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Team YIPPEE - The Initial Update

Welcome All,

First, a big note of THANKS! to each of you. We greatly appreciate your willingness to pitch in and make our project a success.

Team YIPPEE Updates will be issued to prospective Team YIPPEE members only, and are notices of upcoming activities and other pertinent Team information. (versus Newsletters which are distributed to many more people and generally recount past events)

And now, on with that 'pertinent Team information'!

We promised a definitive answer by Sept. 20th. Here it is: the MLA yurts are not being raised this year. In other words: 'Damn, Push Week must wait until Spring'!

There is still P-L-E-N-T-Y to be done.

Construction Will Carry Forward Nonetheless! Phase I construction (and possibly Phase II) will still take place this year. Also, Chris is keeping his week of time-off as is, scheduled for October 23rd thru October 30th. So, if you had your hearts (and penciled-in schedules) set for that week or weekend, by all means keep it! We sure could use the help and will definitely be constructing then.

We are setting October 7th and 8th as the first official Team YIPPEE participation weekend; because, by then, enough Phase I tasks and preparations should have been completed to commence straight up construction.

An updated construction overview will be posted on the website for those interested to know what construction related tasks lie ahead.

As it looks now, the opportunities for Team YIPPEE involvement are:

  • September 18th: Chris is home one day only this weekend. As many YIPPEE tasks as possible will be crammed in, but no Team involvement needed.
  • September 24th, 25th: Our 'No Trespassing' signs should have arrived, and must be posted. Chris can do this himself, but it also would go faster if a Team member helped. There are 200 signs to post around the property boundaries. WARNING: this is backwoods rugged terrain, with many steep inclines and without any trails. A note for THIS TASK ONLY: If you have somewhere else to stay, and will ONLY be meeting Chris at the land, helping with ONLY this one task, it is possible to forego the MCS-Safety Protocol. The home site itself will not be posted with these signs. Also, Chris already has procedures in place to avoid bringing contamination back home after meeting with contractors and this would be similar. Cassandra would absolutely LOVE to be the one helping out and hiking the boundaries. But, 1) she gets horribly ill on the trip over (making hiking an excruciating task which also slows Chris down), 2) there will be work trucks on the property and 3) the lower boundaries are near enough to other homes to cause her additional illness.
  • October 1st, 2nd: Depending on how quick and successful the delivery of our 150 or so gallons of AFM products goes... This weekend will involve site preparation, but little, if any, actual 'constructing'. If you have a yen for dirt, digging holes, pouring concrete and such, by all means, come help out.
  • October 7th, 8th - and beyond... (even into November if we can!): Every weekend is open for Team YIPPEE to join in!

    A note about 'weekends': For us, 'weekend' is based on Chris' travel schedule. For the foreseeable future, this translates to the following. Chris arrives home late Thursday night (hopefully prior to midnight!). He leaves on Sunday (anywhere between noon and 2pm). Project YIPPEE work happens in between. We do not expect Team members to follow this exact schedule, but thought it worth noting.

  • A couple of you still need to submit your sizes so we can prepare for clothing. Please get this to us ASAP.

For those of you whose schedules do permit participation, ...may I say, you are going to just LOVE the land and building site! It's gorgeous, and will be very incredible living there.

This past weekend Chris arranged for the work trucks to be taken down from the site so that he could take me over. He and I had some measuring and site work to do together. Besides, I hadn't been on the land for two whole months! I get incredibly ill en route, and sadly, this time was no different. Being recovered now, I can say I'm glad I went. I can't spend too much time thinking about how awesome it is over there though... Too much to stay focused on with project tasks and management! Also, living here is quite detrimental to my system, and I am now faced with having to survive another six more months. Ugh! I'd so love to be living there and helping with the construction! Anyway, just thought you'd like to know that, although these won't be social type visits, you'll be helping to build in a really nice setting!

SUMMARY:

  • THANKS!
  • Sign Posting will happen 9/24-25
  • Footing construction begins 10/1-2
  • Construction happens every weekend thereafter!...And, during week of 10/23-10/30!
  • MLA Yurt raising party postponed until Spring...
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