8/15-17/16 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Monday through Wednesday.

The temperature was already 84° when I arrived at 12:35. I checked the siphon setup for the rhubarb and was disappointed to find that it had stopped. The ground around was still fairly damp so it must have worked for a while. I spent some time trying to re-establish the siphon but it was so hot and the mosquitos were bad enough that I gave up and took my gear up to the cabin.

I hoisted the flag, had my lunch, and took a nap. The telephone woke me up. It was Bill. We had a nice long conversation. When we hung up, I didn't want to go out in the heat so I didn't do much work the rest of the day.

On Tuesday I called Robert when I got up and we talked about what was going on in each of our places. He said he would try to get up to Camp Serendipity this week.

After breakfast, I watered Brian and Paul and then went into the woods to check on the snag I wanted Robert to cut down. The trail I had made to the tree was still OK. Then I went deeper into the woods and checked on the rest of the giant sequoia trees. They were all OK except that Andrew was a little dry. I carried a couple gallons of water up to the tree and watered it.

Back at the cabin, I filed the chain on the chainsaw and then tried to start the saw. It wouldn't start so I took off the air filter and saw the problem. It really needed cleaning. I cleaned the filter, replaced it, and the saw started right up. I've learned that I better keep that filter clean.

I took the saw into the woods and started bucking the big Doug fir that had fallen across the trail and through the sequoia grove a few years ago. Robert had told me that the log was probably not usable as timber and that I should go ahead and harvest it for firewood.

I no sooner made a plunge cut through the middle of the log than the saw bar got stuck tight. I still don't understand what the stress forces must have been inside that big log, but I couldn't get the bar out even with wedges. I had to go back to the cabin, get the new reciprocating saw and an axe, and cut completely through the log to release the chainsaw. It was humiliating.

It took a lot of work, chopping and sawing, but eventually I got the saw out. Then, to add to the humiliation, when I resumed bucking the log now that I had the saw loose, I noticed a big pool of water developing right where I had cut through the log.

At first I thought that the log must have dammed up some ground water and that my cutting had released it. But I soon realized that the water was coming from my irrigation hose that ran under the log and up to Brian. I had cut the hose in two with my chainsaw. My "waste-of-time index" was sky-high for the morning. I would now have to spend time repairing the hose.

Next, I took the saw up the Pipe Trail toward the big fallen pine tree that Robert wants to harvest. A fairly big dead grand fir had fallen across the trail and I wanted to cut a path through it to make it easier for Robert to get to the pine log. It took a lot of cutting and stacking branches to get a path cut. About the time I finished, the saw jammed. I thought a small branch had jammed it up but I couldn't find one or see any reason for the jam. Since I was done cutting the trail and it was about lunch time anyway, I headed back to the cabin.

I still don't know what caused the jam, but when I took the saw apart to take the bar off, the chain made an unusual loop just under the sprocket. I had never seen that before. I didn't see any damage and after cleaning up the bar, chain, and saw, and putting it back together, it ran fine.

I took the wheelbarrow into the woods and hauled out my tools and a bunch of firewood that I had gotten from both the Doug fir and the grand fir. Then I went in for lunch.

After lunch, I went back into the woods with a half-inch copper nipple and a roll of duct tape and repaired the severed hose. Then I hauled out the rest of the firewood I had cut and tested the hose repair. I was happy that it didn't leak.

The temperature had gotten up to 90° so I went in for a nap. After I woke up, Robert called and told me that he planned to come up the next morning at 7:00.

On Wednesday morning, Robert called and told me that he would be a little late. Just as he hung up, Dave called. We had another nice long conversation. He is planning on coming back to the NW for Labor Day so we made plans for breakfast on Sept 6 and a visit to Camp Serendipity for an overnighter on the 7th. We also agreed to try to get Bill to join us for one or both events. I'm really excited about the visits.

Robert arrived at 8:00. I helped him carry his tools up to the snag and he went to work figuring out how to bring it down. There were quite a few complications, but he was able to drop it exactly where I wanted it so I could buck it up for firewood. He came inside for a short visit and then left at 9:30.

After he left, I took the chainsaw, the wheelbarrow, and my firewood picker-upper into the woods and bucked up most of the snag. I also hauled about half of the rounds and stacked them in the firewood stacks at the cabin. The wood from the top of the tree has a lot of rot in it so it isn't the best firewood, but it will burn and has at least a few BTUs in it.

I left for home at 1:00 happy to have that snag down and a bunch of firewood available to harvest. I should have no trouble laying in an adequate supply of firewood for the winter.