Construction Journal Entry Week of 11/12/17

11/14-16/17 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

There was fresh snow in the trees above 3000 feet but the road was bare and dry. The drive over was very pleasant. I arrived at 11:45 and unloaded a bunch of yard waste before I brought my gear up to the cabin. Happily, there were again no mice in the traps.

I hoisted the flag, lit a fire in the stove, had my lunch, and then went out and split a bunch of firewood. Then I came back in and had my nap. When I got up, I made and installed the right-hand baseboard in the entry room.

On Wednesday morning, Dave called as I was finishing my breakfast. We had another delightful chat. Next, I went up in the loft and hung the completed jigsaw puzzle on the gable wall. I had previously fastened the thing together using packaging tape on the back side. I took a picture of the result.

With the puzzle completed, I had no more use for the 4x8 sheet of white paneling I had used as a surface to assemble the puzzle, so I took it outside and stowed it under the porch with the plywood and OSB I have down there. Then I went to work and made and installed the left-hand baseboard in the entry room.

That one was particularly gratifying because it is so innocuous and yet was so tricky to make and install. The installation was difficult because, like all the other baseboards, you have to do a lot of the work while lying on the floor in an awkward position. This particular little piece was in the corner which limits the ways you can lie on the floor and yet use your hands and tools. When I tapped it into place after the final fit, I felt a real sense of accomplishment. Anyone else looking at it won't have a clue.

Next, I made the baseboard for the log wall inside the bedroom closet. It almost fit by the time I took a break for lunch, splitting some more firewood, and another nap.

When I got up, I finished installing the baseboard in the closet and then I planed two 8-foot 2x4s for use as baseboards in the bedroom. Then, before I quit for the night, I masked the two entry room baseboards so they were ready to be varnished.

On Thursday morning, I set the two planed 2x4s across a sawhorse and a short stepladder in the living room to get them ready to varnish. I spread heavy paper on the floor below the 2x4s. Then I varnished the entry room baseboards, a second coat on the ones along the wall between Grids E3 and B3, and finally the two 2x4s.

After cleaning out my brush, I had my lunch and left for home. I probably should have ventilated the place better, but my strategy was to eat my lunch as quickly as I could and then get out of there. After thinking about it, from now on I will varnish the 2x4s out on the porch first so I won't get the fumes inside the cabin. I still have one more coat to do on the ones already installed, which I will do just before I leave next week, but for the rest of them, I'll keep the fumes outside. I left for home at about 12:00 feeling pretty good about my progress.



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