5/9-11/12 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Wednesday through Friday.

I had a pretty bad cold so I delayed my trip this week by one day. My head was plugged up and I didn't want to risk the drive over the mountains in that condition. It was a little better this morning so I medicated up and made the drive. The highest risk would be coming back home but I was hoping that the cold would be better by Friday. At least I hoped so.

I arrived at 11:30 without having too much trouble with my ears. The Dayquil and Dristan worked. It was an absolutely beautiful day and Bert and Ernie were right there to greet me.

After getting them their hugs and biscuits, I moved in, had my lunch, and promptly took a nap. When I got up, I had enough energy to set up a two-tier steel scaffold tower under the eaves between Grid E3 and F3. Then I set my riser on top of the two tall sawhorses so that it was right at the edge of the deck above the stairs. Finally I bridged some planks from the riser to the planks on top of the scaffold tower and I now had access to the rafters where the next ceiling boards need to be installed. I was pretty tired by the time I finished. I took a nice hot bath before I had my dinner and went to bed.

On Thursday morning I slept in. I had taken some cold medicine during the night to help me sleep.

Just as I finished my breakfast the doorbell rang. That was the first time the doorbell had been used by a real visitor. It was Larry Copenhaver who had stopped by for a visit. I was very happy to see him.

There had been quite a few very noticeable changes since he had visited last so he had a look around and asked me about what I had done. He also gave me the sad news that Roberta had passed away in October.

Larry asked me about my current project and I explained why the mice had cranked up my priority on getting the ceilings installed. I took him up to the loft to see the hole the mice had made in the plastic sheeting and I was surprised to see a new hole, or at least one I hadn't noticed before. I hope I had simply overlooked that hole and that the mice could no longer get in. The fact that I haven't caught any in the traps since I plugged up the last hole, tells me that I simply must have missed that hole in the plastic. In any case, getting the ceiling boards installed will put the whole question to rest.

I took a picture of Larry and then I walked down the concrete staircase with him and showed him the new giant sequoia named Chuck.

On the way back to the cabin, I spotted a chipmunk so I went inside to get some peanuts. When I came back out, the chipmunk came right up to me and took the peanuts out of my hand. It was good to see the little guy. Since I don't work outside so much anymore, I don't see them as often.

I went to work and nailed up a few ceiling boards using the new platform I had set up. My energy was low. I took a few breaks during the work to feed the chipmunk some more.

After lunch and a nap, I nailed up a few more ceiling boards. I didn't feel at my peak of performance. There were a couple times I measured once and had to cut twice.

On Friday morning, my energy level was so low that after doing my exercises I didn't feel like going back to work on the ceilings at all. Instead I vacuumed the first floor and left for home at 11:50. I medicated myself pretty well before I left so that I would be able to get over the pass and down the 4000 feet of elevation to get home without plugging up my ears. I succeeded in that fairly well although one of my ears did get a little plugged up. I sure hope I'll be over this cold by next week.