24 - 31 October

Continued logging in Calais, staying in my brother’s cabin while he was in Florida for a month, and making a further dent in thinning the stand of Christmas trees that my uncle and cousins planted in the mid-1950’s… and never harvested. 

17 October 2013

First thing in the morning took Dolores up to Kampersville for her final constitutional of the year.  By 10:30 had her tucked into bed for the winter at Fern Lake and was headed south.  Found out right away that “tied down every which way but loose” doesn’t mean the load can’t shift.  Had to stop three times while still in Vermont to retighten the tie-down straps holding everything (and the kitchen sink) onto the back of the truck.  A little over 9 hours later, arrived safely home in Virginia. Joan Donahue provided her opinion (via email) that appealing the Leicester Zoning Board of Adjustment decision about the waterfront building likely would not be successful. 

16 October 2013

At crack of dawn (literally), took Dolores down to Green Mountain Garage in Brandon to see what was ailing her.  Mike “The Ace” Mechanic found water and “sludge” in the fuel filter that G. Stone Motors replaced last spring.  Apparently they didn’t do such a great job cleaning the fuel tank when they replaced the fuel pump.  Mike also found a spark plug wire disconnected and fried up against the exhaust manifold.  Guess I drove to Calais and back on 7 cylinders… We were able to get the slide-out almost in, but, after consulting with the chief fixing-person at Exit 1 RV in Fairhaven, determined that the problem most likely is with the slide-out tracks, something Green Mountain wasn’t equipped to repair and Exit 1 RV was too busy to handle on a walk-in basis today.  Thinking Dolores was as fixed as she could be, took her for a spin.  Engine performance better, but still weren’t right.  Mike took a second look and found another spark plug wire about to fall off.  Calais and back on 6 cylinders would explain a lot.  Fixed that and he took her for a drive.  Better yet, but still not right.  So Mike replaced all the spark plugs… and took her for another foray.  Better still, but, again, still not right.  Upshot is, in the spring, I’ll take Dolores back to Green Mountain for some high temperature spark plug wires… and we’ll see if that does the trick.  Returned to Fern Lake and spent an hour decompressing by tweaking the rough survey for the Sauna Building alternative that I like the best.  After lunch, cleaned and packed, then cleaned some more, getting as much of a head-start on the winterization checklist that is tomorrow morning’s agenda.  A wonderful end-of-season dinner at Marty & Merry’s to cap off the day.

15 October 2013

Spent most of the morning shampooing Dolores’ carpets, which were miles beyond filthy.  Saw the Fyles Brothers propane truck delivering across the road just before 9.  At 10 called the office to make sure I was on their delivery schedule for today.  Was assured I was.  At 10:40 the driver showed up and said I was not on his schedule but that the office had radioed him to come by.  Hmmm…  Perry stopped by shortly before noon to look at some alternative sites I had picked for constructing a sauna building, then suggested yet another site.  Secured the Ranger for winter. For some reason, only drove that truck 177 miles this year…  Loaded 20 pounds of “stuff” into the 5 pound sack that is the back of the Tacoma.  Just kept piling it on ‘till the pile of tools and other riffraff in the woodshed was gone, then tied it down every which way but loose.  The truck looks like a gypsy caravan on steroids, but at least all the tools that need to go to Virginia for the winter (except for the first one I’ll need once I get there) are ready for departure.  Lake water temperature is 62 degrees; lake level is14″ below the top of the dock.

14 October 2013

Met with Joan Donahue in her Middlebury law office to discuss a possible appeal of the Zoning Board of Adjustment denial of the proposed waterfront building.  Then spent the day gathering together all of the “stuff” that has to go back to Virginia from Fern Lake for the winter.  Took some time in the afternoon to rough-survey two alternate sites for a sauna building… in locations that would not require a property line setback waiver.

13 October 2013

Finished a few logging odds and ends in the morning, then, with Perry following in the Tacoma (almost to his demise, but more on that later), drove Dolores back to Fern Lake in the afternoon.  Left the Kubota, trailer, and assorted logging paraphernalia in Calais, as I will be going back there to continue logging in another 10 days.  The battery which is supposed to start the RV was, of course, completely flat after sitting for six weeks, even disconnected.  The two coach batteries (which can be used, in extremis, to start the RV) were also hurting, having provided electricity to Dolores all that time with only 3 hours (on average) of recharging each day from the Storm King portable generator. But, with the generator pumping in electrons, the coach batteries were convinced to turn over the engine just enough for it to start.  Whew!!!!  Retracted the living room slide-out, which stuck (and almost stalled the RV engine) while still sticking out 6 inches.  Did everything I could think of (including cursing it fluently and repeatedly), but the *#%$^!!! thing wouldn’t come all the way in.  Gave up and secured it with the emergency retraction winch and straps (which also didn’t work to seat the slide-out) so that the slide-out couldn’t go out again while I was meandering down forthcoming highways and byways.  Suffice it to say that Dolores did pretty good going downhill, but OMG did she ever labor going up even the tiniest incline.  Took Frenchman’s Hill on I-89 at 45 mph in first gear, with the engine positively screaming!  As I was accelerating as hard as I could away from the stoplight in Shelburne (‘cause there’s a long uphill leaving town), some bozo made a left turn across the stopped traffic in the oncoming lane… right in front of me, obviously having no concept of how long it takes 7½ tons of barreling RV to stop.  Slammed on the brakes, laid on the horn, and almost T-boned the idiot!  Perry, caught unawares, almost rear-ended the RV.  Had to pull over three times during the trip to let the looooong line of cars behind me continue on their way at the posted speed limit… which Dolores was just laughing at.  When we stopped in Middlebury to put $125 into Dolores’ gas tank, forgot that the RV batteries were sick and turned off the ignition.  Came very close to having to call AAA before, on their last gasp, the batteries agreed to cooperate with the RV engine once again.  Double whew!!!!  Perry said that I had ‘bout gassed him to death with the toxic fumes Dolores was emitting all afternoon.  (I had wondered why he was following so far back.) Three hours and 100 miles after leaving Calais (⅓ of which was on an Interstate highway!), we parked Dolores in her usual spot at Fern Lake… and Black Label has rarely tasted so good!

25 September - 12 October 2013

Continued logging.  Got another two loads of saw logs and two loads of pulp wood logs out of the woods and off to the mills.  On 5 October was notified that the ZBA had approved the walkway and disapproved the waterfront building.