12/14-16/04 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I delivered some of Ellen's Christmas jam to the Dickinsons, the Tutinos, and the Copenhavers. Larry and Roberta invited me in for lunch while I was there. We had a nice lunch and a nice chat.

I arrived at the property at 2:00. There was a light rain and only about 5 inches of wet snow on the ground. After moving in, I went to work and sanded all the logs that were due for another coat of varnish which was pretty much every log in the kitchen wall. Then I set up two tarps hanging on either side of the main loft beam. I planned to work on that beam next and I didn't want chips flying all over the place. I had to take the tarps down from where they were hanging in the loft, and in order to do that, I had to clean up the chip mess that was still up there.

On Wednesday I planed, scraped, and gouged the main loft beam between Grid A2 and B2 and I did the same for the Grid B2 PSL on the main floor level. This was pretty strenuous because I had to be working over my head most of the time. In the process, Gus' vacuum cleaner quit working. I was pretty sure the problem was the switch because it had sort of been acting up for a while. I took it apart and saw that the switch was pretty well worn out beyond repair. I took it out altogether and hot-wired the machine. Now, to turn it off you have to unplug it. I'll take the switch home and find a replacement for it.

I swept up all the chips and used the hot-wired vacuum cleaner to clean the walls and floor so I would be ready to varnish.

On Thursday morning, December 16th, it was Beethoven's birthday. The radio station I listen to was playing Beethoven all day so it was a great pleasure for me to work to the accompaniment of some of my favorite music. I started out by mitering the cove molding and trimming the kitchen window. Then I started varnishing the logs. It added greatly to my pleasure to see those logs transform from ugly ducklings to beautiful swans before my eyes as I varnished them. That was the final coat of varnish for most of the kitchen and it really looked great. When I finished, I took some pictures of the kitchen and dining room walls with their windows. Both of those windows are trimmed so except for the chinking, which I have left to do, they are looking like they will in their final state. They look just like I wanted them to.

While I was packing up to leave, a flock of jays came around for peanuts. I haven't seen them for quite a while. I left for home at about 1:00.