Stairway to Log Heaven

Here's our log staircase, just inviting you to come up and survey the log kingdom. Our cat (Marvin) loves weaving in and out of the rails and perching himself on top to meow at us. The steps are half logs - rounded on the bottom, flat on top. I'm looking for a small corner table to put on the staircase landing so it can showcase a nice vase or wooden loon carving or maybe just some silk flowers. You can see the temporary handrails that are fastened to the log one so we would pass the city inspection. I think it detracts from the log handrails so the temporary one might accidentally get removed....

Cooking in Pioneer Times

If we were back in pioneer times, I would be making dinner in a kettle hanging from trammels over a fire. My cabin would have been one room and all the furniture handmade. Our meal would most likely be blackberries, fish, deer and other wild game. Fast forward to today, and I need to purchase a gas stove this week from Lowes. Somehow the stove seems to take away from my vision of having a cozy cabin in the woods that reconnects me to nature and simpler times. So on my list of projects to get close to recreating that feeling is canning my own fresh picked berries this summer and picking up some pioneer - log cabin type cookbooks. Here's one cookbook I found called Log Cabin Lewis & Clark Cookbook. Here's the link: http://www.campchef.com/catalog/item/8/65/0/BK-CSLC/23/Log+Cabin+Lewis+&+Clark+Cookbook.html

Also, if anyone has some cookbook suggestions that would be perfect for a "log cabin meal" - please send them my way. Thanks!!

Log Cabin Ceilings

I like the way the log beams look on the ceilings of our log cabin. I love laying in bed and looking up at the ceiling at the perfectly spaced beams. They have individual characteristics with their coloring and knot holes. The best part is they are very useful and can be used with your log cabin decor. The 2 main level bedrooms have rustic bronze lights hanging from the middle beams drawing attention to the architecture of the logs. We hung our kitchen track lighting on one log beam. The lights point in different directions highlighting different areas in the cabin. On the beam of our loft are 2 ceiling fans. However, one fan is over 20 feet from our 2-story living room floor. How are we going to change that light bulb??

Cabin Tip - Don't forget the propane

A few weekends ago, I was the perfect example of what people up north call people downstate in Michigan - a fudgie, trunk slammer, flat lander or troll. Fudgie has always been my personal favorite since the northern people laugh on how we "fudgies" like to buy fudge when we visit. But fudgie can also describe one of our "up north" mistakes. Last weekend we arrived at the cabin, the heat wasn't working. After several minutes of playing with the thermostat and inspecting the furnace, we called the heater guy. "Did you check the propane tank?" he asked in his all knowing northern michigan way. I as the fudgie said "no but thank you. I will call the propane people." I run out to inspect the tank gage - and it was empty. The propane people were understanding - they get these weekend calls all the time from us fudgies who forget to inspect the tank. It was an expensive mistake as we got charged an emergency fee to fill - but I was just glad they showed up. Cabin tip of the day - don't forget to monitor your propane tank on at least a bi-monthly basis.