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Yeah, we got this place - assessed for $139K - from HUD; not a bad deal when you figure we got our bid accepted for $79K. 5 BR, 3 BA, 1.14 acres, in the country, all brick, 2,330 square feet, two car garage, in-ground pool with palm tree, the building inspector said he'd never seen a HUD home in quite such good shape. Sunken living room, walled courtyard, landscaped, a fireplace plus a wood stove in the kitchen, small lake across the road, roosters crowing at sunrise, a homesteader's dream, right?

Horse hockey. It cost us four grand to renovate the swimming pool and plumbing, the harsh winter killed the damn palm tree (in Alabama!), the living room chimney work needs to be completely redone before we can even burn kindling in it, and the central HVAC took a nap on us in December, so we can't even cool the joint now until we get another contractor in here to fix it, and the temps are in the 80's already! And I can't even till the garden or pilot a riding mower because I've had a staph infection in my leg that six weeks' worth of antibiotics won't get rid of! I'll damn well guarantee you that we've burned through enough money to pay off half the mortgage, and it still looks like Kelso ought to come out of the bathroom holding his britches up by the belt buckle and asking, "Red? You got any more toilet paper? The roll's empty."

A log home. All I ever wanted was a log home.

I commiserate with your problems. Back the early 80s I built my own home. Did the electrical, labor, small carpentry, sheetrock, finish work, and my brother in law did the plumbing. I contracted for framing, brickwork and roofing.

That taught me what to look for in a home and when I sold that home for $350K (materials and labor on it was $85K originally) I searched for about three months and finally settled on the one I have now. Nice little $150K home that was new, but the builder got into trouble and the bank took the home back. It was built extremely well - all copper pipes, good heating, electrical and plumbing. Full basement unfinished where I have all my tools/guns etc. and I can ride my mower out the boat door.

I do hope your leg gets better. It’s bad to be sidelined with a bunch of work to do. I was that way 18 months ago with a broken foot where these old bones just don’t heal like they used to. Take care.

[BTW, back when I had a Class III electrical license, a buddy and me wired a log home for a friend. It was THE worst electrical job I ever did in terms of trouble.

Outlets routed into the logs, long drill holes for the wire, planning for settling, etc. A nightmare. The yearly bolt tightenings for the long rods through the logs was a chore in and of itself. That threw me off ever wanting to own one.]