At the tender young age of two I was introduced to building construction and spent most of my youth working in the family construction business. It was not something I wished to do for the rest of my life, so at the first chance I got, I headed to university.

With degrees in Biology and in Archaeology, one would think that I would be working as a Paleobotanist or Osteologist (My graduate work was to be in Forensic Osteology) or, maybe something just as exciting. Well the world turns in many ways and being another Schliemann, Leakey or even the likes of Indiana Jones, just wasn’t meant to be. I lived in one-meter square pits filled with roots and mud and enjoyed it immensely. Oh yes, I even got to combine two of my favourite things, as a pilot/archaeologist I did aerial surveying for early man sites in the North.

Something was missing though. I like the scientific method, but I also like to design and work with my own ideas and this just wasn't possible in the archealogical profession. So it seems art won out over method!

It is rather hard to be artistic when you are scraping away layers of dirt from the past and still get good scientific results. I wanted to do hands on and artistic type work - like building traditional birch bark canoes - from native stories and lore.

After further technical training - including design and engineering diplomas - the designing and building part became more and more important and before I knew it I wasn’t just building canoes, but full size boats. My business, Odyssey Yachts, soon was building sailing vessels from canoe size to offshore capable 54 footers.

At a chance meeting I became involved in the design and construction of submarine parts for a world-renowned submarine builder. With the slumping economy there were times that I reduced output of boats and concentrated on building submarine parts. The FRP parts of the subs at West Edmonton Mall were made in my shop.

I continued to design and build other things as well. My interest in self-sufficiency got a boost when I became involved in designing structures that were very energy efficient and in some cases could stand alone ‘off-grid’. The Manor house itself is one of my designs. I continued building houses whenever the marine or sub-marine business got slow.

A few years ago when our small community first incorporated, I was recruited - because of my engineering and design backgrounds, as well as being a builder - to become the 'Village Building Consultant'. Until recently I continued at this part-time job on my own, but as the Village began to grow and this contract took more and more of my time, it was not possible to juggle it along with all my other interests. Since it was becoming a regular job - not exactly what I wanted - I hired another employee to keep up with this workload and to let me keep doing the things I really like to do.

The castle also one of my own designs, remains my long-term spare-time project.

During most of this time, as well as designing and building large things I have also managed to work at smaller ‘works of art’. Under the pseudonym ‘yRag’ I have had some reasonable success as a sculptor and recently I have returned to blacksmithing as an artform.

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