QuiSun Log House

     It took quite an effort, but I finally completed a log house for Jacqui and Jacsun. It all began about 2.5 years ago after both Jacqui and I stepped on honey locust thorns in the creek bottom behind my house. Honey locust trees have needle-sharp thorns that grow up to 4 inches in length and can easily pierce the sole of a tennis shoe and can even penetrate a leather boot. I was determined to end that problem and began cutting those noxious trees down, when it donned on me that I could do something constructive with the tree trunks. However, cutting down and trimming off the thorny branches of honey locust trees is not easy; I was stuck repeatedly by thorns but persevered. After ridding the bottom of honey locust trees, I finished the log cabin with walnut trees, of which there are many on the creek bottom. The cabin measures 10 feet long, 8 feet wide, 6.5 feet high outside, and 5.2 feet high inside.

     After completing 10 rounds of logs, I installed a plywood floor and roof for Jacqui and Jacsun to play on. I placed six support posts inside the cabin to support Jacqui and Jacsun’s combined weight. I had a few shingles left over from a roofing project on my house a few years ago, so I used them to cover the seams between plywood sheets. There is about 4-6 inch clearance above the tops of Jacqui and Jacsun’s heads inside the cabin, so they should be able to play in the log house for a couple of years or so before having to bend over.

     I had never taken on such a demanding construction project like this before, and it was kind of fun to work on it and try to figure it out. This whole endeavor does have a precedent though. When I was about 10 years old, Dad encouraged us boys to cut down several small wild cherry trees that had grown up on the hillside near where we used to burn trash. He said that if our cows ate dead wild cherry leaves, it would kill them. I am not sure how many wild cherry trees Joe and Glenn cut down, but I know I cut several and even enlisted the help of my Malaga friends to help me build the little log cabin. We put up about four or five rounds before giving up on the endeavor. It was difficult to get in and play in the log structure because we did not know how to construct a doorway. We dug a hole under one side (somewhat like a groundhog hole) as an entry but it was not an easy entrance or exit. Accordingly, that log cabin project was soon abandoned. Now some 52 years later, I derive some satisfaction in actually completing a log house for my children.