This summer the bird condo saw 2 families of swallows in the old vent fan housing and Mother Robin decided to hatch a second batch of chicks in her nest above. After watching a Red Tail Hawk raid a Robin's nest in a yard apple tree, I can understand the lure of this location even if it makes my patio table and chairs directly under the flyway. They all left the nest yesterday.
No one could ever be accused of calling me a Domestic Deva but I worked toward the title last week. I not only picked and put up 10 gallons of blueberries and canned 60 pounds of apricots I pulled off a last minute dinner party for 11 the same day (Thursday). No big deal unless you saw the condition of my house prior to the "oh by the way, I have invited 9 people to dinner" warning. Just so the guests didn't open any doors... 
Friday Willy and I headed for the Where's Waldo 100K ultra marathon run by the Ski Patrol. With a minimum altitude of 5000' and climbing 5 peaks along the course, running the Where's Waldo 100K in 12 hours or so is sought after by crazy people from all over the world. We staff a MASH aid station at the end with ER doctors and nurses.
Four years ago someone sabotaged the race by changing around direction signs. Needless to say, this could have been a life threatening prank. The runners are out there with shorts, running shoes and little else. Instead of the aid room (boring until the end of the day) now, my station is a trail junction located 3.3 miles from a trailhead. Runners pass by this spot twice. The first runner came by at 0718. The last was back through at 1900. Before I have taken all three dogs and the motorhome but this year I was going to "camp" in the van so opted for just Willy.
Because of the dinner party, we did not have time to remove the van middle seat. I started the night on the very short, very uncomfortable, 3/4 bench seat. Move over Willy. I joined him in the 4'x4' x-pen. Two problems: Not being able to straighten my legs at all, I felt like a Viet Cong prisoner and I could not close the rear doors or we would have been locked in the floor to ceiling x-pen with no way out. Actually I did not have a way to close the doors from inside the x-pen so mute problem. Did I mention the mosquito's? About 0230 I threw the dog pad and my sleeping bag onto the ground, slathered on another layer of 100% Deet and attempted to sleep for the remaining 3 hours of my night.
Willy hauled a gallon of water, water bowl and his flexi to our assigned trail junction. I had the first aid kit, folding chair, a wonderful book, camera, cowbell, Deet, coat and food. Our day was spent nowhere, deep in the woods, slathering on Deet (I have lived and worked in the Artic, these mosquitoes almost rivaled their northern sisters. Willy's legs even got bloody) and reading The Help between enthusiastically ringing the cow bell for the 134 runners as they passed by - twice. After the last runner, we dashed back the 3.3 miles to the van and drove to the finish line. I was not needed at the aid station so after a few congratulations to those who had finished the run and were still standing, we headed home for some Cedar and McKenzie nookies and much needed sleep. 
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