11/29-12/1/05 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It was snowing all the way over and there was snow on the road all the way from Index on. I saw one car upside down and another one in the ditch. It was pretty slippery. I arrived at 1:15. There was about 8 inches of light powder snow so I decided to try to drive up to the trailer. I got a good run at it from down the road a ways and got about halfway to the trailer. I backed out into the road again and got to within about 40 feet of the trailer on the next run. It started getting pretty steep there so I scooped all the snow off the pine needles up to the parking space above the trailer. The snow was so light that it was pretty easy scooping.

Then I backed down for another run but misjudged the turn. I got stuck right up against the open gate log so I couldn't open the pickup door. I had the whole cab piled full of my gear so it was a very hard job getting my body out from under the steering wheel and out the passenger door.

I shoveled the snow and ice away from the front of each wheel. I couldn't back up any more because I was up against the gate post. I got my body back inside the cab and under the steering wheel again and tried to move. The pickup wouldn't budge an inch off the ice platforms under the rear wheels.

So I went through the same maneuver to get back out of the cab, and shoveled some sand under each back wheel. Then I squirmed my way back under the steering wheel. This time I was able to drive forward and away from the log. I backed into the road again, got a good run, and got up to the shoveled-off pine needles. They were so slippery that I couldn't get past them. I shut the pickup off and parked it there. It was all kind of fun.

I installed newly filled propane tanks and had trouble lighting the stove. After trying to figure out what was wrong, I finally figured that the lines had filled with air since I had been away for nearly 3 weeks and the tanks had been disconnected. Once the lines filled with gas, the stove worked normally.

A big flock of gray jays turned out to greet me. There must be several broods of birds in that flock.

Earl had left me a phone message wondering where I had been so I called him and we had a long conversation to catch us both up on what we had been up to. When I went up to the cabin, I discovered another shrew had gotten caught in the mouse trap. The makes five of them so far. I'm not sure how to deal with those little guys except to keep trapping them.

I went to work and sanded the Grid D2 column that I had varnished last time so it would be ready for the next coat. I really felt weak and tired while I was working. I quit fairly early.

On Wednesday it was 25 degrees and snowing very lightly. I rigged up lights and wires for working in the loft. Then I carried all the scaffold frames, except for the two in the loft, down and stored them in the basement. My energy felt pretty low. I decided to back the pickup down to the road so it wouldn't get snowed in. I fed the flock of jays again.

Then I carried a scaffold frame, a come-along, and a short chain down and dismantled the gate. Then I carried the frame etc. back up and stored them in the cabin. Then I installed the wand on the gatepost so Mike can see where it is under the snow.

Next I went up to the cabin, strung tarps around the Grid D purlin, and started planing and scraping the purlin. The purlin is extra lumpy and working overhead like that seemed to be extra hard work. I got very tired and didn't get much done. I went in early again.

On Thursday morning, I tidied up around the place to make it more pleasant for the scouts and then worked some more scraping and gouging the Grid D purlin. I felt weak after being sick for two weeks and the work seemed extra hard. I quit early and was ready to leave for home at 12:30.

I had just started the pickup and scraped the ice off the windshield when Ron Sideritz pulled up. He hadn't seen the place for a long time so we went up so he could have a look. We had a nice chat for about 45 minutes. I left for home at 1:15.