[mm6mm6]

Sorry I haven't been around as much lately folks! My wife and I bought a log cabin in West Tennessee to escape the state of Illinois. I've been retired now for over 3 years and Robin retires in 3 more months. We are going to sell our home of 26 years and move full time to the cabin.

I've been spending a lot of time there with limited internet use and working on the cabin. I am most proud of finishing the basement. It is my gun room. We keep pinching ourselves that we found this slice of heaven. I am amazed at how perfect it has been for us. Even the unfinished basement allowed me to make it into what I always dreamed of having!

I have my own pistol range with steel reactive targets and a 335 yard rifle range. Hunting for deer and turkeys is plentiful and shooting beavers on our lake (destructive big rodents!) and armadillos keeps me busy.

So here's some photos and I am so thankful for this new life in rural Tennessee that we are already enjoying and look forward to going full time shortly!


Me and our log cabin! We added the barn pulleys and galvanized pales for flowers and the milk can/wash tub.

The view of the garage, the cabin (with sunroom and sundeck), the pavilion, and the boat house from the north side of the lake.

The view from our trolling motor fishing boat out on the lake, looking back at the cabin:

Jack Daniels whiskey barrel table where we eat meals under the pavilion on the lake:

Robin driving our Polaris Ranger. We have just under 100 acres of fields and thick woods, pine woods, the lake, two ponds, a deep ravine, and a big creek.

Swimming in the lake:

Sunset reflection to the east from the front yard:

 

[Abby'sDad]

Very nice!

So when are you hosting the forum BBQ meet and greet!

 

[mm6mm6]

My bull elk mount from my 2019 hunt in Utah:

Dang armadillos are an invasive species and really dig up the yard:

Our Catahoula Charlotte loves resting on the couch under the pavilion:

The basement "gun room":

 

[mm6mm6]

 

[mm6mm6]

Very nice!

So when are you hosting the forum BBQ meet and greet!

Ya know..........that could happen one day!

 

[mm6mm6]

And this is the final touch for the basement. When I cut open the back of the Jack Daniels whiskey barrel to hook up the water lines to the sink, I had a couple barrel staves left over. I sanded one down, found the "farmhouse alphabet" online, wrote out the letters in pencil, then traced them over with a black Sharpie. Then I burned the wood with my Bernzomatic.

 

[jpr]

Definitely looks like a slice of heaven. Beautiful property!

 

[ussmanlovede36]

Very very nice. 100 acres I would be exploring every day and never get finished.

 

[ShooterGranny]

Your new deluxe log house is gorgeous. A cabin it ain't, though: You now have the priveledge of learning TN talk. This here is a cabin
https://cdn.onlyinyourstate.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/BaskinsCreekCabs.jpg
😁 🤣 🤣

 

[SidecarFlip]

Nice place but way too much upkeep for being retired. You'll find that out in good time I suspect.

 

[mm6mm6]

A few more to share:

Beaver I shot and then had the tail made into a holster for my S&W Performance Center .38:

 

[mm6mm6]

 

[mm6mm6]

 

[mm6mm6]

 

[mm6mm6]

Nice place but way too much upkeep for being retired. You'll find that out in good time I suspect.

Good to see that you're still going to come here to my post and make your negative comments applying your life to mine. You commented negatively two years ago when we bought the place and now you have to comment again about what a mistake YOU think WE made when you know nothing about us. Please don't comment on my posts anymore. I don't need the negativity from you. I will never understand negative people like you who feel the need to inject your negative opinions.

 

[mrerick]

First, congratulations on retirement and the upcoming opportunity for your wife to retire. Pray for a lucrative early retirement package. I got one of those, and shaved a few years off what was at that point a 31 year career in the computer industry that started in Chicago.

When I retired (and I've done it twice - once from the computer career, and a second time from the University where I worked as a technician for our PBS television network for 10 more years) I learned the most important thing in life. When you retire you get ALL your time back. Every second of it.

I love to see a family with a plan, and the will and work to carry it out. You have a wonderful life ahead of you in one of the most beautiful environments I've ever seen. When's the forum meet and greet party? (I'm half kidding, and really don't invite myself into people's homes - but... your "teaser" here is overwhelming)...

I started my work in Chicago where I grew up, and got out of there in 1980. With the loss of my mom and dad, I now rarely return to Illinois, but still have some relatives in Western Illinois I enjoy visiting. It will be a relief to leave it behind. I moved to New York and then to North Carolina and have not looked back.

Keep living the dream. It's the reward of responsibility and the promise of American liberty.

 

[nmshieldshooter]

Good luck with your new chapter in life.

 

[Collects]

What a beautiful home and compound and lake and woods and range, etc. You have really made it look homey and comfortable and welcoming. What a great job you have done. All of the people look so happy in your photos. Wonderful!

It was a joy to look at all of your magnificent photos. Thanks for showing it all to us.

I wish for you all a long and healthy, full and interesting life in your new gorgeous home, a life full of laughter and love and fun and Smith & Wessons.

 

[bluecar]

When I first opened this I thought I'd seen your beautiful place on here before. But when you replied to Daryl I knew it was the same place. Good luck, it looks truly like a slice of heaven. I'm in FL as is my GF, who, by the way, is a Tennessee squire so we are big JD fans especially Single Barrel Select & Barrel Proof. Wouldn't mind supplying you with some at your future S&W forum BBQ! Good luck and enjoy your personal slice of heaven.

 

[Mac23]

Outstanding piece of property and dwelling. I am afraid I would have such a hard time staying off the lake and out of the woods that my to do list would suffer. Hope all of the rest of your plans work out too.