9/21-22/04 I went up to the property for 2 days: Tuesday and Wednesday.

I decided to cut this week's visit short again . Ellen still wasn't feeling too well; I agreed to pick up popcorn for the Cub Scouts on Wednesday; and I agreed to help recruit for Cub Scouts on Thursday.

I arrived at about noon. There were no frogs in the cans, the peanuts were still on the floor and the mousetraps were still set. I found one really good fresh mushroom. I picked it and set it on the doorstep of the trailer before I went up to work.

The logs on the southeast wall were still pretty damp from the pressure washing and the logs on the southwest wall were even a little damp. To me, taking this long for the logs to dry out rules out the possibility of using the pressure washer any more this season. I also didn't like the way it left the logs. The fuzz was fairly easy to sand off, and it might even sand off better after a coat of varnish. But even at that, the wood was darker than if a little more of it were sanded or scraped off.

After trying different tools, I used the DeWalt palm sander with Gus' vacuum hooked up to it to sand some of the logs. For others, I used the planer and scraper as I had before. I concluded that the pressure washing had helped a little, especially in the hard-to-reach areas, but in general, I preferred my old planing and scraping methods.

It's probably a good thing I have been working short weeks since my surgery because I am finding that the gap in the scale of my activity -- from atrophy to repetitive stress injury -- has narrowed to where it is almost a fine line. Consequently, I didn't work too hard, or too long at a stretch. I quit fairly early in the evening and rolled up the two hoses I had gotten out for the pressure washing. Then, when I went in for the night, I discovered that my nice mushroom had been stolen by some critter. I suspect Rocky the pine squirrel although I have no proof that he really did it.

On Wednesday morning, I worked some more on the logs between Grids B and C. Larry stopped by for a visit which gave my wrists and arms another break. We talked about the possibility of me hiring out some of the varnishing work. He fed the chipmunks a few peanuts before he left. I fed the jays and chipmunks before lunch and I heard someone by the outcropping on the road. I went down and found a couple loading rocks into their car. I talked with them a while and told them it was okay to keep the rocks.

After lunch, I varnished the second coat on the top of the C2 RPSL, the part of the ridgepole I could reach from the scaffold, the two bottom logs between Grids A and B, the window frame between A and B, the bottom of the Grid B3 PSL, and the short logs at Grid B. I left for home at 3:45.