12/21-23/04 Andrew and I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

We arrived at noon. There was almost no snow on the ground so we drove right up to the trailer. After lunch, I fixed the switch on Gus's vacuum cleaner, and then I sanded all the logs that were due for another coat of varnish while Andrew followed me with the vacuum catching all the dust and cleaning off the logs. Then before we quit for the day, I planed half of the main loft beam between B2 and C2.

In the trailer, we played a lot of chess, scribbage and speed. Andrew beat me pretty consistently at speed.

On Wednesday, nearly the shortest day of the year, it didn't get light until 7:30 AM. After breakfast, Andrew went back to sleep. While he was napping, I went up and planed the other side of the loft beam between B2 and C2, and the first floor level of the C2 RPSL. Then I scraped and gouged the post and beam so they were ready for varnish.

When Andrew came out, he loaded up a bunch of firewood into the wheelbarrow and got some practice pushing a wheelbarrow with a big load. After several spills and some help from me, we got three wheelbarrow loads of firewood into the pickup. We'll be using that on a winter camp we will be going to in a couple weeks. Andrew also filled quite a few jugs with spring water and loaded them in the pickup for use at the same camp.

Then we went to work cleaning up the cabin so it would be dust-free when we varnished the next morning. I moved the hanging tarps and swept up the chips. Andrew scooped up the chips and carried them outside to the chip pile. Then I vacuumed the walls, the post, and the beam that we planned to varnish, and Andrew vacuumed the entire floor of the cabin. Then we went in for the night and played a lot more chess, scribbage, and speed.

On Thursday morning, a flock of gray jays came around for peanuts the first thing. Andrew fed them while I did the dishes and took some pictures of him and the birds. Then Burt and Ernie showed up and Andrew fed them some peanuts also. After that, we went up and went to work varnishing. Andrew varnished the final coat on the last six logs in the kitchen and he varnished part of the B2 and C2 posts. I varnished the beam and the top of the posts. We packed up and left for home at 10:30.