7/14-16/09 I went up to the property for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

Just after going over the pass, I hit a medium sized bird. I think it was a grouse or a quail and I think it was intending to walk across the highway. When my truck came around the bend, the bird decided too late to fly up. The right corner of my hood hit the bird and knocked it around so that the top of the cab also hit it. I was going 55 so I am sure it died instantly. Poor thing. I can't be sure, but in the instant that I first saw it, it seemed like there were some little ones following it. I hope I am wrong about that.

I arrived at 12:50 and was soon greeted by Bert and Ernie. There were noticeably fewer mosquitoes than last week. There were no signs of mice in the cabin, but there were a lot of turds on the porch that seemed to be packrat size. I decided that I had better start setting the trap out there again.

I went to work and dismantled the scaffold tower in the loft. I left the frames up there because I will still need it to install the ventilation system in the ceiling. Then I put away a bunch of tools. There were a bunch of odd containers of nuts and bolts, nails and screws, and an assortment of other odds and ends. I decided it would be a good time to organize these things and put them away. I decided that the storage bins were the perfect place and now was the time to do it. I have described these bins in the Journal Entries for 2/25/09, 2/26/09, 3/3/09, 3/6/09, and 3/12/09.

I got all the cans and boxes of the stuff on one table and then I wrote a one line description of each item on a piece of paper. This didn't take too long, but I did take the time to measure the lengths of the screws and nails etc. so that I would have an accurate description. Then I loaded all the containers in a bucket and took them and my list down to the crawlspace. I also took my inventory list of the bins so I could easily figure out which bins were empty.

Then I would take out a set of empty bins, load each of them up with the stuff, write the bin number on the sheet alongside the description, and then put the bin back in the cabinet. It didn't take long at all. Now I just need to update the inventory list when I get home and bring back the updated lists. This is really going to make finding things easier from now on, plus storing them takes up a lot less space.

Before I went in for the night, I set the trap out on the porch. It was very uncomfortable setting the trap because the three sticks that make up the trigger have been used so many times that they don't hold together very well any more. That makes it hard to set but it also makes the trigger very sensitive. But the worst part was that the mosquitoes found my bare hands and I either had to start over trying to set the trap, or let the mosquitoes bite my hands while I tried to set it. It took me a long time and many mosquito bites before I finally got the trap set. I wasn't sure it was worth it.

On Wednesday morning I found that the trap had sprung but nothing was inside except all the bait. I don't know whether it fell down by itself or whether a packrat pushed it over. Strike one.

Fortunately there was no sign of mice inside the cabin again. I started on a thorough cleaning of the first floor. John will be visiting next week and so this week is devoted to cleaning up the place and preparing for his visit. Harold Samdahl will also be visiting again.

Since I am pretty much done, at least for a while, with projects that make a lot of dust, I started by vacuuming the tops of the stud walls, the flanges of the ceiling joists, the tops of the doorway headers, the tops of the beams, and everything high that could hold dust. Then I went all around and vacuumed the log walls as high as I could reach them from a stool using a long tube on the vacuum cleaner. I also vacuumed all the window ledges.

After lunch and a nap, I put away all the toolboxes and everything else that was out on the tables, and vacuumed the entire first floor. Finally, I set up an inflatable mattress in the bedroom. Before I went in for the night, I set the trap on the porch again and endured the mosquito bites on my hands again. I think that's the most annoying place for them to bite me.

On Thursday morning, I found that the trap had not sprung and all the bait was still in place. There were some new packrat turds nearby, so the only thing I can conclude is that the packrats have gotten smart enough to know better than to mess with my trap. It's sort of humiliating to be outsmarted by rodents, but it appears that's what is happening. Strike two.

I unloaded all the gear that I normally carry around with me in the cab of the truck. Harold, John, and I will be using the truck to travel to Hood River so I needed the room. We won't be needing all the toolboxes I carry in there, nor will we need the chains, snowshoes, and heavy weather gear either. After making several trips from the truck to the cabin with this gear, I decided it would be more efficient to use the wheelbarrow. I got it out and used it for the rest of the stuff. I was amazed at how much stuff there was in there. I also unloaded and carried up the planks, come-along, chains and other gear that I had used to load and haul Priscilla's water heater and refrigerator.

Finally, I went to work cleaning the trailer. I beat all the rugs, swept the floor, put stuff away, and dusted a lot of dirty surfaces. As usual, it's good to have visitors from time to time to get the impetus to clean the place up. I left for home at 1:00 looking forward to John and Harold's visit next week.