This may be a long post and I apologize ahead of time. What a rollercoaster this whole process has been. We designed and built our own home in 2003. Then in 2016 we bought some land and built an off grid camp. Last year at Thanksgiving when my Mom was diagnosed with lung cancer for a second time, I decided it was time to move closer to them. I had land buyers interested in my camp property for the last few years, but always told them I would need 1.5million to sell. As my wife, Sarah, and I discussed putting the land on the market, I received a message from a buyer asking if we were interested in selling. I said yes we were. Just like that the camp was under contract. Once we finished sprucing up the house, we listed it. Mother’s Day was the first day on the market. The realtor held and open house at 10am. By 5 pm that evening, we had 3 offers. Under contract for over asking price in less than a day. Meanwhile, a few days prior to our home going on the market, we made an offer on a home in TN. It was accepted. This is when the rollercoaster started. The mortgage company pre-approved me knowing I was moving from NH to TN. Once we started the loan process, they said because I was moving they couldn’t use the income I listed because I was leaving my job. I told them I had about 1.5 million in assets(not the made up value of camp, LOL). They had me jumping thru hoops for 3 weeks. “Your parents will have to cosisgn, you will have to buy the home as a second home, your parents will have to buy the home with you gifting them the proceeds from NH home sale………”. Finally told my realtor this was happening. I was perplexed that I couldn’t get a $100k loan with the amount of assets I had. He said don’t give up yet, I have another lender that can help you. This guy got in touch with me and I told him I was moving and leaving my job. I had my 401k and he said the value of that was enough to get the loan. In nine days, this guy did what the other lender couldn’t do in 3 weeks. We closed this past Thursday and unloaded a giant U-Haul truck into the basement of our new home. While we were shopping for home basics, I found this longbow and picked it up for my Granddaughter. We set it up yesterday on the back lawn and she took some shots. I have a butt load of things to do in the new place before I can setup a place to shoot, but that’s ok. Family is all moved and safe. If you read this far, I thank you.

Truck was loaded last night at around midnight, soooooo busy! Hit the road bright and early 530 this morning. Didn't bother making coffee at home, just hit Tim's, right? WRONG! Of all the days for renos. Come on. Had to wait all the way until 100 mile house for a Tim's. After that hit highway 99, was nice theres no service most of that high way. It takes 40 minutes to fly to Vancouver from williams lake and 7 hrs to drive it. Just look at all the stuff we have to drive over, under and around and sometimes through just to get anywhere. Beautiful drive though. Waiting to board the ferry now. Never though I would bother with vancouver island, theres just so much to see in the cariboo, not to mention the rest of mainland BC. But looking forward to it!

We are two weeks away from closing on our NH house. Just about everything is packed up. Been out straight the last two months. Got up this morning to a steady rain. Sat on the couch for some R&R. Started watching(I should say still watching) some board bow building on YouTube. After a few hours, I headed to Home Depot and picked up a pc of oak and a pc of maple. Went out to the garage and glued up a maple 62” blank with oak glued on for the riser. Then a 30” blank for Little Bear and a 36” for Little Bear that is oak with maple glued on the riser. Felt good to do something productive. LOL

The home we are purchasing in TN has carpet we will be removing. To keep from having to pay to have it put in the dump, I was thinking of repurposing it as archery targets. I’m thinking of cutting it into squares and stacking and binding with a ratchet trap to make block style targets. What are everyone’s thoughts.

Over twenty seven thousand downloads... That's how many times The Code of Traditional Archery podcast has been downloaded. Over twenty seven thousand people, from all over the world, tuning in to hear Grant talk about ethics, process, and the hard way. I remember when he first told me he wanted to write a book. He sat at the kitchen table with a notebook, writing down stories from his grandfather and his father. I thought it was a hobby project. But he kept writing. Night after night. When the book came out, I saw the messages come in. Hunters saying they finally felt seen. That someone put into words what they'd been feeling for years but couldn't articulate. That's when I realized this wasn't just a side project. This was a movement. The podcast followed naturally and it's become the top-of-funnel for everything we do here. If you haven't listened yet, search "The Code of Traditional Archery" wherever you get your podcasts. It's a good way to understand what this community is really about. Have you listened? 👉 Drop your favorite episode in the comments. I'll tell Grant which ones are getting love. -Jenn