Now our city home is on the market. We moved out, but left it furnished, so that showing it would be easier.

The Bradbury’s have officially moved into the McGuire House (didn’t see THAT one coming when building it)…and even the McGuire House is groaning.  (The McGuire House is the Bed & Breakfast guest house we built on our property.)  We plan to stay here until we get an offer on our house…and then again after closing, if the log house isn’t ready to be camped-out in yet.

Steve is 6’8″. We only fits on a king-size bed, which pioneers didn’t have (and neither does the McGuire House). Reiley has taken up residence on the 2-seater couch. The two twin-sized beds upstairs now belong to Reese and me. And our two large dogs are just trying to figure out what the hidey-heck is going on….incessantly pacing back and forth.

This is “home” until the log house is ready…

Don’t be under the misconception that it looks clean and picked up while we’re living in it. Those pictures were taken at Christmas time (perhaps the lights and stockings were the first hint?). I wouldn’t dare show you pictures of us living in it. My pride can only take so much humiliation and international embarrassment. Finding a place for our huge suitcases filled with clothes, shoes, etc, huge dog kennel, tall bag of dog food, and groceries (in a place that has no pantry or place to store them) has been interesting…but, you know what? We’ve enjoyed it!

I have a WAY bigger appreciation for how families used to live decades ago, though I fully realize we have modern conveniences that they couldn’t have imagined.

Now I’d be lying if I gave you the impression that we’ve been sitting around singing “Kumbaya” every day. We each have grumbled about random things (mainly in our exhaustion).  The girls whine about the sulfur smelling water every time they turn it on (which will get fixed eventually). As a result, I find myself grumbling about their grumbling.

After the first couple days out there, I started the morning reading in Psalms (105 and 106). David was recounting his ancestors’ years spent in the wilderness, and how God continuously provided for them, in spite of their grumbling and rebellion (sounds familiar).

I flipped over to Exodus and read about them (ironically) grumbling about water! I already knew about this in the Bible, but LIVING it while reading about it makes it take on a whole new meaning.

I gathered the girls to me and read this to them. We all felt that little sting of conviction.

With all things considered, we have it pretty good.  We have our favorite foods, a/c, beds, tv, movies, and are surrounded by woods and quiet. Really, it’s pretty great. Just smaller than we were used to, a little tight, and a few inconveniences. But, we are WELL provided for.

SO, armed with new perspective, we named things that we were thankful for, instead. And off to work we went.

The current job is sanding. The logs inside the house need to be sanded of their cambian layer, to reveal the light and smooth surface underneath.

Once they are sanded, we can apply that neon green “witches brew” (we have nick-named it) to the logs to protect them from rot and bugs.

Then we will stain, and then chinking!

I spent several hours every day last week sanding with an angle grinder. It’s fun!!

The cambian comes right off! It’s a LOT like using an electric shaver on whiskers.

The girls have helped me (they will start schooling around September 15th), but it’s a bit too hard for Reese. It gets too heavy for her. So she cleans up the McGuire House, or sweeps out sawdust (or plays with the dogs…shoots her bow/arrows…eats…).

Reiley has done a ton! She is about halfway done with her bedroom…in just 5 hours of sanding.  And that top, huge log is SWANK!! (I have to get pics when she’s not looking. A pic of that top log is further down…)

You can see her bedroom up there. But those beams that are projecting out of the floor, under her, will be extended over the kitchen, creating the rest of the upstairs floor. We just haven’t completed the other half of the second story, yet.

I have to wear protective gear, because shards of debris fly off the logs like bullets (exaggeration). My friends Allie and Becky think the sawdust on my face is a great look for me, and I suggested I could bottle it as an all-natural exfoliant for facials.  (Again, exaggeration.)

The earphones serve two purposes: protecting my vibrating eardrums from the HORRIBLE loud noise, and making the time fly by even faster while listening to favorite tunes. (We’re running a 5-star operation here!)
And I think the camo adds that “special touch”.

Here are some pics of the sawdust that I’m always COATED in…

Here are some pics of what has gotten done so far. Keep in mind, we haven’t cut out all doors, or any windows at all yet…and there will be MANY! So, I left those areas unsanded.

Also, the whole kitchen will be left untouched, because we’ve decided that it will be dry walled for the kind of kitchen we want. We are just a week’s worth of sanding from finishing. Then onto sealer.

Before:

After:

(The back door. Kitchen to left of it. Because of the sun coming in the door, it was impossible for my cheesy camera to get a brighter pic of the white sanded logs…but here’s a close-up of the logs to the right of the door…)

Here’s Reileys room in the next picture. The back wall is almost finished now…but not in this picture. Look at that big top log! It’s smooth!

Needless to say, this project gives “sanding” a whooooole new meaning….

To go to the next post, click here: “Tons of pictures“.

If you’re new to this blog, and just found this post, click here: “What is Cottonwood Creek”.  If you want to start from the beginning of our story, click here: “Welcome to Cottonwood Creek!”