The Land we chose for our Log Home

The first step to starting your log home dream is to find land that fits your needs and lifestyle. We chose our land for several reasons:

1. It had a sloping lot - perfect for building a walk-out basement so we would have added space
2. It was on a quiet no-wake lake - very conducive towards the "quiet sports" such as swimming, fishing, observing the birds & wildlife. We have an all sports lake next door for when my husband wants to "rip it up!"
3. The mature trees
4. The area - very central for our recreational interests (skiing, hiking, fishing, etc.)

Here are images of our property and the lake before our log home was built:

Reviewing the progess of the Log Home

During the of building our log cabin (a.k.a. log home now!) - I documented the progress with close to a thousand photos. It is great to look back and see how it all came to life and also all the fun memories. It's still amazing to me how the crew unloaded and stacked the logs - especially as they reach the loft level during the major winter storms in Gaylord. I hate heights but I would climb the ladder to be in the center of the building process and watch the logs go up. My husband was harrassed by me every Friday at 4:00 with the questions "what time are you leaving work? What time can we leave for the log cabin?" As I'm getting ready to piece all these photos together in an album, I realize what a fulfilling family history that Greg and I have embarked upon and how my stepson will be able to look back and recount it with his own family one day. We are creating memories.

Log Cabin Quote of the Day

Gratuitous Log Cabin Photo

Here's my gratuitous log cabin photo of the day. I love this wall of windows that looks out to the lake and trees. Still trying to decide if I should put those fishtail swag curtains on the bottom two windows (just to frame them and add a little bit of color.) I've been looking at the Country Porch web site (they have a great selection for the log cabin/lodge theme) - http://www.countryporch.com/ . I posted a photo example below - what do you think??

An unusual visitor to the Log Cabin

Meet Sugar the goat. She belongs to my neighbor down the street. She made her first appearance when my builder's crew was sitting outside. She ran around the construction site and began eating the flagged markers that were staked. The unfazed hungry crew thought "lunch" and then helped to round her up for her owner. Didn't they think it was odd that a goat was a kept animal in the woods of northern Michigan? A farm maybe....

Sugar is like a dog. Whenever she hears people, our neighbor says she needs to go greet them. I asked my neighbor who lives in a small cottage - "how did you end up with a goat?" He said his granddaughter liked them on a visit to a friend so he took one home. Nice grandpa! I do like her and she's very friendly - but I am worried about the new trees we planted. Sugar always seems to be "getting away" and ends up at our place. This past weekend we "sugar proofed" the trees by putting an individual fence around them. We'll see what happens....

Security for the Log Cabin

I had a little scare at the Log Cabin last night while my husband and stepson were at the movies. To begin - I am on a quiet street with older neighbors (most of whom live here.) I've met a few of them and recognize their cars. So while laying in bed this truck was cruising back and forth slowly down our dead end street. It then stopped at our log cabin and pulled onto our lot (the portion that is NOT a driveway and was shining their headlights into the cabin.) I immediately knew they were scoping our place out and thought no one was home. I snapped on the bedroom lights and then they pulled out, turned off their lights and cruised down the street. Suspicious behavior - right?! After locking the bedroom door and calls to the police and my husband - it did get me thinking about security for our log cabin. I originally felt safe at our place in the woods, nice neighbors, small community, etc. But again, times are tough all over and I'm sure weekend cottagers are easy targets. The best advice I can give to anyone with a place out in the country/woods

1. You can never have too many motion detector lights! Have them put all around your perimeter (but if you have neighbors, make sure they are not aimed at them.) My builder will be installing 2 more this week.
2. Have one of your lamps put on a timer to go on at night.
3. Get to know your neighbors and have them keep an eye on your place. I just informed my neighbors across the way that if they see a suspicious car at our place during the week, please call the police.
4. The pricey option - installing an alarm. I am hoping I do not have to resort to this. Again, I like to think I am in the safest place in the woods of northern Michigan.

If anyone has additional suggestions, please share!