6/25-27/14 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Wednesday through Friday.

On the way I stopped and visited with Uncle Charles. I caught him napping so I didn't stay long. I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 1:01. The temperature was a pleasant 75º but there were a lot of mosquitoes out. I was happy to find no signs of mice or ants in the cabin.

After turning on the valve to irrigate Brian, the giant sequoia, I hoisted the flag, and had my lunch and a nap. When I got up, I went into the woods to check on the sequoias. The ones I checked are doing well and the water is reaching Brian.

Next I began hauling various scaffold related items from the front porch up into the attic. I had borrowed the riser, some planks, and a sheet of OSB from the scaffolds inside in order to set up the scaffold for repairing the roof outside. I need to rebuild the scaffolds inside now that the roof repair job is finished.

Then, in order to get some ceiling boards ready to install, I varnished four ceiling boards on the rack that was now set up on the front porch. The varnish went on so smoothly that by the fourth board I began to suspect that these boards were already varnished. I was confused. I went inside and consulted my journal, and sure enough, I had just varnished 19 boards when the tree hit the cabin and interrupted my ceiling installation back in January. I had stacked those 19 boards on the front porch and forgot about them. Now four of them have an extra coat of varnish. But at least I have boards ready to install.

On Thursday I was expecting company so I went to work making the place presentable. I started by putting tools away. All of the tools I had been using for roof repair were lying around in the living room and the front entry room. I put them all away where they belonged so that I could vacuum the floor. I had just about finished vacuuming the living room when there was a knock on the door.

It was DeVonna Murrin, Randi Hall, and her husband Dennis R. Carper. They had hurried up the road to try to escape the mosquitoes and I invited them in through the wash of the fan I have set up at the front door to keep the mosquitoes out. I can't keep them all out, but for the most part we were safe from them inside.

We had a nice visit as they looked the cabin over and asked a lot of questions. We went up to the loft and they were particularly interested in the model, so I opened it up and explained some things about it. After some more visiting downstairs, including checking out my wooden kitchen faucet and getting a demonstration of my shower with only 10 psi of pressure, Dennis invited me to join them for lunch. We took some pictures on the way out.

I followed them in my truck to the 59'er Diner where they treated me to a delightful lunch. We took some more pictures in the parking lot before we went our separate ways. It was great to see them and to meet Dennis.

When I got back to the cabin, I had my usual nap and then I finished vacuuming the first floor. I spent the rest of the day organizing and putting away a lot of small parts and fasteners. I had made about 8 new bins for the storage cabinet which gave me that much additional space to store things. I had taken out a lot of different screws, nails, nuts, and bolts that I used for repairing the roof and now it was time to put it all away. I also took the opportunity to move many such small parts and fasteners from the various boxes, jars, and cans in different places in the cabin. With all of them now in the cabinet, they appear on the inventory so that when I want a particular screw or clamp, I just consult the inventory, learn what bin it is in, and go straight to it. It is a great system and I was happy to be able to move so much stuff into the cabinet.

On Friday morning, after turning on Brian's valve, I removed the steel scaffold straps that I had robbed from the short 4x4s of my standard scaffold system and installed on the long 4x4s to use on the roof repair scaffold. I put the straps back on the short 4x4s so they are again ready for use in the standard system. Then I put those away in the crawl space and carried the long 4x4s up to the loft. I will use them up there for the inside scaffolds that I need to reconfigure.

Next I went back into the woods to check on Brian, which was getting watered nicely, and when I got back there was time for lunch and a short nap. I will skip coming to Camp Serendipity next week because Ellen is taking the week off and we plan to hike and have some fun in Leavenworth. The week after that, though, I plan to get back to ceiling installation with a vengeance. I left for home at 1:00.