4/28-30/09 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 11:55 and was promptly greeted by Bert and Ernie. The weather was cool and perfect. There were no bugs or leaves out yet and almost all the snow was gone. I decided that it was a perfect time to work outdoors. Colder weather and possibly some snow were forecast for the next day, so I decided to take advantage of the good weather.

After moving in and having lunch, I decided to harvest the lower 10 or 12 feet of the log I had worked on on 1/14/09. One of the very next projects I will tackle is to build the loft staircase, and I have decided to support the top of the stringer with a log spanning the Grid B2 PSL and the Grid C2 RPSL just below the main loft beam. That is what I plan to use the new log for.

I got the chainsaw out and climbed up on the cliff the log was resting on and cut through the log to free the lower 10 or 12 feet. This is the top, or small end of the log, because the log was lying upside down.

To get the log out of the woods, I chokered it at the lower (small) end and ran the chain and cable over to the lower roadway where I attached it to the back of the truck. By driving the truck up the roadway, I skidded the log out of the bushes and onto the roadway. It got hung up two or three times, but using a cant hook, I was able to break it loose and continue skidding it.

With the log on the roadway, I backed the truck up to the end of the log, and opened the tailgate. The small end of the log is only 9 inches in diameter, so I was able to lift that end of the log off the ground by brute force and set it on the tailgate. Then I got a come-along and a rebar hook. I used the hook to attach the come-along to a post hole in the front of the truck bed and with the come-along cable, I chokered the log about a third of the way down.

Then, by cranking the come-along, I pulled the log up into the truck bed. I left the come-along attached in order to hold the log in place and then I simply drove the truck up to the upper roadway.

There, I prepared a rack to hold the log, and with gravity as my friend, I pulled the log out of the truck and placed it on the rack. It is under the front eaves so it will stay dry until I can begin working on it. I then backed the truck down the roadway and parked it next to the trailer. I used the 4WD to skid the log and to drive up the hill, but I think I might have been able to do it in 2WD just as well. Then again, maybe not.

Next, I went inside the cabin and sanded all the wood that needs the third and final coat of varnish. Then I vacuumed the loft.

Finally, I made a video showing how I insulate the log walls.

On Wednesday it was cooler but there was no rain or snow. I decided to work outside again as long as the weather was nice. I went to work harvesting firewood from some unusually tall vine maples that had blown over during the winter. These were all in a clump of ten or so trunks that had been uprooted and all fallen over together. The trees were probably 30 feet tall.

The whole clump of them had fallen over the trail through the vine maple thicket at the head of the spring-fed valley. So not only were those big trees over the trail, but they had mashed down all the small spindly vine maples so they were now all spread over the trail as well. There was a dense tangle of vine maples five or six feet deep over the trail making it completely impassible. None of the leaves were out yet, though, so it was easy to see exactly what I had to deal with.

One by one, I cut through each of the big trunks up near the stump. Then I cut firewood lengths of each trunk working both directions. When I had cut as far as I could easily reach, there was enough wood and weight removed that I was able to grab the trunk and pull it toward me over the tops of the little vine maples so that I could cut more firewood chunks. Of course, the more I cut, the easier it was to drag the rest of the tree toward me.

Most of the time, I could position the trunk over the wheelbarrow so that as I cut the firewood, the pieces would fall right into the wheelbarrow. It was a nice easy downhill wheelbarrow run to the wood pile, so the whole process was pretty easy and efficient.

Bert and Ernie had come around first thing in the morning for biscuits and then they visited me a few more times in the woods while I was working. I stopped and gave them hugs, but I didn't give them any more biscuits at the time.

I got about half of the job done before I stopped for lunch and a short nap. Since I had gotten all cleaned up for lunch, I decided to make another video before I went back to work in the woods. I made a video showing how I nail the seams in the log walls prior to chinking.

When I went to return the camera to the trailer, I decided to make another video showing the log I had harvested and the firewood harvesting project. It ended up being a mini-tour of the back of the place and the out buildings.

Then I got my work clothes back on and finished the job of harvesting the vine maple firewood. With the big trees removed, I then cleared the smaller vine maples from the trail. Since I had the saw out, I decided to clear a trail to the main sequoia tree grove. It was a real pleasure working in the woods under those ideal conditions, but my knee was telling me that I might be overdoing it. I went in for the night very tired and sore, but very happy about the delightful day I had had.

On Thursday morning it was only 40 degrees out. I lit a fire in the stove and took the chill off the inside of the cabin. I went to work cleaning up the first floor mess left over from the wiring project. I put away the wire and the tools, and then swept the floor. I separated out the chisel chips and clean drilling chips and put them in the buckets for use as tinder for the stove. The place again looked clean and presentable.

Before I left for home, I varnished the final coat on all the wood parts that I had cut in the process of installing the loft lights and switches. I left for home at 1:30.

When I got on the road, I could hear that the engine was missing. It didn't get any better after getting up to speed and driving for a while. I pulled in at the ranger station and looked under the hood. There I saw a packrat nest, a bunch of leaves and branches, and all the plug wires had been chewed. One of them was cut completely in two.

I drove back to Mike Tutino's to see if he had any extra plug wires. Fortunately for me he did. Rather than sell me the entire set, which were for a Chevy and not a Ford, he lent me two of them and asked me to bring them back next week. I was very grateful and drove home on all cylinders with no further problems.

5/1/09 Got a new set of plug wires installed. I decided that from now on I will have a zero packrat tolerance policy. No more Mr. Nice Guy. I am going to trap one each night I am up there and relocate them across the river. I am also going to make a screen protector for the plug wires and check under the hood each morning.