3/23-25/04 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at noon. It was a beautiful 52 degrees out. The snow had melted back far enough that I could see that by next week you would be able to drive up the driveway. I decided that I would install the gate before I left. The gate log was buried under a foot or so of snow so I decided to dig it out before I did anything else. That way, the sun would melt the rest of the snow off and dry the log out somewhat before I worked on it. It took about a half hour to dig it out. Then, I moved in and had lunch.

I was just having my coffee when Larry and Ted Turner came by for a visit. We went up to the building and I saw that the pipe valve flap was open. I took that as possible good news. It might mean that the last pack rat left through the pipe and couldn't get back in because there were no more holes. One can always hope. I explained my struggle with pack rats and building security and I explained the unique geology of the rocks to Ted. I was surprised to learn that I hadn't already told him about the geology. Larry noticed the rebar cutter/bender Dr. Dick gave me and said he might want to borrow it. He needs a bunch of short rebar pieces. I showed him the left over rebar spikes I had and I offered to give them to him. He said he wanted them but didn't want to take them right now.

After they left, I brought a scaffold frame, a come-along, and a short chain down to the gate and installed the gate log. I also unscrewed the wand from the gate post and I loosened the screws holding my house number. The house number is screwed into a tree and I figure I should loosen the screws each spring to allow room for growth. I'll just make it a tradition to loosen them each time I reinstall the gate in the spring.

Next, I sanded the parts that are due for another coat of varnish. I sanded part of the Grid B PSL, 5 logs between Grid A and B, and the loft post and beam. Then I set the trap, set out some peanuts on the floor, closed the valve flap with a peanut on it, and went in for the night.

On Wednesday, on the way up to the building, I saw that the trap door was open. I was happy to see that because it probably means that the pack rat(s) really do exit from the pipe. I was also happy to discover that the trap was sprung. I went back to the trailer and got the camera. Then I went through the familiar drill of taking the trap outside, shutting the door, opening the trap, taking a picture of the pack rat, and watching him run around back of the building. There were exactly 43 turds in the trap again and one of the three sticks from my trigger mechanism was missing. He must have eaten it up completely. Fully half of the stick with the peanut butter on it was also eaten up.

I went back in and sat in the loft waiting for him to reappear somewhere. It was raining so the sound of the rain on the roof covered any sounds the pack rat might be making, so I couldn't tell if he was trying to get in or not. Then I heard a noise that sounded like the stovepipe valve. I went down and discovered the flapper valve was open. I think the pack rat tried to get in the pipe by climbing down onto the flapper, which sticks out about an inch all around the bottom of the pipe. And, I think the flapper dropped and dumped him onto the ground. At least I hope that's what happened. I can't imagine that he could get in the pipe from the outside, but they have surprised me more than once.

I spent some more time watching and listening to see if I could catch him coming back in, but I didn't see or hear anything. I figured I had wasted enough time so I went to work.

I planed, scraped, and gouged two logs on the northwest wall just above the dining room window. Then I went in for lunch. After lunch, I planed, scraped, and gouged one more log between Grid A and B. The log had a lot of dry rot in it so I tried to plane and scrape deep enough to get it all off. In most places I got down to sound wood within a quarter of an inch or so, but there were places around a couple of knots that the rot went deeper than I wanted to dig out. I decided to give those spots a good dose of Board Defense. I boiled some water and made a saturated solution and painted it on the log trying to get as much soaked into the rotten spots as I could. I hope Louis Brender is right that the rot won't destroy the log until long after I'm dead.

Next, I fixed an error I made on August 13, 1997. On that day, after having painstakingly measured and made a precision mark on a wall log to show me where the notch for the loft beam should be cut, I began chiseling out the notch below the mark when I should have cut the notch above the mark. I had the notch cut in two inches before I noticed my mistake. After cutting the correct notch directly above the erroneous one and installing the loft beam, that two-inch notch has been there as if laughing at me ever since.

Larry suggested to me that I should install a round clock there. But my plan was to install a short piece of log beveled up at an angle. It would look like part of the structure. So today was the day to execute on this plan. I had selected and set aside the log stub a long time ago so I got it out and planed it nice and smooth. The wood is beautiful. It is Doug Fir so the sapwood is pure white and the heartwood is a rich reddish brown. I fastened it to the loft beam with a 16 inch lag screw. It looks really nice and adds to the look of the structure if I say so myself.

It felt good finally to have corrected that error after all these years of looking at that laughing notch.

I made another part for the trigger mechanism and set the trap again before I quit for the night.

On Thursday morning I was disappointed to find that the bait had been eaten but the trap had not sprung. That meant that there was still at least one critter still in the building. Rats! (I mean "Pack Rats!"). I varnished all the prepared surfaces and spent a few minutes admiring how nice that little log stub looks up against the loft beam. Then I packed up and left for home at 1:00.