1/2-4/14 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Thursday through Saturday.

The trip was delayed a couple days because of New Years. On the way, I stopped at Priscilla's and did some chores for her including taking down her Christmas tree and Christmas lights. Then I proceeded on and visited with Uncle Charles for a while.

I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 1:30. It was raining lightly but there was no new snow. Ernie was there to greet me so we went up to the cabin where he got his hugs, biscuits, and some leftover gravy. After raising the flag, I started a fire in the wood stove, had my lunch, and my usual nap.

Next, I took the wheelbarrow down below and unloaded a huge amount of yard waste I had brought with me and stacked it on the compost pile. The rain was fairly light so I didn't get too wet.

Back in the cabin, I patched a leak Ellen had found in the aerobed. I wasn't sure I had done it right, so after waiting the prescribed amount of time, I inflated the bed to see if it would hold air.

During the evening, I could feel an earache coming on. I sniffed some salt water hoping that that might stave off whatever was brewing inside me.

On Friday the temperature was 30º and there was just the slightest skiff of snow on the ground. The sun came out and the snow melted away as soon as the sunshine hit it. I checked the aerobed and it had deflated during the night. Either I patched it wrong or it had another leak.

Instead of working on the ceilings, I decided to insulate the crack between the floor and the log walls in the dining room and living room. This job has been pending for a long time and has to be done sooner or later. Since insulating it should make it more comfortable in the cabin, especially at night, and it should also cut down on the heat bills, I figured now was the time to do it.

I got out a big roll of insulation from the crawlspace, cut some of it into strips, and then placed the strips all along the Grid 3 wall and along the Grid E wall between E2 and E3. That should keep most of the cold air from coming up through the crack. I still need to install the baseboards there which will seal up the joint even tighter, but I'll put that job off until later.

After having my lunch and a nap, I went back to work on the ceiling job. I started by erecting a platform between the scaffold tower in the living room and the one in the loft. Then I nailed on the first course of boards just above the Grid D purlin.

Ellen called in the evening and told me that she would like me to be home by noon the next day. I told her I would leave right after breakfast.

On Saturday, according to the new plan, I left for home at 9:15, glad that I at least got something done this week.