10/10-14/22 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

I got a late start because of a doctor's appointment in the morning. I reached the tunnel just before Skykomish at 1:50 and was stopped because of fire activity. The firefighters told me they had projected the road would be open between 3:00 and 4:00 o'clock so I decided to wait.

The road opened exactly at three o'clock and I proceeded on to Camp Serendipity arriving at 4:00 o'clock. I brought my gear up in one trip, hoisted the flag, and then had my shower and dinner.

On Tuesday the air had cleared up for the first time in weeks, which was nice. I practiced the piano, listened to the radio for a while, and then decided to go for a long walk since the air was nice and clear. I walked to Eunice Henry's grave and back which took about an hour. After lunch and a nap, I spent the rest of the afternoon reading.

On Wednesday, Dave called first thing in the morning, and we had a great conversation. Then I practiced the piano, did some writing, and had my lunch and a nap. When I got up, I went outside with my respirator on because it was smoky again and set up a rig to do some panning for gold. The rig included setting the mortar mixing pan on top of two sawhorses and filling it with water. That way I could stand up and dip the gold pan into the water. It worked very well except I didn't know what I was doing. Robert called and among other things told me that people had panned for gold in every drainage in the area and had concluded there were no big deposits. Before I went in for the night, I swept the front porch.

On Thursday morning I was happy that I got excellent blood pressure and pulse readings for the first time in a long time. I also felt motivated and enthusiastic to do some work. I decided to finish the cabinets by installing the finished wood panels on the backside and the trim around the edges. After practicing the piano, I decided that I needed a nice sharp saw, so I got a small file and my best handsaw and spent an hour filing the saw by hand. I may be the only person that does that. I installed two small panels before lunch and a nap. When I got up, I installed the first of four big panels. I took a picture before and after the installation. I was very happy that my normal enthusiasm is back.

On Friday morning it was smoky. I practiced the piano and then decided to work on the loft stair light fixture. It was not working reliably, and I thought by tightening up the central contact it would fix the problem. The problem was that it was very awkward to work on the fixture, so I set up a fairly elaborate worktop by placing two concrete blocks on the rail below the lamp and placing a wood panel on top of the concrete blocks. That gave me a stable tabletop to use to disassemble the lamp. It is complicated to disassemble the lamp, but I did it, and in the process, I learned that the socket itself was faulty and needed to be replaced. I took it apart and packed up the faulty socket to take home with me to get a replacement.

I left for home at 12:30 and saw a sign near Coles Corner that said the highway was closed at Skykomish. I figured that it would be open again soon so I decided to go for it. It was pleasant driving because I was the only car on the highway all the way to Skykomish. When I got there the road was still closed and the firefighters told me there was no estimate for when it would open. They were not optimistic. After checking with Marilyn and waiting for a better prediction on opening, I finally bit the bullet and got back on the road and drove all the way around over Blewett Pass. It took a while to get home but at least I got home.