8/7-11/23 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

I arrived at noon. It had rained hard recently but it had stopped by the time I got there. The weather was still overcast and 60 degrees, which was pleasant. Inside the cabin, the temperature was 74 degrees which was a little warm. I opened the windows to try to cool it off.

I brought my gear up in two trips, hoisted the flag, and then had my lunch and a nap. When I got up, I put the gear away. I was feeling very healthy and fit, and I was happy to be well for a change.

On Tuesday morning I woke up feeling great. I practiced the piano and then went out and cut brush with Cindy until it got too hot. Just before I quit, a bee went up my pant leg and gave me a sting on the shin.

Back in the cabin I began work on the pantry which is the next project I will tackle. The plan is to take all of the stuff out of the pantry that is in there now, then build a board wall between the shower stall and the studs in the pantry. Then I will paint the interior of the pantry white and build shelving around the walls. Sometime in that process I will install flooring. And finally, I will load stuff back in onto the shelves in the pantry.

After lunch and a nap, I got the tools out of the truck and brought them up to the cabin. It was hot outside. Rather than starting to work on the pantry I spent the rest of the afternoon writing.

On Wednesday I practiced the piano and then went outside and cut more brush from between the back porch and the privy. When it got too hot, I went back in and worked on the pantry.

After lunch and a nap, I went searching for 1x8 boards for use in the pantry. I found what I needed but they were at the very bottom of a big pile of old boards. To pull them out from under the pile, I used a pry bar to lift the ends of three of them up so that I could clamp the boards together with a C-clamp. Then I strung a come-along between the C-clamp and a log column on the other side of Rosie, the Rose Bush. The come-along cable went right through the Rose Bush. With this rig I was able to pull those three boards out from under the pile, snake them through the Rose Bush, and pull them all the way out so I could take them up onto the porch. They were nice 8-footers, but I needed more.

I saw three more boards on the other side of the board pile, and I used pretty much the same technique to pull them out except I had to use two chains to reach an anchor to do the pulling. But I was happy to have enough nice boards for the project.

On Thursday I practiced the piano and expected a call from Dave. But when the telephone rang it was Robert. We had a conversation that lasted an hour. After we hung up, I went outside and cut down a 7-inch Maple tree that was growing right by the dosing tank. Dave and Bill had both warned me that I'd better remove that tree or the roots would mess up my sewage system. Since I couldn't use a chainsaw because of the fire hazard conditions, I used a combination of a bowsaw, a Sawzall, and the big crosscut saw I have. That worked.

After lunch and a nap, I went out to inspect the trees. I saw that a very aggressive deciduous sapling had all but smothered Runty . I was able to pull the tree out by the roots to give Runty the sun again.

Then I checked on Paul and decided to remove the ladder I had set up against the hillside. It turns out that the ladder was more of a hazard than a help to get up to inspect Paul, so I put it back under the porch. Then before I went in, I enjoyed relaxing in Dave's Adirondack chair for a few minutes.

On Friday morning I practiced the piano, listened to the radio for a while, and then had a nap. After lunch I left for home about 1:00 delighted to be feeling back to normal.