On Sunday morning, (8/11/13), Ellen called again and re-confirmed that Quincy seemed to be OK and that I didn't need to come home right away.

Since things were pretty well squared away inside the cabin, I decided to work in the woods clearing trails. There were still two sections that were still impassible due to trees fallen in the ice storm last winter. As a service project for the scouts, I wanted them to haul in as much firewood as possible that was cut up and lying around as a result of cleaning up after that storm. So I wanted to clear the trails and buck up the logs before the scouts visit.

I went through three tanks of gas in the chainsaw cutting through the tree debris on the porch trail before I stopped for lunch and a nap. It was hard, hot, and sweaty work, but I made considerable progress.

After my nap, I went back out and burned up an additional tank of gas successfully opening up the porch trail to the bridge trail. You could now walk from the porch to the bridge for the first time since the winter storm. And that trail was now littered with loads of firewood that will hopefully be retrieved by the scouts.

I had my shower and quit for the day early enough for me to make a video for fun.

On Monday, I went back into the woods and burned up two tanks of gas cutting opening up the trail between the bridge and the trail crossroads. There were some very big trees across the trail so there is a lot of firewood lying around back there. The trail is by no means clear, but at least you can now walk through all the trails on the property. The rest of the clearing can be done simply by hand or by using Cindy Loppers.

The universe had a way of letting me know that those two tanks of gas I burned up were all I should do. I was very fatigued when the last tank started running out, and I got a little careless. Some brush was annoying me by pressing against my legs, so I reached around behind my right leg with the running chainsaw bar to clear the brush away. Not very smart. The saw blade jumped away from the brush and into the leg of my Carhartt overalls. Good thing that material is tough. The chain cut a jagged 5-inch gash through the overalls, a neat 4-inch slit down the top of my sock, and it made three little red scrapes on my skin just above the ankle. No real harm done, but I definitely got the message from the universe. I will be more careful from now on. And, I needed a new pair of Carhartts anyway.

I went in for lunch and a nap and a little reflection on chainsaw safety. When I got up, I decided to shoot the scenes in order to make another video for fun. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the front porch. The packrats had made quite a few messes out there so it ended up being quite a job.

On Tuesday morning I planned to varnish a first coat on all the interior doors. I masked four of them, but only finished varnishing two of them before it was time to leave for home. I varnished the front entry room door and the hall closet door. I left for home at 1:45 feeling ready for the visitors and happy about the many milestones passed.