12/17-19/13 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way up, I stopped at Priscilla's and strung some Christmas lights for her. Then I proceeded on to Monroe where I had a nice visit and a short walk with Uncle Charles.

When I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 12:25, the temperature was 48º and there was almost no snow left on the ground. Since it was so warm, I thought the hose that had frozen might be thawed out. I connected it to the water pipe but found that it was still plugged with ice. So I dragged the frozen hose up the roadway and hung it in the sun from the foundation wall with both ends hanging over the cliff. I figured it would thaw and drain in a relatively short time.

I hoisted the flag, had my lunch, built a fire in the stove, and then Bert and Ernie showed up. I gave them their usual hugs and biscuits and then took my usual nap.

When I went back outside, the hose was thawed and drained so I hooked it back up to the water pipe and strung it over to the usual place so it could discharge into the creek. Things were now back to normal. I'll try not let it freeze up again.

Next, I climbed up onto the high scaffolding and completed the caulking between the ceiling boards and the log walls. That was the last action necessary from the scaffolds in their current positions. The ceiling between Grids D and E were completely finished and I could now reposition the scaffolds.

That night, at 2:30 AM, the full moon was shining brightly through the front windows so I figured it would be a good time to try out the new telescope. I got up and had a few good looks at the moon. The image of the moon nearly filled the entire view through the eyepiece and was pretty spectacular. I went back to bed with that checked off my list.

On Wednesday I moved and reconfigured the scaffolds. I started by dismantling the spanning planks and decks between the tower in the living room and the tower in the loft. That made each tower independent and I could now move each one separately.

In the living room, I simply slid the tower by hand after jacking one corner up so that it could slide up and over the marble hearth. There was just enough clearance for the scaffold to slide past the stove so that it ended up with the two legs of one frame on either side of the stove. There was still room to walk under the frame between one leg and the stove so it won't be much of an obstruction where it is. I was happy about that because I want the cabin to be as accessible and comfortable as possible for the family when they come up next week. The tower in its new position is directly under the span of the ceiling between Grids C and D.

In the loft, I slid the tower to the corresponding position between the Grid C and D purlins. I used my rebar hangers and short 2x6s to make a platform at a comfortable working height for the first courses of ceiling boards up there. With that move, the bed in the loft was now accessible and usable in case someone wants to use it to sleep in next week.

After lunch and a nap, I called Terry at Marson & Marson's Cabinet Design Center and asked his advice on placements of cabinet knobs and pulls. I learned that there are no hard and fast rules. I also called Moonlight Tile & Stone and asked about granite sealing that I had heard advertised on the radio. I learned that our stone countertops had already been permanently sealed and that I needed to do nothing further. I checked those questions off my list.

Since the snow was mostly gone and the weather was so nice, I decided to make a trip through the woods to check on the giant sequoia trees and the spring. The trees all looked healthy and ready for the winter snow. The spring was operating fine and there was still the same amount of water flowing out the overflow as before. That was good news.

Back in the cabin, I used the new loft scaffold configuration to nail up the first two ceiling boards above the Grid D purlin. It took some chiseling of the purlin in a few places to get the boards to fit, but it wasn't too bad. I spent the rest of the day sweeping up the loft and first floor and putting all the tools away. I didn't want them lying around when the family comes up.

On Thursday morning, it was 20º and clear outside. I spent the morning cleaning the cabin and vacuuming the floors upstairs and down. The place was now comfortably ready for visitors.

Ever since I had worked on the leak at the springbox last summer, there was an unusual amount of air in the water pipes each time I went up to Camp Serendipity. The air substantially reduces the water pressure for a while until it has a chance to bubble out. It had always been a mystery to me how that air got into the pipes. I had suspected that it was sucking it in at a union joint up at the springbox that isn't air-tight. But when I had checked the spring the day before, I saw that that union joint was underwater. It couldn't be the source of the air.

After thinking it through, it was obvious where the air was coming from. When I leave for home each week, I open the valve at the end of the hose all the way so that the water discharges full blast into the creek. The flow of water from that valve is clearly many times greater than the amount flowing out the overflow pipe at the springbox. So that means that the level of the water inside the springbox would go down, and as soon as it went below the level of the take-off pipe, air would get sucked into the pipe and the flow would be strong enough to suck the air downhill and get it into the cabin plumbing. It's about time I figured that out.

So before I left for home, instead of opening the valve all the way, I only opened it partially. The flow was still plenty to keep the hoses from freezing, but it looked like it was less than the flow out the overflow at the springbox. To satisfy my curiosity, I hiked up to the spring and had a look. I was delighted to see that there was still water flowing out the overflow up there almost as much as when the valve down below is completely shut off. That means that I could have opened it even a little more. I left it the way it was and I expect that when we go up next week, there will be no air in the pipes and the pressure will be at the max. We'll see. I left for home at about 12:30.