Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Lusk's blog; a personal request

...part of a recent entry:
Dear Norm Abramlusk,
I am an avid follower of the Pond Boss magazine, forum and all the related activities and functions related to ponds. For me, personally, this entire genre is categorically new. The correspondence crash course for PB-101, 102, and 103 that I enrolled in some 14 months ago has yielded better than average grades on my report card. My folks are ecstatic. My dad says that I can use the car this Saturday to go the the drive-in.
Now I hear that there is another facet to this "Mr. Natural" side of your existance. Pursuant to a tragic loss of the Lusk Lodge, re-construction from scratch is well underway. As I understand it, this is no "stick-built shanty in the woods". I hear that some unusual and progressive construction and engineering practices are being employed. You have offered morsels of the details of a project that some, perhaps many of us hunger for more. It is this subject that I do enjoy a level of knowledge and appreciation. It is also this subject that this Illinois wood-guy would love to hear alot more detail and see some pics of the progress.
Whaddayasay? Any chance of bigger scraps fallin' from the Lusk dinner table?
Sincerely,
Woody

I second the motion

Being around first hand, it's a pretty amazing feat to behold. They are doing some really neat things building their new house. I watched as it burned and have helped do several things along the way. It has been very rewarding to help a great man build his house. However, I will let him indulge you by providing the information you desire. Personally I think he should write a book about building a house.

Okay, okay.....I have to admit...I haven't taken time to learn how to post photos. I'll send some to Ewest and ask him to post to this thread.
The house is pretty cool. Handcrafted from top to bottom. The fun part is that we get to play a big role. Debbie designed the house with the help of a good friend who is an architect. Several of my friends and employees have spent time in the woods, cutting cedar trees and milling them on our sawmill. (We learned that the wood for the ceiling alone would cost more than $7,000.00) So, a moderately priced sawmill would more than pay for itself. We spend two days cutting logs we can mill in one day.
The house is 5,650 square feet under roof and about 4,400 of living space. The ceiling is twelve feet high, the stair case will be made of native cedar trees, half cut logs for steps, built into several huge logs. We will have a screened in porch with an electric fireplace and hot tub. My office/writing studio overlooks the princess Debbie's swimming pond. The Eco-block walls have six inches of steel reinforced concrete. The ceiling joists are 2"x4" steel, welded to plates in concrete in the walls. Purlins are "c-channel" and the roof is 26 gauge steel, screwed into the steel purlins.
We have three bedrooms, a bunkroom for grandpeople, a media room, great room, butler's pantry, big game room and five bathrooms.
It seems a bit excessive for a fish guy, but I have no doubt that God wants to use our twelve acres, eight ponds, house, courtyard, covered walkway, detached garage and big wraparound porch. It's a great place to get away from what ails you, to emotionally and spiritually recharge. And, we get to live there. I am truly blessed. We have several acres of ponds and woods, a nice workshop and lots of places to simply disappear to meditate.
After this post, I'll email ewest and ask him to post photos to this thread.
Once the house is finished, I promise to write about it and print some pictures. Thanks for caring. By the way, we want to open our home, as it is a very spiritually moving place. So, I expect many of you to pass through this way over the next few years and let us share with you.

Bob sent me these and said to share them with his friends. He said to tell you guys and gals you are great and he appreciates us thinking about him.

Does that inside remind everyone else of one of those classy Cabela's stores? When do the big tanks for the fish go in?

Very, very nice.

It's going to be a fine estate! Cheers!

Bob very very nice I'll take you up on that offer some day and extent the same to you if your ever down south of DFW. Our home is always open to good folks.