5/9-13/22 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

I got a late start because we had a dishwasher service call in the morning. Then I stopped at Costco on the way to buy ingredients for my lunch. Then I stopped at Marilyn's to use the bathroom.

I arrived at 2:10 and parked in the hairpin turn for the first time this season. I looked at the rhubarb and saw that it looks good. After carrying my gear up in two trips and hoisting the flag, I fixed my lunch.

This was a special lunch because it is the first green vegetable smoothie I had ever made or eaten and that is why I had to stop at Costco. One of my doctors had suggested this change of menu hoping it would help my blood pressure and maybe even my glucose. I liked the smoothie and I think I will stick with this new lunch regimen.

After taking a nap, I practiced the piano and then simply relaxed.

On Tuesday morning it was 30 degrees and clear outside when I got up. after practicing the piano and listening to the radio, I did some work on shooting video showing how I will make a hypercube model.

After lunch and a nap, I took the chainsaw up to the spring and cleared a couple big logs that were over the trail. One was so huge that I decided not to try to remove it because it stretched right over the top of the springbox bed. Instead, I cut a flat surface at the end of the log so that you can still get over the log walking the trail. Then I continued around the loop going to the South part of the trail and cleared logs and branches along the way as I went. I am now ready for visitors who want to see the spring and we will be able to walk that upper loop.

In the process I carried 2 gallons of water to Andrew. Because of the slow running hose at Brian, the five-gallon bucket had only accumulated 2 gallons over the weekend. I'm going to have to do something to increase the flow. Probably by plugging up leaks in the hose.

Since I had the chainsaw, I decided to clear the access around the woodshed. The vine Maple thicket is so thick there that you can't walk through it, so I cleared enough away to be able to get back to the big treetop log that had fallen onto the woodshed during the winter and knocked it to the ground.

After seeing what the situation was, I realized that the big treetop, which must be 20 or 30 feet long, was hanging high, held by one of its long branches that had lodged itself in the crotch of a nearby Maple tree. It was just too dangerous to work under that suspended log so I got a long rope, tied it around the log, and then from a safe distance away pulled on the rope hoping I could dislodge the treetop. No such luck. Even after tying the end of the long rope to a stump, taking out the slack of the rope, and sitting on it I could only swing the treetop but not break it loose.

Next, I went back to the cabin and got an eight-foot 1x2. I climbed up the cliff behind the cabin to get under the Maple tree that was holding the branch, and reached up and tried to push the branch out of the crotch of the Maple. It was hard work and I spent a lot of time pushing branches up out of the way eight feet overhead, and eventually I got enough of them loose so that I thought I could use my long rope rig to pull the treetop down.

After climbing off the cliff and going back around to my rope, I tightened the slack and pulled on the rope and was able to dislodge the treetop. It came crashing down to the ground and I was glad I was 100 feet away. That was enough for the time being because now I can go back and see what I can do to raise the woodshed.

On Wednesday morning it was 26 degrees and clear when I got up. After practicing the piano, I listened to the radio a little, and then went outside to survey the concrete staircase. I wanted to get that staircase drawn on my map. I got what I thought were all the measurements I needed. Then I had my lunch and a nap.

I started the afternoon by beginning to draw the stairs on the map and found it to be very difficult. Partly because I hadn't taken all the measurements I needed. So I had to go back outside and make some more measurements. Another part of the difficulty was that there were some inconsistencies in the data that I had so there must be some errors in the measurements. I will need to resolve those later.

On Thursday morning the temperature was up to 35 degrees. While I was waking up, I came up with what I thought was a wonderful new idea for making my hypercubes. I had had problems with my old method of joining the corners and I thought this new idea would make it easy. I began shooting video showing how I would make the parts and construct the hypercube.

For lunch, I made another green smoothie, but I also threw in a dozen or more dandelion blossoms that I harvested just outside the back door. They added a subtle flavor to the smoothie.

After my nap, I went back to my hypercube construction and found that the new method didn't work as well as I thought it would. The frustration I felt was expressed in the video shots I made. The rain had increased throughout the day, and it turned to a virtual downpour in the evening, a fitting end to a frustrating day.

On Friday, early in the morning, at 2:30, I was awakened by the full moon brightly shining right on my bed and in my face. Since the sky was clear I went to the window to see if maybe the planets, that had lined up about a month ago, we're still visible. I'm not much of an astronomer but there was one clear bright planet and a few other visible spots that were either planets or stars. That's as good as my astronomical observations get. I went back to bed.

When I got up, I saw that it was snowing but by the time I got out of bed it stopped. The temperature was 30 degrees outside.

After practicing the piano, I made one short video shot explaining that I was going to end the video and make a part-three later. Robert called and caught me up on his activities. When I brought my gear down to the truck, I took a picture of the rhubarb plant. I left for home at 12:30 not really satisfied with my accomplishments for the week. Fortunately, there will be more weeks.