We are experiencing the hottest days of the summer but gets dark early and our hummingbirds are leaving, so we know fall is upon us.



Mr. Troutbend is winding up his summer of hard work. Today he was draining the water system in the little red cabin. It involves using a portable air compressor to blow out the pipes. I went over there to look like I would help if there was anything I could do, and he had the surge tank taken apart.

Last year we had a pipe break where it came apart at the joint. It didn't appear to have frozen and burst (because it had been drained and blown out) so we wondered if too much air pressure from the blowing out had caused the break. But we were concerned because the pressure gauge on the system showed the pressure was running high, so he tried to adjust the pump to provide less pressure.

Well, when he got started today, he realized there was hardly any water in the system, and the pressure gauge was wrong - even disconnected it shows 20 psi (pounds per square inch). This means we had the pump adjusted too low. It explains why the water coming into the washing machine was so low the other day. I'm going to refund the money back to the last people who stayed there, it must have been miserable.

We haven't seen the fox for a couple of days. We always worry when he disappears like this. We are saying he is busy teaching the young foxes how to hunt. There are a lot of tree squirrels around this year. They climb the spruce trees and throw cones down onto the roof or the ground, and then carry them to a hiding place one at a time. It keeps them very busy.

While the fox is away the ground squirrels are having a great time. I'm feeding them lots so they will get fat and slow and easy for the fox to catch.