Once a year we are visited by the family who will inherit our property here. I picked them because they have five children (soon to be six), so there will probably be someone to keep the property in the family for many decades to come. The children are all young now, 12 and under, so this is the time to imprint a love for this area upon them. Of course there are no guarantees, but it's the best shot we have.

We need to talk to them about the red cabin - what they envision for it, and see if they want to chip in on it. If set it up as an RV hookup and find someone who wants to keep their trailer here year-round, we could make a lot more money than we'd ever make renting it out, and no work for us. Eventually these cousins can finish the red cabin how they want it, so their siblings can stay there when they visit.

[Martin: for a few years it might be just a shell suitable for camping out in, but the outside will be red.]

Many of them have allergies, and it's always a challenge to cook for them, not that I try to cover every meal: she brings her own cooking pots and turns out vast selections of strange-looking food. The other day I made some gluten free gingersnaps for the dad that are very good, and tonight I made chocolate cupcakes and fluffy frosting that are gluten and dairy free, no small feat because I didn't have any of that funny milk - soy, or almond, or cashew, etc. - to substitute for milk, or coconut oil to substitute for butter. Maybe they would have been better with some of that stuff, but who's to say. Flavorwise, I thought the fell into the category of 'nice texture' meaning they don't taste like much, but I'm not a chocolate fan. Mr. Troutbend liked them, but he'll eat anything. It's somebody's birthday, so maybe they will sing happy birthday to her when they eat them.

Tomorrow they have friends coming who have seven kids, and there are just enough cupcakes for all 12, but not enough for the parents. I have a feeling the parents might cut them in half since it's junky food, and they are very health conscious.

Thursday I'm going to make Jello with layers of different colors. I always make it for these kids, and once again, it's junky, but they get a big kick out of it. And s'mores. Today was national s'mores day.

There is an owl hooting outside - very close, and I had to make sure the cat was inside. I'm worried about our baby marmot, and hope it has the sense to stay in its burrow at night.

We have been so flat-out busy with cabin rental guests lately. I was letting people stay for one night, which is a lot of work, but I look at it as marketing because one of those customers has already referred his family members, who've reserved three more segments - all multi-day. We really needed to meet some new nice people who will come back almost every year.