10/24-26/05 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way, I stopped in at the Log Home Builders Association of North America's headquarters to pick up my hat and vest that I inadvertently left there after the meeting. I had a nice chat with Steve White who updated me on Skip's activities in the organization.

I also stopped in at Mark Lindstrom's new log house. Larry and Ted Turner were there so I had a chat with them while I fed Bert, Ernie, and another dog some dog biscuits. I finally arrived at the property at 1:10.

It was a very pleasant 55 degrees out. I was happy to see that there was no shrew in the trap and all the peanuts were still in place. I went to work and insulated three more seams, nailed two more, and chinked one seam on both bedroom walls. Then I went down to the old log pile and rolled about half of the logs over into a pile at the edge of the clearing. I want to clear that area before it snows so the Boy Scouts can pitch their tents there.

On Wednesday there was no shrew and no evidence of rodents inside. I nailed three more seams on both bedroom walls before lunch. Then I chinked four seams on both walls of the bedroom. This leaves only two seams in the bedroom and all ten seams in the closet. I have about a sack and a half of mortar left and if the weather is still permitting next week, I'll use up that mortar and see if it won't finish the chinking on the first floor. If not, I'll finish it up next spring. It's nice to have this much of it done even though I might not finish this fall.

Larry and Ted Turner stopped in for a visit during the chinking. We talked about the problem I had of trying to make a nice joint in the chinking where I started chinking after part of the chinking was already dry. Those joints look bad to me so I have (belatedly) started to chink all the way to a window or door so I wouldn't have any more of those joints.

I also told them about how hard it was to tool the inside corners with the pointed trowel. Ted suggested that I use a tablespoon. I went down to the trailer when they left, got a tablespoon, and tried it. It worked great. I could finish a corner much faster with it and the joint looks a lot smoother and better. I wish I'd thought of that earlier. I also fed the gray jays toward the end of the day.

On Thursday morning, there was no shrew nor evidence of any rodents inside. I cleaned the logs I had chinked, but since I was short of time, I decided only to do the first scraping pass. But after I scraped the big chunks of mortar off, I brushed the logs pretty vigorously with a whisk broom and discovered that it took most of the mortar off. I think that all it will need now is a little touch up with a damp rag. I'll do that later when I have more time.

I decided to winterize the trailer because I heard that a cold front was coming in and the temperature had gotten down to about 31 degrees during the night. Larry said there had been a skiff of snow on top of the ridge. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring any antifreeze. I was hoping that there was still enough in the tank to do the job. If not, I would at least disconnect and drain the plumbing as best as I could. After I hooked up the wires to supply 12 volts to the demand pump, I found that the pump wouldn't run. I made one attempt at bypassing the pressure switch but I still couldn't get it to pump. I was short of time because I had to get home for a Boy Scout Court of Honor so instead of doing any diagnosing of the problem, I closed things up hoping that there wouldn't be a hard freeze before I got back. I left for home at 1:00.