Construction Journal Entry Week of 7/5/15

7/7-9/15 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

Before I left I stopped at Lowe's and bought a second 60 lb. sack of mortar mix. I had bought one earlier but it was their last one at the time. From there, I proceeded on to Monroe where I beat Uncle Charles in a close game of checkers.

I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 12:30. The temperature outside was 90º and inside the cabin it was 76º. It got warmer both inside and out as the afternoon wore on.

After having my lunch, I turned on the valve to water the giant sequoia Brian and then I went into the woods to check on the trees. They all seemed to be thriving. Next, I got the warthog, the special narrow spade, and dug out a bunch of thistles that had gotten a start near the hairpin turn. Those are about the only weeds that I take the time to try to eradicate.

Next, I used the wheelbarrow to move the yard waste I had brought, from the truck to the compost pile. Then I wheeled the two sacks of mortar mix up to the cabin in one load. I stacked the mortar under the eaves and covered it with the upside-down wheelbarrow just in case it rained.

When I got out of the shower that evening, I was surprised by a thunderstorm and rain. I was glad I hadn't postponed wheeling up the mortar until the next day which I had considered since it was so beastly hot out.

On Wednesday morning I got the temperature in the cabin down to 65º by leaving the windows open all night and placing a fan in the living room window. It was 50º outside. I got up early and laid up stones on the fourth step between the two columns and I filled most of the hole where I had pulled out the big boulder with stones laid in mortar. I had the big beach umbrella set up for shade over the steps.

The temperature got up to 93º by the time I quit for lunch at 12:30 but it was a nice, relatively cool, 75º inside. I had my lunch and a nap and was too tired to go back outside and work anymore that day.

On Thursday morning I was out early again to work in the cool of the morning. I used up all the mortar mix that I had on site and laid up the tread on the fourth step between the columns. I took a picture of the progress on the steps. I watered Brian and checked on the sequoia trees again before I packed up to leave. I left for home at 12:00.



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