Here's Mike Vowels -- builder extraordinaire. Mike took our class in the late 1970's and began building in the early 1980's.

Unfortunately before the project was finished Mike was involved in a skiing accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down, and for the most part abandoned the house project while he recovered and focused on other more pressing issues.

Eventually he returned to the log home project and continued building it up to what you see today, with LOTS of help from friends and subcontractors. Mike says that finishing his home was therapeutic -- helping to close a chapter from his life before the accident -- and opening a new chapter at the same time.

Today Mike is an accessibility advisor and consultant.  He recently spearheaded a fund raising campaign to support and coordinate major home improvements to better the life of a 29 year old army tank commander who recently returned from Iraq, a quadriplegic. You can read the Seattle times article about the project.

Mike lives in this beautiful log home with his wife Karen, son Cole (almost 7) and daughter Alexandra, 9. When Mike's log home was completed, it was so beautiful that it was included in the book, Hands-On Log Homes by Cindy and Art Thiede.