Author: Jon Los

It was a clear Saturday morning as I headed towards the yard in Abbotsford with a super B train loaded with lumber. I was westbound through the Fraser Canyon near Spuzzum. I just crossed the bridge over Spuzzum Creek and was rounding the corner when I saw a black bear walking along the fog line.…

Let’s face it, no one like to go through shit. It’s messy, it stinks and it’d slippery. But, it’s that same shit that we learn from. Learn hard lessons. Learn to love the unlovable. Learn to forgive others, and ourselves. Learn to love God and accept that we’re made from dirt, aka shit. Me? I’m…

Yesterday I had to do a run into the big ugly. I was out of cigars, needed some groceries, propane for the stove, and to pick up a head gasket and batteries for the excavator. I had lunch with my business associate to round it all off, then I headed east back to the homestead.…

You kind of take it for granted that the electricity is going to always work. And, it does work! But, winter is coming and it’s time to go over the system and make sure it’s ready for the freeze. There’s lots of parts to the hydro system. It’s a 24VDC alternator and that means it…

One day, a few months ago, I was blessed with a very old but new to me excavator. After years of digging with a goon spoon (aka, a shovel) I could suddenly do in half an hour what used to take days of back breaking, sweaty labour. Knowing that it was old, I was deliberately…

Last summer we had a forest fire that swept through our valley. It was fast and the majority of the destruction was done within the first 24 hours. Some of our neighbours lost everything, some lost a few out buildings, and some of us were spared completely. My homestead was completely untouched, and I can…