Construction Journal Entry Week of 9/4/16

9/6-8/16 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

The weather was cool and pleasant when I arrived at 12:40. After moving in, hoisting the flag, having lunch and my usual nap, I spent the rest of the afternoon scraping the newel log. It has a lot of protruding knots so it is going to be beautiful when it is all cleaned up and stained.

On Wednesday I spent most of the morning making measurements and drawings of the porch where the newel post will go. I need to decide on the positioning of it and on the joinery with the log joist and beam below it. I wanted to get Dave's opinion of the joinery decisions so I wanted to have the drawing completed by the time he got there. I expected him to show up early in the afternoon.

After lunch and a nap, I set up an extra bed in the loft for Dave and Andi. The plan was for them to use the twin bed up there and an inflatable bed. I got the inflatable bed out, pumped it up, and then began putting the bedding on it.

About the time I got the bed all fixed up, I noticed that the bed had lost air. I remember Marilyn saying that it had gone flat during the night the last time she tried to use it but Ellen had taken the bed home in the meantime and fixed the leak and tested it. Now it was evidently leaking again. I wasn't sure what to do. I pumped it up tight again, and then waited for a while to see if it lost air again. It did, so I decided to take it apart and set up a cot instead.

Dave and Andi showed up about 1:00 and we immediately began a tour of the property and we engaged in a lot of discussion about the property, the project, and since this was my introduction to Andi, we got to know a little more about each other's lives. I was surprised at the interest she had already shown with regard to the cabin project and some of my philosophical ideas. I learned that she has read about as much of the content of my website as anyone except for Dave and myself. I was taken by surprise and flattered.

In our tour of the property, we brought along a couple of cans and some fertilizer. We watered and fertilized all of the giant sequoia trees, and of course I told many stories about the history of those trees, along with other features of the property.

Back at the cabin I got Dave's opinion and advice on how and where to attach the newel post to the porch. The three of us also wrestled with the long vine maples that I had harvested to see how they might be used as hand, or guard rails on the front staircase. The conclusion was that the possibilities will be easier to explore and test once the newel post is in place. So we put the long curvy poles back on the porch and went on to other things.

We went inside the cabin and had long and delightful conversations about many things. When it got to be time for dinner--in fact it was past time--I began preparing the meal. Cooking ranks near the bottom of my list of skills, so I was apprehensive about how to proceed. I had three nice big baking potatoes so I figured the place to start was to scrub the potatoes and then put them in the microwave to cook them.

Andi noticed that the first potato was hopping around inside the microwave while I was scrubbing the third potato. She asked me if I had poked any holes in the potato. I told her that I didn't know you were supposed to.

Both she and Dave sensed my plight by observing my incompetence and they mercifully came to my rescue. They both are excellent gourmet cooks and I was overjoyed to turn the job over to them. They had to make do with the meager provisions and utensils that were available but they made it work and did an excellent job. They served an elegant, delicious dinner.

I was a little concerned that it might be too cold for them in the cabin since they were used to Florida weather. It was about 66° inside the cabin and we all agreed that it would be nice if I built a small fire in the stove while they prepared the dinner. I gladly took on the assignment and got the fire going.

After dinner, and even during dinner, we continued with the storytelling and delightful conversation. Toward the end of the evening, we went up to the loft where I opened up the bronze Mt. Rainier model, the log home model, and some of the photo albums showing the development of the project.

Dave and Andi were planning on visiting Mt. Rainier after they left Camp Serendipity so they were especially interested in seeing where they would be going on the model. Around midnight we closed up the models and we went to bed.

Andi said she was a light sleeper so I stopped the clock so that it wouldn't be ticking and bonging all night. I also explained that the occasional loud sounds, like someone banging on the outside of the door, were caused by gusts of wind banging the flap of the kitchen exhaust fan.

I am a light sleeper myself so as I heard that banging of the flap several times during the night I was concerned that Andi might be having trouble sleeping. She had remarked that it had been a long time since she had slept on a cot, so that added to my concern. In the morning, I was happy to learn that she slept well—at least she said she did. I didn't feel so bad after that.

Rather than presenting me with another cooking challenge, Dave suggested that we go to the Squirrel Tree for breakfast. That way after breakfast they would already be 10 miles down the road toward Mt. Rainier and thus save a little time. So that's what we did. We had another series of interesting conversations. After we said our goodbyes, I took my truck back to Camp Serendipity and they headed west on Highway 2.

Back at the cabin I spent the rest of the morning doing more scraping of the newel post log. After lunch I left for home at 12:30. It was a delightful week.



Go to Next Journal Entry
Previous Journal Entry

Index to all Journal Entries
Go To Home Page

©2016 Paul R. Martin, All rights reserved.