together while the rain poured down on me and the lighting and thunder crashed and jolted. I wondered what had happened to the rope I had tied between the grommets on either side and around the door frame - they had ripped clean out of the side cover!

I realized my only option was to stand there and try to literally hold the yurt together until the storm blew past, but would it intensify - could I even last however long that would take? My muscles were already starting to shake, I had no idea how long I’d been there already, Arwydd must be really scared - she was sleeping naked and had nothing in the Eco Nest - what if she was as cold as I was?

I started praying then, “please save us, please save our house, make this storm pass, please” Just right out loud, maybe yelling even, who knows? Suddenly, the emotion was gone right out of me and I heard a voice say: “what if you can’t save them both?” At that I let go of the side cover and ran inside, grabbing our bath bag and the comforter off the bed. I looked up and saw that the rafters over the bed were coming out of the center ring - the whole place was coming apart... I closed the door, grabbed Arwydd out of the Eco Nest and wrapped her in the comforter - and we ran for the car.

We spent the night at a friend’s and I came back in the morning to see that the damage was nowhere near as severe as it could have been. Arwydd’s tooth box was right there on the door sill, full of water. I was in a daze all day and left Arwydd with a friend so I could get myself together and make a plan. Maybe it would have been better for us to be together, but she was right back to normal and I was totally out of it. I couldn’t take care of her that day.

We haven’t slept in the yurt since. The seven rafters that came out of the center ring are now back in, the side cover is reattached, the top cover is snugged back down over the rafter ends and tucked back up under the bubble like it should be. But I don’t feel safe bringing Arwydd back there. The same thing could happen again.

I need to pre-drill holes in the bond beam and attach the side cover firmly, I need to put a wind cable from the center ring down deep into the floor, I need to get a weather radio, and yes - I have finally broken down - I need to get a cell phone.

This experience scared the hell out of me, and made me realize that I have this best case scenario attitude that takes me really far but could also do a lot of damage. In terms of a disaster this was minor - gusting wind at 60 miles per hour when they have been known to reach 100 mph or even tornado speeds around here. What the hell was I thinking, or not thinking, being out there without a weather radio? I don’t know. All I know is we got really, really lucky and I shouldn’t count on any more luck like that.

Tags: yurt, extreme weather