One my last year's cabin renters talked a friend of his into coming here for 16 days to stay in one of our cabins. It started out being in August, but now the guy wants to change it to late October. I had other plans for late October, so I have to think about whether I should change them. The income from that 16 days would go a long way toward paying some of the overhead around here.

But here is the zinger: the guy emailed me a picture of himself and wrote: "Here is a picture of me taken during a trip to Jackson Hole, WY some years ago...I'm older, grayer and larger now. Speaking of larger, I weigh 380 pounds - is there any delicate furniture that can't take my weight?"

Good Lord. What to say? He has a girl friend who may or may not come with him, and I don't know how much she weighs, but I worry about our antique beds in the cabin he wants to rent if the two of them got into bed together considering she probably weighs more than 100 pounds. For all we know, she could weigh 380 pounds, too.

The good thing is the cabin he wants to rent has only double beds, so maybe there wouldn't be room for two of them anyway.

I think the double size futon in the living room might support 500 pounds, but I don't know. Maybe I'll flatten it out, get five people to lie on it, and listen for ominous creaking.

I asked Mr. Troutbend what I should tell this guy about whether the beds could support him or not, and he said I should tell him to 'stay out of the buffet.'

We had some guests once who broke the bed. The mattress and box springs are supported by a metal frame that is attached to the head and foot boards with screws because the old beds weren't as wide as today's mattresses. Somehow the screws got stripped out of the wood and frame came loose. The guy fixed it as much as he could and then had to get some help from us. He was a skinny guy, but his wife had a big rear end, and together they probably weighed about 350 pounds.



I suppose since this potential guest brought up the subject of weight I should just tell him about my concerns and he can be mad or glad about it.

I'll bet you are all glad this isn't your problem.

On another subject, we were watching the beaver in the river tonight and decided it is a different one than Bucky because this one is much smaller. We haven't decided what to think about this, because one beaver working on the trees is one thing, but two of them going at it sounds hard to keep up with. And they might have little ones. We'd have to change the name of the place to Beaver Haven, and that sounds like a whorehouse or a shelter for battered biker women.