Of Logs and Cabins and Such

Last week was a full week with such a variety of activities I hardly know where to start. Perhaps I'll work backwards and start with the logs. Larry and our son Derek got the last of them in place yesterday--a lot of heavy lifting, dirt and sweat went into getting this part of the project complete.

 This is the front wall; there will be a porch running the length of it. This is about 22 feet long. Larry will be going back to trim the log ends; since we didn't put the logs back in the original shape and position, they didn't fit exactly like they did in the old cabin. We also had a lot of loss--some of the logs had extensive rot and could not be used, others we were able to use by cutting out the bad places and using the solid parts for the short sections we needed. Some will still need work filling in holes, etc. These were not in as good a condition as the first cabin we took down, but we were able to get enough to complete the room. We had none left over, except some scraps for firewood. It was close as to whether we'd be able to finish or if we'd have had to find another cabin somewhere (actually we have spotted two but right now we're not really wanting to get into another tear-down project!).





 
This looking out the front window, right into the apple tree and the grape arbor. I'm thinking some bird feeders are in order here. The porch, of course, will have some rockers and probably a resident pair of binoculars.

 

 

 

And this is the side facing northwest; it's about 16 feet long. Windows and doors have a couple advantages: they allow us to use some shorter sections of log which helped to make use of the ones with bad places in them, and it also made it a lot easier on the log lifter!










 I love the way the logs come together in the corners. The handwork of men 200 years ago or more has stood the test of time.

I need to get out under the apple tree to take a picture of the room from outside. I was busy cooking yesterday while the guys worked--first a good breakfast of eggs, grits, fried apples, bacon, cider, coffee,toast; then dinner of beef stew, bread and apple pie. Someone has to feed the crew, right?

The poutin' house, the little cabin Larry moved last winter, is still on hold until we get this room under roof. Then Larry will get back to work on it. He wants it to be fairly sealed in by deer season so he'll be working on the chinking.You can barely see it in this photo, down in the woods to the left.

Here's a better photo of the poutin' house. I love the way it seems to fit so naturally into its surroundings. When it's finished, it can be a primitive guest house, for those who don't mind very simple living and a woodsy atmosphere.

Next post, I'll catch you up on all the storytelling last week. And then there was the canning I did, and news about my antique mall booths...several posts, coming up!







Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.