6/17-21/24 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

I arrived at noon and brought my gear up in one trip. I hoisted the flag, unpacked my gear, and had my lunch and a short nap.

When I got up, I wheelbarrowed two sacks of mortar mix from the truck up to the cabin. Then I wheeled up one big stone from the hairpin turn that looked to me like it would be a perfect cornerstone. I think it weighed nearly 50 lbs.

Next, I used the string trimmer and used up 1 1/2 batteries whacking weeds in front of the cabin before I quit.

On Tuesday morning, I practiced the piano, listened to the radio, and walked to the grave. On the way I talked to Byron and Barb and was happy to see that they both look robust and healthy.

After lunch and a nap, I rigged up a come-along at the Grid E3 corner of the building and used it to lift the new big cornerstone and place it on the footing. I also used a skyhook and come-along near the center of the wall to lift another large stone. Then I mixed a batch of mortar and mortared in the stones I had prepared.

I learned it was a mistake to use two come-alongs at the same time because they interfered with each other, but despite that I got the job done.

On Wednesday morning, I walked to the grave, and, at Byron and Barb's suggestion, I walked up to their place to look at his new project of building an outbuilding. Nobody was home when I got there.

When I got back, I discovered another tick on my leg, but it didn't seem to be dug in and came off easily, so I didn't worry about it. After watching the tick crawl around the bathroom sink for a while I chopped it into pieces and disposed of it.

After lunch and a nap, I chose a special stone I had noticed in the rock pile. I had rejected it earlier because its shape would be difficult to incorporate in the wall, but now, I noticed it had a distinctive pattern in the grain that I wanted to display prominently in the wall. I figured out a way to hold it in place with other stones and mortar and display the beautiful grain pattern.

On Thursday morning, I practiced the piano, listened to the radio, and walked to the grave. Then I filled 11 water jugs and loaded them into the truck.

After lunch and a nap, I mixed up one batch of mortar, #55, and laid up stones I had prepared. Then I whacked one battery's worth of weeds from up by the privy and the trail toward Paul. I went over and looked at Paul and I was happy to see the irrigation system is working fine and the tree looks robust and healthy.

In the evening, I received a surprise visit from Ben and Darius. I knew Ben from last year's fire prevention efforts, and they wanted to come in so Darius could see the models she had heard about. We spent quite a bit of time looking at the Mount Rainier model and the cabin model and had a delightful visit. They were camping at Nason Creek campground and were out looking for firewood.

On Friday morning I practiced the piano, walked to the grave, listened to the radio, packed up, and left for home at 1:20. It was another fun week.