A Log Cabin Christmas, NYT best-seller, Blog Hop Day #6 Guest Margaret Brownley

 
“When God said let there be peas on earth I don’t think he meant us to eat them.”
                                    George, age 6 in Snow Angel/A Log Cabin Christmas

My husband and I spent our honeymoon in a rustic log cabin in Yosemite.  It would have been the perfect honeymoon getaway had it not been for that mouse.
  
Standing on a chest of drawers screaming wasn't exactly how I pictured my wedding night.  It was even worse the next morning when we had breakfast at the lodge with everyone staring at us. 

That was the first and last time I’d stepped foot in a log cabin, so before I could write my story for A Log Cabin Christmas I had to do some research.  That’s the fun part of writing but so is sharing fun facts with readers.

THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT LOG CABINS
  • Abe Lincoln was born in one.  Okay, so maybe you already knew that, but did you also know that the first president born in a log cabin was Andrew Jackson? 
  • Pound for pound wood is stronger than steel which makes Log Cabins virtually indestructible (except by woodpeckers and carpenter bees).  They can stand up to earthquakes and are pretty much fire-resistant. A log home was the only beachfront home in the Carolinas to remain standing during Hurricane Hugo.
  • Log cabins were not an American invention. The Swedish bought the idea to American in the 1600s. 
  • Providing there were trees, a log cabin could be built in days, needed no nails and was rainproof, sturdy and cheap to build.  The only tool needed to build one was an ax. 
  • Log cabin designs were influenced by the Homestead Act of 1862 which required homes to be at least ten by twelve and have one glass window.
  • Foundations were built eighteen inches high because it was believed that termites couldn’t climb that high. (I know for a fact that eighteen inches will not keep out mice!)
  • A log cabin helped win a presidential election.  William Harrison made a big deal over his “humble beginnings” and used the log cabin logo (along with hard cider) to show he was a “people’s man.”  Ironically, the man was born in a wood frame house. 
  • Log Cabin syrup was introduced in 1887 by Patrick J. Towle, a Minnesota grocer. The name was chosen to honor Towle’s hero Abraham Lincoln.

Now that you know a little bit more about log cabins, here’s a short preview of my story:

SNOW ANGEL

The moment schoolteacher Maddie Parker walked into the tumble-down log cabin schoolhouse, she knew coming to Maverick, Texas was a mistake.  Now she’s stuck at school with three of her rowdiest pupils during a blizzard and in terrible danger of becoming unglued. 

Sheriff Brad Donovan is fit to be tied.  What kind of teacher would keep her pupils after school in such weather? Now it’s up to him to rescue them—no easy task.  For now he’s stuck at the schoolhouse with no means of escape.  But while the storm rages outside, hearts are thawing inside.

Brad and Maddie have personal reasons for fighting their attraction to each other, but as the days drag on it becomes increasingly hard to do. Was it fate or bad luck that brought that together? Or could this have been God’s plan all along?     

P.S. If have an adversity to mice don’t worry.  The only furry creature in my story is a bear! 
Now that I shared my log cabin story, how about sharing yours?
                                                                                                          Margaret 

Margaret is the bestselling author of more than twenty-five books.  Her next book Dawn Comes Early will be released March 2012.  It’s the first book in her exciting new Brides of Last Chance Ranch series.

Are you participating in the blog hop? Be sure to visit the contest guidelines and fill out the entry form to enter.
Tomorrow be sure to visit Erica Vetsch: Erica Vetsch: On the Write Path

Comments

Keli Gwyn said…
What fun facts about log cabins. I got to spend several days in one during Christmas break a few years ago. What a great experience that was. I've thought how neat it would be to live in a log house, but I've heard the upkeep can be a real challenge.
Jane said…
Thanks for posting, Keli. I think advances have been made on upkeep these days...no bugs crawling through. But spiders still find them a palate for beautiful designs. I loved all these details about log cabins!
Gabby said…
Great facts about log cabins. My closest experience with a log cabin is Log Cabin Syrup. Log cabins do bring to mind humble beginnings but I have seen on travel chanels some very unhumble log cabins. Somehow I always think of Laura Ingalls when I think of log cabins.
Michelle said…
I have always wanted to live in a log cabin. Dream house, I suppose:)
Donna said…
I enjoyed reading your story. We just spent the weekend in our son-in-law's parents log home in eastern Oregon. I love that it is so cozy and warm and smells of wood smoke.
Lane Hill House said…
My parents and two brothers lived in a log home by a lake before I was born. I loved the photos of their Christmas trees with bubble light candles, the boys standing on the stairs holding a puppy and kitten. Also photos of ice blocks that were cut out for "iceboxes" and covered with sawdust to preserve them from thawing. Would be an expensive piece of property today! It is on the shore of Lake Monona with a view of the Wisconsin State Capitol building. The people who own it have removed the siding, revealing the logs again.
Gilda Weisskopf said…
My niece and her husband built a modern type log cabin a few years ago. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful but all I could think about was how to keep it clean. It had high ceilings and how do you clean logs? I do believe maintenance would be a lot harder than we think.
Unknown said…
growing up I had a girlfriend who lived in a log cabin in Richmond Va. She lived on a street with several log cabins. My husband also built a log cabin at work.
Sherrey Meyer said…
Loved all the facts about log cabins! My older brother and his wife built a log house in TN many years ago and I loved the cozy feel of those big logs keeping everything on the outside out!
Jules said…
When I was a child, my parents owned some property with a cabin on it, but I don't think it was a log cabin. My goal with my own home, is to someday make it feel like a cozy log cabin inside. We have the wood stove we use for heat all winter, and my husband paneled the walls with wood slats. Little by little it gets cozier each year.
Pam K. said…
The facts about log cabins were interesting. When I think of log cabins, I think of Laura Ingalls and her family in the "Little House" books. I don't have any personal experience in a log cabin. I laughed my way through Margaret's first two books in her Rocky Creek Romance series (haven't read the third yet). I would imagine her Snow Angel story is delightful as well.
Jane said…
Her Snow Angel novella is great, Pam. Great images and warm laughs.
Cindy Regnier said…
I love log cabins but I hate mice! Do the two have to go together? I can't wait to read Snow Angel!
Michelle Ule said…
I was surprised when a friend shared a dream, to live in a log cabin. But when she showed me modern cabins, I could understand the allure completely! You'd never have to paint--but would that be a good or a bad thing? :-)
My husband and I stayed in a tiny log cabin--maybe 8X10-- on the Alaska Highway on the way to Anchorage and woke in the middle of the night to scritching and rustling but just burrowed back into the covers. In the morning I discovered that something (probably a mouse) had chewed through the shoelaces on both of my shoes.
Anonymous said…
I love log cabins....they are so beautiful,warm,cozy,and so inviting.I don't really have a story about one but have always wanted to live in one.Thanks for the story....and I also hate mice.jackie_tessnair@yahoo.com
Becky said…
I spend a lot of time in the mountains of the Northwest and have been inside many log cabins made by homesteaders and miners. Its very intersting to see what has been left behind such as stoves, empty tin cans, makeshift beds, etc. I love to go in each one and ponder what it must have been like to live there. Each home holds a story of a person or family, if only the walls could speak, I'd love to hear what they have to say.
My dream home would be a log cabin house (though a new one would be my preference!) I can't remember being in a real log cabin, but when I was in grade school we lived in California (Dad was a Navy pilot) and my parents bought a farm in Oregon. It had a house which they rented out, and a one room cabin on the river. We made a yearly trip up to the property so my dad could make improvements. Our family of 6 slept in that cabin - my little brother and I on a mattress made of straw (I'm not kidding) and I remember one of those summers we both had the chicken pox - ouch! Margaret and Jane - I love all of your books! You are two of my very favorite authors!!!!
Anonymous said…
When I was a child my dad built a 2 story log cabin in southern Oregon I remeber helping to peel the logs and watching him use his old truck and a winch to lift the logs up into place it still amazes me how he did it . The floors were hard wood (the old gym floor from our local school) and we had an old potbellied wood stove that kept us very warm. I don't remeber any mice though....I miss that old place it is still standing and being lived in some 37 years latter by a retired school teacher.
D. Ingbretson
Orita Kirkman said…
Log cabins remind me of Christmas, warmth, love and lots of hard pioneer living.!
Anonymous said…
Once my husband and I stayed overnight in a log cabin on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a night of a lunar eclipse and everyone gathered along the rim of the canyon to watch it happen - no Ranger Talk that night!

Marea Stone
Kayce Phillips said…
My Dad & all us kids built a one room log cabin across from his home in the Colorado mountains. My Dad wanted a place for all his Grandkids to stay. It was heated with a wood cook stove. The eleven Grandkids loved being able to go stay at Papa's- just like the Wild West!
treasurygirl said…
It's been a very long time since I've stayed in a cabin and I hope to do so again one day soon!
margie said…
The only log cabin I have stayed in is in the mountains and they don't have much history behind them!! I love the pioneer era and would love to have lived then...it would have been exciting!!! Margie in SC margie at mijares dot net
Catherine said…
My husband and I were to stay at a log cabin in Gatlinburg on our honeymoon, but we had to cancel that. However, what was wonderful was that for our first anniversary, we were able to rent that exact same one. So we got to go, just a year later :-)
SandiS said…
I saw an interesting log cabin in Colorado last summer, near Creede. It was up at the top of a jeep trail. It was near a mine, and part of a "museum" of sorts that you can tour and learn about mining. The neat thing was, you can actually spend the night there if you make reservations! I'm not sure I'm that brave. But it's a neat idea.