5/23-26/23 I went up to Camp Serendipity for four days: Tuesday through Friday.

I had been planning for some time to buy a pool table for the cabin loft. Over the weekend Ellen found a seller in Kirkland and I had started the process of buying it. I contacted the seller and agreed to meet him on Friday and hopefully begin dismantling it in order to move it. I had talked at length with Robert about the many steps involved.

Robert called early in the morning, and we discussed more details of the plan. I emptied the truck bed in case I would begin loading parts of the pool table this week on my return home. I loaded a bunch of big cardboard sheets and a dolly that I thought would be useful for moving the slates and the frame. I also stopped at Lowe's on my way and bought two tarps. Then I proceeded on to the bank where I withdrew the money I planned to use to buy the pool table.

Then I proceeded on to Marilyn's where I stopped to pick up some items to deliver at home.

I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 2:00 o'clock. Instead of stopping at the hairpin turn, I put the truck in 4-wheel drive and continued up the hill until I was parked right at the foot of the front porch staircase.

In that position it was easy to unload my gear from the passenger side of the front seat and carry it directly up to the porch. The mosquitoes were out in full force, so I started the fan blowing across the front door before I went in. Once inside I shut the second door to form the mosquito interlock that has proved effective for going in the cabin without bringing mosquitoes in with me. The fan blows most of them away outside but if one gets inside, I hunt it down and swat it before I open the inside door. That has proved effective but not foolproof.

Next, I hoisted the flag and a few minutes later, at 2:40, the power went out. I had my lunch but had to settle for untoasted bread. Then I had a short nap. I was preoccupied and thinking about my plan. I planned to use my porch crane to lift parts of the pool table out of the truck bed and onto the porch. Robert was skeptical about this plan so I was going to rig up a demonstration to convince him that it would work. I needed to drive the truck ahead so that the truck bed was directly opposite the porch but before that, I needed to tie up Rosie. Rosie is the Rose Bush at the end of the porch, and it sticks out too far to allow the truck to pass. So, I take a long rope and attach it to the corner of the cabin foundation, wrap it around Rosie, and then around a porch rail, and lace up the Rose Bush with two more runs. When I tighten the rope, it scrunches The Rose Bush against the porch providing enough room for the truck to get by.

Then I drove the truck straight ahead until the bed was under the porch ready for my demonstration. The plan was to rig a big rock for lifting and then use the crane to lift the rock up into the truck bed ready to demonstrate to Robert. Since the power was out, I couldn't operate the crane winch, but I could freewheel the hook down to the rock I intended to lift. I used a stout rope to wrap around the rock with a loop ready to receive the crane hook.

Back in the cabin I was wondering what to do about dinner and whether or not I would have power. Fortunately, one of my phones that didn't require power was working so I called the power company and learned there was no estimate for restoration. I took a shower and then at 5:30, the power came back on. I ended up going to bed later than usual, but things seemed to be back to normal.

On Wednesday morning I practiced the piano and then went outside to work on my rock lifting demo. I hooked the crane hook to the loop in the rigged rock and started pulling it out of the cliff wall. As it slowly came out, the rigging slipped a few times and I had to re-rig it. But soon I had it dragged across the roadway so that it was directly under the porch. My plan was to use a tether rope to pull on the crane hook in order to guide the rock up onto the tailgate. On my first try, I realized that it would take more force than I could handle, and it was not going to work.

Instead, I got a come-along and rigged it between the crane hook and the driver's-side side wall of the truck bed. I also took a long rope, attached it to the crane hook, and snubbed it around the Grid G3 column.

I was surprised at how heavy that rock was and the degree to which it strained all of the rigging I had in place. I lifted the rock off the ground about a foot and the rigging around the rock failed and the rock fell. I needed a more robust rig for the rock. I got two tire chains and a rebar hook and fashioned a strong and secure rig around the rock.

With that rigging I succeeded lifting the rock and swinging it over the truck bed rail and setting it down in the truck bed. I could tell that the entire crane rig was stressed to a scary degree. But the rock was now in a position to give Robert a demonstration. It was also in a position to weigh the rock. I was prepared with my homemade scale to insert it between the rock and the crane hook which I did.

I planned to go through the demonstration myself before Robert came over, so I proceeded to lift the rock with the crane . As it came off the bed of the truck I kept glancing at the scale as it took on more and more of the load. At 170 pounds one end of the rock was still on the truck bed but the other end was up about 60 degrees. I saw the scale read something over 200 pounds the last time I got a look.

I got the rock up about three feet above the truck bed inch by inch with adjustments to the come-along and the snub rope with every inch. All the while my confidence was diminishing. As I proceeded lifting, something in the rigging snapped and I discovered that the winch had lost its braking capability. Normally when you stop pulling with the winch the load remains suspended where it is. But in this case, I discovered that when you stopped lifting, the load free-wheels back down. I had to quickly and momentarily power the winch up again to keep the rock from crashing into the truck. In this way I got the rock back down into the truck and it was clear to me that using the crane would not work and I gave up on the idea.

That would mean we would carry the heavy slate slabs up the staircase by hand. As I unhooked all my rigging and put things away, I did a lot of serious thinking about the pool table project and it soon became clear that I needed to abandon the project altogether. The many negatives far outweighed the few positives.

I called and left a message for Robert letting him know my decision to abandon the pool table project. Then I walked to the school bus turnaround in order to get cell phone service and send a text message to the seller letting him know the deal was off. Unfortunately, there was no cell service anywhere on the road I walked so the message didn't go through. Back in the cabin I used my landline and called the seller. He answered the phone, and I told him of my decision. He was very gracious about it.

I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. The many difficult steps that would have been required to move that table had weighed on me for a long time. And I know that Robert had many misgivings about the project also.

On Thursday morning I called Robert first thing and left another message that I had abandoned the project. Then I practiced the piano. When I finished Robert called and I learned that he hadn't heard either of my previous messages. He was plenty occupied with troubles of his own and it was a relief to him not to have to worry about moving a pool table. I told him about my plan for getting that heavy rock out of my truck bed. My plan was to roll it to the edge of the tailgate, drop it on to the ground, and then work it over across the roadway to the wall where it belongs. He urged me to be careful and said he would call in an hour to make sure it went OK.

I put on my work clothes, went outside, and rolled the rock over the tailgate and dumped it on the ground. It worked very well. Then I rolled and spun and dragged and levered the rock little by little until it was nearly back where it was but out of the way of the road.

Then I gingerly backed the truck all the way down to the hairpin turn and after a few maneuvers, got it parked in its normal parking place. Then I went back to the cabin and had my lunch and a very welcome nap. When I got up, I got the weed-eater out and whacked the weeds from the front of the cabin until both batteries were drained.

On Friday morning Robert called and I told him I had successfully unloaded the rock and got it back where it belongs. When we hung up, I practiced the piano and then went into the woods with Cindy, the loppers, and pruned some brush on the way to the Sequoia trees I was pleased that Paul looks good and it looks like it has grown half inch or so. Runty looks excellent and has grown couple inches. Ellen looks completely healthy, so I think that injury is going to heal fine. The rest of the trees look good, and I carried 5 gallons of water to Andrew.

I was in excellent spirits when I packed up and left for home at 1:15. It had been an exciting week with many ups and downs. I'm glad it ended on an up.