5/26-28/09 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:30 and was promptly greeted by Bert and Ernie as usual. Since my knee has been bothering me more than I think it should, Ellen advised me to take it more easy and not do any chinking this week in order to give my knee a rest. I took her advice. To make sure that I didn't do any chinking, I deliberately did not buy any more mortar mix, which I am nearly out of.

It was a real pleasure just relaxing in the trailer and in the cabin without feeling guilty. I had a good book with me and I have a lot of courses on DVD so there was no problem finding ways to occupy my time.

I did a little work, though. Since the mosquitoes were starting to show up, I decided to make a base for the fan I use at the front door of the cabin to keep the mosquitoes away. The way that fan has to sit, the switch is on the bottom, so unless there is something between the fan and the floor, the weight of the fan will simply turn the switch off. I used to place small sticks under the fan, but if anyone accidentally kicked the fan, it would shut off. So I screwed four small 1x2s together to make a base for the fan and then I set the fan up on the stoop and turned it on.

After lunch, I went up to the spring and made a video showing all the sequoia seedlings. Unfortunately I learned later that the video was too long for YouTube so I'll make another one next week that will be short enough. It's just as well though, because there are many flaws in the video I made that I will try to correct in the next one.

The only other "work" I did, beside lying on the floor on my back with my leg resting on a chair while I read or watched the DVD, was to try to find the box of ant bait that I remember putting in a really good place. The problem was that I couldn't remember where that place was, nor could I find it after looking everywhere. I have seen a few carpenter ants so I'll have to buy some more bait and bring it up next week.

Before I quit for the night, I set the trap on the porch and put the screens over the plug wires in the truck.

At about 9:30 PM I heard the trap spring on the porch. I guessed I had caught a mouse again so instead of leaving him until morning, I went up to the porch right then to see. Sure enough, it was another mouse so I let him go. I am pretty sure now that there are no more packrats around, so unless I see some evidence of them, I am going to quit trapping mice and letting them go. I'll probably keep putting screens over the plug wires, though.

On Wednesday I did some "real work". I cleaned the logs around the last seam I had chinked last week. This stressed my knee somewhat, but it didn't take too long and I used only my left leg to climb up and down the ladder. I am very happy with the way the chinking looks up in the loft so far.

I did some more reading and finished the book I had brought with me. Then I got to thinking about carrying 60 lb sacks of mortar up the stairs to the porch and I wondered whether I couldn't make it easier by setting up a crane, or derrick, on the porch and use a winch to lift the sacks.

I went down to the crawlspace and got the winch out. I had forgotten how heavy it is, so I used the wheelbarrow to carry it from the crawlspace to the porch. To lighten the load to carry it up the stairs, I first carried the coil of wire up and then carried the winch separately. There is 40 feet of pretty heavy wire attached to the winch so I can control it from 40 feet away, so by taking that up first, the winch wasn't too heavy to carry.

The winch is bolted to a big piece of 4x4 angle iron which is in turn bolted to a six foot length of 4x4. That all adds to the weight.

My plan is to use that 4x4 as the crane boom with the winch attached at the bottom of it with the cable running up and through a block at the top of it. The bottom of the boom will hang from a short length of chain from one of the log ends sticking out of the Grid 3 wall at the Grid E3 corner. Then higher up on the same corner, I will attach a chain around two or three projecting log ends and fasten a chain from there to the top of the 4x4 boom to hold it up.

I did some measurements and found that that arrangement would allow me to swing the boom out over the bed of the truck when it is parked up there and then to swing it around into the porch without hitting the Grid F3 PSL.

The only problem is that the way it is, the winch is mounted on the 4x4 backwards. So I will have to reconfigure it somehow to have the winch face the other way. I did some looking at it and some thinking about it, but I didn't do anything to change it. I'll do that later.

I went back inside and watched the DVD for a while and then Larry showed up for a visit. I showed him what I had been doing, and then we went for a walk in the woods to look at the signs I had placed at the sequoia trees.

After he left, and before I went in for the night, I saw a beautiful big doe up at the drainfield. I was standing near the privy, so the deer was only about 50 feet away. We both remained motionless, looking at each other for 30 seconds or so. Then she moved a little, I moved a little, and I started quietly talking to her. We kept that up for at least five minutes before she slowly turned and walked back into the woods. That was a neat experience. I know the deer visit up there quite a bit because they really go through the salt lick I keep there. But because of my eyesight, or my clumsiness, or because of the times of day, I rarely see them. I feel lucky to have seen one this time.

While I was in the shower, I heard the phone ring so I turned the shower off and went to answer the phone dripping wet. It was John and I was so glad I decided to answer the phone. We had a nice chat and by the time we finished, he said he had decided to come out again this summer to visit and to surf the Gorge. That made me very happy.

On Thursday morning, Bert came by for hugs and dog biscuits, but Ernie wasn't with him. He must have had something more pressing to do. I spent the morning on my back with my leg up on a chair watching a course on the Emperors of Rome on DVD. It was a little chilly in the cabin, so I got a bundle of firewood and lit a fire in the stove. That made it very pleasant to be lying in front of a cozy warm roaring fire learning about how Augustus came to power. I left for home at 1:45 feeling pretty relaxed and hoping that my knee had made some progress in healing.