by Tom on February 7, 2010
I’m killing time waiting for the Super Bowl festivities to begin, so I thought I’d do something constructive like write about the weather. Here I am in NW Montana (Glacier country I’ll have you know) and we haven’t seen an appreciable snowfall in weeks.
Earlier this morning I spoke with my daughter who lives in Washington DC and she is looking at more than two feet of snow on the ground with more on the way; family in Pennsylvania give the same report. Where’s the justice in that?
I’m nestled in a log home in the backwoods of Montana with a woodstove cooking that’s almost making it uncomfortable inside as it’s only 36 degrees outside. I ask you… what’s wrong with this picture?
It appears that much of the country this weekend is receiving weather that is not the norm. I wonder if this strange fluke in the weather has any significance for the Colts or Saints later today? Naw… probably not, but we’ll know soon enough.
My weekend was a catch-up marathon. Since the holidays, it seems like I have been behind in everything, so I committed myself to getting caught up with chores that I’ve been putting off. One of those tasks was to process more than 65 ‘past due’ submissions to the Log Home Directory. Whoa!
Considering the sad state of our economy, I was surprised to see how many new companies are appearing. But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. When things get tough and businesses aren’t hiring, the entrepreneur inside of us gets juiced and starts looking for ways to make a difference.
If you haven’t browsed through our directory in a while, I encourage you to see what’s been added. Apparently there is renewed interest in our industry in general because our traffic is up more that 80% this year (over 2009’s 1st qtr.). There are a lot of people looking for log home information. More interest in log homes and more new companies… I like this trend.
by Tom on January 31, 2010
We’re having an absolutely perfect Montana winter morning. We awoke to 5″ of new snow this morning, the wood stove is keeping everyone toasty warm, I’m done with the plowing and just finished a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and hot coffee. Now I’m sitting at my desk (writing this post) and looking out at a winter wonderland; it’s still snowing and the trees are covered and it looks just like a postcard.
I chuckle to myself when these perfect days come around. This mind picture is exactly the kind of daydreaming I used to do when I was thinking about moving to Montana. People tell me all the time that as they are planning their log home, these are the visions they hold in their mind. They see themselves enjoying life while living in the home of their dreams.
If you are in the planning stages of your log home, I encourage you to keep your dreams alive. Yeah, I know this lousy economy has made many people postpone their plans, but maybe it’s time to reassess things. Obviously, if you are waiting for your present home to sell before you build a log home, there’s not much anyone can do to assist with that.
However, if you are delaying your project waiting for the market to rebound or until you’re reading more favorable headlines in the newspaper, or counting on divine inspiration… in the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “Sometimes you just gotta say #$%@&” and move forward.
As I sit here gazing out my window I think back on all the ‘common sense’ reasons we discussed as to why this might not be the best idea for our family. I could be earning 2-3 times more money if I lived in Dallas or Seattle and I wouldn’t be plowing my road if I lived in Pittsburgh, but I would be missing today’s experience. I wouldn’t be enjoying this tranquil moment watching deer foraging in the fresh snow, the quiet of our forest or the satisfaction of knowing that we chose to live this lifestyle.
If you want advice from someone who has been in your shoes… listen to Ferris and start building your dream home. Trust me, those numbskulls in Washington DC will still be trying to steal your money long after you’ve replaced that 30 year roof on your log home. Go for it… you’re not getting any younger!
BTW… Start here! Choose your log home floor plan. Get ideas from log home books, magazines and videos or start collecting log furniture and rustic furnishings.
by Tom on January 19, 2010
Click photo to read more about this.
What’s your idea of a custom log cabin design?
I guess the reason there is more than one log home manufacturer is that there are all kinds of buyers having their unique ideas of design and function. You and I might think this log cabin (above) looks like a stack of firewood, but to someone else, it might be the culmination of their life-long dream.
The point is that most log homes are custom designs. You will probably begin with a manufacturer’s basic log home floorplan, but almost everyone adds their personal touch. You might increase room sizes, add dormers, additional rooms or convert a loft into a bedroom, and those hands-on design changes are part of the fun. When you’re done, you have a custom log home that you helped design.
If you are one of those people who already has a unique concept in mind for what your dream home looks like, bounce it off a log home manufacturer. Talk to the Pros and get their advice. You will be surprised what you’ll learn after discussing your ideas with people who know exactly what you want to accomplish.
by Tom on January 6, 2010
The Internet is such a wonderful invention… think about it for just a moment. The collective knowledge of the human race is freely accessible from your computer – even your smart phone. Wow!
That’s a powerful concept, but it creates an intimidating dilemma. How do you sift through trillions and mega-trillions of bits of information to find the information you need? You might ask… Isn’t that the purpose of the search engines, to index and sort information by relevance to a topic?
Most assuredly, that is their mission, but that is also the problem. As an example, if you do a Google search for the term “log home information“, you are returned 152,000,000 results. I don’t know about you, but that’s more information than I’m looking for.
Let’s suppose you don’t care about Abe Lincoln’s log cabin, or log home stories from 40 year old newspapers or log home trivia; you want to know about present day log home information. Companies, floor plans, pricing, maintenance and other current information. How can you search for such news?
Sign up for Google Alerts. You can receive email updates of the latest relevant results (web, news, blogs, etc.) based on your topic. There is no better way to monitor the log home industry and log home owners’ comments, announcements, news, forum or blog posts, and all relevant mentions of this topic. Better still, you can receive these alerts daily, weekly or as it happens.
I have been using Google alerts for many years and you would be surprised how easy it can be to keep up with everything that is happening in our industry just be reading one email every day. To learn more about this, go to http://www.google.com/alerts.
Another good way to keep informed is to follow the companies or people you are interested in on the social networking sites. I’d be honored and delighted if you chose to follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Happy New Year… begin this year by streamlining your online activity.
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