Joe's cabin now has a kitchen.

August 22, 2009 – Joe writes about his new kitchen:

It’s now August 22, 2009 and my kitchen is almost complete. The logs in my kitchen walls are all over 20” wide with 6 logs in each wall so the kitchen went up fast. Overhead, I put exposed pine poles overlapped with white pine boards.

The boards that I put in the floor came from my Grandpa and Grandma Whitmire’s farm. I stained the boards made from these logs, in natural pine and they turned out beautifully. They were given to me by Kat and Larry Young. Kat and Larry will never know what it means to me to have these logs from where I grew up. I just finished the kitchen cabinets, which are also made from lumber taken from these logs. The cabinets turned out very well but I’m not a builder, so they’re nothing like the cabinets that my dad or my brother, Jimmy builds. Kat and Larry also gave me an antique sheaf robe. Thank you so much, Kat and Larry Young, for your contributions to my cabin!

I had an old porcelain single sink and a hand pump that I was going to install, but when a friend gave me a stainless steel double sink I decided that it was more practical to install since we plan to use the kitchen, so I installed the newer sink with Moen faucets instead of going original. I bought an old wood cook stove and got an antique pie safe from my friend, Barry Bolding. They both look really good and bring back some authenticity to the kitchen. Barry also lent me a ‘draw knife’ which is used to take bark off logs and to plane wood. He also gave me the table saw. And, my dad, Claude Whitmire, gave me saws that he had used when he built cabinets. Without these tools the cabin would probably not be here today.

My brother, Steve Whitmire gave me a wooden table. I stripped and sanded it, then went over it with linseed oil which brought out the color of the wood. It is really beautiful! After I sanded this table and rubbed in the linseed oil with cloth rags I laid the rags on top of some old paint cans in the basement against the bathroom wall and went home. When I returned to put another coat of linseed oil on the table, I found that the rags had caught on fire! The fire melted the plastic lids on the paint cans, and burned a place on the plywood on the outside of the bathroom wall. My heart almost stopped when I realized how close I came to burning the cabin to the ground – because I did not realize how combustible these rags were. Every time I see the burned spot on the wall I thank the Lord for putting out this fire. That’s the only possible explanation. Thank you Lord! I built bench-chairs for each side of the table. Each bench-chair seats two people.

Chester and Nancy Sutherland of Dacusville gave me some wooden bowls that they made out of some logs that I took to them. Now I’m building a small cabinet to display these beautiful bowls.

Two other great friends, Nick and Evelyn Burr, gave me the refrigerator that’s in the kitchen. We use the kitchen each week at our jam sessions. Many participants bring food, cakes, etc. which we all enjoy! A big thank you to everyone that has helped and participated in the building and furnishing of my cabin!

--Joe