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.