I grew up in the Three Rivers area of Deschutes County — which is a long way of saying I was raised on the Bend lifestyle: skiing, camping, foraging for mushrooms, and whacking sticks against trees just because. The forest raised me. The toolbox adopted me later.
I’ve been tiling since I could hold a trowel — and according to my mom, that’s when I officially became an adult. Landscaping came naturally (and unintentionally) through a mix of hyperfixation and an obsession with making dirt look calm and orderly. Zen lines, clean cuts — that sort of thing.
These days, when I’m not working full-time as a ski tech, I fix things. Tile, flooring, drywall, mystery doors that won’t close (because they gave up trying) — I get it done right. No fuss. No mess. Just solid work and the occasional one-liner to keep it light.
