4/24-26/12 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way I stopped to visit with Claude McVey in his new Adult Family Home residence. Then I proceeded on to Camp Serendipity where I arrived at 1:30. It was raining lightly but Bert and Ernie were right there to greet me. It was a little chilly in the cabin, so after giving the dogs their hugs and biscuits, I made a fire in the wood stove and had my lunch.

Then I carried four planks down and put them in the truck. I'll use them as ramps to load up the kitchen range which I plan to bring up to Camp Serendipity next week. I also made two special hooks our of #4 rebar using Dr. Dick's rebar bender. I'll use these hooks to anchor the rigging, that I will use to load up the stove, to the stake sockets at the front of the truck bed.

Back in the cabin, I dismantled the bedroom heater and replaced the defective plug with the new one that I had gotten in the mail. I was happy that it worked when I put it back together. I am not impressed with the engineering that went into making that heater. After that, I tightened up all the nuts on the loft staircase. They each took about a half a turn.

On Wednesday, I went back to work chiseling rock under the front porch deck. My strategy was to start out at the front face again but a couple inches lower and bore new holes under the chute that I had already cut out. I alternated between the 1/2" bit and the cold chisel bit. It worked very well until I got to the very back trying to break away the last 3 inches of rock leading to the pool behind it.

By cutting away a bigger hole in the rock face, there was enough room for the nose of the Bulldog to go into the channel. That allowed me to reach far enough back with the long bit. But when the long drill was about as far as it could reach, it got jammed in the rock so I couldn't get it out.

I unchucked the bit so I could get the Bulldog out and I left the bit stuck in the rock. I put the chisel bit in and tried to use it to free the drill bit. I cut away quite a bit of rock, but pretty soon I got the chisel stuck in the rock right along with the drill bit.

Since the bits were so far in, I figured I could reach them from up above, so I got a long star drill and a 3-lb hammer and went at it from the top. There is so little room up there that it took me quite a while to get my body in the narrow space between the cliff and the building so that I could see the site I needed to cut. Once I was down there, I need to find a way to get one arm and hand in a position to hold the star drill and the other in a position to be able to swing the hammer and hit the star drill. It was extremely awkward and I couldn't get much of a hammer swing.

But I was able to hit the right place in the rock and I was able to break away small chunks of rock. After doing this for quite a while, I broke the stuck chisel bit loose. Then I went back down under the porch and found that I could pull the drill bit out also.

With that experience of working from above, I figured that if I cut away a big root that was sticking out of the cliff, I would be able to get my body in there easier. And if I cut a corner off of the end of a deck plank right over the rock channel, I would be able to get at the site with the Bulldog from up above.

I got the chainsaw out, cut off the root, and cut off the corner of the plank. Then I went to work with the Bulldog and finished up making the channel in the rock. I was extremely pleased and happy to have that channel cut.

I cleaned up the rock detritus and the sawdust and while I was at it, I cleaned the dirt away from the ends of the deck planks. I hadn't cleaned that area since last year and I like to keep the dirt away from the ends of those planks. It gradually drifts in there and builds up.

Next I put away all the tools and swept off the porch deck. Then I took a picture of the channel in the rock from under the porch deck. The next thing I need to do is to somehow catch the water coming out of the channel and get it into a pipe. I started thinking about what it would take to accomplish that.

About the time I finished, I got a call from Pete Wolfsehr who is a friend of Mike Pearson. He told me that they were planning to come up for a visit and we agreed to meet for dinner at the 59'er Diner at 4:30.

After lunch and a nap, I looked around and found three lengths of PVC and ABS pipe that will work to carry the water away from the rock channel and deliver it to Rosy, the rosebush at the end of the porch.

Next I brought a come-along, two chains, and a long rope down to the truck for use in loading the stove next week. I also loaded up some glue and a glue gun that I will need to do a repair job for Priscilla next weekend.

A little after 4:00 I left and drove to the 59'er Diner. Mike, Pete, and Pete's 90-year young dad, Cliff, showed up shortly thereafter. We had a delightful conversation and dinner. I had never met Pete or Cliff before so it was interesting to get to know them.

After dinner, we drove to Camp Serendipity in a light rain. Bert and Ernie heard my truck go by so they were right there to greet us when we arrived. Cliff is surprisingly spry and he chose to go up by way of the concrete staircase. He did it with no problem. But more surprisingly, he had no trouble going up the gap at the bottom of the front porch staircase where there are just a few big rocks to step on.

We visited for a short while on the front porch before going inside and having a look around the place. I invited them up to the loft to see what I had up there. I showed them the model of the cabin and used it to explain some of the features of the cabin. Then I opened up the bronze model of Mt. Rainier and showed that to them. They were familiar with some parts of Mt. Rainier National Park so they showed a lot of interest in the model. From there we settled into a fairly lengthy discussion of some of the issues of the day. Then Cliff announced that he wanted to leave before it got dark so the party broke up. He chose to walk down around the hairpin turn this time rather than use the concrete stairs. It was a very pleasant visit and I'm glad they took the time to come up.

On Thursday morning, I vacuumed the place and scrubbed the floors with my new Reveal mop. It really works slick and fast. While I was cleaning I was thinking about how to hook a pipe to my drainage channel. By the time I finished, I had a strategy in mind.

I took a sheet of paper and bent it into a shape I thought would work for a funnel arrangement. I marked and cut the paper until I thought it was the right shape. Then I got a piece of sheet metal and cut it out using the paper pattern. I folded the sheet metal up into the funnel shape, bent flanges on it, and drilled holes in the flanges for anchors which will hold it fast to the rock. I plan to smear caulk or Vulkem between the flanges and the rock before I anchor it in place. The water will be running down the face of the rock and I need to capture it and get it into the funnel. I think the caulk will keep it from leaking. I took a picture of the thing after I was finished. I haven't tried it up against the rock yet so I may find that it doesn't fit right. If it doesn't I'll deal with that next week, or some time later. Somehow I will make it work.

I left for home at 1:00 feeling good about the visit and feeling very happy that the rock chiseling is finished.