I got up at 5:30 am to make hummingbird juice because several feeders were out, and the birds all show up at dawn to eat. Then, I read for several hours, and nodded off. One of my dreams was about buying a new car. I parked it somewhere, then couldn't find it out in the parking lot. Was it stolen? No, it was around the corner, and it turned out to be a pickup with a camper, painted bright yellow.

After I visited my vegetable garden and admired the zucchini, we sat out back in the sun swatting at flies with the fly swatter. Then, we carried a couple of full hummingbird feeders to the red cabin, and sat on that porch swatting flies with the fly swatter and watched the birds. I showed Mr. Troutbend where I want some nails in a utility closet to hang mops and brushes on. And while he was working on that, I found an extra pole to hold another feeder to put at that cabin and installed it.

I watered my hanging plants and the zucchini in the whiskey barrels, and my newly planted iris.

We stood on the bridge and looked for fish, and for signs that the beaver had visited us last night. Then we looked toward the woodpile for signs of the marmot.

By this time, it was lunchtime, so I made spaghetti and meatballs. After we ate, Mr. Troutbend drilled holes in the handles of some of my mops and brushes (beveled) so I could hang them on those new nails over at the other place.

I spent some time applying furniture oil to an old oak rocking chair that looked dried out, saw some spider webs, and cleared them out.

The tree guy called and we agreed that it seems like every year their office people think we have 7 pines and 14 spruces to be sprayed, but the sprayers report a different number and the bill doesn't match the estimate. He is coming over some time this week to reach an agreement. The difference is whether they will bill us $345 a year or $510 a year.

On the phone messages was one from a high-maintenance guy whose family is coming to stay at the Brown Palace this weekend. He calls just about every day to ask dumb questions that are answered on our website, such as whether towels and sheets are provided, and do we have a barbecue grill.

Another guy wants to come and stay in the little red cabin and do some fishing. He's been here several times over the years and paid to fish through the fishing club, so I reserved a free day of fishing for him, saves him about $120.

By this time, Mr. Troutbend was cleaning his car engine and applying Armor-All to it. He's turning into one of those kind of guys who details their car whether it needs it or not. And I sat out there and soaked my feet in a bucket of water.

Then, I finally got the FTP program to work and updated some files for my website. For years, I've had problems connecting with the server at my ISP here in Colorado and could only update the files using the ISP in Las Vegas. It's a moment of triumph.

He was up in the woods away stripping bark off a pine tree that was killed by pine beetles. He thinks exposing them to the air will kill them before they can fly to infect new trees.

And it was supper time: lovely all-beef kosher hot dogs.

Now, the day is winding down, and time to carry full feeders to the other cabins so there will be enough hummingbird juice for the evening and morning rushes.