7/6-8/06 I went up to the property for 3 days: Wednesday through Friday.

I arrived at 1:45. There was no frog on the padlock but the can was lying on the ground. I don't see how the wind could have blown the can off so it seems to me that someone knocked it off. The gate was still locked and I saw no signs of mischief on the property.

I brought a bundle of insulation with me so after moving in and having lunch, I carried the insulation up to the building. Then I nailed two seams all the way around from Grid E2 to A2.

On Thursday, I chinked one seam from Grid E2 to B3, seven seams between the top windows at C3, two seams between B3 and A3, and one seam between A2 and A3. It was hard going behind the columns at Grids B3, C3, and D3 because there wasn't room to get the trowel in position. I made a trowel out of a piece of strap steel which sort of worked, but not really well. Since I have only done a quarter of those tight spots, I will have to think about designing a better trowel that will work there.

During the day, I fed two jays while two juvenile birds watched to see how to do it. The young birds would fly toward my hands but then chicken out at the last moment. Only once did one land on my hand. He picked up a peanut and then stared at me for quite a while not seeming to know what to do next. Then he flew off and that was the last I saw of him. They'll get the hang of it sooner of later.

On Friday morning, I cleaned the logs where I had chinked. I also fed the older jays and a chipmunk but I didn't see the young birds. I dismantled the second tier of scaffolding and I measured the distance between the last two receptacle boxes in the living room. I have decided to do as much of the wiring as I can at home to save time when I am at the property. I will wire two receptacles together and to the wires that will run through the conduit to the next box. I'll do all the cutting, stripping, and bending of the wires at home so when I get to the cabin, I'll just push the wires through the conduit and screw the assembly into place. At least I'll try it and see how it works.

While I was in for lunch, I was lying on the bed eating an apple and reading. The radio was turned off in the trailer and also at the cabin so it was nice and quiet except for the raindrops. It was raining lightly. I saw something out the window out of the corner of my eye and there was a nice doe about 25 feet from the trailer. She kept looking at the trailer but I held real still and I guess she couldn't see me. We stared at each other for a few minutes, and then she started eating the leaves from the brush. I had my reading glasses on so I couldn't see her too well. I took them off and that wasn't much better.

When she moved her head out of sight behind the bushes, I moved a little, hoping to make my way to the bathroom where the camera was without startling her. It didn't work very well. She sensed that something was amiss and started ambling off. She walked over to the compost pile, but then after a while, she came back to where she was, right under Andrew's birdhouse. Then she got nervous again and walked away for good. It was a very pleasant experience to have seen her like that. I packed up and left for home at 1:45.