Log Cabin Fever

The old saying of help and love thy neighbor has fallen to the wayside over the years. As more and more people move to the rural landscape. We live in a small quiet little town we have a gas station, hardware, small engine repair, one small store and a fire hall. Most of us that grew up in the area lend helping hands to our neighbors that way when we need something our neighbors are there for us. Recently we had a new married couple move into our area closer to their other family members. They bought seven acres and started living in a fifth wheel approximately 2 years ago with five boys. All the boys are under the age of 13. Their dream was to build a log cabin on their beautiful chunk of land. They hired one of the local farmers Excavating companies to ask about the basement.

He had two acquaintances who both knew how to pour concrete, so they came over and gave him a hand to do the footings for the basement in the walls. Once the basement walls cured it was time to add the deck on top. He recruited about four of us, bought some material and of course beer and food. We planned a weekend to help him out and build the floor system that the cabin is going to sit on. By this time, the Michigan weather was starting to move in it was the rainy season. This made it difficult to get anything done above the basement because it was slippery and wet. A job that would usually take us two days took us four days fighting the weather and the time change in Michigan.

That is what good people do for good neighbors. He called the log company and told them to bring it on. As logs started showing up the piles began to grow. It took roughly six weeks to have all the walls erected. Now it was time for the roof system, which if you have ever built one for a log cabin you know it’s not the easiest task. Logs are not perfectly flat nor are they perfectly round. But with some patients and a little bit of extra time we completed the task for him and got the decking on the roof system.

He called other acquaintances to put the asphalt shingles down which gave us a break for a week. After the roofers were done it was time for windows. In the process of building your dream home you want it to look the best it can look so gable windows big wide openings to make it feel like you were in the out-of-doors. Big holes for windows mean big glass to fill the holes. When it was time to put Windows in, we brought a small village with us to help.

Some of the biggest windows were about 300 lb. and over 20 ft in the air. With all the right tools patients in a lot of muscle anything is possible. I have added some pictures of the windows in the gables, that we installed for a reference. For you folks out there looking to move to a rural area and just be left alone that is possible but it takes a village to make a Town and it takes good people to run that village good people help people without paychecks. Words to live by love thy neighbor’s help thy neighbor enjoy your life.