The birds are still gone. I've seen a few today within a 5 mile radius, and I just scared the Bittern away from the pond, but that is it. Our trees are empty. Too bad I've never paid attention before (I had to read all of those books so I could teach Biology and didn't have time to go outside and watch animals), but this doesn't seem normal. For whatever reason, it's done. On the other hand, I don't think I caused it.
I was talking to Bill earlier and the pump and mower are now ready to use. I might have to wait until later in the fall to create a fountain for the new pump. My current project is sort of physically exhausting and the sun is almost down before I come back to life in the evening, so I'm not very productive around the place. One part of what I do now is sort of neat. The people who I work for breed and raise Appaloosa Horses. They asked me to start feeding them during the week, which is interesting and not hard at all (there are between 30 and 40 in the herd - hard to count, they start blending together), but I already blew it on my second day. Apparently horses don't have breakfast, lunch, and dinner.