Christmas Tree at our Cabin In 2009, we fulfilled a dream and had our first tree that was over 7 1/2 feet tall. The total height of the tree when decorated is right at 12 feet tall. That is pretty big once you consider that we only live in 900 square feet of home, the four of us. The vaulted ceilings really lent themselves to the tree and we will do it every year.

PTO Generator installation complete - Now we can be off grid when the power goes down. Click title to see 3 more pictures In preparation for the inevitable power outage we will eventually have, we invested in a PTO generator for the property.  It is a generator that hooks to the back of the tractor.  When researching generators, we discovered that we could easily spend $10,000 on a generator big enough to keep us running if needed. With a little researc

Breaking ground on the Earth Shelter House - It is official.. there is a hole!! Click title to see 5 more pictures Well, we have finally broken ground on the earth shelter house.  The hole grows every time I go out there to dig. Ultimately, we are digging into the side of the hill and area that is 62 feet deep and 88 feet wide.  About 1/3 of that is actually lower than we are digging.  We will be leveling the whole area. Once level

More Pine from Ike Storm Damage! Sargent's Ranch is the property of one of our neighbors.. 1100 acres of beautiful country side. We went to get a large pine that probably has enough wood to finish the garage. The usable trunk is 54 feet long and 22 inches at the bottom. I cut it into three 18 foot lengths. These pieces were all too big for my tractor

Hurricane Ike Damage in Northwest Arkansas - 800 miles form the coast, Hurricane Ike left hundreds of trees down and thousands without power. Click title to see 4 more pictures it was an incredible site to return to our home where trees had been destroyed left and right.  I was asked to clear road 7 and 8 through the Madison County Wildlife Management area of some fallen trees.  I was excited to be a help! I loaded up the trailer and headed out on my Kubota L3400 tractor ready to work. In all

More Cabin Progress Photos - Officially it is done, but there are still little things that need to get worked on here and there... Click title to see 3 more pictures Here are more photos of the cabinets I designed.  Much of the wood is milled here on property.  I am getting the hang of using the Timber King log mill we purchased this past summer. Here you can see the boys shelves that they use as a dresser, the cabinet that Jen and I use in the bathroom for storage and laundry and the overhead ca

Our Home in Arkansas - Before and after Exterior Pictures of our Home Click title to see 7 more pictures It is interesting to see how far we have come in 5 months. This photo shows what the exterior looked like when we got here is January. It was basically a Octagon only the clear story windows and a small window in the front door to see out. So what have we been busy doing. * We had added a covered front porch. * A nice b

Arkansas Home - New Cabinet Shelves Click title to see 1 more pictures Tim, Davids nephew stopped by for a few days and helped put together and hang my upper shelves in the kitchen. The kids painted most of them, The one on the right still needs the trim painted but overall they are fantastic. Like I told Dave, it was really nice putting up groceries and not having things fall on your head. We have spac

Interior Cabin Pictures Before and After Click title to see 13 more pictures When we arrived in January, the cabin was dried in and sealed, but it was still, very much a construction zone. It had the basics, electricity, heater/airconditioner, sub floor and bathroom and basic kitchen. We have made much progress. It is going slower than I would like but we work on it as often as possible. Take

Progress on the Cabin in Arkansas Click title to see 10 more pictures

Arkansas Home - Slab for Garage Click title to see 5 more pictures David has been working hard to clear out and area for the garage. He has been chopping down trees and clearing the area with his tractor. As you can see from the pictures he has done a fantastic job. We hired a local gentleman and his wife to grind out the tree stumps, they took out 18 stumps in about 2 hours with this heavy duty stu

The Timberking Log Mill - 4-15-08 Click title to see 3 more pictures To build the main house here in Arkansas, we are having to cut down quite a few trees, so instead of just letting them rot on the ground, David decided early on to recycle them and use them in the house and garage. So after much research and discussion he purchased his own log mill. This is the set up.

Milling the first Posts Click title to see 8 more pictures This is the first attempt to mill the posts for the garage.

The Arkansas Cabin has framed walls and running water! Click title to see 1 more pictures On July 3, the boys and I went to our Arkansas property to work on the plumbing.  We met the people that put in the well pump the previous Friday. They installed a 2 horsepower pump 600 feet down our 972 foot well. The first bit of water tasted like PVC, but before we left, it started to get better.  It is good water a

New Door is in working order Click title to see 4 more pictures I designed and build the front door.  It is 2 1/4 inches thick.  Heavy!  moving it up from South Texas was a chore. It is a dutch door with an overlap between the top and bottom half.  This causes the dead-bolt on the top half to lock the top and bottom when

Even George loved the place Our Cocker Spaniel George loved the place.  It was his first trip longer than 3 hours.  This is, of course, 12 hours. Once he got out of the car, he did not stop going for 2 1/2 days.  His little nub of a tail wagged as fast as it could and he sniffed every tree and leaf he could find. On

Finally a picture of the inside Long awaited is this photo of the inside of the cabin.  Here you can see the ceiling, the beams and even a bit of the walls and floor. This is a composite of several individual shots.  That is why it is in such an odd shape.  I did not get all the images to fill in the whole area, but you get the idea.

Okay, now the roof is really up Click title to see 2 more pictures It was all of 14 months that I have not been up to the cabin.  I did not want to let 2006 pass without at least one visit.  We arrived with less than 2 hours to spare in the year 2006. I installed the new door that I built by 1:00 am on January 1, 2007. We primarily worked on the roof accross four d

The roof is UP!! - Few more days of work decks the rest of the roof Click title to see 11 more pictures I went up just after Thanksgiving and finished the roof decking. I put up scaffolding to stand on then framed and decked the rest of the roof. West Kistler helped out a couple days and did the high climbing that I did not feel comfortable with.

Eleven Days of Building - 4 of 4 Click title to see 1 more pictures All in all, we were able to get the cabin dried in.  Although the metal roof is there, it is not installed.  Tarpaper and Plastic top it all off. I am VERY pleased with the look of the refters, though.

Eleven Days of Building - 1 of 4 Click title to see 7 more pictures We went up to Arkansas for 11 days to build the cabin... Well at least dry it in. Dan, Donna and Family came and helped for the first two days.  We got the rest of the outside walls framed!! Among other things: - Jennifer, Donna and kids picked up more wood - Dan, Tim and I chopped down

Eleven Days of Building - 2 of 4 Click title to see 1 more pictures After a day on my own, Wayn and Judy, Jennifers parents, came up and helped.  Wayne, a far better builder than I, wore me out. In one day, he had all the outside plywood up and helped me decided what to do for rafters and siding for now. We determined that the 2 x 6 rafters from Grandma Kendricks house would

Eleven Days of Building - 3 of 4 Click title to see 13 more pictures After all the help, I slowed down and paced myself for the long haul. Dan made a comment that the first day was fund and the second was like work. Well, the next nine days bordered on torture. Jennifer helped by assembling the rafters and helping to lift them into place. Keep in mind that

Three walls are up!! After the post went up, the boys and I put up three of the eight outside walls.   This is really getting exciting!!

Putting up the Tree in Arkansas - Block and tackle marvel! Click title to see 10 more pictures Raising the center post for the cabin is an event that has weighed heavy on my mind for many months.  I put a lot of thought into the process and this is what I cam up with.  Two Block and tackles lifted the post into place.  The only probem is that I should have tied a rope to the end to keep it from going too far.&nb

Grandma Kendrick House - Recycling History Click title to see 8 more pictures In May, the boys and I went to Louisiana to salvage good wood from the house my grandfather built.  The house was built in August 1947 from the trees he selected.  The house is far beyond any repair and we had to select wood that was good for the project.  The back wall had begun to colapse when we arrived due to holes

How to put a Round Log in a Square Hole - With a chainsaw!!! Click title to see 4 more pictures David and West went out to the property and used chainsaws to cut the bottom 37 inches of the big center log to fit down into the hole in the middle of the floor.  The resulting square peg is 7 1/2 inches square. We used leveled 2 x 4s as a guide for the chain saw.  It did not have to be perfect, just enough to ho

The floor is framed and decked!! Click title to see 3 more pictures Two days of work and helo from Jen, then boys and West, we managed to get the floor completely framed and half decked (could not afford to finish it) and covered with plastic.?? I also managed to pull the HUGE log up on top of the framing and inder the plastic to dry it in the next several months. By-the-way, the photo

The Hub for the Floor Framing - Solid hunk-a-wood!! Click title to see 1 more pictures I designed this 'hub' to be the center of the spokes that are used in the framing for the floor.��This will sit on top of the center footing. This is what the tree/center post of the cabin will sit on top of.��The weight will rest on this with a square 'peg' that will hold it in place down the center of the floor and footing.

Putting in the Footings and Foundations - 2 days of VERY HARD WORK!! Click title to see 4 more pictures On Saturday, I began to install the foundation of the cabin.��Befor I could start, I had to move the huge log that would one day become the central support of the whole cabin.��I used the Explorer and a Block and Tackle to get it across the property. I set the footings and prepared to get the bricks in place.��After dark,

THE BIG ONE!! - The center footing Click title to see 8 more pictures Originally, I designed the center preformed footing at a weight of nearly 500 pounds!!��That was way too much if I was planning to place it by hand, even with the help of several friends and neighbors that certainly are not willing to throw out their backs. I had an epiphany!! Make the footing with honeycombs that

Arkansas Cabin Ground Breaking - The first days of REAL work - Part 1 of 3 Click title to see 6 more pictures On October 9, 2004, we officially broke ground on the new cabin in Arkansas.��This is a moment we have been looking forward to! We started by getting a rough idea of where the structure would sit.��I taught the boys what little I know about placement (30 seconds) of a structure, then we used a rope with measured knots in it t

Arkansas Cabin Ground Breaking - The first days of REAL work - Part 2 of 3 Click title to see 3 more pictures From that point we measured and dug holes where all the footings would need to be placed. The ground is high in shone, so I had to break the ground up with a pick to dig anywhere. The cabin is an 8 sided structure.��My main goal was to determine where each footing was to be set and if my measurements were acurate and straight acc

Arkansas Cabin Ground Breaking - The first days of REAL work - Part 3 of 3 Click title to see 3 more pictures Here the boys are standing next to the "Back Door Tree".��It is aboud the same size as the tree that we cut for the first cabin.��It is called this because it stands at the precise location of the back door of the berm house that I would like to build here next. You can see the p

8 Small 120 Pound Cabin Footings - One by one Click title to see 2 more pictures The process of making footings is done at our home in Port A.��I made a wood box that we installed rebar and poured cement.��After it hardened, it is removed and we do it again. The top of the block is large enough to hold a 8x16 cement block. The cement is left for 24 hours then removed to make room for the next one.

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