May you be as lucky as Miracle Max.

I was recently counseling a young man on the nature of adult dating relationships. His first serious one was in difficulty and it got me reflecting on my own relationships and world view. While I am on some levels a romantic, I am a deeply pessimistic one because I believe that all love is tragic…

Protected: It is all hard.

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

The last board.

The rain has returned, and despite having lift more than half my life west of the Cascades, my mind keeps finding indoor activities to pursue. With one last board to cut for the siding of the playhouse though I know I have to get out into it soon. The last week has been a flurry…

“This is not how I imagined this moment.”

That was my first thought. The image was of me bicycling the 20 odd miles between work and home. After six years of more-or-less regular commuting, the longest of my life, my sense of adventure had led me down every possible pathway between my own little town and the College burg where a desk has…

Beeswax Three-step.

I have finally found a way to make usable amounts of beeswax, which is great because it helps use up all the free time I have between cleaning up the storm damage, mowing, animal care, raising children and a full-time job. What on earth would I have done with myself otherwise? After small scale processing…

Itsy Bitsy Fru Fru

I have inadvertently created a monster. Laying in bed with my daughter, in my bed where at 7 she still falls asleep most nights, we were engaged in a round of the standard bedtime songs when I started a mash up and Bridget laughed so hard she cried. She thought it was hilarious and ever…

So you want a wood stove?

Living at the long end of rural power grid means dealing with frequent power outages. When buying our land I was aware of this issue and wondered how no one had installed wood heat in the years between 1971 and now. The house was centered around a massive chimney but sported a low, deep and…