Old Girl – Overs

I wanted to share how my love affair with tipis began.  That’s me, the little blondie playing in front of a tipi that my mom and dad made.  Yup.  They made it.  Daddy went to a powwow somewhere outside of Durango, Colorado.  He was so impressed with all the tipis, he came home and drew it out on paper.  Mom sewed it.  Pretty amazing.  The top is painted sky blue and there’s a buffalo to the right of the door.  It was just a great playhouse. Tell you the truth… I was 5 years old and actually, gulp, kissed a boy in there!  Only once – and for a split second – but I remember that!

Today, I own this Old Girl.  A friend actually gave her to me!  I’ve spent plenty of time out here.  She sits out in the back of what we call the orchard, not too far from my house, but enough you can feel all alone.  You approach her from the back, notice my outdoor fire pit and woodpile.  Sometimes you just have to have a fire.  Or is that just me?  Does anyone else do this???  Is it my Choctaw blood or my Girl Scout blood or am I just bloody crazy?

I should be ashamed to show her this way.  One of her smoke flap poles has fallen down… she has wrinkles…and her canvas is beginning to rip on the smoke flaps.  Poor girl.

Did you notice?  She has a sky blue top and a buffalo to the right of the door.  If my kids ever own a tipi, it better have a sky blue top and a buffalo to the right of the door.  My buffalo, well, it didn’t turn out the way I wanted.  I was going for a primitive x Catlin type look. and failed. sigh.  Please don’t look at her wrinkles, it makes her look really really bad.  Tipis are supposed to be tight as a drum.  She just looks limp.

We’ve just peeked in the front door and here it is.  She’s only a 14′ tipi.  Small. And I’ve got just enough room on the backside for my queen sized blow up bed.  You didn’t think I slept on the ground out here, did you???  Ha ha.  You get your good sleeping bag out here with the buffalo robe on top and it is WARM and COZY and RELAXING.  So come on over, snuggle down, and look up.

Cool, huh?  Those are some colorful nylon feathers hanging there… and you can see the top of the liner ends just where the blue starts.  Most people don’t know tipis have liners, but a tipi without one is smokier, colder, and not a private place!  Liners force air up from outside which helps carry your smoke out the top.  Liners are like another layer of insulation.  Liners prevent your shadow from falling on the outside of your tipi like a shadow play.  Some things your neighbors just don’t need to see!

Yes, I do have fires in here.  It is close quarters and a small tipi, both of which call for small fires.  Believe me, you don’t want a large fire in here anyway, it is amazing how quickly it warms up the space.  And I have a chair in there.  Actually I have two, just in case I have a visitor, but I keep it folded up because I RARELY have visitors.  Wanna come visit?

Did I mention I have pyromaniac-al tendencies?  I think I did, just the other day!

So to me, this is great stuff.  Give me this place, a cold beverage (or hot depending on the temperature outside!), a good book, a dog to pet, and I’m a happy girl.

This Old Girl has shared some good times with me.  But it is time to let her rest through the winter so I can repair her and get her ready for spring.  See you in the spring!