Construction Journal Entry Week of 12/5/04

12/7-9/04 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I stopped at a rest stop on the way up and when I tried to start the pickup again, the battery couldn't turn the engine over. After thinking about what to do for about 5 minutes, I tried again and it started. I continued on.

The rain had turned to mixed rain and snow, but from Skykomish on it was all snow. There was compact snow on the road from about 1500 ft and up and all the way on the other side of the pass. Somewhere near the pass, my wipers started running slow. I turned off the lights and the wipers sped up again. I could see from the ammeter that the battery was not getting charged. I turned the lights and the heater off for the rest of the way.

When I got to the North Shore Drive, just past the fire station, I stopped and talked to a couple on foot. Their car had slid off the road at the intersection. I tried to call Mike Tutino but I only got his answering service. The couple decided to walk back to the Parkside Grocery so I continued on my way.

I arrived at the property at 1:15. There was 9 inches of snow on the ground. I turned around, backed down the road quite a ways to get up my speed, and I barged the pickup up the driveway and got almost up to the trailer. It was snowing pretty hard so after I unloaded my gear, I backed the pickup back down to the road so I wouldn't get snowed in.

I called Parkside Grocery to check on the couple but they hadn't showed up. I left my name and phone number for them to call me if they couldn't get any other help. Then I called the Sheriff and reported the incident. Nobody called me about it later so I hope they got out OK.

After lunch, I sanded all the surfaces that were due for another coat of varnish. Then I scraped and gouged 4 more logs in the kitchen so they were ready for their first coat of varnish.

In the evening, Earl called and told me he and Dana would be gone for the winter. We also talked about what I should do about my battery.

On Wednesday morning, there was another foot of snow on the ground. I dug out the pickup and tried to start it. It wouldn't turn over at all. I went up and called Mike Tutino for advice. He said the most likely thing was that the alternator belt was slipping. Maybe it had gotten wet from the blowing snow. He said I could tighten the belt myself and he said that he didn't have any equipment to test my alternator or my battery. He gave me the name and number of Scott in Plain who could test and fix whatever problem I was having.

I went up to the cabin and got my 30 Amp battery charger and an extension cord. I plugged the charger into an outlet in the temporary power pole and jumpered the pickup battery to the charger. The pickup started right up. I could see that the alternator was giving the battery a pretty good charge so I left it idle while I put the charger away and called Scott. He said to bring it over.

I drove to Plain and Scott diagnosed that my alternator was intermittent and even when it was working it was only putting out about half of what it should. I had him order me a new alternator and he said he could install it at 9 the next morning.

I got back to the property at 12:40 and had lunch. Then I went to work dismantling the gate at the driveway. There is enough snow on the ground that I won't need the gate up for the rest of the winter. I thought I might be able to lift the log off by hand, but after straining at it for a while, I gave up on that idea. I went up to the cabin and got a scaffold frame, a come-along, and a length of chain. With those rigged up, I lifted the log off the pivot and moved it out of the way. Then I screwed the wand to the post so Mike won't dig it out of the ground when he scoops out my driveway. Then I carried the scaffold frame, etc. back up.

I went back to work on the log wall and scraped and gouged the last 2 logs in the kitchen so they were ready for varnish. Then I varnished all the prepared logs and window frame.

On Thursday morning, as soon as I went outside, I was greeted by two or three gray jays. I fed them some peanuts and then I tried starting the pickup. It started OK. Then I packed up and drove to Plain. In the process of jockeying the pickup trying to get it into Scott's garage, the pickup slipped in the snow and ran my outside rear view mirror into Scott's mailbox post. It broke part of the plastic around the mirror but not the mirror itself. It also pushed the post over a little, but Scott said not to worry about it. I felt bad about it anyway.

Scott installed the new alternator and I was out of there and on my way home at about 11:00. The ammeter showed a strong charge even with the lights, heater, and wipers on. I was glad to have it fixed.



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