But hiring capable and self-driven laborers is about as tough as it gets. As I sit and watch our fine builder at work (that's Bill in the red shirt), I worry about him. His is basically a one man show with a scarcely reliable group of rough(neck) carpenters in tow.

One day J's grandmother died and the entire bunch of Bill's guys took off suddenly for a week long funeral in Kentucky. It turned out that she was (everyone's?) grandmother. Over the Labor Day weekend they similarly disappeared, despite the approaching deadlines that Bill faces with the drying in of the Collins log home.

When we recently pressed for them to work some weekends in order to get the job done, one called down from the second floor to say that they only worked Monday through Friday (that's on an exceptionally good week, I might add). No self-driven machinations going on there, eh?

Bill says that he had a skilled group working for him at one point but they eventually left to work on their own. Why I don't know, as it is worth its weight in gold to work for as long as possible for someone so accomplished and skilled as this man is.

It's easy to see that most of these young men are undereducated and over burdened with children and ex-wives. They chew tobacco and or smoke and can they party with the best of them, as evidenced by more than a few Monday morning hangovers.

They are all, down to the last man, anxious to leave the site early on Friday afternoons so that they can get to the bank. This is called living from hand to mouth; and yet there are never any takers when it comes to working longer hours.

Meanwhile the Collins project is falling a bit behind schedule, something that you, too, may experience when you start building your own dream house. Remember that folks who live with shattered dreams don't particularly care about your dreams. To them it's all the same.

Bill said something interesting today as I watched him heav 80 pound logs up over his head. When I commented about how strong his back must be he said, "You have to have a strong back and a weak mind in order to do THIS kind of work!"

And we laughed.

This comment, however, comes from someone who has single-handledly built more than 100 Barna log homes by now...and who has a clear and compelling work ethic. The others take an hour lunch while he works on. And they are more than ready to quit when he still has a course of logs to upload. Occasionally some even fall asleep in their truck while waiting for the work day to end.

Unlike them, Bill feels pleasure in a job well done. And it shows.