9/29-10/3/25 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 5 days: Monday through Friday.

My truck was in the shop, so I left late. I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 4:00 PM. I barely had time to carry my gear up the hill, unpack, have dinner, and do a few exercises. Then the day was done.

On Tuesday morning, I was up early and wheeled two sacks of mortar mix up the hill from the truck to the back stoop. Then I harvested a few stones and laid them up into the wall using mortar batch #175.

Then, after lunch and a nap, I walked to the grave. On the way, Barb and Byron stopped to chat. They were pulling a camper trailer which had a canoe strapped on top. They told me that they were both feeling well and were on their way to the Potholes to do some fishing. It was good to see them healthy and active.

On Wednesday morning, I filled and staged 6 water jugs. Then I went out and harvested one big, beautiful stone, among a few other lesser stones. This one was 2 inches thick, 6 inches wide, and 30 inches long and all the angles were nearly right angles. It was like a huge brick. I laid this stone, along with others, into the wall using batch #176. Then, after lunch and a nap, I walked to the grave.

On Thursday morning, I loaded the water jugs into the truck and then harvested a few stones. As I was scrubbing one of them, I heard a call from down on the road. It was John taking Abby for a walk. I invited him up and he came right up. He inspected, and approved my wall, and then asked about my source of stones.

We had a lengthy discussion about the Gneiss outcrop and how I had chosen to build my cabin on the top of it. I explained how the building department wouldn't allow me to build a stone foundation and instead insisted that I build a concrete foundation and face it with the stones later. That was the strategy I followed for 30 years and now it was finally time to face the foundation with a stone wall, which I have been working on for a couple years.

To help John understand the outcrop, I took him up on top of the High Rock so he could look over the cliff on the back side and see the valley behind it. It is a startling scene the first time you see it, and he was predictably impressed as I expected him to be.

After we came down, we had a long discussion of my Giant Sequoia project, and he promised to come back some time and see the trees.

After John and his dog left, I laid up a batch of stones, including one that was so big that I had to use a come-along to lift it and set it in place. That is fairly routine by now, so the process went smoothly. I used mortar batch #177 to lay up the stones.

After lunch and a nap, I walked to the grave and on the way, I talked to Karen Arnold and Frieda Johnson who stopped to talk. They commented on my rucksack full of rocks. I explained that I had just weighed the rucksack and found that it weighs 20 lb. I also explained that I was going to stop adding a small rock to the pack every Wednesday as I had done since I started "rucking". It was heavy enough and I think 20 lb. is a good place to stop.

Back at the cabin, I realized that I had forgotten to water Tiger, so I did that.

On Friday morning the temperature outside was 30 degrees. That was a sign that I was going to have to stop working with mortar soon. I had bought 2 sacks of mortar mix this week and I began to think that was a mistake. I don't think I will be able to use that much before I have to stop work. I decided to store at least one full sack up in the utility room where it will be warm and dry all winter which should keep the mix fresh. The sack is also inside a kitchen garbage bag so that should keep it extra dry.

I used a firewood carrying sling to lift the sack of mortar mix up the back staircase, one step at a time. Then I dragged it into a spot in the utility room I had prepared for it. Next week, I may do the same thing for what is left of the second sack, depending on whether I do any more masonry work next week. We'll see.

Thinking I had time to lay up another batch of stones, I went up to the stone pile off the front porch and selected 6 nice big Gneiss stones. It is awkward getting stones to the worksite from there, but I decided to roll them down the hill. I rolled all 6 stones down as far as they would go without an additional push. Then I positioned myself down to the closest stone and pushed it down further. It was sort of like herding sheep, getting the laggards to catch up with the leaders.

As my flock of stones made its way down the hill, I had just drawn even with the lowest log tread in the front staircase when I noticed I had angered a colony of bees or hornets along the way. The bees swarmed all around me and started attacking me. One got under my watchband and was stinging away before I was able to pull it off.

I made a hasty exit, pulling off bees as I went, but the swarm followed me all the way to the work site. I escaped by going into the cabin by the back door.

I only got about 4 stings, and they weren't too serious. The bees seemed to be small and not all that aggressive.

The upshot was that my mortar work was stopped for the week, and to use the extra time, I walked to the grave. When I got back, I had my lunch and then went through the rituals of closing up and preparing to leave. I left for home at 12:45 after another fun-filled, and eventful week.