9/6-8/05 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 1:30. There was no frog in the gate can. The flap on the rodent valve was open but all the peanuts were still inside. I figured that the wind opened the flap since I had set it to be so sensitive. The mousetrap in the crawlspace did catch a small animal, though. At first I thought it might be a baby mouse and that the mice I had caught earlier might have had a brood of pups. But after looking at it, it turned out to be a shrew about the size of my thumb. Instead of the beady eyes of a mouse, this guy had such tiny eyes that they simply looked like very small patches of darker fur where eyes should be. It also had a very long, very skinny snout not at all like a mouse's. I don't know how this guy got in, but I can only hope that he has been in the building all along and finally got caught. I'll keep the traps set and maybe find out.

I drove the pickup up to the building and unloaded six sacks of mortar mix. I had no trouble getting up or down the hill. I installed the first of the receptacle outlets that I had prepared. It was quick and easy to install, so this method of making the assemblies up at home will save a lot of time on site.

I checked and found that on four or five of the outlet boxes, there wasn't enough clearance behind the tapped hole to allow for the green grounding screw. I pulled out each of those boxes and used either a hammer and chisel or a drill bit to cut away the log behind the hole so the screw could go in without interference. Most of them were no problem because the hole is in the center of the box, and in the nearly symmetrical cases, the screw would just go into the space between the logs. It was only on the very asymmetrical cases where the log was in the way.

Next, I insulated and nailed all the seams to the end of the dining room wall.

On Wednesday I was happy to find nothing in the traps and all the peanuts were still in place. I hope that shrew was the last of the animals in the building.

I chinked all the seams in the dining room up to where the kitchen starts to the right of the dining room window. I also used up the last of the batch of mortar to chink about half-way around the little stub log at the end of the short loft beam. All throughout the day I fed the jays and chipmunks when they would spot me outside.

On Thursday morning I fed the jays and chipmunks some more and I cleaned all the logs I had chinked. Since the cleaning process is rather involved and it takes almost as long to clean as to do the chinking, I decided to describe for the record how I go about cleaning the logs.

I use two rags, a "clean" one and a "dirty one", two buckets, a scraper I made out of 16 gauge steel strap, a big soft brush, and a whisk broom. I start with a couple gallons of clean water in one bucket and the other one empty. I get the soft brush soaking wet and use it to wet the seam I am going to clean. This turns the mortar I intend to clean from white to black. It makes it easier to see against the light colored logs but mainly it keeps the dust down when I scrape the mortar off.

Next, I take the steel scraper and, starting at the bottom of the seam, I scrape the excess mortar away from the mortar joint. The corner of the scraper runs right along the edge of the mortar seam and rides on the varnished log surface. I hold it at a very slight angle so the edge of the scraper is very close or even touching the log. I have found that the Verathane is tough enough to take quite a bit of this abrasion without showing scratches or looking dull. Of course I try not to rub any more than is necessary to remove the mortar. As soon as I see that it has loosened up on a portion of the log, I quit rubbing on that spot and move on. I start at the bottom like I said because when I do the same thing on the top of the mortar joint, the sand and wet mortar I loosen up falls down on the lower log. If I did the top first, I wouldn't know which mortar down there was loose and which was tight and needed scraping. By doing the bottom first, I don't do any excessive scraping.

When the logs above and below the seam have been scraped like that, I use the whisk broom to remove all the loose sand and mortar mud that will come off easily.

Next, I take the dirty rag, which is wet but has been wrung out, and wrap part of it over the end of the steel scraper. Then I go over the same areas again with that. The wet cloth is not as abrasive as the bare steel, so I can rub pretty hard on any stubborn mortar. I also can use the corner of the tool with the rag over it to dig into concavities and get out almost all the extra mortar. When the rag picks up sand from the mortar, which it does very quickly if there is some there to remove, I move the rag so that a clean part of it is over the scraper. I try to minimize the amount of abrasion on the logs this way. This step probably takes the longest and it is the most work. I rub over every inch of log that has any mortar on it. But it is gratifying to see the black come off and the shiny wood show through.

The next step is to whisk broom the seam again and also the rag. I hold the dirty rag up with one hand and broom it from top to bottom to remove the loose sand it has picked up. The rag was folded in parallel fourths and I usually use only one side (one fourth) of the rag for the process above. That leaves the other three fourths of the rag clean of sand.

With clean parts of the dirty rag, I go over the logs again using my fingertips and the rag. I can sort of feel if there is any grit left, and I can rub out any problem areas using my fingernails behind the rag or just my fingertips. Whatever it takes to get all the mortar off.

With that done, I whisk broom the seam again and systematically whisk broom both sides of the dirty rag. I suspend a quarter of the rag between four fingers of my left hand and then give that quarter three or four broom strokes from top to bottom. I do this for all eight quarters (four on each side). Then I fold the dirty rag into quarters again and drape it over the edge of the "dirty" (initially empty) bucket.

The next, and nearly last, step is to take the clean rag and wipe the logs to remove any trace of mortar. There shouldn't be any excess mortar or sand, but the water in the dirty rag leaves a cloudy film on the logs if it isn't wiped up. The clean damp rag cleans this up and leaves the logs shiny and clean.

Finally, I prepare for the next seam by dunking the clean rag in the clean bucket and lifting it out so it drips on the dirty rag. I pick up the dirty rag and squeeze the clean rag out over the dirty bucket so that most of the water is absorbed into the dirty rag. Then I hang the wrung-out clean rag over the edge of the clean bucket so it is ready to go for the next seam and then I wring out the dirty rag over the dirty bucket. This removes quite a bit of the gray cement dust that is in the rag because the water gets very dirty. The dirty rag is by no means clean, but at least it is free of sand and it is damp, ready for the next seam. At this point, I get the limp brush and go to work on the next seam and repeat the whole process.

I fed the jays and chipmunks a few times before I left for home at 1:30.

9/9/05 Made the second receptacle assembly for the living room. I followed pretty much the same plan as the first one. As soon as I am convinced that I have the best plan for making them, then I will mass produce the various parts and speed up the manufacturing process. I'll make up and install however many each week that I have time for. That will keep that part of the project off the critical path.