6/11-13/13 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way I stopped and visited with Uncle Charles. I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 11:10. It was a little chilly so after moving my stuff in, I started a fire in the wood stove. Then I turned on the valve to begin watering the giant sequoia tree named Brian and then had my lunch. I noticed some birds with bright yellow markings eating at Dave's bird feeder and they had nearly emptied it. I got the bag of safflower seeds and filled the feeder back up. I was happy to see the birds.

After a short nap, I carried a sheet of 1/2" plywood up from the truck to the front porch. I bought it to use instead of OSB for backing the cabinet peninsula. Then I finished framing in the extension to the back of the corner kitchen cabinet. It came out very nice.

Next I cut the plywood sheet to the correct height for the backing. The left end still needed to be scribed to fit the log wall and after that, the right end would have to be cut to length.

On Wednesday I went into the woods and watered all the giant sequoia trees. The new hose arrangement works perfectly to water Brian while I am on my way to or from watering the rest of the trees.

When I finished, I scribed and cut the plywood sheet to make the backing board. Then I tacked it in place with three screws. I decided not to fasten it completely until after I talk to Bob Faulkner from Moonlight Tile & Stone when he makes the measurements for the countertops.

I vacuumed the floor all around the cabinets and I was ready for Bob to make his measurements. Then I had my lunch and a short nap.

Bob showed up at about 1:30 and I helped him carry some of his gear up to the cabin. We talked about various things, like how they were going to get the stone tops into the cabin, how the stone was going to fit into the notch in the log, and so on. Then he set up his amazing computer and proceeded to make his measurements.

In his right hand he held a special stylus that was connected to his computer by a spring-loaded cord. In his right hand he held a small remote control device. He would hold the stylus up against some point on the cabinet, press a button on the remote control, and the computer would capture the exact x,y,z coordinates of the point of the stylus. In this way, he loaded the computer up with the measurements of the geometry of the cabinets. That will be used to fabricate the granite tops.

Bob finished up and left at about 3:30. Afterward I took a chainsaw down to the driveway and cut 5 or 6 feet off the butt of the gate log and about 2 feet off the top of it. When the gate is open, the butt stuck out a little too close to the road so it would be a little safer being shorter. I thought that without that counterweight, the log might be too heavy to lift, in which case I planned to attach one or two concrete blocks to serve as counterweights. As it turned out, the log is small and light enough that I don't need any additional counterweight.

I threw the pieces I had cut off onto one of the many piles of firewood down there and then I cut away quite a few more branches in order to widen the path through the driveway. Then I took the saw up to the giant sequoia grove and bucked a section out of the log that had fallen just two feet from the tree named Ellen. I also used the saw to cut a new trail between Ellen and John that goes through the gap in the log. That will be a big improvement in getting around up there.

Because of a fairly intense family situation, I didn't sleep too well that night. On Thursday morning I just didn't feel like doing much work. I was ready for the countertop installation scheduled for next Wednesday so I decided to go home early. I left at 9:15 right after breakfast.