Day 77 Wednesday October 17, 2001

Woke up to wetness. Thank heavens it weren't snowness. The beautiful colors were falling like snow in gusts up to 40 MPH. Billy's comfort level on a two story scaffold in breezes blowing leaves into the next zip code was near nil.

We, well, Billy spent the day as usual, problem solving. After a splendid breakfast of Cheerios and banana I rested as Billy drew lines on a page, calculated lengths, determined where to notch, how long this and that had to be and made other mysterious notations in his notebook. The wind rattled the awning so, we had to roll it up. The rain wasn't significant. The luck continues.

Billy is so focused he worked me through lunch but he solved any number of problems and we and the front end loader actually raised the first rafter before sundown. That took ingenuity, muscle, risk, a few comments/ideas from me and a hell of a lot of inventiveness. It's great having clever kids.

Tomorrow is my last day on Porcupine Hill. I'll head for Flemington and then on to Baltimore on Saturday. It's been great.

8 hours, windy and cold around 48.