1/5-9/26 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 5 days: Monday through Friday.

US 2 was finally open for the first time this year, so I was happy to drive that route rather than I-90. I had to follow a pilot car for one stretch, but it didn't delay me much. I arrived at 1:10.

The weather was sunny and beautiful and there was an inch of new, crusty snow on the ground. I carried my gear to the cabin in one trip. After hoisting the flag, I unpacked my gear and had my lunch. Then I skipped my nap and walked to the grave.

On the way, I saw that someone had run off the road just at the end of our property and their truck was stuck in the ditch at about a 45 degree angle. The snow was at least a foot deep, and the stuck truck was not going to get out without a tow truck.

On Tuesday morning when I got up, the temperature outside was 25 degrees and it was snowing. I practiced the piano and then worked on the puzzle for a while. Then I took a short nap before I went outside to work.

My objective was to make room under the scaffold to store firewood rounds up against the foundation wall. To do that, I had to find places for and then move some short planks and other miscellaneous lumber out of the way. I did that and was happy with the result. It was snowing heavily the whole time, but my entire work area was under the eaves, so it stayed clear and dry.

Next, I went inside, had my lunch, and then walked to the grave wondering if the stuck truck was still there. What I saw when I got down there was that there was another truck there and two men were working at pulling the stuck truck out of the snow.

As I got closer, I was greeted by John who was just getting out of the stuck truck. It was he who had run off the road. The other truck was a tow truck, and they were just hooking the two trucks together with a winch cable when I got there. I stood there and watched as the winch slowly pulled the truck out of the ditch and up onto the road.

Then the tow truck left and John drove his truck down to my driveway and turned it around to go to his place. I continued my walk and when I got to John's place, I saw that he had parked his truck at the entrance to his driveway aiming out. The snow was at least a foot deep, and the road had not been plowed. I walked in knee-deep tire ruts during my walk to the grave.

When I got back to the cabin, I decided to follow John's plan and turn my truck around. I was parked at the hairpin turn aiming uphill. I was a little apprehensive that I might get stuck in the knee-deep snow, and I debated whether to turn the truck around in the parking area or to back straight out onto the road and turn it around there. The road still hadn't been plowed, and it is hard to see exactly where the driveway is in the mirrors in those conditions.

I opted to turn around right away in the parking area and then drive to the entrance frontwards. Gravity was on my side, and the truck was in 4wd so I had no trouble backing the truck into the 90 degree turn, and then driving out again in a 90 degree left turn and frontwards to the start of the driveway. It worked like a charm. It could now snow as much as it wants, and I wouldn't get snowed in.

On Wednesday morning when I got up, the temperature was 25 degrees, and it was snowing lightly. That changed so that it snowed heavily all day.

After breakfast and practicing the piano, I got my coat, gloves, and boots on and postholed through knee-deep crusty snow down the trail all the way to the truck which was now at the end of the driveway. I opened the tailgate and got the long-handled broom out and used it to clear the snow off the tonneau cover. Then, after opening the cover, I could reach the scoop shovel and get it out so I could reach it through the tailgate. Then I used the broom to push the snow off the top of the cab, the windshield, and the hood of the truck.

Then after having my lunch, I walked to the grave and ran into Frank Scoggins who was on a tractor plowing his driveway. We had a nice visit, and I learned that it was he who had plowed my parking area so nicely a week or two ago. I could see that the blade on his tractor matched the snowbanks that had been left by whomever had plowed my driveway.

On Thursday morning, the temperature outside was 26 degrees and it was snowing lightly. I fertilized Tiger and practiced the piano. Suddenly, I got a nosebleed from out of nowhere. Fortunately, it did not drip onto or into the piano, but it did drip onto my pants leaving two quarter-size blood stains before I could grab a paper towel.

With my piano practice interrupted, I went to work on those bloodstains. I took my pants off, put a pair of work pants on, transferred the contents of the pockets, and then scrubbed the stains with a toothbrush in a sink full of cold water. They came out pretty quickly and easily. Then, after wringing out the wet parts of the pants, I rigged a hanger to suspend the pants over the heater in the bathroom, which typically pumps out heat 24/7 during the winter.

Next, I went back to the piano to finish my practice. Then I worked on the puzzle for a little while before I had my lunch.

Ellen and I decided that my priority for the day should be to shovel off the concrete staircase. It was unusable the way it was because of the deep snow and the other route up to the cabin, the one I had been using required continued trail maintenance to keep it usable. One big roof avalanche, or even a heavy snowfall could make that trail difficult, if not impossible, to use. Having that concrete staircase cleared could be important, especially in an emergency.

Then, with the scoop shovel in hand, I postholed a trail from the truck to the base of the concrete staircase. Then scoop by scoop, I cleared the snow off the entire staircase. That took about an hour and kept me in oxygen debt the whole time. But since I started at the bottom, gravity was my friend and with persistence as my mode of operation, I finished the job. I had already established a tramped-down trail from the flagpole to the front porch, so it didn't take much more stomping to make this trail walkable as well.

Back in the cabin, I decided to bite the bullet and fix a problem that had been nagging at me for a couple weeks. I had been experiencing BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) on a regular basis and this was the time to work on it. I got the instructions for the Epley maneuver from the file and followed the procedure. It worked like a charm and the vertigo was cured. I don't know why I didn't do it earlier but better late than never.

After my shower, I got another nosebleed. This one didn't make any mess but it also didn't stop like the earlier one. But, I was (am) prepared with a product called Nampons, which I carry in my travel bag. These are small strips that you stick up your nose and the instant the strip contacts blood, it absorbs it, swells up, stops the bleeding, and injects a dose of coagulant. My nosebleed stopped instantly and I left the strip in for the prescribed 10 minutes and then forgot about it.

On Friday morning the temperature outside was 25 degrees but it was not snowing. In fact, it turned out to be a nice sunny day. Dave called first thing in the morning and had some explanation why he called on Friday instead of Thursday. I suggested that maybe it was because it was his birthday. We had a nice chat mostly about the Venezuela affair and the Minneapolis shooting. After we hung up, I practiced the piano, had my lunch and got ready to leave for home. It was nice carrying my gear down that cleared staircase for a change. It was another eventful and fun week even if it wasn't very productive.