The French have a style all their own.. . .

 A reproduction of one of the first churches west of the Mississippi.
Original built in 1791 and called St Charles Borromeo.

The building style is very French.

The wood shingles on the top are done the way they would have been depending on the prevailing wind.

This style of log building can still be found in
St. Genevieve Mo.

The New Season of Barnwood Builders started last night.

Like my wife said, "Porn for people like you."

Some neat cabin images here.

Here

New project update. . .. !

Saturday was a day for working on the new project. Cool morning, great rest of the day.

 Uncovered all the old logs in the bone pile.

Made a stray cat that had been living in the pile homeless.

As always, the one you want is at the bottom.
So I had to move a lot of others before I found the ones I wanted to start with.

After being under cover for about twenty years this one hundred and forty year old log is ready to be used again.

One end up.
They sure seemed lighter 26 years ago when I first met this set of logs.
Of course I was 26 years younger and had been doing this kind of thing for a while.

Each log is about 18 feet long, and probably some where between 300 and 400 pounds.









Yes! In place. Will just need to add a thin rock on the center pier.

 As you can see here, the logs are a little long for this project.
The ends will be cut off, which is kind of sad because on these first two logs I will lose those beautiful notches.

Now it's time to see how good of a mason I am and how level my supporting piers are.

Drum roll.

Bubble is right on.
Not bad for a 61 year old builder with a bad eye and achy joints.

Log number two required much the same effort, but like everything, the first one takes longer because you have to work out the plan.













Now time to see how level I have it the other direction.

Ah, look at that! Bubble is right on.
Maybe I should stop while I'm ahead?

 Here they are side by side.
You can still see the axe and adz marks on the logs.
And right in the center of the right hand log you can see a notch that was made for some reason.

Also, this is a good view of the 'V' notches on this end of the log.

These logs will be cut to the length I need for this project and will get new notches.

This old log will be used later in the project but shows some nice notching on the end.

Square nails are all over all these logs!

 And the wild flowers are all over the place.

 And the dogwoods are just about ready to explode.

Movies with Log Cabins in them - Richard Proenneke and 'Alone in the Wilderness'

In 1968 Dick Proenneke would start his almost thirty year odyssey of living alone in the Alaskan wilds.
For much of his time up there he record his adventure on film.
It is a wonderful film put together years later from Dick's footage by Bob Swerer Productions.

I have seen the first film and am looking forward to the second one.

Richard working on his cabin.














Winter in his cabin.

The National Park Service maintains the cabin and visitors can discover it for themselves.

Interior shot 

This photo is by Joseph Classen. His site and work is linked below.

I don't post this view often . . . .

Movies with log cabins in them - well, sort of - 'A Walk in the Woods'

Since I have been talking about log Adirondack Shelters these last few posts, this movie does meet the qualifications for this blog.

Starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte, this is a fun outdoor romp for these two veteran screen legends.

Not quite measuring up to the book, it is still a fun movie, and Redford does what he has done best in several of his most recent features, play back-up to someone else's performance. Although Redford is fun in this movie, it is Nolte's show.

The film does not deal so much with the phyiscal hardships of the trail, but more the personal growth of the characters.

Not a great movie, but a fun movie.

Several scenes take place in or around Adirondack type shelters.