9/30-10/4/24 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

I had a brake job done on the truck in the morning before I left so I was late in leaving. I arrived at 1:40. I brought my gear up in one trip and then had my lunch. Then I walked to the grave but without getting a nap.

As I walked by the Smith's house, I noticed they were doing some logging. On the way back I stopped and watched them fall a big, huge Douglas fir that had been stripped of its branches.

On Tuesday morning I was surprised that the temperature was 26 degrees outside. That's a hard freeze and I discovered that my hose was frozen solid. I began to rethink my plans for work for the season.

I built a fire in the stove to take the chill off the cabin and then I practiced the piano. Then I went to work outside and harvested, hauled, washed, and stacked a bunch of stones. Then I used up the last of a jug of rodent repellent by spraying it into the air gap behind the rock wall. Then I got a second jug connected up to the sprayer.

After lunch and a nap, Robert showed up and I gave him a tour of my stonemasonry operation. He was very interested. We looked at everything from the wall to the quarry and I demonstrated how I reach in and extract stones from the quarry and get them in a wheelbarrow. While we were standing at the foot of the front staircase, we were startled by a big Alder snag that just happened to fall and crash and break up on the roadway where we walk. Robert said he had been looking at that snag for a long time thinking he should take it down but now it came down by itself and fortunately didn't hurt anything or anybody. It will give me a source of a bunch of really good firewood. After Robert left, I walked to the grave.

On Wednesday morning the temperature was 40 degrees, so I wasn't sure if the weather really was changing to prevent masonry work or whether the 40 degrees was going to be unusual. At any rate I mixed up a batch of mortar with batch #105 and laid up a batch of stones in the wall. Then I had my lunch and a nap and afterwards walked to the grave. When I got back, I practiced the piano and had my dinner. After dinner I filled and staged 5 water jugs.

On Thursday morning the temperature was back down to 25 degrees, and everything was frozen. At that point I decided to stop masonry work for the season. Then I practiced the piano and after a good long session, I went outside and walked to the grave.

Just as I started walking one of the sheep herder's big guard dogs challenged me and barked but didn't get close to me. The dogs are coming on to the road this year more than they ever had in the past.

When I got near the grave, Barb came by and stopped and talked. She described the shed they were building and invited me to come up and see it. Then as I was walking back, I saw Nancy ride her bicycle into John's driveway. She talked to me when she came back out and told me that Abby was down at her place and she had told John. As I approached my driveway, I could see a dog in the road just waiting and as I got closer, I discovered it was Abby. She greeted me and seemed a little bewildered. I did my best to talk her into going back home. She started walking that way, so I went into the cabin.

After lunch and a nap, I went out on the bluff and pruned brush around all of the transplanted Cedars. I had neglected them all summer and they were pretty well overgrown. But the good news is they were all thriving in spite of the competition. I pruned the brush so that next spring the cedars should have a better start. I decided I will keep on top of the pruning much better next year than I did this year.

On Friday morning the temperature outside was 25 degrees again so I think my decision was the correct one. I practiced the piano and then loaded the jugs into the truck. Then I walked to the grave and kept on going up to Barb and Byron's house and took some pictures of their huge shed. I went in and visited for a while and met a man named Ken who said he wanted to come and visit my cabin next week. Then I left after taking a picture of the big stuffed elk head they had just acquired.

When I got down to the grave, I saw that Dave and Nancy were there with their dogs and all of us began walking back home together. But then Nancy offered me some cabbage she had grown and said that she would walk ahead of us and prepare some cabbage for me to take home with me. Both Dave and I walk fairly slowly, and Nancy seemed happy to have an excuse to walk faster to get away from us.

I left for home at 1:15 feeling a little ambivalent about stopping my masonry activities sooner than I had expected. When I passed the Bartholomew's house I stopped in and picked up the cabbage and took it home. It was another fun week, but winter is coming.