9/6-9/21 I went up to Camp Serendipity for four days: Monday through Thursday.

I brought my gear up in one trip, hoisted the flag, had my lunch, and then my usual nap.

When I got up, I went into the woods and checked on Paul and Runty and then brought 6 gallons of water to Andrew. I was surprised to see Andrew's dribble bucket had been plugged up and had held about half a bucket for a week without leaking out.

After unplugging the bucket, and to wait for it to drain, I went over the hill and checked on the spring. Since it was probably the lowest flow for the season after a very dry summer, I was happy to see water running out of the overflow pipe.

The pool below the pipe was plugged with debris, however, so I proceeded to clear away the debris and let the water flow out of the pool. Then I cleared debris away from the overflow pipe and unscrewed it to check its contents and to make sure it was intact. To my surprise, the flow had completely stopped. I found a stick that I used as a dipstick and learned that the water level inside was an inch or so below the overflow pipe. That was unacceptable. It then dawned on me that the pool that had been dammed up had raised the water level high enough to cause the overflow. Now that the pool level was lowered, the level inside the springbox was also lowered. This was good news and bad news.

The bad news is that the leak under the springbox is serious enough to be intolerable. The good news is that by simply damming up the pool on the outside, the water level can be brought up to an acceptable level. That will be my new strategy; I will keep that pool dammed up. So, I rebuilt the debris dam and raised the pool level again. The only downside I can think of is that the valves on the outside are now submerged but that shouldn't hurt them.

On Tuesday I practiced the piano and then went up to the bluff and hauled down six wheelbarrow loads of firewood and stacked it at the cabin.

After lunch and a nap, I practiced the piano again and then tinkered with some woodworking.

On Wednesday after doing some exercises, I practiced the piano and went back up to the bluff and hauled more firewood. I decided I had enough wood at the cabin for the winter, so I began hauling the wood to the woodshed instead. The woodshed was completely empty, and I was glad to begin filling it up again. After lunch and a nap, I spent the afternoon playing the piano and reading.

On Thursday morning after practicing the piano I called Robert and then Earl and let them know that I would be leaving today so that I could be home to get a complete body bone scan on Friday. The doctors had seen something in the scans they took last week, and my primary care doctor decided it needs to be investigated further. I spent the rest of the morning reading and left for home at 1:00 o'clock. It's a good feeling having a winter's supply of firewood laid in this early in the season.