About Us

When you call Cricket Designs, you are guaranteed personal service from one of the owners:  Mike or Pat Jones -- we are a two-person business! We built a new 2000-square-foot shop behind our home on the edge of the national forest. west of Salida, Colorado. 

It can be pretty wild out here on the edge of the woods.  We chased a small black bear out of  the house in August (2000) and three weeks later watched either the world’s largest bobcat or a small mountain lion crossing the backyard in the afternoon.  We have turkeys, deer and elk, too; plus the usual rabbits, chipmunks and pack rats!

 After finishing the shop, we’re now  remodeling our100-year-old log cabin home.  We live in a tiny valley with a creek in the front yard and mountains all around -- a wonderful place, except we don’t play enough.

 We moved here in ‘95 from Evergreen, CO after corporate burnout. I (Mike) am a mechanical engineer and worked primarily in project and construction management.  Pat is a writer and was assistant food editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before moving to Colorado.  Now she is a jack-of-all trades keeping the business organized, building, remodeling and landscaping.