A Little Introduction

As I find more and more blogs that I love to follow my blog list grows. Its great fun looking at all the different blogs, design, living, green, project specific, whatever it may be. The first thing I try to find out with a new blog is who is behind the brilliance that is their blog, their goals and dreams, and where in the country are they located. The location part seems key to me as it helps interpret what kind of climate and culture they are living in, which gives perspective to the blog content. Not that I want to stalk these people but a little background helps give the blog more personality and individuality.

So I thought I would do the same, although I think most of the people that follow this blog have either known me since I was 3yo (Merrie), seen me at my worst (Jen and Lesli), seen me naked (mom), or just already know more about us and our place and don't need to really know more. But oh well, in case there are any straggling wanderers who have accidentally stumbled upon this blog looking for weekend getaway or a gardening nursery...here are a few little details about us.

So this is me - I am 35 (I can still say that for another few days). I plug away at a computer all day long for an environmental consulting company but really love to make things, my perfect day is to step back at the end of it and look at what I have produced...and it not look like an excel spreadsheet. I rode horses for about 25 yrs but haven't been on one in 3 yrs, weird. I now like to hike, rock climb and kayak. I live on my dream land (soon to be dream home) and hope that I am buried here. I still pinch myself that I own property in California, I just can't believe I get to live here and with Kyle.

Speaking of which, this is Kyle, the K man, K Diddy, or Batman, as he is referred to at the Firehouse which is where he works as a Firefighter Engineer/Paramedic. He is a search and rescue expert as part of the FEMA USAR Team in Oakland, specializing in swift water and confined space rescue. He is that guy you want to be stranded with on a desert island (and not just because he is a Veggie and won't eat you). He is also a Mountaineer having quite a few summits under his belt and is a caver (don't you dare call him a spelunker). He is also an avid bike rider and rock climber and house builder extraordinaire...or at least he better be.

So we are building a house out of shipping containers on our lovely land in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We are pretty green and its VERY important to us to live simply and have an efficient home that is built with as much recycled content as possible, what better than containers. They are also incredibly strong (earthquakes) and fire retardant (wildfires) all important characteristics when you live in the disaster state and one of you is a firefighter. We are really hoping that this idea takes off and we are seeing more and more of these homes around the country, heck around the world. Plans for the new house on the left.

We also share our lives with 3 pups. Denali, a very large 2yo mut, Wolf, a medium size 7yo mut and Ziggy, a 1.5 yo terrorist. They are fabulous and fun and though terribly behaved, are like our kids (yes, K - you are a Dad)......

So that is pretty much us in a nutshell. We have a project list that is never ending but we are in this for the long haul so I guess we won't run out of things to blog about. Happy trails.