Landscaping the Yard

Landscaping the yard is still something we have to do. We had the driveway put down a few years ago with rocks, but it seems like it always needs more rocks every year. We also need to have some for around the home as well like out the back door off the garage there's just mud so we need to do some fixing that part up. There's a sale going on at Menards this weekend and I may go pick up some river rock to fill out those spots. So many things to get done on such a tight budget, it seems never ending. I do love our long driveway although in the winter in Wisconsin it can be quite a pain in the butt!

Summer is on the way

And we'll be visiting our log home again. I can hardly wait, it's only about three more weeks before we go out there again to enjoy the peace and quiet, the open, fresh air and the wonderful river. Of course there is still work to be done to the log home and we'll do that too so it will be a combination of relaxation and work, a little bit of both.

Can't wait!

The Bathroom

This is the corner of the guest bathroom where the washer and dryer will be going too. As you can see it is pretty raw. These are photos of the first months after the home was put up. We did have a sink and shower and toilet in there, but the washer and dryer have not been installed as of yet. That comes a little bit later along with the drywall up and painted. It's a process people.

So it's the New Year

Deer came to say good morning, taken from my back window.

And so far it's been a long winter. This is the time that we spend in the city and the winters get loooong. I do miss our log home when we're not there and this summer I'm hoping to get an Internet connection up there so it feels even more like home. I keep saying the more that log home gets complete the less time I'm going to want to spend in the city. I'm really getting to hate the city with all the crowds, noise and filth that comes with the big city. So while I'm hibernating this winter I'm thinking back of the great summer we had out in the country and it's time to reflect a bit about the last summer at our log home. Although there is still a lot of work to be done out there, that doesn't mean we don't have some fun and enjoy ourselves.


Bass the husband caught; we released him back into the water.

Some more progress photos

I've dug up some more beginning progress photos and thought I'd share them with you. It's funny when we look back on these photos because we can see where the living room and all the other rooms are now from these photos, but at first glance it takes a while to figure out.

And now to the inside...

Now here's what the inside progression looks like. We lived like this for quite some time, with no walls up just the studs. The outer walls were not caulked yet and the bugs got in terribly, that was the first thing we had to do once the outer logs were up was get those logs caulked. Between the crickets, the mosquitoes and the moths it was a horrible night's sleep, but we made it through.

The Log Home Goes Up

So here's the shell going up. We were there for part of the construction of this, but seeing as we lived so far away it was hard to be there all the time. We did have the in floor radiant heat installed in the cement during this very beginning phase of construction. Our plan was to have the shell built and then work on the inside ourselves and this has worked out just as planned. So this part was not done by us, we did have contractors come in and do the outer logs, the heat and all the plumbing and then we took it over.