Everyone loves to see a log cabin resting on a ridge above a rippling creek, after the fall foliage has come to it's final resting place for the winter season.
My dad, Herman Pickens, grew up with his first cousin, Bill Baker, in Jackson TN, where in their senior year of Northside High School, they joined the US Navy together, and if I recall my dad saying they both lied about being 18, and joined without permission from their parents.
After his stench in the Navy, Billy would land his first job in Huntsville Alabama with NASA. While in Huntsville, he met his soulmate, June, and together, they lived a God centered marriage, serving in their local Baptist Church. Not too long passed by, when they had their first born son David, followed a couple of years later, by their second child, Diane.
While on this earth, Billy designed and built many things with his two hands. He constructed & formed his own pair of water skis, which he proved to be pretty good on the north Alabama area lakes at slalom skiing. Here he is at age 70, skiing on a pair of water skis he himself designed & constructed in his home garage & shop.
Later on, he set his eyes on a log cabin, and Baker's log cabin became a reality, a dream of Billy's. He has since graduated to Heaven with his sweet wife, June, leaving their only son, David, to care for Baker's Cabin. David's sister, Diane shared the following history of the relocating of the cabin. The cabin was a dream & vision, coupled with hard work 💪, determination, an accomplishment of which doesn't just happen by accident.
In the words of Diane Baker Simmons Peden
"Construction on the cabin began in the late 1970’s. David and Daddy found the cabin, which was built around 1845, in Scottsboro, Alabama. They took it apart log by log, labeled the logs and reconstructed it where it stands today. They borrowed a dump truck from Burl Chandler, and moved the logs from the original site to the field below the mountain side. They didn’t have any equipment, other than a riding lawn mower, a small trailer, a dolly, a pulley and some college friends of David’s, to carry the logs up the hill. They would tie a log to the trailer attached to the lawn mower and tie the log to a dolly on the other end. Dad would drive the lawn mower, and one fellow would sit on the front end of the mower to serve as a counter balance. They would tie a rope to the front of the lawn mower, tie the pulley around a tree, and the other end around Derek. He would run down the hill while the mower powered up the hill. Each log was hauled up the hill in this manner. After the logs were at the site, reconstruction on the cabin began. It took all summer to put the logs back in place. The roof was added, and the fireplace and chimney were built throughout the fall. The bay window was put in hopes that Mama would come up and stay. She did come for some day visits, but with no running water or electricity, it soon became a man trip. Work on the cabin is never ending. David still has plans to make improvements each year. Many men and some brave women have visited and even spent a few nights in the great outdoors. It has served many through the years as a hunting cabin. If you spend the night in the winter, be sure to bring a warm sleeping bag, a Coleman lantern, matches to start a fire, food and plenty of hot chocolate and marsh mellows."
Here are some good photos I took back on December 30, 2011.
We don't know what awaits us on the other side: Will we have pretty green grass to run free in with our loved ones? Will we get to water skii, or glide down a snow packed mountain, have romantic evening meal looking over a lake where the sun glimmers to say "Good night!" 🌹
I'm glad only God knows, but it's exciting to consider the endless possibilities our Savior Jesus Christ has for His children who say yes to His call.
Today, Billy and June Baker 💕are both enjoying the splendors of Heaven. Maybe, they live in a quaint log cabin, along a crystal river, where Billy is water skiing on home-made wooden skis. Who's to say, but it's fun to imagine the possibilities, isn't it? 😊
