1/21-23/03 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I visited with Gus at Kelsey Creek again on the way up so I didn't get to the property until 2:00. It was also pretty slow going over the pass because there was about 4 or 5 inches of new snow on the that hadn't been plowed for most of the way. I had to follow a snowplow for part of the way too. There was about 8 inches of snow in the driveway, but I didn't have to shovel it. Instead, I just kept ramming the pickup in and backing out until I had it packed down pretty well.

I put the snowshoes on and packed the trails to the trailer, the compost pile, the building, and the privy. Then I carried a bunch of Gus' tools and some other things he gave me up to the building. After having lunch and moving in, I had time to skid the plank I cut last week to the gwizzing station.

On Wednesday morning, there was 6 to 8 inches of new light snow. It had blown in the kitchen window of the cabin and got all over the tools and things on the tables. I cleaned them off and decided to board up the window to keep any more snow out. I also boarded up the vent hole in the crawl space above the workbench. The workbench also had a lot of snow on it.

Even though it was snowing, I decided to scribe the last cut on the log at the ripping station. It is right under a couple big trees and it is protected from snow and rain pretty well. Since the last cut is to separate two planks, I decided to try a different method of scribing. Instead of using my elaborate two-string setup, I figured that it should be easier to scribe by making a carrier for the pen that rides on one of the already cut surfaces.

I figured out how to make such a device and found the boards and things to make it from. First, I made two wire clamps to hold the pen to the end of a short board. That worked great. Then I made the thing that would ride on the surface of the plank out of a piece of plywood that was just the right size. I screwed two 1x2s to this that were spaced to hold the board with the pen. The plan was to use a C-clamp to fasten the pen-board between the 1x2s. Just as I drove in the last screw, the pen-board fell to the floor and broke the neck off the pen. That made it useless and it was the only pen I had. I had to change plans and put the scribing off until next week.

Since I am going to be moving Gus out of his old apartment and into a new one, I decided to bring some planks home with me to help move things down the stairs, and a bundle of 1x2s to make a framework for a tarp in case I have to work in the rain. I brought the planks and 1x2s down and loaded them into the pickup. By then it was time for lunch.

During lunch, I got a call from Margaret saying it was OK to include pictures of her and Lyle in the web site. I also called Mike and left a message on his phone asking for permission to show his pictures.

After lunch, I rigged up the 110v winch in the bedroom so the cable goes out the window and up to the Grid F3 purlin anchor hook. There was an exposed rebar pin in the wall in exactly the right place to anchor the winch. I used Dr. Dick's rebar bender-cutter to make a hook to go around the pin. I had to chisel a little bit of wood out of the way, but the mortar was well out of the way. I rested the winch on a board that went from the window sill to the top of one of the scaffold steps. After it was rigged up, I tested it with a static load and it is ready to go. I figure since I still have quite a few planks to lift up onto the deck, I might as well do it the easy way. It will also be useful for building the outside staircase.

In the process I needed to supply 3-wire power to the winch so I did a fairly major job of re-stringing the various power cords I have all over the place. It makes a little more sense now.

Finally, before I quit for the day, I shoveled the snow off the mixer and the privy roof. There was two or three feet of snow on them and it had started to rain so the snow was pretty heavy. My shoulder was still hurting pretty bad so it didn't like to do that shoveling. I did as much as I could using just my left arm.

On Thursday morning, there was a huge snow load on the trees and it was still snowing lightly. But by 9:00 or so, it turned to rain and the snow started falling off the trees. It was pretty spectacular because it was falling from so high and it made so much noise. I was glad I didn't have to work outside in that.

I sharpened the gwiz blades and then gwizzed two slabs and one plank. The rain stopped and the sun came out for a while. That, and the sound of the chainsaw, brought three jays around for peanuts. It was good to see them again. It has been a few weeks since I have seen them. Scruffy was putting his weight on both feet again, but there is still a funny looking lump on one knuckle. He also has a marble size lump on his breast just in front of the bad foot. At least the feathers there make it look that way. Maybe it's just the feathers being rumpled up. Otherwise Scruffy looks pretty healthy and active.

Just as I started putting things away, Larry came up for a visit. He also gave me permission to use his pictures in the web site. After he left, I had packed up and had lunch. I left for home at 2:00 but I stopped in to see Gus on the way.