2/5-9/24 I went up to Camp Serendipity for five days: Monday through Friday.

The traffic was light, which was nice, but I was late, so I arrived at 2:00. There had been no new snow on the ground since last week, so I had no trouble parking or walking. I brought my gear up in two trips by using the Trapper Nelson.

I had my lunch and a nap and was disappointed that my music player was dead. I don't know what happened, but I suspected that the battery was low. I was also disappointed that my tachycardia came back, and some numbness appeared in my right hand for about 15 minutes. I couldn't play the piano, so I was bummed.

On Tuesday the tachycardia was still there. Fortunately, I could play the piano. The temperature outside was 26 degrees. I practiced the piano and then Robert called telling me he would come to help me do some work tomorrow. That would be nice, but I need to do a little planning to figure out what work I could have him do.

After lunch and a nap, I walked to the grave and on the way, I talked to a group of people riding to some event. They included Karen Arnold, Barb Dickinson, a man (I think was Barb's husband, but I don't know), Rita Gray, and another woman whose name I didn't catch. When I got back home, I was happy that the music player was working again. It was a matter of plugging it in.

On Wednesday the temperature outside when I got up was 25 degrees. I practiced the piano, listened to the radio for a while, and then at 10:00 my right-hand fingers went numb again for about 25 minutes.

Then I went outside and began preparing for jobs that Robert could help me with. The first thing is that I needed to replace the two flood lamps and that requires a 20-foot extension ladder. It would be nice to have Robert spot me while I climbed that ladder just for safety's sake. So, I walked across the snow trail, retrieved the ladder from the privy, and then set it up against the wall so I could reach the flood lamps. Then I went out to my rock-laying project and scoped it out to see what I could have Robert do. Then I went back into the cabin, had a nap, and then had my lunch.

Then at 1:00 I went back outside expecting to see Robert any time and began working on the project I had in mind. There was a section of firewood rounds stacked where I needed to erect scaffolding, so I moved the firewood three feet out from the wall to give myself a three-foot margin for scaffolding. Then next to that was an old board pile so I moved it out away from the wall to leave a three-foot margin.

Next, I laid out a series of short 2 by fours to act as railroad ties under the scaffold planks that I began to lay out. I laid out two planks across the ties and judged that that will make a nice sturdy adjustable scaffold platform.

Next, I set up the first of 5 scaffold frames that I will use. I took a picture of the frame in place. Then since I gave up on Robert appearing, I climbed the ladder and replaced the floodlights. It took five trips up and down the ladder because the first new bulb I screwed in blew out immediately and I only wanted to do one thing at a time with each trip up and down the ladder. But I got the job done.

On Thursday morning it was 26 degrees outside when I got up. I practiced the piano, listened to the radio, and walked to the grave. On the way back I ran into Barb who told me that Byron has a bad cold. I told her I hope it gets better.

After lunch and a nap, I cleared the wood away from the back scaffold where I had stored long scrap pieces of wood on three scaffold frames attached to the backside and the cabin. They had been there for 25 years at least. I needed those scaffold frames now, and it was time to remove that wood and get rid of it. So, the first job was to offload the scaffold frames and store that wood somewhere else which would be on the front porch. Then I practiced the piano.

On Friday morning the temperature outside was 25 degrees. I practiced the piano and then removed the three nuts and washers from the inside of the building that we're holding up the three scaffold frames on the outside. Then I went outside and removed the three scaffold frames one at a time. I put the nuts and bolts away in the crawl space where they belong, I stored one of the scaffold frames on the front porch, and I brought two of them down to the work site and stored them there ready to be used in the scaffold system.

I left for home at 1:00 very happy that I had made so much progress on my stone wall project. I think I needed that kick in the pants from Robert to get me going.