2/22-26/21 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

On the way I stopped at the post office, and then at Maddy's to pay a bill. Then I headed for the pass knowing that all three passes were closed due to avalanche hazards. I went anyway just to get an early position in line on the chance that they would open earlier than predicted.

It rained all the way to Scenic and then it turned to snow. I stopped at the roadblock the Highway Department had set up which was a huge berm of snow all the way across the entire road.

The people in line told me that the prediction hadn't changed and that was that at 2:00 o'clock they would reevaluate the situation. I was expecting a call from Maddy and I discovered there is no cell service at Scenic. I turned around to drive 4 miles back to Skykomish to use the bathroom at the Ranger station and to talk to Maddy. The Ranger station bathroom was closed up tight, so I called Marilyn and she invited me over to use her bathroom.

I drove over to Marilyn's and used her bathroom. Then I made my phone call and drove back up to Scenic to get back in line.

The Highway Department removed the blocking berm and let the traffic go at 1:30. I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 2:20 in the rain. I brought my gear up in one trip, built a fire, had my lunch and a nap and by that time it was time for a shower.

On Tuesday I practiced the piano, listened to the radio, and then cut a shim for the front door threshold from a piece of oak pallet wood. Robert called and said he might come over.

After lunch and a nap, I split all of the firewood rounds that I had and stacked the firewood. Then I planed the threshold shim to fit and went looking for glue.

I found several tubes of Liquid Nails but they were all at least 20 years old and were almost worthless. I spent the rest of the day reading.

On Wednesday, the weather was beautiful, clear, and sunny. After practicing the piano, I found two more old tubes of glue and I found one that was barely soft enough. I squeezed a bead out onto the shim and pressed it in place hoping it would work. I forced the thin ends of four or five shims between the closed door and the threshold shim in order to squeeze it down and hold it in place and also to provide a little clearance so that the door could open and close. I figured that if it didn't hold, I could always scrape that old glue off and re-glue it.

Ellen called and asked about curtains for the bedroom. She had me measure the exact size. I spent the rest of the morning writing. After having my lunch, Robert came over and we had a nice visit. I skipped my nap, practiced the piano some more, and read for the rest of the afternoon.

On Thursday there was two inches of new snow when I got up and the temperature was 26 degrees. I pulled the temporary shims out and saw that the glue was going to hold the threshold shim in place. I was happy that that job was done.

Dave called and we had another long, interesting conversation. After we hung up, I cut 22 casing legs to length out on the front porch. After lunch and a nap, I sanded seven of the casing legs before it was time to quit.

On Friday morning I had planned to finish sanding the casing legs, but there had been 8 inches of new snow overnight so I spent the morning shoveling snow instead. I shoveled off the back porch, the back staircase, the back stoop, and then I cleared the path and the concrete stairs and finally dug the truck out so I could drive it away. During the work, Josh showed up and cleared the driveway in front of the truck. I told him to forget about plowing the entire driveway and parking area for the rest of the winter because it was so handy to use the concrete stairs and backing into the parking place worked so well.

After having my lunch and packing up my gear I left for home at 12:45. It had been another fun and sort of productive week.