Let’s take a few steps backward and talk about Peace Corps, it’s been a while and I’m feeling nostalgic. If we go back six years, I would be in the summer of my second year in Ukraine. Likely packing for baseball camp in Khmelnitsky or Camp Excite somewhere in Sumska Oblast. My days would be […]
Ellie and I have a habit of grabbing things off the side of the road. I think it originally started as my own habit and it spread to her by association. In college, my most notable object found on the side of the road was when I spied something on the underside of a large […]
Ellie and I have a love affair with Arizona. We went there a few years back after we had been dating for about a year because it seemed like a good place to go in the middle of January. It was and we fell in love with it but we hadn’t been back since. Whenever […]
This is only the beginning. This is not a complete story. It’s a work in progress and a learning experience all in one. Aren’t the best projects always like that? We didn’t buy the cabin up north, but that same weekend we decided to improve the home we own. It was a part whim, part […]
I’m particular. I have a standard of quality. If my name is going to be tied to something, I want it to be something I’m proud of. This is a trait I developed in my twenties, unfortunately too late to apply to my schoolwork. It drives Ellie crazy at times. When I look at something […]
In Wisconsin everyone knows someone who has a cabin up north. It’s a part of your childhood. What did you do this summer? I spent two weeks at the cabin up north. For those of us who didn’t have a cabin up north, we’d usually get invited by a friend for the vacation. My family […]
I think we are finally past the wintry weather in Wisconsin. At least I hope so because recently I planted the garden for the year. In one fell swoop, I put the fate of my harvest in hands of nature. Oh lord, what have I done? This time last year, planting was much more of […]
I’m not the most precise gardener. I like to let things grow their own way. Weeds happen, and I pull them as needed. But once the plants are in the ground, I do my best to keep them from dying but it’s a day-to-day process. One of my friends, Geoff, keeps all the data on […]
One of the many things that came up in our home inspection prior to closing on the house was that the garage was in need of some love. More specifically, the home inspector told us that it was built using methods not up to modern day levels of quality craftsmanship and he didn’t know how […]
When Ellie found the $5 MCM end table at Goodwill and asked me to refinish it, I got a bit giddy. I really enjoy refinishing old pieces of furniture and bringing new life into them. It started years ago when I bought an old radio and fixed it up for Ellie as a Christmas present. […]