Construction Journal Entry Week of 12/27/20

12/28/20-1/1/21 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday .

Before I left, I took the truck to Maddy's and had a check-engine light diagnosed. Then back home, Ellen and I did some work on the insurance and finally I left for the mountains. The traffic was extremely heavy going both ways. I arrived at 2:30.

There had been a few inches of new snow, but the old snow was frozen hard, so I was able to drive in and park at the hairpin turn. I carried my gear up to the cabin over the snow trail in one trip, built a fire in the stove, and had my lunch. I skipped my nap, practiced on the piano, and then had my shower and dinner.

On Tuesday I practiced the piano and then went out and moved the truck. I parked it at the foot of the concrete stairs heading out because more snow was expected and that would make it easier to get out. After lunch and a nap, I split and stacked a bunch of firewood.

Next, I worked on the front door casing legs and got them to fit dry.

On Wednesday morning there was 8 inches of new snow that had fallen overnight, and it was still snowing. After practicing on the piano, I did some reading. Then I went to work on the casings and made the casing header.

I spent quite a bit of time looking for the user manual for the range hood so I could figure out how to replace the light bulbs, but I couldn't find it.

I shoveled the back stoop a couple of times because it kept snowing and snow kept falling on the stoop. After lunch and a nap, I planed and brushed the casing header so that it was ready for varnish. Then I shoveled the stoop one more time. It stopped snowing at about 3:00 o'clock. The total accumulation was about 14 inches.

On Thursday Dave called first thing in the morning and we had another great conversation. After breakfast I practiced the piano and then varnished the first coat on the three casing pieces. We had gotten another foot of snow overnight so there was about 20 inches on the ground and on my truck.

Paula called and we had an interesting conversation until I saw Mike and his tractor working down at the driveway. I closed off the conversation and hung up with Paula and went right down to dig my truck out and get it out of Mike's way. He told me not to bother because he would clear the driveway in front of me so I could get out and then he would come back during the weekend and clear the rest of the driveway.

After a nice conversation with Mike, he left, and I dug the truck out from under the snow. Then I shoveled off the concrete stairs and went in for my lunch and a nap. When I got up, I called Earl and we had a nice end-of-the-year conversation. After we hung up, I called Robert and wished him a happy new year.

On Friday there was another 4 inches of new snow. After practicing the piano, I sanded the three casing pieces with 120 grit paper and then applied the second coat of varnish. In the meantime, I shoveled the back stoop a few more times and finally got some long boards and placed them behind the newel post in an attempt to keep the snow from avalanching down onto the stoop. After lunch, I packed up and left for home at 1:20 ready to start a new year.



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