8/17-18/13 Ellen, Marilyn, Tianna, and I went up to Camp Serendipity for the weekend.

After loading up the truck with our gear, we drove to Skykomish to pick up Marilyn. While we were there, we rode on the miniature trains for a couple trips. Tianna got to drive one of the engines and wanted to stay and do more. We told her we would do it again on the way home if there was enough time.

It was lunchtime so we all went over to the new Big Bear restaurant across the highway. We had a nice lunch and spent some time in the gift shop. From there we proceeded on to Camp Serendipity.

Bert showed up shortly after we arrived so Tianna gave him a few dog biscuits. I was happy that there were no mice in any of the traps. Tianna also filled Dave's bird feeder which was empty.

After moving our gear in and setting up the beds, the ladies went for a short bike ride while I took a shower. They rode down to Eunice Henry's grave and paid their respects. This is the 100th anniversary of her death.

When the bikers returned, we loaded up and drove to Leavenworth and walked on the River Trail before heading up to King Ludwig's for dinner. We had a huge German dinner and the ladies danced the Chicken Dance while the Polka Band played and I shot videos of the dancing. It was great fun.

Back at Camp Serendipity we played a board game and watched part of a movie until we were too sleepy to stay awake.

On Sunday morning we discovered that the trap in the entry room had caught a mouse during the night. Tianna and I went out on the porch looking for mouse holes but we didn't find any that looked promising. There were some small cracks around the front door between the logs and the rough frame so I caulked those shut just in case they might be the problem. We'll see if we catch any more mice.

Ellen cooked a great brunch that took an hour to cook in the oven. While we were waiting for it to cook, we finished watching the movie from the night before. I was very happy to see Ellen cooking in the kitchen for the very first time.

After eating that delicious brunch, we drove down to the State Park and the three ladies splashed and floated around in the waves while I took more videos of them. When they had had enough, we drove back to Camp Serendipity, had a lunch of left-over German food, and then packed up and left for Skykomish.

The traffic was a little heavy, but we made it with a minute to spare in order for Tianna to get two more train rides. She got the one promised ride, and then the engineer let her drive the locomotive into the garage for the night.

Then we went to Marilyn and George's house where Marilyn fixed some sweet potato French fries and George barbecued hamburgers. It was a yummy dinner. We looked at the pictures and raw videos from the weekend before we left. Marilyn will make a video from them and post it on YouTube later.

The trip home took an hour and a half longer than usual because of the bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic all the way from Index to Monroe. We were plenty tired, but happy, by the time we got home.

8/22-25/13 I hosted a Boy Scout camping trip for Troop 100 from Thursday through Sunday.

Along with three other cars, I drove my truck up to Camp Serendipity with a load of troop gear and three of the twelve boys who went. Four parents also went up on Thursday. They were Dean Putnam, Lance Pettit, Ken Dunkelberg, and Laurie Dunkelberg.

We arrived about noon and there was a little frog in the gate can. He stayed in the can when I set it on the telephone pedestal. Later I called the scouts over to have a peek at him in the can. After a while, he hopped out onto the pedestal and let the boys watch him sit there for a few minutes.

Inside the cabin I found one mouse in the trap behind the stove. I dumped him outside and reset the trap.

I tied up Rosy, the rose bush, and drove the truck up to the front porch. That made it fairly easy for the boys to unload the gear and bring it up onto the porch. The kitchen was set up there in the usual way except we didn't set up the big OSB table like we usually did. The boys set up their camp in the parking area and the adults set up bunks in the cabin and on the front porch. I slept in the bedroom.

On Friday, the boys and the other adult leaders went to Lake Wenatchee State Park, walked some trails, and swam at the beach. I stayed back, took a shower, and relaxed. When they returned, they did a service project for me by gathering the firewood that I had cut up in various places in the woods to clear the trails of fallen trees. They carried the wood in buckets, in their hands, and in a wheelbarrow and made a big pile of it on the upper roadway in front of the cabin. I'll stack it later there under the eaves and it will be handy for me to burn next winter.

While washing dishes in the kitchen sink after one of the meals, the flexible pipe I had used as a supply pipe for the hot water faucet came loose from the upper shark bite connector. The tubing had gotten soft when it was heated up and the connector just let go. It sprayed quite a bit of water before we noticed it and turned off the shutoff valve. Laurie and I cleaned up the water.

In the evening Paul Hendricks, the scoutmaster showed up and he stayed for the rest of the trip.

On Saturday, we all went for a hike to Twin Lakes. On the way there, one of the cars hit my gate and broke the gate log. When we returned from the hike, I made a splint from a 2x4 and used four pieces of 1/2" allthread to bolt the splint to the underside of the broken log. That fixed it up as good as new. Three of the adult leaders and one boy helped with the work so it went very fast.

Bert and Ernie showed up several times during the outing and even though Ernie came up on the porch a lot, Bert stayed down with the boys. That allowed Ernie to get more attention than he usually gets.

I had re-attached the hot water supply pipe but it let loose again and made another water mess. I definitely need to replace that hose with copper pipe so it will stay attached.

On Sunday, we had our breakfast and packed up to leave. We left about 11:00 and arrived at Zeke's for lunch at about noon. We avoided most of the heavy traffic delays that build up on Highway 2 on Sunday afternoon. It was a fun outing and I am happy about the firewood.