9/8-12/25 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 5 days: Monday through Friday.

I arrived a little late at 12:30. I brought my gear up in one trip and hoisted the flag. There were helicopters making continuous runs between Lake Wenatchee and Dirtyface mountain right above the cabin. Evidently that fire is still burning. After lunch and a nap, I started out to take a walk but for various reasons, I had to turn around and abandon the walk.

On Tuesday, the power had gone out at about 9:30 the previous evening and it stayed out all night. I slept in until 6:00 and the power was still out. I didn't have much for a cold breakfast and I don't have a propane stove, so I decided to walk up the road to where I get cell service to call the PUD.

Before I had gone very far, I met Marsha McComas and a friend and they already had the information that power was expected to be restored by 10:00 AM. I was happy to hear that, and I turned around and went back to the cabin.

No sooner was I inside than a violent thunderstorm erupted with thunder, lightning, and a violent downpour. I hope Marsha and her friend didn't get too wet.

While I was waiting for the power to come back on, I filled and staged 12 water jugs. The power came back on at 9:45 and I proceeded to cook and eat my breakfast. Then I went out to work on the stone wall. I am in the process of topping out the wall under the front porch and I had the first cap stone on the right-hand end already in place.

As I built that wall, I left the usual air gap between the block wall and the stone wall, but at the end, I closed up that gap and sealed the stone wall right up against the block wall to keep rodents out. So now, that first cap stone was mortared in right up against the block wall. Now, all the rest of the cap stones also need to be mortared to the block wall, so the air gap needed to be filled.

I selected enough rough stones that would span the air gap without falling through and placed them so that I could lay a bed of mortar on them making a base for the cap stones. I used batch numbers 162 and 163 for the mortar to make a bed for the cap stones.

Then I went in for lunch and a nap. When I got up, I walked to the grave and then practiced the piano for a while before my shower.

On Wednesday morning, I was up early and had already finished my breakfast when the power went out again at 9:30AM. Fortunately I didn't need power to do my stonemasonry, so I went outside to work. I selected half a dozen or so flat stones from the collection I had accumulated and fit them on top of the mortar bed dry.

After lunch and a nap, I lowered my flag to half-staff in honor of Charlie Kirk and then walked to the grave. On the way I talked to John who was on his way on some errand.

On Thursday, Ellen called first thing to let me know that Ocean and Noah would be up to visit Camp Serendipity sometime around noon. Ocean had fond memories of the cabin from her childhood and Noah had heard all about it and was eager to see it. It was going to be a fun visit.

Not long after I talked to Ellen, Dave called, and we had another delightful conversation. Then, I had my breakfast and then went outside to work on the wall. I got a mason's string and rigged it up to provide a line for aligning the rest of the cap stones.

Then I started laying up the capstones, guided by my tight string, using mortar batch #164, I laid up the first two for a total of three. That was about half of the cap stones to do the job on that short wall.

After lunch and a nap, I expected the visitors to show up, but they were late. To fill the time, I loaded all the water jugs into the truck, and then at 4:00, I gave up on the visit and got in the shower.

I was just about to start shaving when the doorbell rang. Wrapped in a towel, I answered the door and welcomed Ocean, Noah, and their friend, Henry. They made themselves at home while I resumed my shower and shaved. When I was finished, I answered the many questions they had. Ocean was particularly taken by the railings. She remembered how scary it was for her climbing the stairs with no railing. They seemed to be interested in everything, inside and outside, and asked questions non-stop. They still wanted to visit Leavenworth, so they left at about 5:30. It was a fun whirlwind visit.

After they left, I remembered to fertilize Tiger.

On Friday I was up and out to work early. I mixed up two batches of mortar and laid up the last capstones in the back wall. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and relief. I took a picture of the final result.

Next, I cleaned up, had my lunch, packed up and left for home at 1:00. It was another fun and productive week.