Construction Journal Entry Week of 7/5/09

7/7-9/09 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I stopped at Marilyn's and had lunch on the way so I didn't arrive at the property until 1:30. Bert and Ernie greeted me before I could get moved in. It was cool and breezy so there weren't as many mosquitoes as last week.

When I went up to the cabin, I discovered that the peanut was gone and one trap was sprung and empty. The little piece of bait was on the floor next to it. I don't remember checking the traps and peanut before I left so I was hoping that maybe Andrew had disturbed them accidentally.

I unloaded a huge amount of yard waste from the truck and placed it on the compost pile. When I went back up to the cabin, I found a dead mouse inside near the front door. He had some severe trauma to his lower jaw so I figured that the trap had mortally injured him and that he died where I found him. Now the question was how he got in. I remember that Andrew had opened the living room and bedroom windows while we were working last week, and I know that the living room window screen has a couple holes in it evidently chewed by mice. One is easily big enough for a mouse to get through. I don't remember checking the windows except the day we left so it is possible the window was open the night Andrew and I spent in the trailer. At least I am hoping that is what happened. I looked around for mouse holes anyway but didn't discover any.

I fixed the wiring on the grinder that I had broken a few weeks ago and then I worked on cleaning some of the logs where I had chinked last week. I also replaced the plates on the receptacle outlets that I had chinked around. Before I did, I turned off the breaker and cleaned out the mortar from inside the boxes. Some of that mortar had blown the GFCI breaker last week when the mortar was wet.

On Wednesday morning, the peanut was still there and the traps were still set, so I was encouraged to believe my theory that the mouse had come through an open window. We'll see.

In the cool of the morning I cleaned all the logs in the loft that still needed cleaning. When I finished, I had lunch and took a nap. After lunch, I dug up a bucketful of the old ripping chainsawdust from the old ripping station and used it as sweeping compound. It works great for that. I shoveled out the bulk of the mortar mess in the loft, and then I used the sawdust and swept the entire loft floor. Then I vacuumed the entire loft. It should stay reasonably clean from now on so I felt good about getting it cleaned.

Then I started cleaning the logs I had chinked on the first floor. I got about half of those in the closet done before I quit for the day.

On Thursday morning, there was no evidence of mice again. I finished cleaning all the logs in the bedroom and closet. Then I shoveled and swept up the mortar mess on the floor. I put away a bunch of tools and material to get a start on cleaning the place up for John's visit in two weeks. Before I left for home, I loaded two planks, a come-along, chains, hooks, and other tackle to use in loading a refrigerator and water heater into the truck for Priscilla. Ellen and I are going to haul them to Hat Island for her.

I left for home at 1:30.



Go to Next Journal Entry
Previous Journal Entry

Index to all Journal Entries
Go To Home Page

©2009 Paul R. Martin, All rights reserved.