5/11-13/04 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

Before I left, among other errands, I visited Gus at Foss Home, got some wildlife info for Cub Scouts from Carkeek Park, and fixed Priscilla's stove light. I arrived at the property at 1:35. After moving in and having lunch, I went to work sanding the logs that were due for another coat of varnish.

I saw that the peanuts were gone from the floor so the pack rat security consultants were obviously back on the job. They had found another way to get into the building. I prepared their next payment of peanut butter, used it as bait and set the trap. It didn't take me long to figure out how they got in. They (or it) had chewed a big hole through a block of styrofoam next to the purlin at Grid B1. I stapled a big patch of hardware cloth over the hole leaving a fist-size cavity behind the hardware cloth where the styrofoam used to be. The peanut was also gone from the pipe, but the flap was still shut and the peanut was still on the flap so they didn't go out that way.

On Wednesday my knuckles were very sore from stapling the hardware cloth. It was very awkward to get the stapler in position and then to press the lever to get it to fire. I don't think I did any permanent damage, though. When I went up to the building, I saw that the trap was sprung. I went through the familiar drill of taking the trap outside, shutting the door, removing the trap, taking a picture of the bewildered pack rat, and watching him run around the back of the building. I set the trap again and went to work planing, scraping, gouging, and sanding four more logs at Grid A, three more between Grid A and B, and the smaller dining room window frame. I also fed a chipmunk from my hand for the first time this season.

On Thursday morning, the peanuts were still on the floor and the trap was still set. The packrat had evidently not found another way in over night. I inspected my new hardware cloth patch and it was still intact. I varnished all the prepared surfaces including the old workbench which I remembered to do this time. That was the final coat for all the wall logs above the first scaffold tier so next time I can dismantle those scaffolds. I still need to set up two more scaffold towers to reach the ridgepole and the Grid D purlin.

I looked up at the newly-screened-over hole and it seemed darker than it was before. I went up to the loft to look more closely and I could see that the cavity was half filled with leaves. I thought the packrat was pretty resourceful to use this space for storage but while I was looking at it, I noticed that the packrat was also looking at me. His head was peeking up above the leaves and he was staring at me with one eye. Since he couldn't get back in the building, he made a nest in that cavity. I think I'll just let him live there for a while. That way I can keep an eye on him. I took a couple pictures of him but I don't know if they will turn out.

I went up to the spring and found a few more small larvae of some sort in the overflow pipe. I cleaned them out. Then I checked on the little tree and it is doing all right. Next, I got a part roll of 1" copper pipe and brought it up to the spring to see if I could push it up the underground stream to the spring. It was pretty unwieldy and I only got it in six or eight feet. I decided that the technique was good but the pipe was just too big and heavy. I think half-inch pipe just might work. I put it on my list to bring up next time. I left for home at about noon.