3/27/07 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 1:00. It was windy and 45 degrees. The snow had melted a lot since last week. After moving in and having lunch, I went to work and sanded all the surfaces that were due for another coat of varnish. Then I moved the tarps, lights, and platform so I could work on the Grid B purlin and the B2 PSL.

I checked on the sequoia trees up by the drainfield and found that one seemed to be thriving, another one was nearly dead but had some green on it, and the third one had died last summer.

I wanted to install the gate log this week so I went down and shoveled the snow off of it so it would have time to melt away and dry off before I went to work on it.

On Wednesday, I planed and scraped the middle third of the Grid B purlin in the loft and moved the tarps and lights so I could reach the last third of the purlin.

After lunch, I got a scaffold frame, a short chain and a come-along and installed the gate log. I had to dig quite a bit of snow away from the berm so that the overhanging end of the log could swing into position when I closed the gate.

Then I went back to work and planed and scraped the remaining third of the B2 purlin in the loft. That was the very last of the overhead planing I have to do in the entire building. It is a relief and a major milestone to be done with that. It is very tiring on my shoulders and arms to hold that planer overhead for any length of time.

I also planed the top half of the B2 PSL which was super easy because the log is so uniform and has no lumps in it. Then I moved the tarps out of the way, swept up the chips, and vacuumed the floor, the PSL, the purlin, the wall and the window so they were all ready to varnish.

On Thursday morning, I varnished all the prepared surfaces and stood back and admired how nice it looks. Having those logs look white and shiny after looking so dismal for so long makes it seem like I am really making progress. This work is gratifying because the progress shows so well.

The snow had melted back far enough to pretty much uncover the nine potted sequoia trees. I removed the remaining snow from them and the needles and other debris so they could stand up. Five of the nine trees made it through the winter. One or two looked pretty sick, but one or two others look very healthy and eager to get growing. I'm curious about how the ones back in the woods did. I'll check them out in a week or two when the snow has melted more. I left for home at 12:30.