10/3-5/17 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way, I stopped at Plain Hardware and bought 10 2x4 8s for use as baseboards. To my surprise I saw Robert's helper Dee walking in the parking lot with his wife. I had been under the impression that he was so sick that he couldn't walk. I wasn't sure he was even alive. I was happy to see him and chatted with him and his wife for a while before they moved on.

I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 12:40. It was a beautiful fall day. I hoisted the flag, started a small fire in the wood stove, and cleaned up the shrew mess. There was a lot of it in the kitchen sink so it looks like he is getting water from the drips of the leaky faucet.

After having my lunch, I carried the 2x4s up from the truck in three trips and stacked them on the sawhorses. Then I had my nap. When I got up I carefully measured the three baseboards I had already prepared. Two were full 8-footers and they were a uniform size that matched the setting on the saw carriage. I will plane the new 2x4s down to match that size. I had prepared a shorter baseboard that was a little narrower. I'll keep that aside and use it for some special purpose if needed.

Before I went in for the night, I tested the saw carriage by cutting into a scrap piece of log. The prepared baseboards fit perfectly into the resulting cut so I went in very happy.

On Wednesday, the temperature outside was 25°. It was 65° inside so after hoisting the flag, I built another small fire in the stove to take the chill off.

After breakfast, I fastened the saw carriage together using eight screws. That way I could remove the clamps that had been holding it together. The clamps had allowed for adjustments, but since the test showed that the adjustment was perfect, I figured that was close enough and screwed it together. I could now run the carriage up closer to the columns and walls without the clamps interfering.

With everything ready, I moved the dining room furniture out of the way and proceeded to cut the kerf in the wall with my saw in its carriage. Then I used the bulldog with the wood chisel bit to cut out the rest of the notch, which worked extremely well. And finally, I nailed one of the prepared baseboards in its final position between Grids A3 and B3. I was super happy with the results and with how smoothly the installation had gone.

I put the dining room furniture back in place and then had my lunch and a nap. When I got up, I went outside and split up all of the firewood rounds that I had and stacked the firewood. Just as I finished, Bob Burton called and we agreed to meet for lunch at the Squirrel Tree at noon on October 10, next week. It will be great to see them again.

When I went back into the cabin, my mood abruptly changed. I found a dead mouse in the trap in the living room near Grid E2.5. My theory of shrews replacing mice was wrong. Instead, I'll have to deal with both of them. I have a suspicion that the mice are getting into the first floor of the cabin via the baseboard gap so my plans to install the baseboards becomes even more urgent. I will still have critters in the crawl space, but hopefully I can keep them out of the cabin.

On Thursday morning I decided to clean things up so that the cabin will be presentable to the Burtons. I put all the tools away, swept the front porch, and vacuumed the first floor. The critters will probably mess it up while I'm gone, but we'll just have to put up with it. I left for home at 12:30 with mixed feelings about the critter problem but looking forward to visiting with Bob and Pat.