I’m sure that my first reaction was a subtle roll of my eyes or at least an imagined one. Two twin-size box springs had sat in our garage for a while and Sachi was formulating a plan. She asked around and no one needed them and she didn't want to just take them to the...
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. Sachi’s parents arrived on the red-eye from Hawaii and she went down for a quick overnight trip to pick them up. This set me up for my first “Lee” night (a night alone) in the new house. This may...
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. I clearly remember watching my father in his tunnel-shaped greenhouse on the hill behind our house in Kernersville, NC. On my frequent visits, I’d wander around in the humidity as I inspected his...
I realize some may scoff at the use of a thermometer when a "real" chef can just feel when meat is up to temperature. I prefer data. I use meat thermometers near the end of the cooking process and place the probe into the meat and leave it there until it reaches...
The best we can do is hope for summer rain and keep our little corner of Orcas Island cleared and ready so there’s little fuel for a truly big fire to burn.
I soon came to appreciate the glass wall as a feature of the house that exists in multiple states. During the day, it disappears and reveals a view over the Salish Sea, as it was designed to do. But at night, when darkness hides the view, the glass becomes a mirror to the interior. One minute you’re looking at the water, another you’re looking at yourself. I think of this as the time between glass and mirror.
We set out to build an efficient home and now that we’ve moved, it’s obvious that some things are not going to fit and I take it as a good sign.
Every once in a while, you come across a dish that seems to defy the laws of cuisine; something so simple that it has no right to be as good as it is. The dish I’m referring to now is SMASHBURGER! (Yes, I’m yelling, it’s required.)
As the house project comes to a close we’re removing sticky notes as we go.
The recommendations below also appeared in my weekly newsletter: Ready for Rain, Issue #93 - This is About the Ham. Alone (Hulu) - We've watched six seasons of this show and look forward to more. It's a reality show where ten survivalists are dropped off in a remote,...
A debate about storing ham in a Tupperware container could have gone in a lot of directions. We found a path without hurt feelings.
The recommendations below also appeared in my weekly newsletter: Ready for Rain, Issue #92 - Hibernating in the PNW The theme for this week's recommendations: school girl comedies and con artists. Derry Girls (Netflix) - A comedy about Catholic school teenagers in...
The recommendations below also appeared in my weekly newsletter: Ready for Rain, Issue #91 - Because It's Cool We've been re-watching movies from the not-so-distant past, so that's my focus this week. Lost in Translation (Amazon) - A top ten movie for me. Scarlett...
What do you do when the power goes out? You see it as a challenge and a game to be played. We asked: how comfortable can we be without electricity?
When building a new house, it’s worth considering whether or not to run ethernet networking and if so, what products may work best. This is our plan.
This was my 2020.
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. I’ve taken thousands of photos of the house project, mostly from my phone and drone. In isolation, they look like any other house photo, a point in time without context. One can only get so excited...
After 16 months in our tiny guesthouse, we’ve gotten used to it. But as the house project nears completion, the small things are becoming a bit more grating.
The pile of boxes we have stacked in the guesthouse represent a lot of decisions about the house project.
Being one with the dirt is part of the transition and how you become part of the island itself.