This has been a strange year for us here in the mountains. Spring started late, and the warm summer weather was late. Mr. Troutbend got here mid-May, earlier than usual, and was miffed that the weather wasn't conducive to getting on with his maintenance chores.

Even his Las Vegas bowling car got snowed on for the first time in its life.



Our hummingbirds showed up late, and around Father's Day we had maybe 30 of them, but then a lot of them disappeared overnight when the weather got hot, so we were down to 20 instead of building up to the usual 80.

This is last year, two of our 8 feeders:



We've seen a couple of bears, one at a time, which is a little unusual because we don't see them every year, although we know they could be in the area.



Usually we see some deer, maybe as often as once a week, but this year we didn't see them at all, and kept getting reports of carcasses in the area that looked like the mountain lion had been killing our deer.

However, I am pleased to report that a doe and twin spotted fawns came through the side yard yesterday. This is her with one fawn behind her:



If you look hard, you can see her and the two little heads, heading up the mountain.



Even our fox is acting differently this summer. Last year he spent his time up the side stream and toward the front of our house, but this year he always heads up the back mountain with some food so his family must be up there.