OK, the pace might slow down a little for a while, so I'm going to throw random cabin related things in from time to time.

We are going to venture up to Liberty again this weekend to arrange and stack our logs.  Once in a separate stack we will staple down tarps and button her up in preparation for winter.  They are nice now and I don't want them aging any more before we use them.


That being said, I bought this as a Christmas present for Cheri last year.  He stands about 2 feet tall, maybe a little more.  Can you tell what he's holding?  I got a "Ah how cute" when she opened it.

OK, that's my entry for the week.  See you soon,  Jim Streeter

Architect!

Jim and I met with an architect tonight... SO MANY DECISIONS!!!  I like this guy - seems like he is able to take the ideas inside my head, and put them on paper... Seems so unreal that we are finally at the stage of putting the dreams that we have onto paper...Kinda scary...  Cheri

Now that we have heard about the grasshopper and at the time it really was funny in a macabre sort of way, I want to post a couple more pictures of the logs we "cut out of the herd" and branded as our own.  They are between 12 and 16 inches in diameter and up to 26 feet long, weighing in around 600 lbs. each.   We bought 16 of them and moving 8,000 lbs. of wood as I am learning is not an easy task.  The biggest trailer I can rent is 20 feet long so they are just going to have to hang out a couple of feet on either end with a red flag on the back.  The very kind owner in Liberty, Utah has agreed to keep them until spring when we will move them south to the sandblaster to do his magic.

I never noticed this when I took the picture, but double click on the first picture and check out the detail in the background.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Cheri and I are lucky to live in a very special place.

Jim Streeter 7/22/2012

Squished Grasshoppers.....

Jim told me that if I didn't write about our outing today, he would... and he had this evil laugh...

So, we drive back up to North Ogden to pick up the logs for the cabin.  The logs are in the middle of this field - it's scorching hot out, so we just want to pick out the logs we want and get back in the air conditioned car.  I knew that we were going to be in the middle of an open field, so I wore jeans and a t-shirt and my pink crocs (ok, Eldon, I wasn't wearing sweatpants, so the crocs was a great idea - for those of you who don't understand this comment - my brother Eldon told me that if you wear crocs and sweatpants, you've given up...I really love my crocs...)... We're in the middle of this field, picking out logs and walking through this tall grass..  There are grasshoppers jumping all over the place.  I am so grossed out - I hate bugs.  When I get back in the car, I realize there is muck all over the outside of my left shoe, and my toes are squishy and wet.... sick...  A grasshopper got in my shoe, and I smashed it between my toes - no socks on....... I was so grossed out .... almost vomiting...

Jim is highly amused... me, not so much...

Cheri

STAYING POSITIVE....

I find that I get a little overwhelmed with this project... I am so glad that I have Jim, and he keeps me on track.  I have heard all the stories (horror) about what happens to couples when they decide on a major building project, and that somewhat concerns me. 

I was sitting in my office this morning, and I realized after reading someone else's blog, that my problem is that I can't see the goal.. in my head... I can't visualize the project... yet.  But, I was inspired by a story, and I choose to share it...

"Having a goal is the most important part of becoming a finisher. A goal can keep us focused on where we want to end up. A great example of this is the story of Florence Chadwick. On August 8, 1950, Chadwick swam the English Channel in 13 hours and 20 minutes, breaking the then-current world record held by American swimmer, Gertrude Ederle. One year later, Chadwick crossed the English Channel yet again, from England to France; this time in 16 hours and 22 minutes, thus making her the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.
On the fourth of July 1952, Florence Chadwick, now 34, set a goal to become the first woman to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. As she began this historic journey, she was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. Hour after hour she swam, and after about 15 hours, a thick, heavy fog set in. Curiously, Florence began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it. Florence’s mother and her trainer continued to offer encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much further, and they urged her not to quit. But all Florence could see was fog. She had never quit . . . until then.
As Florence sat in the boat, she realized that she had stopped swimming less than one mile away from the California shoreline. She later explained that she quit because she could no longer see the coastline-there was too much fog. Florence couldn’t see her goal.
Two months later, Florence got back in the water to try again. This time was different. She swam from Catalina Island to the shore of California in a straight path for 26 miles. The same thick fog set in, but Florence made it! What was different? Florence said that while she swam, she kept a mental image of the shoreline, her goal, in her mind. Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men’s record by two hours!"

Cheri

Logs and more on logs. . . .

Here are a couple of pictures of the log sample we had sand blasted.  This is the before picture taken in the trunk of my car.

And this is after with a coat of Varathane clear urethane (varnish) on it.

So, I think we have a winner except I think the logs should look warmer so a stain with a bit of red in it might look really good.  Can I get some votes on this or warmer red color?  Bye for now, Jim Streeter

LOGS, Part Deux

When we were checking out logs in North Ogden last Saturday, we realized that we needed to get them sandblasted and then finished before they go into the cabin.  So, Jim takes the chainsaw and hacks off about a 2' chunk and yesterday evening, we met with a guy that does sandblasting... Took him about 5 minutes to blast all the bark and paint and everything else off.  Jim stained and finished the piece last night, and I think I like it...  Jim says that he's going to play with different stains and finishes until we find something we really, really like....

LOGS!

Today, we traveled to North Ogden, Utah to buy logs... Our cabin is going to be a hybrid so it's going to have regular walls and logs.  These really are nice logs.   They need to go to a guy that will sandblast them, and then we stain and finish them... They're going to be beautiful!  Jim is thrilled because the price of the logs and the finishing work is fabulous!

One step closer.

The cabin keeps changing!  I guess this is best during the design stage since changing it in the construction stage could get very expensive.

Here I have kicked out the kitchen wall and the dormer in the loft 16 inches so that the cabin gets a little better shape than just a box.  It also makes for an overhang above the sliding doors in the ground level basement.

The site layout looks like this.  You can see how we will have to dig out the side of the mountain and create a flat surface to build on.  I'm thinking that setting the cabin into the mountain by maintaining the slope at the right of the cabin and keeping as many trees as possible will create an integrated and peaceful feeling to the cabin.  OK so much for technical stuff, this is going to look cool when it's done.

Rock

I thought I had added this picture before.  This is the rock we purchased for the bathroom countertop - I think it's going in the loft bathroom, but I can't quite remember.  It's such an interesting piece, but very beautiful.  The vanity that it goes on top of is a dark wood.  I think it will look amazing together.

Moving Forward

Jim has been working tirelessly on the plans for the cabin and yesterday, they were sent to the architect so the plans/ideas can been transformed from a 3D model to flat prints.  Kind of exciting.   We were at the property a couple of weeks ago and got the elevation/layout of the land and sent it also.  Should be interesting on how this is going to look.  The plans, so far, are pretty much what we want... however, having a breakfast nook sure would be nice.  I think I really need to have a little discussion with the architect on this issue.......  Jim caught my vision of a bathroom in the loft, but, I still need to persuade him that a breakfast nook would be moving in the right direction. 

I bought some flooring for the kitchen on Tuesday.  I want a combination of different woods and colors.  So far, I've bought some maple and some hickory in the 5" planks.  I am loving the two woods together.  Got a really good deal from Habitat for Humanity - went to look at tile, and ended up buying flooring!

Cheri

Driveway Lights

Really... aren't these about the coolest ever?  We found these lights at Habitat for Humanity in Salt Lake... The glass was all smashed out and they needed a little repair... We bought new glass and Jim got it put into the slots last night, and they look so antiquey and beautiful.... I love them.  The cost for the two lights was initially $10.00 for the two of them...

We are stoked.

Stuff, stuff and more Stuff!

We continue to buy little bits and pieces of STUFF for the cabin and put it in our storage building.  Last night, we put lumber and the driveway lights, and ceramics into the building.  It's starting to get a little on the packed side of life.  As I said before, we are trying to go very, very green and using and reusing items.  Jim keeps a spreadsheet of what we have purchased and over the last year or so, we have bought about $29,000 worth of building materials... that's if we purchased it all retail...We have actually only paid about $2,300.00 which is about 8% of the retail cost... We have a storage building that is chuck full of sinks, and countertops and light fixtures and a little bit of everything else.  Last fall, we bought all the windows at a substantial savings, and they are sitting in storage also!  And, I think we have all the cabinets for the kitchen also... on that issue, I think we are still missing 3 pieces, but we are patient people.... Giggle.  The quest continues.....