The Cabin
Our log cabin means a lot to me and it was in my bucket list like forever. This is actually the third one that I designed. The first one was so fancy and large there was no way I could handle it. The second design was feasible, but not one that I could build myself so the third design is what we ended up with.
It was in 1996 I started peeling logs and it didn’t take me long to realize I wasn’t going to do this myself. So after drying the logs for a year I commissioned a chain saw man to help scribe, cut, groove, and notch. It was in the summer of ’97, just after the 4th of July I put the foundation in and started setting the logs. I hired a couple college men on their summer vacation to help out as the cabin had to be closed up before the first snow.
The spring of ’98 I came back to finish up the interior. I had purchased all the pine tongue and groove at one time direct from a local mill and had it stored inside with all the other materials, supplies, and tools. Needless to say there was no room to do any construction work so I decided to build the garage, workshop, and sauna first and move everything there.
By the time the summer of ’99 rolled around the cabin was far enough completed to move in, which I did, and have been working on it off and on ever since. Our son Eddie visited and peeled all the cedar for the railings. It truly is a labor of love, or maybe I should say, a love of labor. The bucket list had me making all the furniture out of logs, but my "doing it with logs" was getting in the way of other things on my bucket list.
Everyone proclaims it turned out beautiful (if you like logs). The logs are magnificent and give you a warm down home feeling. There is nothing like real natural wood, but like an old wood boat it has to be constantly nurtured so its natural beauty will always soothe.
A heart felt thank you to all my relatives and friends that helped and assisted me physically and mentally on this endeavor. All the OHH's, AHH's, Pats on the back, and aught-a-boys helped this project along. There are times I see you all in every log.
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