Eric building new Loft.
Catchy title, huh? What kind of communications doesn’t require electricity of some kind? Phones, radios, flashing lights and Morse code? No. What about yelling really loud, or smoke signals? They qualify but leave you either hoarse or coughing! The answer: homing pigeons! Yup, recently we have added to the menagerie of animals we keep here with my son’s homing pigeons.
How we started
Late last summer Eric spotted a pigeon on our roof. This was an unusual sight up here in the mountains miles from any city. It seemed a little tame and had a numbered band around its leg. With a little coaxing and food Eric captured the bird.
Why consider using or purchasing a Netbook style computer for your off grid move? There are many advantages including size, weight, and battery life that make this attractive over other computing choices. There are some down sides too, but with proper planning you can have the best of both computing worlds size and power. At least I think I’ve found a good arrangement.
There remains only one version of our phone system that I haven’t covered here. This one came after the amateur 
After 11 years on the mountain, we have gone through 3 uniquely different kinds of phone systems. Our current phone choice is already covered at 
All too often in life we go along doing what we do, and rarely think much of it. We pour our heart and soul into a project that should be really big, and some positive attention only to find it doesn’t. The rule I found in the corporate engineering cubicles was the 10 / 90 rule. That is 90% of what you do goes unnoticed, even though you’re good. Its the 10% that didn’t take much effort, that gets the great reviews!
virtual speed to information? Its a term I use for a higher level measurement of how quickly you can discover and use new information.. How quickly can you go to your top 20 websites and digest/save/use the new information that is relevant to your world? Yes, the faster your Internet connection the better chance you have of winning the info digesting contest. However, there are a set of tools that have been around a long time and are under utilized by many people. These tools give you the ability to skim a ton of information, to drill down quickly into relevant articles.
When it comes to computers, everyone seems to think “their” program, Operating System, or hardware is the best. These ideas are often formed from years of experience. Not being one to shy away from and occasional 