4/28-5/2/25 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

I left late because I had a doctor's appointment in the morning and I had errands to do at the post office and the department of licensing. I finally got on the road at noon. I arrived at 2:30. I brought my gear up in one trip and hoisted the flag. I unpacked my gear, had a snack, and took a nap. When I woke up, it was too late for a walk but I had already walked 2 miles going to the doctor's office.

I learned later that three bears had visited the next-door neighbor's yard that afternoon so I might have seen them if I had taken my usual walk.

On Tuesday morning when I got up, the temperature outside was 37 degrees. It looks like it is safe to mix mortar. I practiced the piano, listened to the radio, and then walked to the grave.

After lunch and a nap, I mixed the 106th batch of mortar and used it to lay up a half-dozen or so stones. Everything went well and it felt good to be back to stonemasonry.

I dumped the batch of mortar into a 5-gallon bucket thinking I would need a skyhook and come-along to lift it up onto the scaffold. When I went to hook the bucket handle into the come-along hook, I was surprised at how I had over-estimated the weight. I lifted up on the bucket and found it easy to lift it all the way up and set it on the scaffold deck.

Then I washed the hoe and the mortar mixing pan before climbing up on the scaffold and dumping the mortar onto the mortar board which was waiting on the scaffold deck.

Next I made another trip down to the ground where I washed out the bucket. Then I sprayed water on the stones and the wall that were due to be laid before I finally began laying them up.

Once the stones were all set in mortar, I made one more pass over all of them tuck pointing the joints. I went in for the night happy to have learned that I didn't need to use a bucket to get the mortar onto the mortar board.

On Wednesday morning, the temperature outside was 33 degrees. Pretty cold but it didn't indicate a hard freeze overnight. I think the mortar is safe. I practiced the piano and then walked to the grave. I had an early lunch and nap and then went to work laying up stones in the wall.

I mixed up batch #107 and simply lifted the mixing pan up onto the scaffold deck using brute force and awkwardness. No problem. Then I scooted the pan across the scaffold planks to the other end where I would be working. Once there, I lifted the pan and dumped the mortar directly onto the board, just as I had done a hundred times before. Then I took the empty pan down to the washing stand and cleaned it up before I began laying up stones.

When the batch was used up, I tuck pointed the seams and went in for the night confident that even though I was now 85, I could still do the job.

On Thursday morning, the temperature was down to 31 degrees but I still don't think that was cold enough to hurt the mortar. We'll see.

I watered Tiger the Snake Plant according to my weekly watering schedule and then when I finished breakfast, Dave called. It was good to hear from him and we had a long conversation covering many topics. After we hung up, I practiced the piano, listened to the radio, and then walked to the grave. I saw our next-door neighbor Frank Scoggins just leaving his place and turning toward me. He stopped and we had a nice chat before I continued on to the grave.

When I got back, I had a late lunch and a nap. I overslept a little and decided that there wasn't enough time left in the afternoon to mix a batch of mortar so I skipped it and worked on the puzzle and the piano instead. I also filled and staged 12 water jugs.

On Friday morning the temperature outside was 33 degrees. I trust that from now on I won't have to worry about my mortar freezing. Spring is in full swing. I practiced the piano and then walked to the grave. On the way I talked with Barb and Byron whom I hadn't seen for a few weeks. I was happy to learn that they are both doing well.

I loaded the water jugs into the truck, had my lunch, packed up and left for home at 1:00. It was a great week and I'm happy to be back to stonemasonry.