10/15-17/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

My cold was a lot better, but I still had some lingering symptoms. I stopped and visited with Priscilla on the way up so I didn't arrive until 1:00. The drive over was spectacular. The temperature was a delightful 60 degrees. After moving in I had just finished making my sandwich for lunch when Bob and Pat drove up. They had left a message on my answering machine, but I had forgotten to check it. We chatted in the trailer while I finished my lunch and then we went out to look at the building progress. They liked the way the stained logs and the white chinking looked. So do I. The flock of jays were all over us while we visited but Bob and Pat aren't fond enough of birds to let them land on them. So I fed the little guys out of my hands while we talked and toured the place. It was great to visit with Bob and Pat. They had driven over Blewett Pass to look at the fall colors.

After they left, I insulated two more seams and nailed eight seams. Those are all the ones I can reach from the current scaffold position.

On Wednesday I spent the whole day chinking and chinked four seams. The weather was sunny and beautiful and my birds visited me all day. Before I went in for the day, I went up to the spring to see why the old hose, which I had just left in place, was no longer running. I wanted to get it going again before it started freezing. I found that the coupling that I had installed where the bear had chewed up the hose had separated. The thing just broke in the middle. I went down to the trailer and couldn't find another coupling, so I took a roll of duct tape back with me and taped the hose together. That worked and the hose is running full blast again.

On Thursday morning, I chinked another two and a half seams. Then I packed up, had lunch, and left for home at 2:00.

10/22-24/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

Another gorgeous drive over the mountains. The high country was a little past its prime, but everywhere else the foliage was beautiful. I arrived at 12:15 and drove the pickup up to the building. After I had lunch, Earl came by and we chatted for a while. He was going to climb Dirtyface Mountain and wanted to know if I wanted to go along. I told him thanks but I wanted to get as much chinking done as I could before it freezes. When he left, I went up and unloaded 4 sacks of mortar I had brought, and then I backed the pickup back down to the trailer.

I chinked two seams before I quit for the night. The jays were getting peanuts from me the whole time. If I ignored them, they would land on my arms as I was troweling the mortar. When they did that, I would get the hint and get a few peanuts out.

On Wednesday morning, the temperature was right at 32 degrees but I didn't see any signs of frost on the ground. But, it's getting close. I chinked another one and a half seams and that completed all the wall I could reach from this scaffold position. Since I was done working with mortar for a while, I figured it was time to clean out the trailer. There was so much dust in there that I noticed it at night when I breathed. I turned a flashlight on when I was in bed and I could see the clouds of dust in the flashlight beam. I swept the trailer out and took all the carpets outside and beat them until no more dust came out of them. That should help.

I cleaned the log wall that I could reach from the scaffold by using a trowel, a stiff mason's brush, and a whisk broom. The mason's brush worked great for getting all the mortar dust off the logs. Where a spot was particularly tight, I would use the trowel which I held in my other hand. Then after I had brushed it clean, I used the whisk broom to get all the dust off. The wall looks really neat and clean after that. Then, I installed three plugs in the scaffold bolt holes from the previous scaffold position. I think there is no more reason I have to reach that part of the wall now, so the scaffold can come down for the winter. I decided the weather would be too cold to chink from now on, so the rest of it will have to wait until spring.

On Thursday morning, it was 26 degrees out. The hose going up to the building was frozen solid. I took the nozzle off so that when the hose thawed out, the water would drain. Then I began winterizing the trailer. There was no extra water in the water tank, so there evidently is not another connection to it from the plumbing. My method of completely disconnecting the plumbing from the tank during the summer, and then reconnecting just to winterize is very awkward. If only I could find a valve that would not leak under the 15 lbs. of pressure I have I could make the process a lot more convenient. But finding such a valve, and proving that it doesn't leak, is more of a nuisance than I want to mess with. While I am winterizing, I think it would be worth the trouble, but after winterizing is done, the priority plummets. Maybe next summer I will work on it.

I also need a better wiring plan. To provide the 12-volt power to the water pump, I open the hood of the pickup, hook the jumper cables on to the battery, unroll a bunch of wire and hook one end of each wire to the jumper cables, drag one of the wires into the trailer and connect it to a pigtail I hooked to the 12-volt lug in the power panel, and then shut the end of the other wire in the metal screen door to ground it to the frame of the trailer. I have to pay attention to polarity so the pump will run the right direction, and I test the circuit by turning on one of the 12-volt lights in the trailer. It would be nice to have a simpler power hookup, but it's the same deal. While I'm winterizing, I swear I am going to rig up something more workable, but between winterizings, the priority drops below the threshold and doesn't get done. Oh well.

I put the 3.3 sacks of mortar that I have left in a big garbage bag to keep out the moisture. I hope that will keep it soft and usable over the winter. Next, I measured the spacing between all the porch joists so I can come up with a plan for using the old scaffold planks for decking, and to determine the lengths to cut new planks from the big Doug Fir log up by the drainfield. Ripping that log into planks will be one of the first jobs I tackle now that I can no longer chink.

I took all my bedding home to wash the dust out of it, and I took the propane tanks home to refill them. I left for home at 1:45.

10/29-31/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:30. It was crisp, dry and 40 degrees out. I noticed that someone had bucked up and hauled away about half of the left over logs at the log pile. Since I had told both Earl and Mike that they were welcome to take them, I figured it had been one of them. That makes the lower area a lot more useful. There is a lot of parking space now and you can turn a car around. Much better.

After moving in and having lunch, I dismantled the scaffold from the front of the building. Since all the mortar I had applied was nice and white, the front of the building looked really sharp. It will look even better when all the chinking is done, and better yet when the windows are in.

Since I am going to start working on the porch deck, I need to move all those long slabs out of the way again. They are the slabs cut from the purlins when I flattened them. I hung three scaffold brackets on the northeast wall and moved all the slabs onto them. Since that wall is finished, I shouldn't have to move the slabs again for quite a while.

Then, since the temperature was above freezing, I rolled up the hose that was strung from the trailer to the building, and stored it under the trailer. The flock of jays came around for peanuts the whole afternoon.

On Wednesday morning it was 20 degrees. I have decided to deck the porch with all the old scaffold planks that I had harvested. They are three inches thick and I used them to span as much as 11 feet, so they should be plenty strong on the two-foot center joists. It will be neat to have the planks visible because I am sort of attached to them. Virtually all the work I did on the building, I did while standing on one or the other of those planks. They have many thousands of my footprints on them.

I debated on whether to use them as is -- all greyed and ground in with dirt, bar oil, cement, and owl poop -- or whether to clean them up somehow. I thought of renting a pressure washer, but that would be sort of a hassle. I thought maybe of installing them as is and then pressure washing them later.

Regardless of how or when I cleaned them, I needed to get them all out. I have eighteen of them. Two of them were way back in the crawl space. One on the old scaffold against the northeast wall, and the other stored back there in the same area. I dragged both of those outside.

At that point, I thought I would give the Log Wizard (I call it the "gwizzard") a try to see how that would work to clean the planks up. I rigged to gwiz (gwizzing is what I do with the gwizzard) by hanging a sling from the anchor at the end of the grid B purlin. I was able to hang a hook onto the anchor by using an 8-foot 1x2 with a long screw sticking out at one end. By climbing up a ladder to a high front window, I could reach the anchor with the 1x2. I don't know how I will do that stunt once the windows are in place.

I had both jays and chipmunks competing for peanuts while I was doing this. The chipmunks don't have a chance unless I give the peanuts directly to them or put them under something where the jays can't see them.

The gwizzard worked great and I decided to use it to clean up all the planks. Some of the chainsaw scars were so deep that I didn't gwiz them all out. And, I couldn't control the depth or angle well enough to get a really flat surface on the wood, but it looks good and will be plenty flat enough for a porch deck. If I, or someone else, wants to finish the deck better later on, there is plenty of wood there to do so. I plan to fasten the planks by counterboring screws an inch or so deep and plugging the holes with dowels. That way it can easily be planed or sanded later.

I gwizzed one side of each of four planks that were already on the deck. I used a block and tackle to lower them off the deck and down to the upper roadway where I gwizzed them. Then I used the block and tackle to lift them back onto the deck. I hung the top block from the anchor hook on the grid F purlin. The block didn't hang at the right angle for pulling on the rope, so I took a short piece of #4 rebar, and using Dr. Dick's rebar cutter/bender, I fashioned a double hook with an angle that made the top block hang right. It worked great with that hook.

After the four planks were up there on the deck, it dawned on me that both the tops and the bottoms of the planks would be visible and that I should gwiz both sides. I didn't want to lower those four again, so I decided that I will use them at the back of the porch where the undersides won't be visible. I'll just do both sides of each plank from now on.

I gwizzed three more planks on both sides and lifted them up onto the deck before I quit for the night. I used up nearly all my gas and nearly all my bar oil.

On Thursday morning it was 16 degrees. Pretty cold. I lifted the three planks I had gwizzed the day before up onto the deck and lowered the last three planks that were stored on the deck. There were three big planks stored inside the building, two were 11-footers and the other was over 10 feet long. I decided that rather than drag them out to the deck, lower them to the ground, and then drag them to the gwizzing station, it would be easier to just lower them out the window since the gwizzing station was directly below. So I moved the block and tackle to hang from the Grid B purlin. I hung it from the hook holding the gwizzard sling using the same 8-foot 1x2. I had to tie an extra length of rope to the end of the block and tackle rope because of the distance. Lowering the planks into place was fun. Gravity worked with me the whole time.

I had lunch, packed up, and left for home about 12:30. Before I left, I took some pictures of the front of the building in that bright sunlight. On the way home, I stopped at Mike's and learned that he was the one who had taken the firewood. I also stopped at Chainsaws Plus and bought bar oil, engine oil, and a chainsaw file. The guy there told me that I shouldn't use anything but Chevron premium gas because that is the only gas that does not have alcohol and water in it. He says that the saw engines are so sensitive that the gas will make a big difference not only in performance but in longevity. I asked him if he thought Chevron gas would make Mother Sow start or run any better. He thought it might, so that convinced me to give it a try.

11/1/02 Bought two new gas cans at Home Depot and filled them with Chevron premium gas with Techron. We'll see how the saws perform next week.

11/5-7/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:45. It was 40 degrees and dry, although there had been some rain in the past day or so. There was a dusting of snow in the pass on the way over. Three jays were right there to greet me when I parked the pickup.

After moving in, I gwizzed both sides of the six planks that were ready. The new gas cans were nice to use but I didn't notice any difference on how the Gwizzard started or ran with the new gas. The test will come when I put that gas in Mother Sow (my name for "my other saw").

On Wednesday, I rigged the block and tackle back up and lifted the six planks up onto the deck. Since there were three planks serving as ramps on both sides of the crawl space door, and since I want to use them on the deck, the next job is to build steps on both sides of the door to replace the planks. Down by the trailer I had stacked some old concrete blocks and concrete flagstones that Doris had given me. I used the wheelbarrow to haul them all up to the building so I could use them to make the steps. Then I moved those three planks and one more from inside the crawl space to the gwizzing station. Larry showed up for a visit, and we chatted until lunchtime.

After lunch, I built a landing on the inside of the crawl space door level with the threshold. I used a bunch of short 2x4s and 2x6s that were left over from making studs. My ceiling is too high for 8-foot studs to work so all of them had to be cut from 10-footers. That gave me a lot of those short stubs. I used two rows of the stubs to make the landing about 3 feet deep. Then I used a couple concrete blocks and one of the flagstones to make a step down to the floor. It rained lightly off and on all day. The jays visited a few times but not as often as usual.

On Thursday morning, I started moving part of the old board pile to make room to build the steps on the outside. Since I was moving those boards anyway, I decided to move them out from the building enough so I could walk around the corner of the building without having to go around the board pile. In the winter, the berm of snow falling from the roof gets to be six or seven feet high and you have to go over it twice to get to the door. Now you will be able to get to the door by walking next to the building, inside the berm, being completely under eaves all the way. That will be much better.

Finally, I used a few concrete blocks and flagstones and made steps to get up to the door. I left for home at about 12:30.

11/8/02 Received a gift in the mail from Dr. Dick. I had a big laugh when I opened it and found a nice bronze ball valve that he says will withstand 100 psi. Now I will have no excuses for not fixing the plumbing problem I fight with when I winterize the trailer. Thank you Dr. Dick.

11/12-14/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It was 40 degrees and raining when I arrived at 12:40. After moving in, I took the plumbing apart between the water tank and the water line in the trailer. I need to know what fittings to get in order to install Dr. Dick's valve. I tested the old valve by blowing through it and it is no wonder it didn't work. You can blow through it no matter which way the handle is turned. I must have bought a defective valve.

I gwizzed two and a half planks and then decided to take a picture of a plank partway done. After taking the picture, I couldn't get the gwizard started again. That saw has always been so dependable. It seemed like it was an electrical problem because it wouldn't fire at all. I was thinking that the high-test gas might have made it run too hot or something. Since it was getting late, I decided to quit for the day, but I was worried about what to do in the morning if it wouldn't start.

On Wednesday morning, there was new snow on Nason Ridge about a hundred feet down from the top. Everything was wet but it wasn't raining. The temperature was 42 degrees. When I tried the gwizard, it started right up on the first pull. What a relief. I gwizzed the remaining plank and a half, and then rigged up the block and tackle and pulled the four planks up onto the deck. Bert and Ernie came around and visited me during this process.

Since it wasn't raining, I decided to start harvesting planks from the big log. My plan is to work on the deck if it is raining, and to work on the log if it is not. Since there is plenty of work to do both places, I figure I can always be working out of the rain.

I chose four log stubs, about a foot long, and used them to prop up the big log where I planned to cut it. The end of the log was touching the ground so I figured part of it was probably bad. I plan to cut the planks a little over 10 feet long so I decided to make the first cut at 11 feet to allow for some bad wood at the end. Mother Sow started pretty well and ran well while I bucked the log. I didn't notice that it behaved much differently with the different gas. The choke setting seemed to be closed just slightly more than before. The log was 17 inches in diameter where I cut it, and 15 inches in diameter at the other end.

I made a rack with a couple poles and log stubs and rolled the log up onto the rack. That way, it is up off the ground so I don't have to stoop over to work on it. I nailed on the boards and strung the strings for scribing and scribed both sides for the first cut. By then it was lunch time.

After lunch, I ripped the first slab from the log. Mother Sow ran fine. I kept the chain sharp so it cut pretty well. Just as I finished, Sid Fadden drove up. He came up and looked over the project. I told him how I had used the rebar he had given me to make all the spikes holding the deck structure together. He barely remembered that he had given me any rebar.

After Sid left, I scribed the log for the second cut to make the first plank. That was all I got done before it got dark. The jays only visited me once during the whole day.

On Thursday morning, I ripped the plank, dragged it and the slab down to the gwizzing station, flipped the log over, and scribed it to cut the other slab. I left for home at 1:30.

11/19-21/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

It rained pretty heavy all the way over. The rivers on the West side looked dangerously high. I stopped in and visited Marilyn on the way up. There was less rain on the East side and by the time I got to the property at 12:20 it was 52 degrees and no rain.

After moving in, I checked on the lines I had scribed the week before. They were just as fresh and vivid as when I drew them. I used a Marks-a-Lot permanent marker so now I know that is the pen to use. The log had had a lot of rain on it but it didn't wash away the marks.

Doris gave me an old aluminum screen door that is in pretty good shape so I took it up and stored it in the crawl space. I may use it when I finally get around to screening in the porch.

Mother Sow started on the first pull and ran perfectly. I ripped a slab from the log on the scribed marks and dragged it down to the gwizzing station. I was really surprised at how sharp the chain stayed. I check it each tank of gas and it stayed razor sharp so I didn't file it at all. The teeth are getting pretty small so I'm glad I don't have to file it much. I am sure the reason it is staying so sharp is that I have been scraping the log with a floor scraper before I scribe it. The log has always been soaking wet since I have been working on it, and the outer layer of spongy wood is almost black and if I make the mark directly on it, you can hardly see it. So, I scrape about a 2 inch wide path where I need to scribe and that leaves pure, dry white wood to draw my line on. It also removes any dirt and grit from the wood and that, I am sure, is why my chain stays so sharp. I think that using that scraper is probably a good idea whether it is hard to draw on the log or not. It will make my chains last longer.

I didn't see any jays all afternoon. At about 6:30 after I had had dinner, someone slowly drove into my driveway. I got on my shoes and hat and started out the door to greet whoever it was, but as soon as they saw the lights from my trailer, or me, they backed out and took off. The only thing I can figure is that they were up to no good. It's a good thing I have a sturdy log gate there when I'm gone. I think I'd better put up a motion sensitive light to shine in their eyes for added protection when I'm gone.

On Wednesday, it was sunny and 53 degrees. This is an extra warm fall and winter so far. No snow at all yet except high on the ridges. I went to work and ripped the last cut to make two planks. I wasn't happy at all with the cut. I had real trouble staying on the lines and I don't really know why. It was probably just carelessness, although the chain seems to draw one way rather than go straight. Mother Sow was also pretty temperamental and my shoulder was really hurting me from pulling on the starter cord so much. I finally ended up pulling the starter with my left hand all the time. My three regular jays visited me a couple times. Scruffy is still a little different looking from the other two, but his looks have improved a lot. He is also a little tamer because I always give him favored treatment. A pair of stellar jays also showed up and I gave them a few peanuts too -- but at a distance. They don't come very close to me.

At lunch time, there were a couple of huge blasts from the quarry. The sound reverberated up and down the valley and it sounded like thunder.

After lunch, I bucked a 10' 2" log from the big log. It was 17" in diameter on one end and 18" in diameter on the other end. I rolled it down onto the rack I used for ripping, but I had to use a come-along and a couple chains to get it up on the rack. I scribed the log for the first slab after scraping a path with the floor scraper. Then I ripped a little over half of the first cut.

I was a lot happier with the cut. I started using a technique that may not be approved by safety conscious people, but I am very careful with my saws so I don't think there is any extra danger to me. I started cutting with the top of the bar instead of the bottom. That way, the saw is always trying to come out of the kerf rather than being drawn into it. This method has a few advantages for me. One is that I am able to follow the lines easier and make a much straighter cut. Another is that the sawdust is all being blown out the other side of the log away from me rather than going right into me and my pockets and my boots. Still another is that I use different muscles and it gives me relief from the tennis elbow problem that I always get from ripping the conventional way. Mother Sow started and ran perfectly all afternoon. It's hard to figure.

Before I quit for the night, I measured the big log and found that I have 35 feet left. That means that with the 21 feet I have already cut, it was originally 56 feet long. This means that I will get three more ten foot logs and at three planks per log, the total harvest will be 15 planks. I am sure that will be enough to finish decking the porch. I also spotted two more of the old planks up in the loft that I had forgotten were there, so I'll have to lower those down and gwiz them one of these days when it rains.

On Thursday morning, it was 45 degrees and dry, but it had evidently rained during the night. I finished ripping the slab and then I dragged it down to the gwizzing station. Then I scribed the log for the next cut, again scraping it with the scraper, and ripped about 8 feet of the cut before I ran out of gas and ran out of time. I left for home at about 1:30.

11/24/02 Took Andrew down to Bill and Lorrie's to pick up the longer thresholds he had for me, and to get two locks re-keyed, and for Andrew to play with Amanda and Cam. The two locks are the ones for the back door that I haven't installed yet. I realized that I hadn't had Bill re-key those when he was at the property so I kicked myself for being so stupid and forgetful. When Bill started working on the locks, he asked me again how I wanted them keyed, because they were already keyed the way I wanted. It took me a while to realize that I had been stupider than I had originally thought. He had keyed those locks the way I wanted them when he first gave them to me, and I had forgotten all about it. The trip was still worth it though because I got the thresholds and the kids had fun. We all went to a huge model railroad show in Puyallup.

I skipped going to the property during Thanksgiving week because I had a Cub Scout meeting Monday evening and I wanted to help prepare for dinner guests on Thursday.

12/3-5/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 11:50. It was 32 degrees and foggy. Things looked strange because there were no leaves on the trees and no snow on the ground. The first snow usually comes before the leaves have fallen so I have never seen things look this way. This being an El Nino year, I suppose we won't get much snow at all. That will make my work a little easier, but I will miss the deep snow.

After moving in and having lunch, I finished ripping the plank that was nearly done. I skidded the plank down to the gwiz station and then rolled the log over to work on the other slab. I scribed and cut the slab, skidded it down to the gwiz station, and rigged up the strings to scribe the next plank. I scraped the log for one scribe line with the floor scraper, but it got too dark to draw the line.

On Wednesday morning it snowed a little. I hadn't checked the hose line since the leaves had fallen and I need to do it before the snow gets very deep. So after breakfast I cleared the hose line. I have to remove any branches that have fallen across the hose because if I don't, the accumulated weight of the snow on the branch will push it down and it will pinch off the hose. If the water flow stops, the hose will freeze and I will not have a handy water supply. While I was at it, I also cleared all the fallen leaves out of the spring area.

Then I scribed the log for the final cut and it was time for lunch. The snow stopped around noon and the temperature went up to 33 degrees so the half inch of snow on the ground started melting. My shoulder was hurting pretty bad so the week I took off was not quite enough to heal it. I try not to stress it too much while I am working.

After lunch I ripped the final cut and got two planks as a result. I was happy with the cuts. Mother Sow started and ran pretty well. To help save my shoulder, I pull the starter cord with my left hand. Pulling that cord seems to aggravate my shoulder more than anything else.

I skidded both planks down to the gwiz station which was starting to get pretty crowded. Next, I bucked another 10' 2" log and dragged it up onto the rip rack using a steel bar, chains, and a come-along. By then it was too dark to work.

On Thursday morning, two jays visited me. I hadn't seen any for quite a while so I was happy to see them. One of them was Scruffy and when he sat on my hand, I noticed he was only using one foot. He had the other one tucked up to his tummy. He did put it down a couple times so I could see that it was still there, but it had some lumps on a couple knuckles so it evidently got injured somehow. Poor little guy.

Since it was getting so crowded at the gwizzing station, I gwizzed three planks and one slab and moved them out of the way. I gwizzed the planks on only one side but I gwizzed the slab on both sides. It was fun gwizzing the round side of the slab because it has been quite a while since I gwizzed a round log and it is a lot easier than gwizzing the flat surface of the planks. During the work, three jays, including Scruffy, came around for peanuts a few times. I packed up and left for home at 1:00.

12/10-12/02 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way up, I was delayed about an hour because I had to detour around a fatal accident just outside of Monroe. Before I got to the property, I stopped and delivered jam to Dickinsons, Earl and Dana, Copenhavers, and Tutinos. I learned that Shirley had broken her ankle a week before Thanksgiving and was hobbling around with plates and screws holding her ankle together.

I finally arrived at the property at 1:50. It was snowing lightly. After moving in, I rigged up to scribe the log, scribed it, and ripped about 2/3 of the slab before it got too dark to see. By then it had snowed about 3 inches.

In the middle of the night I was awakened by water dripping off the snowshed and hitting a beer can which was directly in the drip line and directly below my window. It was so loud that I got dressed and went out to move it. The beer can was left by vandals and I am keeping it for "evidence". I was now beginning to wonder why.

On Wednesday morning it was mixed rain and snow. I finished ripping the slab and skidded it down to the gwiz station. I didn't want to work in the rain and snow so I gwizzed two slabs. Then, since the snow was supposed to continue all day, I moved the pickup down to the road so I wouldn't get snowed in. After lunch I gwizzed three more planks and scribed one line on the log before it got dark. By nightfall, the snow was about 9 inches deep.

On Thursday morning, it had stopped snowing. I finished scribing the other side of the log and ripped one plank. I didn't see any jays at all this week. I left for home at 1:15.

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