9/5-6/07 I went up to the property for 2 days: Wednesday and Thursday.

I had to postpone my trip by a day in order to get the mini-van fixed on Tuesday. I also got the tires on the truck rotated and balanced and I bought a new set of tire chains for it.

I arrived at the property at 1:20. The weather was nice and cool and the mosquitoes are all but gone for the season. After moving in and having lunch, I went up to the cabin and noticed that the newel post for the front staircase was loose. The log had evidently shrunk and maybe the boys had given it some extra wiggling. I got out the wrenches and tightened the nuts on the CB66 which firmed up the post. Then I went around and tightened up the nuts on all the CB88s under all the porch columns. They hadn't been tightened for a while and they all took a couple of turns.

Next I vacuumed the main floor of the cabin and picked up odds and ends that were lying around. In the process, Larry stopped by for a visit. We had a nice chat. When he left, I finished vacuuming and then put the easel together by fastening the two doors together with long 1x2s and screws. It was awkward and heavy to try to stand up, so I rigged a rope hanging down from the loft and used it to lift and hold the easel while I jockeyed it into position against the wall.

On Thursday morning, I removed a section of hose I had added in order to get water to the mixer and hung that section from high up on the cabin to let it drain. Then I let the water run from the other hose onto the wild rose bush in front of the porch. This bush is under the eaves and doesn't get much water. I figured that if I let the water run it would not only water this bush and freshen up the hose in preparation for the scouts, but also the water would run down the cliff and end up watering the potted sequoia trees.

I spent the rest of the morning doing odds and ends in preparation for the scout planning session which will be held up there in two days. I vacuumed the loft, brought the two big sawhorses down from the loft for use in making a cooking table on the porch, swept the porch, and swept out the privy. Then I trimmed all the limbs and bushes from the upper roadway all the way down to the road on both sides. Now you can walk along the roadway without having branches scrape your head and you can drive in and out without having bushes scrape your car. It looks a lot neater and more open now. I also put all the rocks back in the pile down at the old log pile site. Mike had inadvertently scooped up a number of these rocks when he scooped the snow away, and had dumped them in various locations where the boys may want to pitch tents. With the rocks back out of the way, that area is now available for parking again too.

Before I left, I shut off the water in the hose and coiled the hose up so it is ready for the scouts. I also rolled up the section of hose that I had drained and stored it away.

Three gray jays showed up for their usual peanuts during the work. I was glad to see them and I hope they show up when the scouts are here. I left for home shortly before 2:00.

9/8-9/07 I went up to the property with the Boy Scouts for 2 days: Saturday and Sunday.

Thirteen boys and four adult leaders took the troop bus and one pickup up to the property for the yearly planning session. One more boy joined us up there. The boys did their planning, with a lot of help from the scoutmaster. The adults (except for me) did the cooking on the porch. As a break from the planning, and as a service project to thank me for the use of the place, the boys pitched in and moved a big bunch of the rocks from the rock pile that were in the way of the eventual sewer line.

Two of the boys and one dad left after dinner. That left twelve boys, who slept in the loft of the cabin, two adults who slept on the porch, and me. I slept in my trailer. It got down to 35 degrees over night, but it warmed up again on Sunday.

First thing Sunday morning, the scoutmaster fell from the ladder as he was trying to waken the boys. He hit his head and bit his tongue pretty badly. Other than that, he seemed to be ok after he settled down. He ran the rest of the meetings ok and he drove home ok, but he had a headache and his tongue hurt pretty much. Before we left, the boys finished up their planning, we had breakfast and lunch, the boys moved some more rocks, Bert and Ernie came by for some dog biscuits, we loaded up the bus, and left for home at about 1:00 The gray jays visited a couple times and at least two boys got to feed them from their hands.