Long ago, when these mirror-like office lighting grids were born in a Chinese factory, they sighed and said, Well, we’re off for a boring existence. We’ll hang for thirty years with fluorescent lights above us and underpaid employees below, reflecting lights cheerfully, swinging down every year or so to have our bulbs replaced, gathering dust, …

We finally have high-speed internet, and we didn’t have to use a satellite to do it. So far we’re still in the testing stage, but this is a good thing. I have heard from very few rural dwellers who are desperately in love with satellite internet (two reasons: speed, latency and weather interference. Oh, wait, …

When I was designing our house I referred frequently to the Not So Big House books by architect Susan Susanka. She notes the efficient use of living space on a boat, where space is so limited that not one square foot is wasted. At the design stage, our finances forced us to shrink our house …

Well, it’s the 2nd week of March and I’ve burned less than four cords of wood since the season began last October. The cost to me? Oh, a lot of entertainment last summer with chain saw and maul. The thrill of assembling the most Dr. Seussian wood shed in the county. The delight of a …

My gallery in Calistoga, California (Stix and Stones Gallery, wish they had a website) called some time ago with an announcement that they were running low on original artwork by me, and that they would like some more, please. This is a good thing. So I have created four new originals which I will be …

Warning: this is a messy procedure. Learn from my woes and surround your interior chimney with an old sheet before proceeding. Well, since we never actually had winter around here I’ll detail this procedure and post the pictures from when I cleaned the chimbley around Christmas time. The principles are still relevant and I’ll do …

Well, you guys have been asking about this, so here’s the news on my book. Tentatively entitled “Rain,” it explores the world of a slave whom we first glimpse as it lies dying in the desert, six weeks before the Biblical Flood. The slave has no name, no will—not even a gender. It only has …

I had to get on the roof. When I get sick to my stomach I get really sick. Violently sick. It’s icky. And the timing was rather poor for the violently-icky illness I had over the holiday, because our chimbley was clogged* and I had to get on the roof to fix it. Until I …

A short illustrative story withal: Once upon a time we were tooling up the highway amidst the mountains of British Columbia, on our way to Canada’s beautiful Banff National Park. Just after sunset we stopped the car to let the kids run around and throw rocks in the river. We almost didn’t get going again. …

So the new issue of Backwoods Home Magazine is starting to show up in mailboxes nationwide, with a little writeup by Yours Truly. It’s not on the website yet, but check at your library. I’d love to hear your reaction, both positive and negative.* If the horde shows up with tomatoes and rocks, I’m ruined! …