10/1-3/13 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

After dropping Tianna off at school, I returned home to finish packing. I noticed that one of the tailpipes on the truck was nearly touching the ground. I got a piece of coathanger wire and wired the pipe back up to the bracket. Then I finished loading the truck and drove to Shoreline Muffler where I scheduled a replacement of my mufflers and pipes on Friday, Oct. 11.

From the muffler shop, I proceeded on to Monroe where I visited Uncle Charles in his new home. He had been moved to a more intensive assisted living facility. From there I proceeded on over the pass. There had been snow on the road over the pass but it had been plowed and the road was bare and wet. There was still snow in the ditches down to the Nordic Center.

I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 1:00. I drove the truck directly up to the upper roadway to offload the stuff I brought and then backed the truck down. It took a couple back-up maneuvers, but it is much nicer now being so much easier to drive up there and back.

There were no mice in the traps so I am hopeful that the last bit of caulking plugged up the holes where they got in the last time. The rodent wars will probably never be over, but at least it seems that I am ahead at the moment.

Bert and Ernie both showed up and I gave them, at least Bert, a lot of hugs. Unfortunately I was out of dog biscuits but I'm not sure they understood my explanation. They seemed disappointed.

After having my lunch, I raised the flag and then started a fire in the wood stove. Then after a nap, I took the wheelbarrow, a couple shovels, my mortar mixing box, a bucket of hydraulic cement, a small coffee can, and a hoe down to the creek behind the old trailer site. I planned to get some practice in mixing and pouring hydraulic cement under flowing water in preparation for repairing the leak in my springbox.

First, I used Cindy Loppers to clear a path to the creek. Then I built a rock dam across the creek at a low point. The dam will help reduce the erosion of the creek as well as give me something to practice on with the cement.

Next I mixed up a batch of concrete using 6 cups of hydraulic cement and 2 cups of water. That turned out to be the correct proportions to make a fairly stiff mix. I mixed it quickly with the hoe and then used one square-nose shovel to scoop up the wad of concrete and place it under water in the front of my rock dam. I used the back of the shovel to press the lump of concrete in between the rocks and to trowel the face of the concrete flat. It worked better and was easier than I had hoped. I am now confident that I can successfully plug up the leak in the springbox that way.

The experience also taught me that I had better buy some more cement because I don't think I have enough. I have 30 lb. minus what I used for the practice run. It's better to have too much on hand rather than run short.

On Wednesday, I raised the flag before breakfast, and enjoyed the view of it out the window as I ate. I am very happy about having the flag flying out there. But soon after breakfast it began to rain. I took the flag down again and decided not to work in the woods that day. Since I needed more cement anyway, now that it was raining I put the springbox repair off for at least a week.

Next I tried to make a pipe cap for the service pipe in the springbox. When I pour the cement in the box, I want to have the service pipe capped somehow to keep dirt and cement out of my water supply. I thought I would make a wooden cap or plug using a hole saw, but I discovered that I don't have a 3" hole saw. After discovering that, I decided to use duct tape instead of making a cap. That would be easier anyway.

I decided to spend the rest of the day varnishing doors. I varnished the pantry and utility room doors and the utility room jambs. All the doors had three coats of varnish as a result.

After lunch and a nap, I varnished the fourth coat on all seven of the interior doors and jambs. The temperature outside was 45º and it stayed wet all day.

On Thursday morning it was nice and sunny so I raised the flag before breakfast. I was happy with how all the doors came out so I decided that four coats of varnish would be enough. I removed the masking and the cardboard drop-"cloths" and cleaned things up. Another project was done and behind me.

Next I went up to the loft and picked up after the scouts. They had cleaned it up pretty well but there were some odds and ends left for me. The loft floor was also pretty dirty so I vacuumed it. Finally, before lunch, I took the top drawer out of the newly-acquired file cabinet and cleaned it. It had smelled rather musty so I wanted to see whether or not I could clean them up. I took it out on the porch and scrubbed it with 409 and hosed it down afterward. I found that it wasn't all that dirty to begin with so I may not bother to clean the other three drawers. I'll make that judgment next week when I can compare the cleaned drawer with the others.

I left for home at 1:00 feeling pretty good about the doors and the plans for the springbox.