1/25-27/17 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Wednesday through Friday.

On the way, I stopped in at Plain Hardware and bought a replacement shovel for the one that had been broken twice and repaired once. It was at end of life. I arrived at Camp Serendipity at about 12:30. There had been no new snow and the temperature was about 25° so I had no trouble driving right in, turning around, and parking head-out at the foot of the concrete stairs.

I carried my gear up to the cabin and discovered that two mice had been trapped: one in the bedroom and the other beneath the front windows. I threw them out and reset the traps.

Then I hoisted the flag, built a fire, and had my lunch and a nap. When I got up I carried the sheet of OSB, that had been used by the scouts as a table top, down off the porch and stored it back in its place under the porch. Next, I took down the clothesline I had rigged up, put away the line, the clothespins, the hairdryer, and other things the scouts had used while they were there. There were also a couple loose items that made up the start of a lost-and-found collection that I will return to the troop later.

Bill called me late in the afternoon and we had a nice long chat.

On Thursday, Dave called me first thing in the morning and we also had a nice, but shorter, chat mostly about the world-class Finn regatta he was currently participating in.

After breakfast, I went to work on the front inside stair rail. I started by measuring the contour of the surface of the Grid F3 column with a contour gauge. Then I used the gauge to mark the short scab log for cutting. The plan was to chisel out a groove that would mate with the column so that it will be rigid when they are lag-screwed together.

I decided to work inside because the roto-hammer with the wood chisel bit makes big chips but no dust. I laid the scab log across the arms of a chair and butted it up against the Grid D3 column. I had a small tarp under the chair to catch the chips and I went to work with the Bosch bulldog roto-hammer. There were quite a few knots that I had to grind through, but the bulldog did the job. It was fun and maybe too fun. I got into "flow" while I was working and probably went too long without a break.

When I finished after an hour or two, my back was very sore from stooping over holding that big roto-hammer. While the log was still on the chair, I bored two half-inch holes through it that will take the two 1/2" x 16" lag screws. Then I carried the log, which I think weighs 30 to 40 pounds out onto the porch and set it down with a plan to use the porch crane to lower it and position it against the column.

I didn't spend much time looking for a small rope to use as a sling but just grabbed the first one I came across. It was a pretty small diameter clothesline but I figured it would hold the weight. After rigging up the sling to the crane hook, I proceeded to lower the log over the edge of the porch deck.

The rigging got hung up on the porch edge and when I pushed it loose, it jerked and broke the rope sling. The scab log fell down the rest of the way and landed not too far from where it was supposed to go. When I went down there I saw that I already had a concrete block and a wood block positioned to hold the scab in position, so I just lifted the log up and set it down and gave up on using the crane at all.

After lashing the scab in the correct position against the column, I drilled through the top hole and into the column a little ways. Then I removed the log and finished drilling the pilot hole for the lag screw threads in the column.

With the top holes ready, I put the log back up and fastened it with one of the lag screws. Then I drilled through the lower hole to begin the second pilot hole. Then I removed the top lag screw, took the log down again, and finished drilling the bottom pilot hole. Finally, I carried the scab log back up on the porch and laid it across the sawhorses where I intended to treat it with board defense.

It was past lunch time but I wanted to get the log sprayed before lunch so that it could dry before I needed to handle it again. So, I mixed up a small batch of board defense solution and sprayed it on the log. Then I went in for my lunch and a nap.

When I got up, I carried the log back down, with a very stiff and sore back, and lag screwed it to the column hopefully for the last time. I plan to stain it while it is in place.

Robert called to check in and to ask my advice about moving a pool table. He also said that he might try to get over to see me on Friday morning.

On Friday morning, the temperature outside was 25°. My back was stiff and sore and I didn't feel like doing much. So, I spent most of the morning working on the big jigsaw puzzle. I have about 2100 pieces in place on the 5000-piece puzzle, so I'm getting there. It was a very pleasant and relaxing morning. I had my lunch and left for home at 1:00. Robert did not show up.