6/3-5/03 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I had another meeting late Tuesday so my schedule was the same as last week. I arrived at 9:20 PM, moved in, talked to Ellen, and went to bed.

On Wednesday I insulated the top four seams on the northwest wall. The top seam is a little hard to reach, even with the riser sitting on the scaffold. I had mis-aligned the northern end of the top log because I thought I needed to lower the surface of the purlin at that end. Consequently, the top log is set a few inches inside the next log, so it makes it that much further out of reach. I was able to work on the very corner by placing a diagonal board between a crack in the wall and a projecting wall log. Standing on that board, I could easily reach and see the corner. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights.

I fed the little chipmunk inside the building several times during the work. I sit down, put my hands with the peanuts in my lap, and he climbs up my pants leg and hops into my hand to get his treat. It didn't take him much time to learn how.

After lunch, I nailed the four seams I had insulated. During that work, I was visited by three jays. But to my surprise, two of them looked like Scruffy. After thinking the first one was Scruffy, the "real" Scruffy came by and he looked extra scruffy. The first guy must have been too preoccupied to keep himself groomed and his ruffled feathers confused me. But the real Scruffy had the black mottling on his face where the other birds have nice light coloring. Scruffy's leg seemed to be completely functional and strong. The lump above it seemed to be gone, but the feathers just above his leg were very dark and rumpled. Those feathers should be a nice uniform light gray. I really wonder what caused Scruffy to be so scruffy. Anyway, it was good to see them again.

On Thursday morning, I chinked the top seam. I used the same rickety scaffold arrangement to reach and it worked out very well. I think my experience of being able to stand on a windsurfer allows me to stand on that scaffolding without losing my nerve or my balance. You never know when you can use an old, otherwise useless, skill.

At one point, when I was inside the building, I was surprised to see the pine squirrel in there with me. He was also a little surprised to see me, but he didn't run away. We both stood still for quite a while while I talked to him. Then he evidently got bored and went on with his business. He hopped up on my stack of insulation and proceeded to pull it apart. It was then I realized that he must be the guy who is always making a mess of my insulation by tearing chunks out of it.

He didn't seem to eat it, or gather clumps of it. Rather, it seemed like he just enjoyed pulling it loose. It was fun to watch but I really didn't want him tearing up my insulation like that. To distract him, I threw a few peanuts on the floor near him. He ran over them once but didn't show any interest in them at all. He climbed back up on the insulation and went back to work. Then the chipmunk came in and started gathering up all the peanuts I had thrown. One of the two of them made a sudden move which startled the other, who in turn made a sudden move startling the first one. They both ran out of the building in a flash. I covered up the insulation with a piece of plywood to try to minimize any future damage. I left for home at about 2:00.