4/29-5/2/24 I went up to Camp Serendipity for four days: Monday through Thursday.

I arrived at 11:50, parked in the hairpin turn, brought my gear up in two trips, and hoisted the flag. The weather was mild. After lunch and a nap, I walked to the grave and then practiced the piano.

On Tuesday morning I started out by practicing the piano, then I listened to the radio for a while and then walked to the grave. Then I had my lunch and a nap.

When I got up, I filled the water jugs and staged them in the front entry room. Then I put my work clothes on and went out into the woods. I started by checking the salt and was happy to see that the deer are licking scallops out of it. I did some readjustment of the hoses and adjusted the drip in Paul's irrigation system. Then I did a lot of pruning to remove competition for light and water around the volunteer cedar seedlings that are growing alongside the trail to Paul. During the work, there was a fun graupel storm. At one point the ground was covered but the little crystals didn't last long.

On Wednesday morning I started by practicing the piano. Then I listened to the radio and then I started out to walk to the bridge. But as I approached Dean's house. I saw that he and his dog River were just returning from a walk to the bridge.

He invited me in to have a cup of coffee and I gladly accepted. We had a very nice visit where we each learned about the others' educational and employment history. I skipped the rest of my walk and went back to the cabin and had my lunch and a nap.

When I got up, I practiced the piano and then harvested a big stone up toward the privy and wheelbarrowed it down to the stone pile. Then I went into the woods and checked the trees and the salt and noted a lot of deer tracks on the trails. One of the cedar trees had been severely bent because of other bushes and since I had pruned away the other bushes, the seedling was now very crooked. I used a stick and a couple of strips of cloth to make a splint to bind up the tree and make it straight. We'll see if that helps. Sometime during this work, I must have picked up a tick and didn't notice it. It must have been on my clothes or somehow hid out, but by Wednesday evening it had embedded itself in my left shoulder. I didn't notice it at the time but when I took my shower, I think I killed the tick. The water was as hot as I could stand it, which is how I normally shower, and I don't think the tick could take the heat. That's just a guess.

On Thursday morning I had a severe nosebleed, but I got it under control with a wad of cotton. Dave called and we had a nice conversation. Then I practiced the piano and loaded the water jugs into the truck. I had to be home for a doctor's appointment the next day, so I packed up my gear, closed the place, and left for home at 1:30. Ellen and I discovered the dead tick in my shoulder that evening, and I had it removed by a doctor at the urgent care facility on Friday morning.