9/21-23/10 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

Before I left, I shopped for floor receptacles. Aurora Plumbing and Electric had the expensive brass castings. Dave Westerman had told me not to get those but to get a cheaper kind. Aurora Plumbing did not have them. Neither did Home Depot. I’ll wait and see if I can get them at Stoneway Electric.

On the way, I saw Ron Sideritz out in his yard so I stopped in for a visit. Rick Morrison had told me that I needed to see the ornate carving Ron had done inside his houses. Ron was very gracious and showed me completely through both of his log houses. The carved woodwork was impressive, along with the stonework and all the rest of it.

I stayed and talked with Ron quite a while. I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 3:30 and Bert and Ernie followed me in to get their hugs and biscuits.

After moving in, I went to work and dismantled the makeshift walls I had put up around the bathroom to give the scouts privacy. Then I took the leaves out of the big table, put away the folding chairs and sort of restored the furniture arrangement. I also removed the easel and put the doors I had used to make the easel back down in the crawl space. Then I took a shower and quit for the day.

At one point, when I opened a door to the big closet in the trailer, I noticed a wad of fuzz inside the visor of a hard had that was stored in the closet. I couldn’t imagine where that fuzz came from except that it must be a mouse nest. If it were a mouse, it evidently couldn’t get out of the closet and into the trailer but it must have some hole that leads to the outside. I hadn’t heard any mouse activity in there recently, so I wondered if it was an old mouse nest. I didn’t know what to make of it, but I was disturbed to say the least.

On Wednesday it was a little chilly so I started a fire in the stove. A chipmunk visited me while I was getting firewood and he got a load of peanuts. With the fire going, I went back down to the trailer to deal with the nest of fuzz in the hardhat visor.

I prepared myself with a big open mouth jar in one hand so if a mouse tried to get out of the closet and into the trailer, I would be ready to trap him in the jar. With the jar in one hand, I used the other hand to take items out of the closet one by one, closing the door after each item, until I got things cleared away from the hardhat.

When I could get a good look at it, I took a closer look and discovered that the fuzz was simply the fuzzy edges of a dishtowel that was folded up and stuffed inside the visor. It was not a mouse nest after all, and there were no signs that a mouse had been in there.

That was good news, but I felt kind of foolish for worrying about it and spending so much time emptying out the closet. I put things back and then went up to get some work done.

I started by stuffing duct seal putty into the end of the electrical conduit in the pump control box that leads off to the septic pump. This was one of the failure items on my electrical inspection. The electrical inspector had told me that this needs to be done to prevent sewer gas from coming back through the conduit and getting into the control box, and then into the house. For good measure, I also stuffed the putty into the end of the conduit leading into the service panel in the house.

About the time I finished, Mark from the building department showed up for the building inspection that I had requested. When I met him outside, the gray jays showed up so we both stopped and let the birds take a few peanuts before we went inside.

He looked around, looked at the documents I had, and asked me a few questions. But he said he couldn’t give me an inspection until I renewed my building permit which had expired long ago. He said that I would also need the marked up copies of the original plans I had submitted. I looked for those copies in the paperwork I had on site but soon concluded that they must be at home in Seattle.

Mark told me to call the Building Department to find out how to renew my permit. As soon as he left, I called the building department. The woman I talked to said that my permit was so old that they would have to go down in the basement and dig out my old records. She said she would call me back either that afternoon or in the morning once she found my records and figured out what I needed to do to renew my permit.

Next, I noticed that the highest light bulb in the loft had burned out. I would need my extension ladder to be able to replace the bulb, but the ladder was part of the temporary scaffolding I had set up to install the sewer vent pipe outside. I decided that it was time for that scaffolding to come down anyway, so I went outside and dismantled it.

I put the planks, scaffold brackets, and ladders away, but I took the extension ladder up to the loft first and replaced the burned-out bulb. Bert and Ernie and the gray jays showed up while I was working outside. We took the appropriate breaks for peanuts, dog biscuits, and hugs. I took another shower before I quit for the day. I love those showers.

On Thursday morning, I started another fire in the stove, Bert and Ernie and the gray jays showed up again, and went through the normal rituals.

The lady from the building department called and told me that I need to send $200 to “Community Development”, which is evidently the new name for the Building Department, with a request for a permit renewal. Then I needed to call again next Tuesday to reschedule the inspection for Wednesday of next week.

A little later, Bill called to confirm our trip up to Camp Serendipity the next day, Friday. I was planning to bring Dr. Goldman up with me so that he could see the project and so that we could visit. I also had invited Bill, Dave, and Earl. Bill told me that he would be there but Dave was on jury duty and couldn’t make it. Bill would also bring some sample pictures of door alternatives and he would be prepared to measure for all my inside doors so that I could place an order with him for the doors.

I spent the rest of the morning putting stuff away and doing a little cleaning. I left for home at 2:00 looking forward to the visit the next day.

9/24/10 I went up to Camp Serendipity with Dr. Goldman for a one-day visit. Earl and Bill joined us and the four of us had a great visit.

Dr. Goldman arrived our house at about 8:00 AM and after a short visit with Ellen and a demonstration of Qdog’s soccer playing ability, he and I drove to Camp Serendipity in my truck.

We stopped at the 59’er Diner for lunch at about 11:00 and then proceeded on to Camp Serendipity. The weather was overcast but there was only an occasional brief episode of light drizzle throughout the day.

Bill and Earl showed up shortly after I had gotten a fire started in the stove and had shown Dr. Goldman most of the things on the inside of the cabin. I went down to the truck to get the camera out of the bag I had brought with me and discovered that I had forgotten to put the camera in the bag. I was very disappointed but there was nothing I could do that I could think of at the time. It didn’t occur to me that I could have used my cell phone to take some pictures. Ellen pointed that out to me when I got home.

At one point, the four of us went outside on a tour that took us past most of the sequoia trees, including Bill’s tree which is still hanging in there. From there we went to the spring to see the springbox and the plumbing. Then back to the cabin for more delightful visiting. Earl left first, and then about 4:00 the three of us left for home. Except for the fact that I didn’t get any pictures, I had a wonderful day visiting with some of my favorite people. I think they had a good time too, at least they said they did.