I've actually been hanging around here for a few years, off and on, but hadn't noticed this topic for introductions before today.

My wife and I live in mid-Maryland, inside the Capitol Beltway, with an adult son. According to my calculations, a nuclear blast on the US Capitol would probably blow in my bedroom windows, but not destroy the house, and we're rarely downwind of the Capitol.

Our 1/4-acre lot, with gentle southern exposure, has some mature trees to the south-west which cast shade over ground that would otherwise be under cultivation. Fortunately, I'm on good terms with an elderly neighbor who is happy to let me cultivate a patch of his yard that gets good summer sun. Butternut squash, kale, and tomatoes are my favorite crops. I used to grow great green beans, but the rabbits showed up and eat them when they're small, and if the beans survive to grow where the rabbits can't reach, the deer get them.

AB3NA is my ham radio call sign, and you can find my writing about radio elsewhere on the site. (Call signs are assigned by the FCC, sort of like license plates, and are guaranteed to be globally unique.)

My small but well-equipped home workshop is centered around a 9x20" metal-turning lathe, with a small bandsaw, drill press, grinding wheels, vises, and tool chests for the little bits that make the big machines useful. These machines work with metal, wood, and plastic. Sometimes they make accessories for the ham radio station, sometimes for the garden, and sometimes just art. Some of it was bought second-hand, some bequeathed by older relatives. With any care, it will outlive me.

Our home has grid-tied solar panels that provide all the electricity we need, and we spent about $800 on natural gas over the last year. We're VERY fond of our goose-down comforter.

I support my church financially, but also as the go-to guy for repair and maintenance issues. My goal is to free the pastor to take care of her flock, while I keep the barn from falling down, or burning up.