Leaving the car in the driveway.

Ever since I stopped working for someone else (35 years ago) I've chosen to work at home. We did travel great distances to do murals and many large projects for a number of years, which was quite the adventure on most occasions. The rest of the time I worked from the house with my studio in the basement early on. Later we built custom houses with a studio planned into the main floor plan as I liked to have an office with a window - preferrably with a view.  I didn't even have to put on a pair of shoes to get to work.

Nine years ago when we moved onto our current property we built a real shop and for the first time I worked away from home but only about 300 feet away. Now I could make noise, dust and weld without making things uncomfortable in the house. It made perfect sense. But that meant my distance to work increased greatly. And now I had to put on a pair of shoes, except on the warmest of days.

The vehicles are now in our driveway most of the time. I still drive into town a time or two each week, combining chores to make the best use of my time and the fuel we burn. On rare occasions I go into the big city, and see with awe the thousands of other folks on the freway who do make the trip every day. I couldn't imagine spending hours each day on the road - simply to go to and from work. But many folks do just that and have little choice in the matter. I would think that is one reason I seem to get so much accomplished each day. Since I don't commute I simply have more productive hours available.

While working from home wouldn't suit everyone, we sure enjoy it. The non-existant commute is one more reason we like to think we have a perfect lifestyle instead of a real job.

-grampa dan

Being creative all of the time. NOT.

I often hear folks wish they could be in my shoes and simply be creative every day. I wish it were that way too! The truth is that for every hour I get to be creative there are many other hours doing lots of other jobs that are not quite as glamorous. In the last weeks I have spent many hours on the phone chasing down all kinds of things, gathering information, and setting up deals. Time is spent doing administrative things, behind the scenes organizing and plain old cleaning up. 

Now, I'm not complaing for I know I have one of the best jobs in the world. And all the other behind the scenes and not so glamorous work paves the way for the jobs that are more fun than anyone could possibly imagine. Those times make all the other stuff worthwhile - by a long shot.

Today was one of those less than super creative days. I still had fun although at the end of the day I couldn't look back and laugh out loud at the crazy project we worked on. Today I was busy doing other things. But you can bet that the whole time I was thinking about some very creative things. It was a productive day - the kind of day that makes me itch to start something wilder than ever before.

Just wait until tomorrow...

-grampa dan

From west to east.

The front of most houses is pretty fancy but as we go around them it gets pretty plain in a hurry. Our new house will actually face the back of the property. That's where the sun shines - to the south. That is where the view is. And I'd rather look at that beautiful view than simply watch the cars drive by. The front entry is actually to the west side of the house by where the driveway goes back to the shop. This meant we had to give the new house the treatment all the way around. And so that is what we've decided to do.

It is almost time to get to the real work...

-grampa dan