12/6-8/16 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

There was snow on the road all the way over the pass and up to Camp Serendipity. But the road had been plowed and had had enough traffic that driving was not a problem. I was able to drive in and park the truck in 2WD even though there was about 3 inches of snow on the ground.

The temperature outside was 27° when I arrived at 12:50. I carried my bag and the cooler up to the cabin, raised the flag, made a fire in the wood stove, and had my lunch and a nap.

When I got up, I took the wheelbarrow down to the truck and unloaded a big bunch of yard waste and stacked it on the compost pile. Then I wheeled my tool bag and some other items I had brought up to the cabin.

Before I went in for the night, I did my exercises by lifting the buckets of rocks. I have resolved to be faithful with this exercise program again starting right away.

On Wednesday, Dave called first thing and we had another wonderful conversation. After breakfast, I spread some heavy paper under the vine maple rail that I had standing in front of the big windows. Then I mixed up a batch of Board Defense and treated the rail with two coats. The rail was nice and warm being right in front of the stove, so it was completely dry by the time I applied the second coat.

After lunch and a nap, I took the rail out onto the porch and gave it a coat of TWP stain. After cleaning my brush, I placed the Styrofoam blocks in the crawl space vent openings to prevent the crawl space from freezing. The temperature outside was in the teens.

Then before I quit for the day, I did my exercises and then split a bunch of firewood and stacked it.

On Thursday morning, the temperature was 15°. I did some chiseling on the knuckle notch to enlarge it and to see how the big gouge would work. It didn't work very well but it might be useful to smooth the notch out once it is the right size and shape.

Next, I vacuumed the first floor, had my lunch, packed up and left for home at 12:50. My groin was still giving me some pain but it was a lot milder and less frequent than in weeks past. One of these days, I hope, it will disappear completely.