7/29-8/1/14 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 4 days: Tuesday through Friday.

First thing on Tuesday morning I had a doctor's appointment to remove a Holter monitor that I wore for 24 hours. Then I packed up and left for the mountains. On the way, I stopped at Priscilla's to drop off some bread Ellen had made. Then I proceeded on to Monroe where I visited with Uncle Charles.

The temperature outside was 95º when I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 2:15. It was a relatively cool 75º inside the cabin. After moving my stuff in, raising the flag, and opening Brian's irrigation valve, I went into the woods to check on the giant sequoia trees. The weather had been pretty hot for 3 weeks, so I wanted to see how they were doing. The dirt around Andrew was dust dry, although the tree looked healthy. I gave it a bucket of water anyway. Brian's water was flowing and the tree looks like it is perking up. The rest of the trees all looked healthy so I don't think they are going to need irrigation at all from now on. We'll see.

After lunch and a nap, I measured for the ceiling board to start fitting around the chimney. It was very hot up against the ceiling and that was all I got done that day. I left the windows open all night in order to cool the cabin as much as I could.

On Wednesday morning, the cabin was about 65º inside which kept it cool almost all day. I got up about 5:00 to take advantage of the cool of the day. I called and left a message for Robert saying that I was just touching bases. I suspect that he has been busy with the raging fires that had US 2 closed from Coles Corner to Leavenworth for a few weeks.

I nailed up ceiling boards until it got too hot by 12:30. It was 90º outside by then. Then I had my lunch and a nice nap. I was just waking up when Bill called. We had a nice chat. He told me about the trouble Lorrie was having trying to get her ankle to heal.

Since it was too hot to work in the loft, I started wiring up receptacle box number 1 in the living room. Before I got very far, Earl stopped in and we had a nice visit. I took a picture of him. After he left, I finished wiring and installing the receptacle in the box.

On Thursday morning, I got started early again. I rigged up a rope handrail between the scaffold tower and the Grid C2 RPSL so that the loft stairs now has a sort of handrail on both sides all the way up. I think our guests who are coming at the end of the month will appreciate that.

I nailed up more ceiling boards and completed the ceiling up to the ridgepole between Grids C1 and D2 before it got too hot up there. After lunch and a nap, I wired up and installed the double receptacle in box number 35 in the entry room.

On Friday morning I was up early again. I went into the woods to check on the sequoias and I gave Andrew another half bucket of water. Brian's irrigation was working fine. Then I nailed up a couple more ceiling boards and re-installed the vent grill in the ceiling.

Next I worked on the junction box for the ceiling fan I plan to install. I am still not sure exactly how to mount the fixture, but after looking at the box that was already installed, I decided to deepen the hole it was mounted in to provide more clearance. I used a hammer and chisel to deepen the hole. I think it will work fine now, but I still plan to do some more investigating before I install the mount.

Finally, I swept up the big mess I had made on the front porch by ripping boards. I also swept up the floor inside the cabin. Then I took a couple of pictures of the ceiling work so far. I left for home at 12:45 after a fun and gratifying week.