Peanut Butter And Pretzel Log Cabins

I know this looks crazy, but i thought this was kind of fun. I am linking to this website that has this fun recipe for you to do. I am also copying the recipe for you on the blog. Hope it is ok with them!

“I think this would be fun to create a recipe section for all you hard core log home fans. My thought, while you are waiting to build your log home, eat log home related stuff…nothing better than eating!”

Good eating!

Larry

http://www.bigoven.com/133556-Peanut-Butter-And-Pretzel-Log-Cabins-recipe.html

Peanut Butter And Pretzel Log Cabins

Ingredients

• 1 Jar creamy peanut butter at
• Two; (11- to 12-ounce)
• ; bags thin pretzel
• ; sticks (each about
• ; 3 inches long)
• Flat-leafed parsley sprigs
• 1 Thin slivers red bell pepper
• ; campfire flames

Preparation

Put about 1 cup peanut butter in a resealable plastic bag and seal bag, pressing out excess air. Squeeze peanut butter to one corner of bag and snip off 1/8 inch from corner to form a makeshift pastry bag. (Do not use a real pastry bag.) Make base: Secure 2 pretzels to a serving board or plate with dabs of peanut butter, arranging them parallel to each other about 2 inches apart, and pipe peanut butter alone top of them, beginning and ending 1/4 inch from each end of pretzel. Put 2 pretzels across base to form a square, arranging them 1/4 inch from ends and pressing them into peanut butter. Continue building sides of log cabin in same manner, using peanut butter as mortar, until log cabin is 6 pretzels high on all sides. Make roof: To make roof supports, secure an upright pretzel in center of each of 2 shorter cabin walls, attaching them to inside walls with peanut butter. Break 2 pretzels in half and prop 2 halves at a 45F. angle against each upright support, securing ends with peanut butter to top of upright and to cabin corners. Beginning at base of roof, arrange pretzels across roof supports, piping peanut butter on each pretzel before attaching it and attaching each succeeding pretzel to an opposite side of roof. Make 7 more cabins in same manner with remaining pretzels and peanut butter. Cabins may be made 1 day ahead and chilled. Make trees: Glue 3 pretzels together lengthwise with peanut butter to form a thick trunk and glue 3 broken pretzels of varying lengths to lower end of trunk. Glue parsley sprigs to trunk with more peanut butter. Make 7 more trees in same manner. Use a dab of peanut butter on serving board or plate to stand tree upright. Make campfires: Glue broken pretzels in a campfire pattern with peanut butter on serving board or plate in front of cabin and glue red pepper flames to inside of campfire. Make 7 more campfires in same manner. Makes 8 log cabins, each with a tree and a campfire. Gourmet May 1995 Converted by MC_Buster. Per serving: 0 Calories (kcal); 0g Total Fat; (0% calories from fat); 0g Protein; 0g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 0mg Sodium Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates Converted by MM_Buster v2.0n.

Cuisine: Uncategorized Main Ingredient: Peanut Butter

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Cedar 9″ Swedish Cope Log Home Project

It’s always fun to start a new log home project from scratch…Sierra Log Homes, off and running again.

The project is in the Redding area of northern California and the clients first names are Jan & Steve. We met about 2 months or so ago. They found us on the internet and called. They were very pleased to find out that we design and manufacture the logs here Chico, Ca (which will be only an hour or so from the job site).

A little bio on the clients. Steve is an owner builder who is going to build the home himself with very little outside labor. He has a  welding background, actually owned a welding shop in southern California that he sold. Jan owns a plant care business and is into horses…western style. They bought a 100 plus acres of gorgeous land, rollings hills, creek with elk and wild pig roaming the landscape about 5 years ago. Jan is going to do the equestrian thing with training and boarding horses. Steve found a used 14 bay steel barn and built it for her last year. Huge structure…he did an incredible job using a very low amount of money. Steve is no doubt a talented individual who will have no problem building their log home and developing the entire ranch.

From the start, Steve made it known to me their  target budget. This made it easy for me to guide them into the style of home that was going to be the best fit for them (from a financial and owner builder standpoint). We did a construction costs worksheet together (this is a spreadsheet i wrote to line item the cost of construction, unique to us and our approach to the project) to validate their budget. Then we changed costs to start generating a “what if” to establish a low range and a high range. We also agreed that designing a single story 1950 sq ft home was going to be the best design for them…easier for Steve to build and easier to control costs.  All went well with the meeting and they faxed me a “napkin drawing” of their desired floor plan the next week.

On the way to their property a few weeks later, they came by to meet us and see our log yard. It seemed like they enjoyed the visit and loved what we do.

sample corner of Sierra Jumbo 13" log

They got to see the big Jumbo 13″ cedar log we were producing that was going to Big bear, Ca (the blog i just posted). Over the next couple of weeks we had more conversations and they felt comfortable that the budget was in hand, the floor plan idea was good and we were the right choice for them.

So they commissioned us with a design retainer to start designing their log home. We had agreed to reduce the original log desire of  a 10″ swedish cope log to a 9″ swedish cope log. This was going to save them around $,000 to $5,000. This opened up the budget so it wasn’t so tight. Plus a 9″ log is easier to stack from a lifting standpoint.

About a week or so later after we got their project file created. i then started formalizing their idea into a dimensioned cad drawing. Jan informed me that she was pretty set on the layout and was pretty comfortable with me being nominally creative.

The floor plan process went very well and very quickly. They did a really good job in displaying to me room sizes and placement. It all worked within the size parameters they sketched. There were only a few revisions until we were able to plot a quarter scale (1/4″ = 1′ scale) blueprint to send to them for review. During this time we were emailing back and forth cad drawings of the floor plan. We would then have design phone sessions changing the plan and shooting images over to them while they were on the phone. we had few 45 minute design phone sessions on the floor plan.

Once they received the blueprint, they called me and said to go ahead and create the 3D model.

So the next step for me was to take the 2D floor plan and turn it into a 3D photo realistic model. I used a 10″ log at that time because they were not sure of the desired size. So within a week i had the model ready for viewing. So i sent them an email with some 3D images and they got real excited. They were now seeing their log home come to life. It’s always fun to hear the reaction when the model is what they thought it was going to look like.

We then had some additional phone design meetings revising the model to its final stage. This took about a week of going back and forth over emails. Once i was done with the model, i then created a blueprint of all the elevations and floor plan in quarter scale. That was then sent to them for a final review.

All went well…Jan only wanted me to move a window…that was it. Steve and i did another construction worksheet on the model to make sure we were on track with the targeted budget. i was able to do a formal log estimate from the model and window quote from Pella. Again all went well and we were within our budget parameters.

So they commissioned me to go into the final engineered drawings. The final decision to go to 9″ log was made, and off we went.

A couple of weeks later we had a foundation, floor and roof frame laid out for engineering. Before we went any further, i met them on their property to go over the plan and make sure the foundation design was correct and to see the property (something i really like to do). I got to meet their wonderfully nice neighbors of which Lonnie was going to help Steve build. He was a builder by trade…retired. Great neighbor to have!

While i was there, Steve had informed me that our conversation about bringing in power had paid off. By sharing with him that he could do his own line installation to the log home, he found he could save somewhere between $30,000 to $40,000. That conversation we had was worth big bucks!!!

Anyway, we all spent the afternoon together telling war stories about our experiences, laughing and getting things ready for the next step. Jan informed me that they were now planning to actually build the log home this year instead of waiting. i was excited to hear that!

sierra 9" swedish cope log trade show sample

i shared with them that the timing was right, i could give them a no cost upgrade to our cedar 9″ swedish cope hand peeled log (shown to the left). They were very excited. (this would normally cost about $10,000 to $15,000 more). But we had this raw cedar log in inventory that i purchased at a good price in 2009 with no project tagged to it. “Timing is everything they say!” They got really excited over that opportunity…as i did.

Off i went excited that all was more than on track. So currently we are finishing the engineering this week so Steve can be submitting into the county the first week in April for his building permit.

I will be doing our final log package quote and will be commissioned with the log deposit this week with a target delivery date of late May or early June.  The delivery date has much to do with the county processing of releasing a building permit.

So wish us all a good build!

When the action starts, i will post a series of stories until the project is dried in.

Until next time.

Larry

Cedar Log Homes…big and beautiful!

sample corner of Sierra Jumbo 13" cedar log

Sierra Log Homes, a pine log producer for over 15 years. I am so excited to start using  cedar logs as our newest species to produce log homes in. This wood has been incredible to work with and breathtaking to see! Probably one of the most beautiful log walls we have ever produced.

Without knowing it, we had been sitting on a goldmine of material. This cedar log is local to us in the Sierra foothills of northern California and also in the Cleveland National forest area of southern California.

We have been a pine log producer from the beginning. Our pine wood is imported in from Canada, Colorado and Oregon. This material is known as standing dead lodgepole pine. The tree died of natural causes and then we purchase it a few years later…it is very dry and stable with allot of color. We will still produce many projects with this log, but now we can give our clients an affordable cedar option that we were not able to in the past.

What started all of this cedar craziness was the Martin project. Last year,  Tish (our client)  asked if we could change her pine log for a cedar log. She had purchased a Sierra Jumbo 13″ swedish cope log in pine from me. So i said ok and went for it and changed her to a cedar log. The picture shown was from the first production run of the sierra Jumbo 13″ swedish cope log with a hand peeled finish. It was fun to see this log come to life…what a beauty!

We purchase the majority of these logs from a local tree farm that is managed under the American Tree Farm Association. So it is logged under strict environmental guidelines…same type of guidelines  required from the LEED program. We receive these logs in lengths up to 33′ long. We then saw them into a square blank recovering as much board stock as we can. The board stock is converted into trim, siding and other building products. The bark slabs are given away to local farmers and other people who turn them into all kinds of things. I had a builder use them to build a tee-pee for his son….that was cool. Any other remaining wood chip or cut-offs we have are sent off to a local co-generation plant that produces electricity.

After we make a blank out of them, we let them air dry for a couple of months. We found that cedar sheds its moisture very quickly. We then run the cedar blank through our big log shaper to form the final product. The log then gets graded, trimmed, notched and labeled. For the final touch, we hand peel the log to give it a natural and beautiful appearance.

The other thing we found about this log, is that it does not shrink very much. So we measured some samples and we were amazed on how stable the size was. So our anticipated settling is the same as our pine logs which is about 3/4″ per 9′ of wall.

Last year we took the above show sample and displayed it at 4 log home shows. CNW Log Homes did all the marketing, they said it was a show stopper.

sample corner cedar 9" swedish cope

We had also made up a cedar 9″ swedish cope sample (shown to the left). This toured 5 trade shows so far this year with CNW Log Homes…it also was a show stopper. CNW Log Homes is doing another 6-10 shows this year showcasing these cedar corner samples. Should be a big cedar end of year and a major 2011 kick-off!

The amazing thing about this log is its beauty and stability. It’s fun to touch, it feels so soft.  As you can see, it is a spectacular log. We also combine the milled log with natural cedar log posts which makes for a real natural feeling. Cann’t wait to finally see some completed cedar log homes.

sierra Jumbo 13" cedar log build

We are currently doing a project down in Big Bear, California in our sierra Jumbo 13″ swedish cope log. It is consuming over 7000 lin ft of cedar log. We have log spans up to 33′ long with virtually no butt joints. This house is so complex, it has over 800 pre-cut notches in this fully pre-cut log home. It also has over 2500 lineal ft of Douglas Fir logs for the trusses, floor joists and headers. We are producing material for the trusses that are 40′ long…amazing! I will be doing a blog post on this project in a few weeks when more pictures come in. This project can be followed through Mikes building website http://westlaketechnical.com/2821/images/.

sierra Jumber 13" cedar log build

We have (2) more sierra Jumbo 13″ swedish cope logs coming up, one in Julien, California and the other in Portola, California. We have just been awarded a cedar 9″ swedish cope in Palo Cedro, California (near Redding).  Will be doing a blog post on the design of this project next week, we are currently finishing the engineering on it. All of these logs are hand peeled to give it a more natural appearance.

Working with cedar so far has been an absolute pleasure. Looks like we are becoming the cedar kings of the log home industry. We come to understand that our sierra Jumbo 13″ log is the largest and longest milled cedar log ever produced. How about that for a pat on the back! The other side note we found out is that we are the only log home producer that we know of  in both the United States and Canada that can produce all the round logs (8″, 9″, 10″ 12″ 13″) in both pine and cedar and do it in a NO BUTT JOINT format…wow, that gets me all pumped up!

I will keep you up to date with more cedar news as we do new and fun products with this amazing wood.

Until next time.

Larry

sierra log homes

California Projects

California projects are very involved due to the county jurisdictions and their unique policies. We will be going over allot of the new energy codes that have been adopted in Jan, 2010 and new Building codes that were in installed in Jan, 2008.

Here is a link to our website that yields California  links

Also we will be discussing the new fire code that was installed on Jan, 2008 called the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) code. This has been the most confusing because it covers approved materials that relate to fire. Not all projects are in this jurisdiction…you must call your county.

Here is a link to the WUI handbook

Finally we will be broaching the topic of mandatory fire sprinklers for all California projects. This is another call you need to make to your county…I have heard that by 2011 that all counties for all sizes of residential structures will have to have some kind of fire suppression.

Until our next post…if you have any questions about California projects…feel free to email  larry@sierraloghomes.com

Larry

Hello world…this is our first post!

Jumbo 13" log in Big Bear, Ca

Welcome to our beautiful world of Log Homes.

Just so you know, Sierra Log Homes is California’s only full line log home producer. Which means, when it comes to doing projects in California, we know the “ins & outs” to getting the building permit.

In fact, the majority of our posts will be about designing & building a log home here in California. So I look forward to talking to all of you of about my favorite topic—log homes!

Larry