Once the drywall goes up, a lot of decisions become harder to change. We tried our best to think ahead and avoid any changes.
Category Archive: Newsletter
Big Enough Book Video Strategy 🍿📚
In preparation for publishing Big Enough, I created videos and developed a plan for promoting pre-orders of the book. This share the details.
Rolling Out Our Metal Roof 🏡
Our house was designed to have a metal standing seam roof and I was not clear about how, exactly, the roof panels would be delivered and applied. It turns out they are formed on-site.
Mindfulness and Just One Thing 💦🌲
I decided to try being more mindful and focused on one thing at a time. It didn’t go well.
Publishing Big Enough in 41 Days 🗓
A look at what I was doing 41 days prior to publishing my book, Big Enough.
The Smell of Crabbing in the Salish Sea 🐟🐕
One of the challenges of crabbing in the Salish Sea is dealing with the bait, which can sometimes get very ripe. In this case, the bait attracted our dogs, who shared the love.
Cedar, Big Enough, and Boats 🌲📔🚤
A snapshot of summer 2020 when we were staining cedar for the house, preparing to publish a book, and spending a lot of time on the Salish Sea.
Link Roundup 📚 🦠 🔥
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. 🤔 Who is Common Craft? I wrote this post to summarize our company and our role in it. If you’re curious about what we do, this is a good starting point. > Read the post ✍️ Indy Publishing and the...
Shaking the Snow Globe 🌨
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. Friends, 2020 has become a year of widespread and unpredictable change, much of it frightening and disorienting. Our collective snow globe is being shaken and it makes every day feel like taking a...
Sweat Equity and the House Construction Project 💦🏡
We’ve taken on a number of projects in the house construction project. Along with a lot of planning, we are the painters and cleaners. These help save money, help us learn and make us a part of the team.
A Walk on Orcas Island 🌲🚶🏻♂️🚶🏻♀️🌲
From the moment the word “walk” is mentioned, both dogs scurry about as whines become barks. For this reason, we have come to spell the word and ask one another if it’s time for a “w-a-l-k”.
Inside the COVID Bubble 🔒
A report from May of 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic had forced shutdowns of most of the US, including Orcas Island.
City Life Versus Island Life 🗑♻️
Moving from Seattle to an island was a shock for a lot of reasons. One of the most interesting was learning to be more self-sufficient than we ever have.
The Pandemic’s Impact on Home Construction and Book Publishing 📚📐
When the pandemic hit in 2020, we had to reevaluate two of the biggest projects of our lives. This is how it felt at the time.
WHOOOOSH and the Whales 🦌🌲🐋
A walk to our construction site ends in seeing orca whales in the water in front of the house.
A Dispatch from the Covid Quarantine 🦠
In the spring of 2020, we were quarantined because of Covid-19. This was our experience early in the pandemic.
Ready for Rain: In an Instant, She Was Gone
A new issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain, went out to subscribers recently. It's a short, scary story about our dog Piper disappearing into the woods on a windy afternoon. It was about 3:45 when Piper disappeared and as we searched, I started to do mental...
In an Instant, She Was Gone 🌲🦮🌲
On a windy afternoon, our dog disappeared into the woods hunting for deer. This is what happened and how it felt.
Home as a Platform 🏡
The post below was sent as an issue of my newsletter, Ready for Rain. I had anticipated this moment for over a year. For the first time, I stepped foot onto the newly laid subfloor of our house. I realize this might not sound like a revelation and in reality, I had...
Ready for Rain #55: The Moment Everything Changed
The lastest Ready for Rain newsletter was meant to fill in essential gaps regarding what events led us to today. Up to now, the readers have seen my life in real-time, with only brief references to the past. I wrote: Over the past year, you’ve had a front-row seat to...