Construction Journal Entry Week of 1/5/14

1/7-9/14 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way I stopped and visited with Uncle Charles. There was about an inch of snow on the ground when I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 12:15. The temperature was 25º. It started snowing lightly at 1:00. Maybe winter is finally coming.

After having my lunch and a nap, I went to work nailing boards on the ceiling. The first one took quite a bit of extra time because it required a lot of chiseling and planing so that it would fit in the slot in the log wall. I got three boards nailed up.

On Wednesday morning it was again 25º outside and snowing lightly but there hadn't been any appreciable snow accumulation over night. I nailed up a couple courses of ceiling boards before I stopped for lunch and a nap.

I was awakened from my nap by a call from Larry Copenhaver. He was just calling to chat and to check on my progress. He said he had had his 90th birthday last May. He also said that he is in the area now and then and that he would try to stop in and visit if I happen to be at Camp Serendipity during one of his visits.

Back to work nailing, I managed to nail up all the varnished straight boards that I had. Some of the boards had warped badly from the heat of the wood stove so I set them aside to use when I need short pieces.

Since I was out of varnished boards, the plan was to varnish a new batch in the morning. That is my usual plan so that I can leave for home as soon as I am done and not have to breathe the varnish smell while they dry. I brought the two stanchions in from the porch and set them up to form the varnishing rack.

On Thursday morning it was 30º outside and there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground. I spent the morning varnishing 19 boards. They included the last 13 boards from the most recent batch of lumber that I bought on 10/30/13 and 6 boards from the old batch that I bought on 4/13/11. I noticed a big difference in the quality of the two batches. The old ones were much nicer so I am glad to be using up the new ones and getting into better wood.

After washing out my brush, having lunch and packing up, I left for home at 12:15.



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