6/5-7/18 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I arrived at 12:10. The weather was cool and clear but there were tons of mosquitoes. After hoisting the flag and moving my gear in, I counted the mason bee's holes and found that they had only filled up two more. That makes a total of 64 in the new block. I think they might be finished for the season.

After lunch and a nap, that was cut short by a mosquito, I went outside and checked all the cedar trees. They are all doing well, and the irrigation is just right for each of them. Since burning was now closed for the season, I unhooked the fire hose and brought it back down to hook up in the hose going up to Brian. That is where it came from originally, but it got cut in two when a log that Robert was skidding got tangled up in it.

To fix the hose, I installed a male hose fitting on one end and a female fitting on the other end and then simply hooked the hose back up. Then I switched the valves in order to irrigate Brian and to fill a bucket which I carried up to Andrew. For the rest of the summer I will irrigate Brian and Andrew this way once or twice each week and all the rest of the time have it irrigating the cedar trees 24/7.

Next, I brought the wheelbarrow down to the truck and brought the Bulldog with me and loaded it into the truck. I will need it in Seattle next week and I didn't want to forget it. Then I loaded the wheelbarrow with three concrete blocks that were on the lower roadway and parking area and which I planned to use to make the privy footings.

As I wheeled those three blocks up the roadway to the privy, I thought back to when I had hauled those same three blocks up the hill, along with about 700 others, when I stockpiled them for use in the foundation. I was more than 20 years younger then and I remember the job as being just a little easier. But I wheeled the blocks to the privy with no problem and with no rest stops.

Then I went back down to the truck and unloaded some yard waste onto the compost pile. Next, I got the string trimmer out and whacked the weeds from the truck all the way to the cabin that I had left undone last week, scaring up clouds of mosquitoes as I went. That ran both batteries down, so I put them in the charger when I went in for the night.

On Wednesday I started a small fire in the wood stove to take the chill off the cabin. After breakfast I went out and built new footings for the privy. The plan was to get the privy down off the timbers it was resting on and onto permanent foundations. I got the footings built before I went in for lunch and a nap.

When I got up, I went out and lowered the privy onto the foundations. I used a 10-foot 4x4 as a lever to lower the two corners on the low side, and I used a steel scaffold frame and a come-along on each of the two corners on the high side.

With the lifting tackle ready, I piled a bunch of boards on the two new footings on the high side so they reached the privy floor. Then using the lever, I lifted each corner in turn and shoved another board onto the pile. When I lowered the corner, the boards on the new footings took the load and offloaded the beam that had been holding the privy up. Then I pulled the beam all the way out from under the privy.

I did the same thing on the other side except that I lifted the privy with the come-alongs. I didn't need to use the boards on those corners because I could just lower each corner a click at a time when I wanted to lower it.

Next, I proceeded to lower the privy all the way down onto the footings. Using Leonard's long mason's level, I figured out which of the corners was the highest and then used the lever or a come-along to lower that corner about 3/4". Then I would check to see which corner was the highest after that and repeat the process. It went very smoothly. As I went, the floor of the privy was never more than 3/4" out of level at any point, so when it was finally resting on the footings all the way around, the floor was level, and for the first time since the privy was moved, the door could be shut. I was very happy with the result.

On Thursday morning, Dave called after breakfast and we had another nice chat. Then I went outside and carried the scaffold frames back and stored them in the crawl space. Next, I used the wheelbarrow to bring back all the other tools, beams, planks, and boards I had used at the privy and stored them in their proper places.

Then I used a couple firewood rounds and a couple concrete blocks to make a support for the privy stoop and to make a set of steps for the privy. I also planed the threshold down a little so that the door closed smoothly without rubbing. Then before I went into the cabin, I made a last check of the cedar trees and was happy that they are all thriving.

Back in the cabin, I vacuumed both floors and the loft stairs before I had my lunch and left for home. I left at 1:00 happy that the privy project was done and now I can get back to making porch railings.