Currently living/working: Petsitting/Writing/Virtual Library Presentations/Cleaning. That’s basically the summary of our work this month—a little of everything, but a lot of staring into the glowing screen. Current mood: This month, we spent an amazing 8 days in Hawaii (blog posts coming), where we eschewed the to-do list and stayed out of touch with calendars and…
Currently living/working: Our season came to an abrupt end on Sept. 5, when Justin ended up in the hospital! Life went from warp speed to a snail’s pace. But in general, we had a very fulfilling summer and y’all know how I love stats, so here they are! Justin led 61 trips for Traverse Alaska…
Many people are already aware about Justin’s Crohn’s disease, but we’ve been fairly quiet about it on the blog for the past 4 years because there hasn’t been much to say! His doctors proclaimed he was in remission in April 2021, he’s been on a maintenance infusion since 2018 and he continues to do all…
Guest post by Justin! Most of you know by now that I came off of Denali, what was supposed to be a 25-day expedition. I’ve spent months prepping my gear, my mind and my body. I thought I was ready. But it turns out I was not. I want to be super human, I want…
In 2016, Justin wrote extensively about Crohn’s disease, a disease he had since his teens (see links below for full stories). It’s truly a hidden disease. Justin lives with a broken body. However, he doesn’t like to let the disease rule his life. Few people would ever know he has it and that’s why I…
Currently living/working in: Still property caretaking the school’s property, Fenton Ranch, in the Jemez Mountains. More than property caretaking, though, we have spent most of the month chin deep in product specs, tester quotes and creative adjectives to describe “lightweight” to meet our magazine deadlines for our gear testing submissions. Current mood: Mentally exhausted with a…
Currently living/working in: We finished teaching the kids at Fenton Ranch Oct. 12, so from now through March, we wear the main hat of property caretakers. This entails greeting weekend guests (faculty/staff of the school who can reserve the main house as a benefit), doing maintenance projects and general upkeep, along with a few bigger projects.…
This is the third in a 3-part series chronicling Justin’s journey with Crohn’s disease so far. The story gets personal, and may be TMI for some people. Be warned. The first post was focused on J’s history of Crohn’s from his perspective and the second post was about his Oct. 18 surgery and the 10 days in…
This is the second in a 3-part series chronicling Justin’s journey with Crohn’s disease so far. The story gets personal, and may be TMI for some people. Be warned. The first post was focused on J’s history of Crohn’s from his perspective. This second post is about J’s Oct. 18 surgery and the 10 days…
This post will finally bring our blog reader up to date on Justin’s health and recent events. Justin actually tries to stay very private, despite the fact we have a public blog! With a little prodding, I told him he had to share his story. It gets personal and may be TMI for some people.…