The land trust people were here today and said they saw a large rattlesnake on another property last week at 8800 ft altitude (above sea level). This is the highest anyone has heard of rattlesnakes being found around here. We were counting on our 7000 ft to be too high for them, and now we have to look out for them in the tall grass. Darn! I don't want to see them move in here.

Here is a closeup of our baby marmot.



He eats weeds in between naps. Previously it looked like he lived in the riverbank, but now we think he's moved to the woodpile, which is probably a better place for him.

I have calls out to builders to start getting estimates for the red cabin, now that we have the drawings to show them.

Our weather is heating up and drying out. We could use some afternoon rain showers. That's weather for you - too wet, too dry, always something.

The cabin business has been brisk, this is the first year we've had more business in August than July. This morning I got another call from my referral friend downstream. She had some people who wanted to stay Thursday night that she can't accommodate, and I told her I already have one-nighters Friday and Saturday, so that's too much excitement for us.

She gave me a pep talk about raising my rental rates to $125 a night from $100. And I should charge 10% more for a one-night stay. And consider a $25 cleaning fee for the short stays. She also charges $10 per extra person over 4, including camping outside the house because they still use the bathroom - it's all about the amount of strain on the septic system as well as wear-and-tear on the building.

I might do some of this and still charge my regular customers the old rate.