8/14-16/07 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way up, I stopped at Bill Odgers' and dropped off a 50 lb. sack of calcium chloride for Priscilla's cabin. Then I stopped in at Plain Hardware and bought seven 60 lb. sacks of concrete mix.

I arrived at the property at 1:50, had lunch, and checked and found no signs of mice in the cabin. I wheeled the twelve sacks of concrete I had over to the mixer and then drove up and unloaded the seven new sacks of concrete and stacked them under the front porch. I wanted to use up the oldest sacks first. I had strained my left wrist cleaning the gutters on Saturday and it still hurt pretty bad when I used it. I had to be careful when I handled the sacks of concrete. It didn't bother too much to use the wheelbarrow.

I set up everything I needed to mix concrete and proceeded to mix and place thirteen sacks of concrete into the form I made last week. One chipmunk visited me for peanuts during the work.

On Wednesday, I unloaded a huge bunch of yard waste from home and stacked it on the compost pile. Then I checked the cabin and again found no signs of mice. O happy day. I think I can quit reporting on mice again until they find another way in.

I stripped the forms from the pad and was happy with how it looks. The Visqueen made the surface smoother than on the first one and I did a better job of vibrating the concrete.

Next, I measured for the placement of the newel post and dug the hole for the pad down to bedrock. I ran into a couple roots about two inches in diameter so after I had cleaned the dirt and rocks from around them, I used Jack the rip saw to cut them out. The chipmunk was around again for most of the work.

When I went to build the form for the pad, I made at least four errors in geometry and spatial relations before I finally got it right. I couldn't, and still can't, understand how I made so many errors on such a simple and familiar project. I wondered if I might have had a mini-stroke or something, but in every other respect I felt normal. I think that since the problem was so simple, I let my mind be distracted by other things. I don't know the explanation, but I really felt stupid at the time.

When I finally had the form ready for concrete, I took some pictures of it and quit for the day.

On Thursday morning I mixed and placed the concrete for the newel post pad. It took just under the six sacks that I had left. A flock of gray jays came around for peanuts during the work and during the cleanup of the mixer and the tools. One Steller's Jay got caught up in the excitement and even took a few peanuts from about six feet from me. Maybe they can be tamed after all.

I measured for the TJI joists I will need in order to cover the hole in the living room floor. I need four 5' 3" pieces of 11 7/8" series 25 TJI . I already have the plywood, the glue, and screws, so I will cover the hole as soon as I have serviceable steps up to the back deck. Then I can move the wood stove in. That will be a major step forward. I left for home at about 1:00.