Back to the beginning.

Before we move forward, I thought we might take a step back and see what we built and how it's changed over the last 20 years.

This shot was taken before we began to build.  So today you would be standing in the driveway looking at the front of the house.

Here you can see the beginning of the foundation.  We did not build on a slab...We built on what is known as pier and beam.  The purpose to this was we live in an area that has termites and we were building a log home.  Termites will only go up so far to find their meal and if we built on a concrete wall they would never find our logs.  We also wanted the flexibility that pier and beam afforded us as far as plumbing and electric.  As a bonus we also ended up having more or less a root cellar and a tornado safe space if we needed.

That's me on the corner of the house.

This is my favorite picture from the building process.  I think because it shows the beginning of a wall going up and other logs being placed for their turn in the process.  I remember that day so well...hard to believe that it was over 20 years ago.

We are looking at the front of the house and that upright will eventually hold a French door that leads to a small patio off of the master bedroom in the loft.

This is the front again further along and the beginning of the porch that spans all the way across the front and down the entire West side of the house.  If we are looking at the house from the front the West side would be on our right.

Here's another shot further along and you can see the beginning of the side porch.  I look at those trees and can hardly believe that they have grown so much.

And here is the most recent shot.  It hardly seems possible that 20+ years have passed since we first moved over here...