When I think about the next decade, I mostly want to remain mentally and physically healthy. Age comes for all of us and my hope is to (at least) maintain the status quo. After all, the arc of aging is long and bends toward incontinence. To keep one’s head above water is a constant struggle.
This article was published as an issue of my newsletter Ready for Rain Under our house, we have a pile of lumber, decking, siding, and plywood that was leftover from the build. Nearby is a pile of two-man boulders. My goal is to use these resources to build out the...
In most issues of my newsletter, Ready for Rain, I include recommendations for shows, movies, books, podcasts, etc. Below you’ll find everything I recommended to readers in 2021.
I struggled with this question for a long time and experimented with a wide variety of subjects. Lately I feel more confident and recently asked subscribers to take a quick survey to find out their perceptions and that they enjoyed, or not. The results are below: Q:...
There are two considerations in making home finish decisions: what you want and what the house wants. By the time the finishes are being completed, the house will tell you what fits, or not.
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?
Our final decisions on smart home lighting and home automation options for our house on Orcas Island.
Notes on bringing my newsletter home.
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...
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. On the ferries we take to the mainland, there are often puzzles on tables for anyone who wants to pass the time. What most short-term puzzlers on the boat don’t know is that some of the puzzles have...
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.
Before the house could be painted, the dust from level 5 drywall had to be removed and it was a much bigger challenge that I expected and it put a strain on our relationship.
We are doing the painting on the house project, which ended up being a much bigger job than I expected.
There comes a time in every vehicle owner’s life when they are forced to test just how far a tank of gas will go. We see the gauge point to the upper case “E” and say it’s arbitrary; just a label. What matters is what’s inside the tank. We can push it a little...
The pile of boxes we have stacked in the guesthouse represent a lot of decisions about the house project.
Our fireplaces are the heart of our house and an element we took great care to design.
The siding for our house is Japanese cypress that has been charred to make it more resilient and beautiful. It’s called “Shou Sugi Ban” or “yakisugi”.
On the day Big Enough launched I sat down in front of the camera to share a story from the book about making a video for Google.
To create the trailer for my book, Big Enough, I wanted to take advantage of the natural scenery where I live. So I packed up my drone and dogs and went on a hike. If only it were so easy.
Publishing a book is always a challenge and doing it during a pandemic is even more so. This is how how it felt at the time.