I was walking down the gravel road next to my dads farm one summer day bout 14 years old and there were two ponds on each side. Lots of trees and one was an old willow. Willows love being next to water. And I was surprised to see two black cats in the willow. Seemed really skittish so I left them alone.

That winter I went out to the holding barn to get the milk cows because it was cold, windy and snowing so the cows were in the barn to stay warm but I needed to move them to the milking barn. On the way we had a bright yard light as I walked by I saw a black cat huddled next to the pole. So I picked him up and he didn’t fight. He was so cold. I held him in my arms and got the cows back inside. Put the cat on some straw and gave him fresh warm milk.

After awhile I was able to pet him and actually held him upside down rub his belly. Very powerful animal and full of muscles , white claws with yellow eyes didn’t wanna mess with him. He hung around for a long time and maybe just decided to go home. Never did see his sibling. The trust he had in me was very cool!

A young friend of mine who’s mom and dad were friend’s way before had asked me to work for him. Well after a while I managed to escape unscathed from another company who was trying to bully me around. My friend Andy had been under my wing from his first experience in construction to fifteen years later with a beautiful family and a really nice home. I’ve been invited to some of the family functions like Christmas Eve Christmas Day or whatever. Such great full people.

To start with Andy really hit it hard and had all his ducks in a row. I never knew this kid had it!! I wasn’t really ready for it because the market was up and down and he caught me on the down side. He ended up in the painting drywall union for a few years and he really paid attention to what was going on. He saved every penny on his goal to start his own company meanwhile raising a family. He asked me one day to come and join him. I was committed to another company and said that person was my friend too! Well the word got out and i was running for my life. It was quite a disruption in my plan cuz I just bought a house and

Andy’s new style didn’t fit me at all. He was top end finish work and and it required a little more attention. Andy went right after it and landed some pretty cool contractors, but they

were high end and demanding. We managed to get along with them very well and met their schedules without any disruption. It was rather a neat experience to see what some of what wealthy, really wealthy people like. I’m sure they

hired interior designers to do it all and never stepped foot in these places till the job was completed. One person in particular was a huge Google guy just to put things in perspective. Just a vacation bungalow.

Andy had taken over some contacts that others had mismanaged and flaked out badly. The inexperienced really showed wha

t they were incapable of doing. But they are still in business.  That’s what gave us or Andy more confidence to stay on it. Andy took over a thirty six unit condo project on Semiamoo spit in Blaine and one person turned around and sold one 300k more than what he paid for it. That’s always exciting except I didn’t think about that. Here’s some pictures!!

Hi again, from the beautiful city of Bellingham Washington. Finally moved back here since i moved out in 1986 . Have always been not to far away would be willing to come back to this very unique city. Diversified it is and has it’s counterculture and homelessness but it has plenty of support from the outline communities. Still the scenery is always full of depth from Mt Baker , the twin sisters and the out lying islands with their silhouettes on the evening sunsets on the water. Driving through Chuckanut drive or looking across the border to  Canada to see the untamed snowy mountain peaks. Watching the regatta races in Bellingham Bay every Wednesday from Fairhaven.

Had place in Blaine across from White Rock , British Columbia close to Drayton Harbor and was pretty excited to find a newer house in this particular spot and very reasonable. But put in an application for a job in Seattle and I got it. So I moved everything out and cleaned it up. Well a girlfriend from the distant past saw the place and wanted it immediately but I said I had to leave so she offered to help me move which I offered to pay her to help me. I found a management company to rent it for me which they were very reasonable, and it was the best option without selling it. The girls got me a great rental price and I went to Seattle. Well COVID-19 hit and I was hearing horror stories about rentals really getting in trouble and I started freaking out. I got laid off and my apartment lease was up. I went back up to the Bellingham area and barely found a place because nothing was available and the prices were really high. I had to take the first place I could find. I had no place to stay because my house  was being rented. That was March and in June I got a message from the renters and asked me if they could buy the house. I said let’s talk to a realtor and find out. The realtor jacked up the price way more than I thought it was worth and they bought it.
The stress was all over and I was so relieved. I was flipping through Facebook one day and one of my friends listed an old place in Bellingham and it was so reasonable I jumped on it right away and closed the deal. Pretty run down but I can make it look pretty respectable. I had to take the carpets out and remove all kinds of foliage on the outside. Tried figure out what kind of plants were trying to grow but found out this property is the main corridor for deer migration in the whole northwest. If it’s green it’s gone. They eat everything.
Well back to what I getting to, so I found a good deal on some birch laminate flooring and still working on them. Pretty easy to install, just had to ask a few questions and buy a few tools. Layout was pretty simple and the place is pretty square. Not sure which project to tackle next. Some of homes are not really being updated and my neighbor lady said she doesn’t wanna spend the money on hers if it’s not gonna really raise the value of her property. Things are looking up down here!

Hi, I’m John. Born and raised in North Dakota. Grew up with eight siblings on a busy farm with cows, goat’s, a large horse, chickens, ducks, geese, guinea hens, cats, dogs. I’m sure I missed something! Oh yeah, a pet raccoon my mom named Coony, couple pet crows I stole out of their nest when they were young. If you get them at the right age they can be a lot of fun! Fell out of a couple of trees and had a severe concussion that took six months to heal. Maybe that’s why I’m so different from the other siblings. At least I didn’t hurt any vital parts.

Ok, Now the gardening part. My dad would hook up the tractor to the four row corn planter with each bin with different seeds. Beans, peas, corn and corn. Would run that planter for a quarter mile. Our corn planter only had four bins so there was lots of weeding once the plants were growing. Us kids loved it and were usually hard to find, but dad knew so he told us at during breakfast at the dinnertable what we were gonna be doing today! No escape from the from the hot sweaty afternoon so we dug in and raced each other to the of the rows. Not everyone made it the whole way but there was so much of it we just left it for the rabbits and deer.

Once I graduated from from high school in 79’ Bismarck ND I endeavored west to Seattle three weeks after graduation and dad was not happy. Had a couple older brothers that there that showed me you only have to work eight hours a day to get a paycheck!

I was done with farming but it was still in my blood. Remembering sitting on that John Deere out on the prairie away from everything and fragrance of fresh soil, diesel exhaust, and fresh breeze is unforgettable. That mixture snaps right back in my brain just driving by a tractor in the field! July of 79’ ended up going down to Walla Walla for my freshman year of college and got to meet a ton of people my age real fast. We were all single and made a ton of friends.

That was a busy summer and conforming to adulthood. Greatest summer of my life almost living on my own. An older friend from ND had some orchard land that hadn’t been planted yet so I asked if I could grow a garden on the property. He didn’t care so I jumped at it. There was a small irrigation canal right next to the garden so my prestigious engineering skills kicked right in and made a water wheel to keep the garden moist. Anyway the water wheel broke and summer was over before I knew it.

My gardening and landscaping tastes have morphed into a concept of decoration, color, balance, and verities. I sold an old house to a young couple that only had grass cuz I never planted anything on property except for the garden. Come to find out she was a horticulturist and her husband was working for the forestry department. They were ecstatic to design the whole yard the way wanted to! After several more places and trying to keep things low maintenance and trimming down to nothing. I finally found a place where people didn’t throw seeds everywhere and being so close to the mountains I’m having a chance to see another climate of plants. Just bought this place last December 2020 and the neighbor said I had wild strawberries growing in my lawn!