Liam Thomas

I am pleased to announce a new addition to the family!



Liam was born on Sunday. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and is very healthy and content. Mommy and Baby got to come home from the hospital today and are adjusting to life without nurses. We're all really excited to have another little dude in the family.

For more pictures and story feel free to visit the family blog.

Sketchbook

I started drawing again. It's been a while, but I've been feelin' it again. I've been thinking about getting some things produced, finally. You know, posters, postcards, etc. I've had an Etsy account for a while, but I never do anything with it. I'll let you know when I do start putting stuff up for sale.

Here's my latest couple of sketches.

Ramona Falls

I came across an excellent music video and band this week. The band is Ramona Falls. They're a Portland band. Their album "Untuit" is a side project of Brent Knopf, of Menomena.

I haven't been in the mood to listen to music recently, but this song has shaken me out of that. Here's the video:

The Mighty Columbia

I did something that I've been wanting to for quite a while now. Fish for Salmon. I went with my buddy, Steve, who goes at least 6 times a year and knows the good spots. He's been inviting me for years now and I finally took him up on it.

It was an incredible experience. Everything from wadding waist deep into the murky water of the Columbia river before dawn to the intense struggle against a Jurassic sized fish.

Not to say that I caught one. Because that would be lying. But I did witness the catching of one. And a big one at that! It weighed in at 35 pounds of pure chinook Salmon. We were actually fishing for Coho Salmon, but it's the early part of their run right now. Steve happened to catch the tail end of another chinook run.

Steve said after the fact that it was the hardest fighting fish he'd ever landed. During the struggle the reel even popped off his pole! Fortunately he had already worn the thing out and it he managed to bring the fish all the way in.

We got it up on the bank and realized quickly that it was going to take both of us to haul it the quarter of a mile back to the tent. We put it on a 10 foot branch and carried it Caveman style.

Even thought I did not catch anything, I'm hooked. I'm planning another trip in just a few weeks.

A long meeting doodle

My son is pretty into Giraffes right now, so I drew him this during a meeting.

High Adventure

Some of you may know that I work with the Boy Scouts. The 16-18 year old group to be exact. We have camp outs almost every month that are usually just over nighters. But once a year we have a camp out that is a week long. The High Adventure. Ours occurred the week of July the 13th this year. This year it was my responsibility to plan and execute it for the 6 youth and 4 leaders involved. I started thinking about it about 9 months ago. The plan changed an evolved up to the very last minute. Here are the basics of what happened:

We camped at a beautiful little lake called Boulder Lake.



It's not a large lake, but it's beautiful and clear. There are about 6 campsites around the lake complete with picnic tables originally constructed in the 1930's as part of the Job Corps CCC project. There were two "restrooms" that looked to be about as old and mostly unusable.



But that's fine, because this camp out was about survival, and self sufficiency. So we made our own latrine. We also made our own shelters, and slept in them all week. Even with the mosquitoes made the forest hum like a florescent bulb at night. I was really proud of the boys for sticking to it!

Here are some of the shelters we made:





This was mine:



I slept in that thing for 4 nights.

The Boy Scouts have a lot of rules. Seriously, a ton. One of which is not to cut green wood. So we made our shelters out of whatever was laying around on the ground. Basically we ended up with great structures that really needed some green boughs to fill them out. That's okay, though. It was a fun experience.

Along with shelter building, we spent the week developing skills as fisherman and even spent some time learning to make snares. The lake is stocked with a fair amount of Brook Trout, and most of them were legal size. We even got a few that were 11-12" long. They weren't exactly record book fish, but they were quite tasty.





One of the other leaders (we'll call him Steve) and I would wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning (mostly because of the mosquitoes) and take one of the canoes out on the lake until the boys woke up. They usually slept until about 9:30 or 10.




(This is "Steve" in a pose I like to call "the Creepy Santa")

Now most of the time when the scouts sleep in until 10 on a camp out it bothers. It's a waste of time. Mine and theirs. But this camp out was different. This camp out was a "self serve" camp out, if you will. Most other outings involve the leaders making food for the scouts while they sleep, just in time for them to wake up to eggs and bacon. Not this time. It was a strict, "you eat what you make" camp out. There was a little bit of a learning curve, but eventually it worked out. The first day Steve and I had some pretty killer sausage, fried egg and fresh biscuit sandwiches going on. Top grade stuff!




When the first of the scouts wandered down from his shelter and saw them, his eyes lit up. "I want one!" he said. I said "Great! Go get some fire wood, build a fire and make some." He looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Then he wandered around the camp for about 15 minutes, trying to piece together the mysteries of biscuit making in his head, I guess. Eventually he got a fire going and got some biscuits. Of course, we had started almost an hour before woke up, so by the time they ate, we were back in the canoes again. It was clearly an experience many of them had never had before. Considering some of them are going to be going to college within the next year, it was one they needed to have. There's no one to cook for you while you sleep once you move away from home.

That being said, we did eat like kings! Even if the boys did have to cook for themselves, they ate well. We made carne asada tacos, and taco soup and (the tour de force) Cornish game hens roasted over coals. Oh yeah. Caveman style.



This is "Steve" man handling one of the game hens.





They were DELICIOUS!

No of us had ever done anything quite like this. It seems pretty simple, and it turned out to be, but there's always the thought of food poisoning kickin' around the back of your head when you see something like this. I'm happy to report that the latrine did not receive any extra use due to the hens.

Here are some other cooking photos:





That's right! Corn on the cob and fried SPAM!

There's another lake called Little Boulder just south of Boulder lake. We took the short hike there one of the days. It's a shallow lake even smaller than Boulder lake without any established camp sites.











We also enjoyed a bit of rifle shooting and archery. No one got shot, scoped, or arrowed, so it was a total success.







(For the record, that's the real deal. No photoshop required.)

Most of the rest of the time we spent swimming, hiking and catching things.





All in all it was a great trip. I can't wait until next year.

A Letter to Bob Dylan

I want to spotlight a friend of mine today, Randy Peterson. I have known Randy since the 8th grade. In high school we were members of the worst garage band in the western United States. After high school Randy gained several years experience in radio, starting out as the morning show intern, one of the most abused and feared positions in the working world. After working his way up to actual DJ level he decided to return to school to complete his degree. Randy graduated in April with a degree in broadcast communications, and is faced with the challenge of finding a job. I don't need to explain the difficulty of the task given the current economic situation. But he approached it with the charisma and gusto that is typical to Randy. He planned an epic road trip across the country, stopping in most of the major cities, dropping off resumes and talking to who ever will listen. He's staying in campgrounds and playing his guitar on street corners for money. Awesome.

He has been sharing his experiences on his blog, A Letter to Bob Dylan. I would recommend following it. He stories included being given "air time" at concerts to tell stories and an interview he landed on Fox and Friends in New York City.

If anyone out there has any connections in radio of television, please drop him a line!

You're a brave man, Randy. We're all proud (and slightly envious) of you.

The Nehalem River

Yesterday my Dad and I went fishing on the Nehalem River. The river runs from the coast range in a curly-q around Vernonia and out the the coast. We went to a spot about 15 miles north of Vernonia. This is what it looked like at 5:30 when we got there:



It was an amazing day. We saw an abundance of wildlife. On the ride out there was a cluster of young Elk frolicking in the foggy fields. The river contained otters and beaver. Eagles soared overhead in the narrow channel carved from the hills by the river.

I know what you're thinking, "Forget the otters! Did you get any fish?" Short answer, yes. Did we have fish for dinner? No.

When I decided to start fishing again recently, it was because of the abundance of fish that Oregon has to offer. Salmon, steelhead and the like. I'm talking big fish. Fish like this:



Fish that can feed a family for a week. That's what I'm talking about. I figure, if I can catch just one monster like that, it will totally pay for the license and the tag. That's what everyone says, right? I going to do it! Mark my words! By the end of summer, I'm gonna be up to my gills in fish!

Back to yesterday. I caught two fish. Two rainbow trout. They looked about like this:



At first I though I had snagged a sandwich baggy full of rocks. It was not the epic battle I had imagined would occur. Naturally, I let the little fellow go. About a half an hour later, I caught another one about the same size. Frankly it was probably the same one. Not the brightest crayon in the box.

So that's how it begins. There will be more to follow. Even without catching fish, a day of fishing is worth it. There's something powerful about watching the day begin in the forest. It's something that shouldn't be enjoyed by fisherman and hunters alone.

Patio Garden

Mary bought me a book for Christmas called The Urban homestead.



I like it. I made sourdough bread from scratch with the help of a recipe in this book. Very tasty! Anyway, I love books like this but every time I read one I want to buy a 15 acre farm complete with livestock, barns, chicken coops and a creek. It's quite a leap from our 2 bedroom apartment situation. This book gave some great advice:

Where you are is your homestead. Do what you can with what you have.

I like the idea. I feel like I live too much of my life waiting to live. So this year I decided to grow as much of a garden as I can on our apartment patio.



We've got a couple kinds of tomatoes (grape and pear), a red bell pepper, a jalapeno and copious amounts of basil. I love fresh basil. It's one of my favorite herbs. The problem is that I hold it in too high of esteem. I have purchased fresh basil and waiting for a "special occasion" to use it, only to find it wilted and moldy when the occasion arrived. So I planted a lot of it, so I don't have to be timid in using it. I bought one start about a month ago and planted seeds around the tomatoes at the same time. So far the seeds have sprouted and are about a half and inch tall while the start has grown about 5 inches in the same amount of time.



The tomatoes are blooming now and should be producing quite a few tomatoes. That is assuming that they survive the relentless attacks of one certain Ethan that has more than once mistaken their metal protective cages as basketball hoops. But that's another story.

More later...

The 80th post on Modern Chef Pants

This marks a turning point, of sorts. I am going to be changing the nature of my posts. I have traditionally posted doodles and drawings and design related material. These things are good and fine. I will likely continue to post them from time to time. I have however decided to discuss another aspect of my life that has not previously made it to Modern Chef Pants.

I have long been a believer in the principles of self reliance and the independence that comes from following those principles. My experiences in the Boy Scouts program and my youth in general gave me a great appreciation for the basics of life. How to find food in nature, how to provide basic shelter, how to start fire without modern conveniences. When I was younger, I thought that as I grew up I would leave these simple ideas behind to join the complex world of adulthood that I did not fully understand at that point. As I get older I realize that no one really does understand this crazy world and those that seem to are either better at pretending, are very mislead or just don't care. I have found in myself the consistent desire to bring things back to a manageable level. To be able to provide for myself the basics of life without having to rely on a machine larger and more powerful than any one of us. I know that it can be done, because it is how it was done for thousands of years before us. I don't want to live in a "Star Trek" world, where everyone dresses the same and eat food that was created in a lab to taste just like pork. I can't think of anything more dehumanizing than losing our connection to the earth that we rely on for life.

If found that there are a lot of people that share a similar set of ideals. Anywhere from treehugging star children to shotgun totting bunker dwellers. In my wanderings I have found some resources that I have found consistently helpful and insightful. One has been The Simple Living Network. The sight isn't much to look at, but there's a lot of wisdom and common sense there. I would recommend checking out the monthly newsletter.

I realize that this is sounding a lot like a manifesto. Like I should be in a one room cabin with no electricity. But how would I post this to internet under those conditions? All manifesto-ness aside, I do feel like laying down the ground work for what's to come. If any of my future post head down the preachy, or crazy road just send me a little note that says "keep it together, bro" and I will oblige.

With that said, here's one of my recent undertakings:



Bees. Thousands of 'em!

My Mother and I recently took a Beekeeping class together and got a hive. We've found a beautiful berry farm close to my Mom's house that was interested in letting us keep them on their land. They grow strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and clover. That spells lots of honey and the good stuff, too.

It's been very cool to learn about bees. They are amazing little creatures. I had always assumed it was pretty complicated to keep bees for some reason. I was pretty surprised to find out that they pretty much just love to do their thing and if you throw them in a box, they'll be more than happy to fill it with honey. Okay, it's a little bit more complicated than that. You've got to know about the queen and how to make sure the hive is healthy, and other things.

I'll show some more photos of our hive:



This is me being awesome around bees.



This is that the hive looks like when you open it. We had first attempted to keep the bees in my parents backyard. Lots of people keep bees in suburban areas with no problem. We had the hive delivered and I opened it up to see this. I just about browned out when I saw it. It's a lot of bees. I knew it was going to be a lot of bees, but seriously. That's a TON of bees.



That's a brood frame. All the light colored, capped off holes have baby bees in them. By the way, did you know that when a new bee pops out of his little cocoon he gets right to work. No time wasted. Pretty cool, huh? I'm still trying to explain this to Ethan. It hasn't worked so far.

So that's all for now. In the future I'll be giving you updates about our tiny porch garden, maybe some canning later in the summer, some camping experiences, etc. Who knows.

Guess what?!

Mary and I are going to have another baby!

The little one is due on December 7th. We are both very excited.

Sketchbook Revivalism

I decided to dig through my sketchbook to see what I had worth posting. This is what I got. I've been doing more reading than sketching recently.


This one looks like a guy I used to do yard work for in High School.
He was a Rocket Scientist. No joke.




This guy is having a sweet party with a bunch of birds, I guess.



Ethan helped me with this one. What a guy.

What do we really need?

"People don't need enormous cars, they need respect. They don't need closets full of clothes, they need to feel attractive and they need excitement and variety and beauty. People don't need electronic equipment; they need something worthwhile to do with their lives. People need identity, community, challenge, acknowledgement, love and joy. To try to fill these needs with material things is to set up an unquenchable appetite for false solutions to real a never-satisfied problems. The resulting psychological emptiness is one of the major forces behind the desire for material growth.

~Donella Meadows
Beyond the Limits

Radom neurotransmittions

My brain had been throwing some weird stuff at me recently. I think it hates me. I can't say that I blame it. I do work it in at least 6 different directions at the same time. Even my leisure time recently has been spent trying to unravel the mystery of Lost (we're still in the middle of season 2.) Mary thinks they're all dead. Kind of like the 6th sense with wild boars.

Anyway recently I've had RANDOM songs just pop into my head. Songs I haven't heard in over 10 years. Here are some of the most recent:





I couldn't post the original music video for this one because of the disproportionate amount of man flesh that is displayed. (Looked like the Banana Hammock Shack had a fire sale. Yikes!) The live video will have to do:



This one is pretty much always rattling around in my head, which is ironic, since I've never been able to get past the 3rd level of this game.



So if you ever stop and think "I wonder what John's thinking about right now..." You'd be safe to bet it's one of the above songs.

Collaborative sketches

My mom got Ethan a pretty awesome art stand for Christmas this year. Eth and I do some sketching together pretty much everyday. He starts the drawing and I jump in when I can see what he's getting at. I thought I'd post one of them. It's an elephant, kinda. I'm posting another photo of Eth looking like a truly unbalanced artist... just like daddy.

p.s. sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'll be better at it. New Year's resolution.