Construction Journal Entry Week of 5/5/13

5/7-9/13 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I got off to a later start than usual but I stopped and visited with Uncle Charles on the way. I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 2:00.

After having my lunch, I called Moonlight Tile and Stone and asked about my order status. I need to choose the sinks I want and let them know before they come out to measure. We scheduled that visit for June 12. I did not find out whether or not they have the stone for me in stock yet. I guess I don't need to know that just yet.

After a short nap, I got my chainsaw out and bucked up the pine tree that had fallen across the trail to the privy. Then I went down to the driveway and bucked one more round from the big ponderosa log on the south side of the driveway.

When I finished bucking the round, I realized that Ell Dee had parked across the road and had been watching me. He came over and we had a nice visit. Then while we were still talking I rolled the round up the driveway and stored it out of the way in the woods. Then Ell left and I bucked a second round off the same log section on the south side. That will widen the driveway considerably and make it easier to get the truck in and out.

Then I rolled that round and another one from the north side up the driveway and out of the way. I also moved some more slash and firewood back from the edge of the driveway to make it wider.

My plan for the week was to get a start on the excavation of the trench for burying the remaining 80 feet of water line that is still running through a hose. I brought Cindy, my loppers, and the Warthog, a special shovel for digging trenches, with me into the woods. The only time it is reasonable to work in the woods is in the springtime after the snow has melted but before the mosquitoes show up, and in the fall after the leaves and mosquitoes are gone. This was a little late because the leaves had already come out and the woods are pretty dense as a result.

I started by scouting out the route for the water pipe, but that proved to be so difficult that I decided against doing any digging this spring. There had been so much tree-fall damage back there from the winter ice storm that you could hardly get around. There were fallen trees and branches everywhere so it was not only hard to get around but it was hard to even see where you were.

By the time I had figured out a route for the water line, I learned that my trails from there to the cabin were completely covered by fallen trees. Some of them were huge alder trees and Doug fir trees. Most of the other trees I had been clearing had been pine trees. But back in this part of the woods there are a lot of springs so the alders grow fast and big back there.

Since the alder and fir make better firewood than the pine, I decided that I would harvest the firewood as I cleared the trails. So I switched my overall plan from water line excavation to trail clearing and firewood harvesting.

I also gave a lot of thought for where to stockpile all the firewood that is now available. The most available space close to the cabin is just beyond the eaves toward the privy but that gets covered so deep in snow that slides off the roof that it wouldn't be a good place to store the wood. No other place was handy and open.

Right in front of the cabin, under the gable eaves, would be a good place and the wood would be kept dry and it would be handy during the winter. But that space currently holds a lot of logs that I am saving for the front stoop and for rails. After thinking about it, I decided to move the logs to the space over the sewer line so I can store firewood where they are now. The logs will get covered in deep snow during the winter, but since that won't hurt them and I don't need to get at them, that's OK. I felt good about having a reasonable strategy on what to do with all the wood lying around the property. I'll make whatever progress on this plan as weather allows and as I feel like working on it. Hopefully I'll have a big stockpile of firewood stacked ready for the winter.

On Wednesday, just as I finished breakfast, there was a knock on the door. It was Marsha McComas and her dog Roxie. They came in and we had a nice visit as she looked over the place. She told me that Larry had just moved to another house and was much happier there. He is still living with one of Marsha's sisters and the whole family moved. She said that Larry is still healthy and active and had just celebrated his 90th birthday. She said he would probably be up to visit me in the cabin sometime soon. I took a couple pictures of her and Roxie before they left.

After they left, I went into the woods and fertilized the sequoia named Ellen. Then I decided to begin rebuilding the gate at the driveway. Both posts had rotted off at the ground level several years ago and had been propped up ever since. Then last winter, the snowplow must have hooked the gate log because it was broken in half right where it pivoted on the gate post. The whole thing needed replacement.

Rather than using logs for gate posts again, which would rot the same way, I decided to use pressure treated timbers instead. I thought I had some lying around so I went looking for them. I found what I was looking for down at the old trailer site and I got them out from under the pile of stuff they were holding up. I stood them up against a tree planning to haul them down to the driveway, but I was disappointed to see that it didn't look like they were pressure treated after all. I changed my mind at that point and decided to buy new pressure treated 6x6s instead.

Then I started the hard work of taking the old stumps out of the holes so that I could plant the new gateposts. I made the mistake of not marking where the old posts had been. After clearing the debris away from the site, I could no longer tell where to dig. I wasted a lot of time on the western post before I found exactly where the post had been. Not too smart.

I used the Warthog to dig around the stump, which was still sound a foot under the ground line. It was hot work and I was sweating like a pig before I had dug enough dirt out so that I could pull the stump out. That stump probably weighs 40 or 50 pounds so it took some doing to pull it up and out of the hole.

After lunch and a nap, I went back out to work on the eastern post. Fortunately there was no question as to where this post had been because it was still in place. I had driven two long #5 rebar down through the top of the post and into the ground and it was those rebar that had been holding up the top of the post.

It took some doing to pull those rebar out of the ground and lay the top of the old post aside. I took a picture of the post top with its rebar.

There was a big log and a lot of branches right in the way, so before I started digging, I got the chainsaw and cut the log and branches away to clear the ground. Then, for the second time, I made the exact same mistake and lost track of exactly where that post had been. Without the log and debris, everything looked different. I dug several holes looking for the stump but it was all wasted time. Finally, I used a long 1x2, that had served as a wand to mark the gatepost location for the snowplow, as a measuring rod and measured the distance from the road to the western post and also the distance between the holes on the old gate log.

With those measurements, I located the site of the eastern post by measuring from the road and from the western post. When I dug at this spot, I was relieved to find the stump of the post right away. What another stupid waste of time. I felt like I didn't learn anything useful though, because I probably won't ever have that same need again. Good thing I'm not getting paid for this and that I like to dig holes.

I dug around the eastern stump and got it loose enough to pull out of the hole but I decided not to pull it out until I am ready with the new post. That way dirt won't be falling in in the meantime. I bucked up some more logs that were sticking out and cleared away some more slash before I quit for the day. I was very hot, tired, and sweaty when I went in for my very welcome shower.

During the evening, I saw a couple of carpenter ants snooping around inside the cabin. That was a bad sign, but not exactly unexpected. I have learned that the way to deal with them is to set out bait that will kill the queen along with the entire colony. You don't ever need to discover where the colony is; you just have to get those ant scouts to find the bait and tell the rest of them where it is. They will do the rest.

I got out some bait and set it in front of one ant. He found the bait and spent a lot of time eating it, or whatever he was doing, so I figured that he would take the news back to the colony and that would do the job. I set out 3 or 4 more bait traps.

On Thursday morning I went into the woods and fertilized the sequoia tree named Dan. Then I decided to start moving logs away from the front of the cabin to make room for firewood. I started by measuring and cutting the extremely curved log I had stored there which is intended for use as the handrails on the front porch staircase. After the pieces were cut, I held them in place and was pleased to see that they will work out pretty well. Then I stored them under the front porch.

Then I changed my mind and instead of moving logs, I got the chainsaw out and began clearing the trail directly off the front porch. This was thick with fallen trees and branches. I cleared about 40 feet of the trail before I quit for the week. I left for home at 12:30 feeling pretty good about making at least a little progress.



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