6/21-23/05 Andrew and I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

Tuesday was Andrew's last day of school so I picked him up at school when it let out at 2:00 and we headed for the property. On the way, I stopped at Evergreen RV and bought a replacement burner assembly for the water heater for $41.33.

I had gotten a call from Marilyn about noon asking where we were. I had previously planned to be at her place for lunch and to get a book I had lent to her. That was before I knew that Andrew would be coming up with me and that I would be late. I apologized for having completely forgotten about the lunch. She said it was okay because she hadn't made it yet anyway.

We drove through a pretty fierce rainstorm but we passed through it and by the time we got to Skykomish it was hardly raining. Andrew and I stopped in at Marilyn's place and visited with her and Sydney. We looked at the new repair work on her house and we ate some of her home made ice cream. By the time we left, the rainstorm had caught up with us and we had to drive through it again. There was no rain by the time we got to the property.

We arrived at the property at 5:10. Andrew fed Bert a dog biscuit on the way past Tutino's place. There was no frog in the gate lock can. The first thing I did was install the new burner assembly in the water heater and got it started heating water. We heard a lot of helicopter traffic overhead and wondered what it was all about.

Andrew started cooking his dinner in the microwave and when it was almost done, the power failed. His dinner was done enough for him so he started eating while I cooked mine in a frying pan. It's nice having a gas stove when the power is out. The power came back on at about 7:10.

It was music to my ears to hear the water heater burner start up again each time we used enough hot water. That meant that the new pilot light was staying lit.

In the evening, we listened to a few lectures from a course in Buddhism that I am taking. We got a kick out of the Sanskrit expression for "everything is suffering". I don't know how to spell it but it sounds like, "So bum, do come".

On Wednesday morning the helicopter was back at it. I went up to the drainfield to get a better look and I saw that the helicopter had a bucket and was dumping water. It would fly back and forth to the lake to fill bucket and bring it back. I called the rangers and they told me that lightning had started several fires on Dirtyface but they were all manned with crews and the biggest one was only a couple acres. We found a place where we could see the helicopter dumping through the trees and I think I got one good picture of a dump when the sun was shining on the spray. I hope it turns out.

I went to work and extended the scaffold by erecting a two tier tower between Grids D and E. It was just one frame on top of another connected to the previous tower. I planked the new section so I could reach that part of the gable. Then I insulated six rows of the gable and went in for lunch. In the process I fed a couple of jays.

I found a note hanging on the front door saying that the electrical inspector had been there and missed me. I felt bad for not having called him and told him that I wouldn't be there until late. I sort of had the impression that he wouldn't come unless I called. I called and left a message apologizing for missing the appointment.

After lunch, I used Rasputin and a home made chisel to clean out and open up the ceiling slot between Grids D3 and E3. It wasn't too bad so it didn't take too long. Andrew helped me put a 1x2 in the ceiling slot and then he helped me nail the six rows. I would drive the nails in and Andrew bent them up straight. Then we went to work mixing mud and chinking. I couldn't find my water measuring container which I had left out on the porch. There had evidently been a lot of wind so I figured it had blown off the porch and had been carried away. I spent a lot of time searching the brush and the cliff below the porch and along the roadway, but I couldn't find it.

I got another container for water and decided we would have to experiment to find the right amount of water. I mixed the first batch of mortar and figured out how much water to use. Then I went up and started chinking while Andrew went to work mixing the second batch. He finished the batch before I had used up the first one so when I came down for more mortar, he had it ready to go. We worked that way all afternoon. That really speeded things up. He made really nice batches of mortar and saved me a lot of time.

We finished chinking the six rows and started cleaning up the tools by 4:30. In the process of cleaning up, Andrew found my water measuring container. It was still on the porch but it was behind a box where I didn't see it. Andrew wanted to go to Leavenworth for dinner (and to visit the Chocolate Factory) and since he had been such a good helper, I agreed. We left for Leavenworth at 5:00, and had a nice dinner of pizza before we hit the Chocolate Factory.

On Thursday morning Andrew helped me clean mortar off the varnished logs with wet rags. Then I swept up the mortar mess on the floor under where I had chinked so it will be a little neater for the electrical inspector if he comes next week. We had lunch and left for home at 1:15.