A Winter Tipi

      
       This weekend, Bruce and I put up a tipi in our backyard that we intend to sleep in this winter. I should say, rather, Bruce put up the tipi while I offered words of encouragement and took photos. The tipi was one that Bruce crafted nearly 25 years ago. The poles are cyprus and bamboo that he cut himself, and the cover is one that he designed and pieced together with his mother, Bobbye. Some of it is even hand-stitched, and it has real buttonhole closures, and funky vintage buttons. Bruce, an elementary school teacher, originally made the tipi as a Thanksgiving project for his students back in the 1980s.
       After the tipi was erected, I covered the ground inside with a plastic tarp, then a piece of canvas, then a quilt, for warmth and comfort. Today I plan to add a lambskin rug, some pillows, more quilts, and a few homey touches, like a battery operated lantern, a stack of books, and I'm even thinking about bringing out my tiny backpacking stove so that I can make tea.
       This morning it was nice to get out of bed and see the tipi standing beneath the pine trees, while the sun was coming up. If I can get the inside of the tipi to my liking today, tonight will be our first night sleeping in there. Some people think it's strange that people in their mid-fifties would want to sleep in the backyard. But there are several very reasonable explanations for this. First of all, state parks are up to $30 per night, and we'd have to drive at least 45 minutes to get to one. And we'd have to lug everything over there, only to realize that we have left something vital behind. Also, as the tipi is just a few hundred feet from the house, we're just seconds away from a flush toilet, a hot shower, a sizzling steak, and liquor.

 

      
       If I was nine years old and wanted to spend the winter sleeping in a tipi, my parents would have locked me in my bedroom. If I was ninety and sleeping in a tipi, my children would send me to a nursing home. At 56 years old, I'm going to spend the winter in a tipi, simply because I can.