11/5-7/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:45. It was 40 degrees and dry, although there had been some rain in the past day or so. There was a dusting of snow in the pass on the way over. Three jays were right there to greet me when I parked the pickup.

After moving in, I gwizzed both sides of the six planks that were ready. The new gas cans were nice to use but I didn't notice any difference on how the Gwizzard started or ran with the new gas. The test will come when I put that gas in Mother Sow (my name for "my other saw").

On Wednesday, I rigged the block and tackle back up and lifted the six planks up onto the deck. Since there were three planks serving as ramps on both sides of the crawl space door, and since I want to use them on the deck, the next job is to build steps on both sides of the door to replace the planks. Down by the trailer I had stacked some old concrete blocks and concrete flagstones that Doris had given me. I used the wheelbarrow to haul them all up to the building so I could use them to make the steps. Then I moved those three planks and one more from inside the crawl space to the gwizzing station. Larry showed up for a visit, and we chatted until lunchtime.

After lunch, I built a landing on the inside of the crawl space door level with the threshold. I used a bunch of short 2x4s and 2x6s that were left over from making studs. My ceiling is too high for 8-foot studs to work so all of them had to be cut from 10-footers. That gave me a lot of those short stubs. I used two rows of the stubs to make the landing about 3 feet deep. Then I used a couple concrete blocks and one of the flagstones to make a step down to the floor. It rained lightly off and on all day. The jays visited a few times but not as often as usual.

On Thursday morning, I started moving part of the old board pile to make room to build the steps on the outside. Since I was moving those boards anyway, I decided to move them out from the building enough so I could walk around the corner of the building without having to go around the board pile. In the winter, the berm of snow falling from the roof gets to be six or seven feet high and you have to go over it twice to get to the door. Now you will be able to get to the door by walking next to the building, inside the berm, being completely under eaves all the way. That will be much better.

Finally, I used a few concrete blocks and flagstones and made steps to get up to the door. I left for home at about 12:30.

11/8/02 Received a gift in the mail from Dr. Dick. I had a big laugh when I opened it and found a nice bronze ball valve that he says will withstand 100 psi. Now I will have no excuses for not fixing the plumbing problem I fight with when I winterize the trailer. Thank you Dr. Dick.
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