Videos

You should all check out the videos that are up on our school web-page. They are sweet. I don't know if you will be able to tell, but I have a red boat and white helmet.

Fayetteville Flower

West Virginia is in the middle of a pretty bad drought. I was hoping that I would get the chance to see the leaves change but I think they might just fall off the trees while they are still green.

Teacher Face

Had to put in the teacher shot.

Upper Gauley

This is possibly the best know run in North America and for good reason. I tried to quickly capture some photos without letting the group pass me by. The Upper Gauley has five class V rapids, but these were rated class V back in the day of 15ft fiberglass boats and old skateboarding helmets. You can see pillow rock in one of the photos, this rock used to be avoided at all costs, now the main line is to splat your boat against it. The other rapid is called sweets falls and as you can see, the main line is avoided in order to do a rock-spin.
Soon the leaves will be changing and the river will be one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Water

This neat little 16 footer exists in the town of Ohiopyle, yep that's right, Ohiopyle, Pa. Ohiopyle falls is on the Yough river and it is illegal to kayak, how lame is that. So, a buddy and I decided to have a couple of adult beverages and wait for the full moon. Waterfalls by moonlight are pretty sweet.

Liberty and Prohibition

Who loves field trips? The school is staying on an organic farm in Vermont, and we had the chance to visit an old time apple farmer. We began learning about sustainable food, and ended up with a greater understanding of prohibition, the preservation of fruit, and the beginning of organized crime. I'm pretty sure that I want to become a Vermont farmer.

Home

My Home for the next few weeks is poised above the banks of the Ottawa River. My family for the next year is a handful of energetic, kayaking, high schoolers, and an even smaller handful of faculty that do a pretty good job of laughing about 15hr days.

New Beginnings

With every change we are required to view the world with new eyes; we are required to rebuild a perception, while doing this, we must discard the old perceptions that should no longer be seen with our new eyes, otherwise we cannot grow. Every scan with our new eyes allows us to see either, an out of focus crapper and some thorns, or new growth. Frost said, "Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back."

Mexico to West Virginia to Canada

This June I was surfing six-foot waves in Baja, working as a carpenter. After some 85 hours of driving, dozens of cups of coffee, and lots of time to think, I am surfing six-foot waves in a kayak, working as an English teacher with a traveling high school in Canada. Oh how my life has changed, the water seems to be the only constant.

Friends

Friends, like a strong cup of coffee, daily bring warmth and solace, energy and excitement, time for reflection, and occasional the right friend, like too much coffee, will cause you to poo yourself. I have been fortunate to have a small handful of friends that have really felt like a home for me. To all of you that have laughed with me, thank you, you have no idea how far you have carried me.

La Casa

It feels so good to add a bit of Mexican style to your life.

American Clay

Going Green. This is a pretty cool product; it is a natural clay that is applied in the fashion of a plaster-with sore arms and a trowel. You can buy pigments to mix with the clay, or you can go to the desert and strain some sand if you want a more natural look. We decided to go with some Bryce Canyon red, and Amber Grain yellow. I'm not sure what my mom thinks of these colors.

Shit-Rock and color choice

I have always wanted to be a sheetrocker; all i need now is a pair of dirty old sweatpants and a giant beer belly.

Insulation, yuck. Actually this stuff is pretty sweet; its recycled newspapers that are blown into the wall and ceiling, it has such a high R value that the government gives you a tax credit if you use. This is the first time that i haven't thought about crying at the mention of the word "insulation," in fact Brent and I were out climbing while the guys blew this stuff in, awesome.

Rilo seems to think that he would like to be an Elk.

Home Sweet Home. I like to pretend that i spend most of my time staying in the trailer up on the property, but the truth is that I'm not that tough. The heat in the trailer is pretty nice, but I still couldn't seem to keep my water from freezing even with the jug sitting directly in front of the heater, without water i can't drink coffee on the sky chair while pretending to work. So now I stay in the trailer on the warm nights, or when i freak out and realize that i am a 25 year old guy that spend too much time blogging in his parents basement.

The lovely Sheila helped me carve the corbels during the some of the cold winter days around Christmas. It is nice to have an artistic touch; the details are really what make the project.

Porches are such great places. I cant wait for my parent to retire and travel the world so that I can sit in the shade of the front porch, smell the sage brush, eat all of the folks food, taste the contents of dad's $2.99 cellar while watching Rilo think about chasing rabbits.

This is the box of a house that Owen so kindly helped me build. At this point it looks like there is still a lot of work to do.

Garrett decided that he wanted to drill the well for us, so he welded three different augers together and started digging. He soon found that the ground was too hard and he realized that manual labor in not his gig. He thought he would supervise instead; he welded a chair to the top of the augers so that he could have a good view of the work. As soon as the weather changed he decided that he would rather be in Guatemala. So now I drink my morning coffee while sitting on the "sky Chair."

This winter has been snowy and cold. In order to build in this kind of weather one must have a large beard and absolutely nothing else to do.

Dad wonders why we are building in the winter

A simple existence

Daily I am reminded of the richness of life and am grateful for those that help share the adventure of daily pursuits. For the last few months I have been building a guest-house for my parents on top of The Colorado Nation Monument. I call this project "the big pay back," my father calls it a paid internship, in reality it is my chance to give back to my parents for putting up with me for 25 years now. Below is the project, and the wonderful friends that have helped me carry heavy loads, physically and mentally.