1/26-28/10 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 11:30. There was about 4 inches of wet snow on top of the driveway that had evidently been plowed out since last week but before the new snowfall. I had no trouble driving in using 2WD. Bert and Ernie were right there by the time I got parked.

After moving in and having lunch, I decided to lay in a bunch of firewood. The weather was beautiful and dry so I figured that this was the time to do it. It is sort of hard to run a wheelbarrow in the soft wet snow the first time, but each trip gets easier and easier. So I decided to move quite a bit of wood. I hauled about 8 wheelbarrow loads from the pile I had made up beyond the salt lick. This wood was the limbs from the two trees Robert Ferrel had falled for me. I stacked all the wood on the back porch and lit a fire in the stove.

A pair of gray jays came to get peanuts from me during the work. I think these two are part of the new flock that I have seen. I think that the big flock was migrating and exploring and that these two decided to stay behind and make this their home for a while. If my hunch is right, I expect to see these two for the rest of the winter and then I expect them to raise a brood of youngsters in the spring. We'll see if that happens.

Before I went in for the night, I dismantled both tread-holding jigs because I won't be needing them any longer. The last tread is a special case up near the loft floor where the jigs wouldn't work anyway.

On Wednesday I started out by making and installing the header at the top of the staircase from a 2x12. I also did quite a bit of measuring in order to position the top tread correctly. I tried to reconcile the as-built configuration of the loft beam tread and the treads below it, with the as-designed and as-calculated measurements. I needed to decide exactly how to make that last tread and where to position it when I install it. It was a little tricky.

Bert and Ernie came by in the morning for their usual hugs and biscuits. I also fed the pair of gray jays on the porch several times. They would fly up to the big front windows and get my attention. Then I'd go out on the porch and feed them.

I ended up deciding how to make the tread and I finished making most of it.

On Thursday I finished making the tread except for working the notch down all the way. I tried the fit on the stringer once and then took it back down. I was running out of time so I quit working on the tread and got ready to varnish.

Bert and Ernie came around for a visit again. I sanded and vacuumed off the top of the staircase, and then I varnished the top three treads and the header. I left for home at 1:40.