12/7-9/10 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:30. The parking area and the driveway had been plowed three quarters of the way to the trailer so I just drove in and parked. There was probably a foot of snow on the ground but I didn't need snowshoes to carry my gear to the trailer or the cabin.

Bert was there to greet me so I gave him hugs and biscuits. I don't know where Ernie was. After lunch and a nap, I started a fire in the wood stove and then went back to work boring the hole in the Grid 3 sill log. I got it cut about 8 inches deep before it got too dark to work. I took a nice shower and went in for the night.

On Wednesday morning, there was about 6 or 8 inches of new snow on the ground. The temperature was 30 degrees. I finished boring the hole through the log but when I tried to insert the vent cap, it was too tight. I had figured that would be the case.

With the help of Jack and Rasputin, I was able to enlarge the diameter of the hole so that I could slide the entire 10 inch sleeve of the ventilation cap inside the hole. It fits very nice and tight.

On the inside, right under the hole, there is a set of shelves with a bunch of light bulbs stored on the top shelf. I moved those out of the way so I could work up there and I used a saber saw to cut a hole for the ventilation duct through the TJI blocking which is a couple inches away from the sill log.

The joists run in the direction the ventilation pipe will go, but there is a header joist, framing in the future hole for a masonry fireplace, which is in the way. I cut a hole in the header for the pipe to pass through, but it is not quite a straight shot through that hole over to the hole I had prepared in the floor for the duct to come up under the stove. It is straight enough, though, that I will be able to use three sections of 6-inch ducting and get enough play in the joints in order to make the slight bend that is necessary.

I unscrewed the wood plug I had installed under the floor where I had cut the combustion air hole in the floor, and then used a mason's hammer to break out the mortar plug I had made in the marble hearth. It came out neatly and a 6-inch 90 degree elbow fit in nicely. I clamped the elbow to the hearth to hold it temporarily.

I only had one 2-foot piece of 6-inch duct, so I made a temporary 6-foot length of duct by rolling up tarpaper into a tube. I used these two to connect the outside vent to the elbow temporarily. I'll bring up more ducting next week and finish the job right.

On Thursday morning it was 31 degrees and snowing heavily. I started clearing stuff out of the bedroom to start making it ready for the family to come up for an outing in a couple weeks. I had stored a lot of stuff in there to get it out of the living room, which I had cleared for the insulators and now I needed to move it again. In the process I ran across another wood chair that needed repair. This one needed to have the seat re-attached, so I got some screws and put it back together.

Next, I got out an octagon box and strung a wire up into the bathroom ceiling so I can install another light fixture in there. The only light I had planned for was the one over the mirror, but I have had second thoughts and decided that before putting on the drywall, I would wire in another light fixture.

I vacuumed the living room and then moved some chairs in there. Then I varnished the log wall in the bathroom by the toilet again, and quit for the week. There was about 8 inches of new snow on the ground and on the truck by the time I left at 1:30 but I had no trouble backing out of the driveway in 4wd.