Succession came to pass on July 1^st, ten weeks ago. A-1 Builders, Inc. is now A-1 Builders, A Design/Build, Worker-Owned Cooperative!  My former employees are now my bosses! For the time being I’m helping the new team deal with marketing on a part time basis; my hours worked per week since July 1^st has been on the order of working 1/4 hour a week!  Can’t really call this ‘part time’; I think I’ll call it ‘microscopic time’.

Perhaps in other…

I live in an all-electric home and when the power grid is out we have nothing. No water, no sewer, lights, cooking or anything else. I will have a generator to run sparingly to keep the freezer and the refrigerator going. Our home is a passive solar home with great insulation.

If the Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake happens, the grid could be out for a year. During that time, with the well pump not working, we will need a source of clean fresh water.

A slow sand filter, made…

All too often I’ll run into another hiker and the following conversation ensues:

“How many nights are you staying out?”

“None… I hope. We’re on a day hike.”

“Then why are you carrying so large a pack?

Allow me to unpack my answer… an answer that addresses situations well beyond wilderness travel. An answer that extends into my settled, civilized life as well.  Why, at home, are Cindi and I prepared for a major natural or…

Sunday, September 4th, 2016.  Hikers from our company: Rick Dubrow, Cindi Landreth, Cathie Bertola, Shawn Serdahl, Justus Peterson.

Injuries usually happen upon descent.  So it was on Sunday, 9/4/16 at the 4,420 foot level of Mt. Pilchuck.  Five of us, all co-workers at A-1 Builders and Adaptations Design Studio, on a company dayhike, heard someone screaming in pain from above; close by.  In moments we reached Patricia, a fit 59 year old Peruvian child…

On January 15th, 2016 I went back to work for A-1 Builders after an interim period of 10 years of lucrative employment in the oil industry.

I turned my back on the oil industry for a number of reasons, but ultimately it was for my health, both physical and mental. But my journey goes deeper than being just about me; my journey sheds light upon our culture’s ‘jobs versus the environment’ debate; upon this region’s challenge to manage the explosive nature of oil by rail;…