LEED Workshop

Tim (one of the guys I work with) and I are heading to Spokane tonight. We are attending an all day LEED workshop tomorrow. Hopefully we will get a chance to stop by our new Spokane office and swing over to Sportsman's Warehouse (I can't resist!). While we are there, we plan to meet up with Pharmer who has been an intern in our office the last couple of summers. He's at WSU's Spokane campus working on his Master degree. I know, I know....a coug. Being in Eastern Washington I have to put up with them. It's like somehow, even though UW is closer, I'm in their territory....and I hear about it regularly. Go Huskies!

A Month for September

It's official. Aloa is going to take September for a month to see if she can be trained. If not, we get rid of her and start looking for a new horse. Here's to her getting her attitude straight.

Attitude Adjustment

September is in need of an attitude adjustment. To be fair, she is in a new place and probably misses the horses that lived in the field next to hers. She also hasn't been ridden much in the last 8 years. So, up to this point we have been moving slow on the riding. Mostly riding her bareback and being led around the field. Yesterday, Jerry put a saddle on her and I hear he had one wild ride. He was a bit sore from it. We all agreed that we should turn her over to a friend that trains horses for a few weeks to see what happens. Barbara is going to give her a call and see if she will take the job.

It's September in October

Here's a photo of Emma and September.

We picked up our horse, September, yesterday. She hasn't been loaded in 11 years and has not been rode very often over the last 8 years. So, she is resisting a bit. She was hesitant loading, but did better than expected. I was the first one on her yesterday and she wasn't so pleased about it. Emma was the next one on, and she settled down for her. This morning Emma was on her a couple of times but she was a bit more rascally. She was doing some small bucks. So, this afternoon, I got on and she was doing it for me too. Then Jerry got on. She bucked a bit more for him, but he did a better job of keeping her under control. I was joking to everyone later in the day that he had one hand in the air and was yelling YEE HAA! We are talking about having a friend that trains horses come over and spend some time with her to get her comfortable with being ridden again.

A Fence for our Horse

I spent yesterday afternoon driving fence posts so that we can build a fence for our new horse. Yes....our new horse. On Saturday we went to meet a Horse that a women was looking for a home for. The horse was very gentle and a definite people horse. While the girls were playing in her field, the horse went over to smell them and see what they were up to. It is a Chestnut color with dark legs and a white star and snip. It's name is September (Sepy for short). After meeting our family the woman agreed to give the horse to us. She had already turned two families down! So, we had to quickly build a fence out at Christy's parents house so that we would have a home for the horse. We are all VERY excited. Emma is beside herself! I can't wait to ride her.

Solar Home Tour

This last saturday I visited a few of the homes on the Solar Home Tour in Ellensburg. My Aunt Janet, Uncle Mel, and Cousin Tim also went.

We visited a grid-tied home out in the Wilson Creek area (in the valley not the wilson creek in the basin) that was built with Raster block, had solar hot water panels on the roof, a wind generator that was spinning like mad (go figure....in ellensburg!) and a set of somewhere around 24 solar panels that were sensor driven to optimize sun angle. Pretty impressive set up!

We also visited a house that was completely off the grid that had 24 solar panels and a wind generator. Their micro-climate really reduced the efficiency of the wind generator (barely moving while we were there) and their solar panels were manually adjustable for sun angle. They had a set of regular ol' car batteries for storage. They used a lot of propane appliances and a generator to charge the system when things were running low. They also use the generator to pump water up to a big storage tank on the hill side and then gravity feed the house. They were living pretty well for being completely off the grid!

Eco-Charrette

I led an eco-charrette for a high school that we are designing last week. The project has to meet the Washington Sustainable Schools Protocol (WSSP) or be LEED Silver. We are moving forward with WSSP. It's exciting to move through the process and I look forward to seeing the results.

Natural Homes Map

Check out the Natural Homes Map below! Click on the icons to get information about each of the buildings. D&M needs to get their Straw Bale Coffee Shop on there!

Mission Complete

Okay....so here's the scoop.
I went to Idaho on thursday. I arrived at 7pm, threw on my camo, and headed into the mtns. As Jerry and I were sneaking in to where the tree stand was hanging, a bear walked out of the bushes, saw us, and left. I climbed into the tree stand and stayed until dark, but he didn't come back.

On friday we went out and looked things over in the morning and then I climbed into the tree stand at about 4:30. At 7:30 I started hearing soft footsteps that were definitely not from the sharp hooves of a deer or elk. Sure enough through the tree I could see the brown fur of a bear walking right at me. The bear was what they call blonde and had brown circles around its eyes and on its ears as well as a white patch on its chest. It walked right up to the tree I was in and stood underneath me sniffing around and looking into the clearing behind me. Then it moved out into the clearing and sat under a tree to look everything over. It must have picked up my scent because he was definitely taking his time looking everything over. He didn't see me up in the tree though. He didn't look up. Anyway, eventually he went back into the woods. About 20 minutes later he came back. He was squatted down eating and I decided that it was time to take a shot. I was in a bad position and pulling my bow back was awkward, but I got it back and took aim. My hands were really shaking and it was taking everything I had to keep my breathing under control (for the record, it wasn't very under control). I decided to release my arrow and began squeezing my release. Just before my arrow went flying, he stood up. The arrow went right under his chest. He jumped in the air and ran about 20' while looking over his shoulder. He didn't know what had just happened. He wandered into the trees and I saw him walk away.

On saturday I went up and sat in the tree stand for a couple of hours in the morning. I then convinced Jerry that we should move to this other place we had checked out. So, we set the tree stand up in this other place along a ridge line and then I climbed in at about 3:30. Jerry left and was going to come back and get me just before dark (8:50). At about 4:30 I heard some noise behind me. I started watching over my shoulder and sure enough....in walked a bear. He walked around and was chewing on some grass. I took aim. I felt much more calm than I had the night before. I let the arrow fly and it stuck in the ground right by his feet. HE WAS ONLY TEN YARDS AWAY! I couldn't believe that I had botched the shot. He jumped in the air and looked around. After not seeing anything, he went back to what he was doing. He must have thought that a pine cone had fallen next to him. So, I nocked another arrow. I pulled back and carefully took aim. This time, I hit him. It was a terrible shot, but blood shot out everywhere. I had definitely hit him in an artery. He jumped in the air, let out a yelp, and took off running. He went about 30 yards and stopped. I could barely see him because the bushes were so thick. He then slowly moved out of sight. After about 7 minutes, I lowered my bow to the ground. I then waited another 7-8 minutes and climbed down out of the tree. I immediately pulled the .44 caliber pistol out of my shoulder holster and moved over to where I shot him. I picked up the arrow I had missed with and a few feet away I spotted my other arrow. It had passed straight through him and was stuck in the ground. I went and got it. It was covered from one end to the other in blood. He was definitely not going to make it very far. Not wanting to face an injured bear, I made my way down to the road (using a path that went the opposite direction the bear went). I then started trying to contact Jerry on some radios that I had brought. I knew that he would be out of range because the mtn roads are so twisted and the forest so thick with trees. So, I started walking down the road in the direction I knew he had gone. I just beeped the radio every few feet knowing that eventually the transmission would make it through the trees and he would hear it. After about a mile and a half I heard him beep back. Our voices weren't making it through, but we were at least in contact. Another half mile and I heard his voice say "If you want me to come get you, beep your radio twice". So I did. He said "I'm on my way". His voice was now crystal clear so I responded "I shot a bear". He was excited and said that he was about a half hour away and would get there as quick as possible. A little while later he came racing around a corner and I showed him the arrow. I told him that we would have to go looking for the bear. We went back and he took the .44 and I took a rifle and we headed back up to where I had shot him. I showed him the blood. He said that he couldn't have made it very far. I told him where it had stopped when it ran away so we headed that direction. Right where he had stopped there was a tree that was covered in blood. It was clearly squirting out of him. He couldn't be very far away. The amount of blood he had lost in those 30 yards was phenomenal. We started looking for more blood trail and Jerry said "There he is" and pointed about 10 yards away. Sure enough, he was dead. We walked up, poked him with a stick, let out some celebratory yells and laughs and then moved him onto a log for a photo shoot.

Spring Turkey has come and gone

Well...I didn't get a turkey but I DID get to hear one gobble. Jerry and I had pulled over in a promising area and I stepped out of the suzuki and used my box call. As soon as I stopped it gobbled. It wasn't very far away. I looked at Jerry and he looked at me. We jumped over the bank and set up under a tree. I called again and it gobbled back. My friends had seen a large turkey in the area and so I was hoping this was it. I waited a few minutes and then called again. It gobbled AGAIN! The adrenaline was pumping. A couple of minutes later I called again. Nothing. I waited and called again....nothing. He had shut up. He must have figured us out. Oh well....it was exciting.

I'm heading to Idaho to try my hand at getting a bear with my Bow next weekend. Jerry is already over there trying to get things set up. Apparently the area has a lot of hunters right now. One camp claims to have picked up 3 large bears yesterday. Hopefully there is still one left for me next week. I'll keep you posted.