diff --git a/apps/reader/views.py b/apps/reader/views.py
index 99596b7eb..41bee3113 100644
--- a/apps/reader/views.py
+++ b/apps/reader/views.py
@@ -114,8 +114,10 @@ def load_feeds(request):
             'ps': sub.unread_count_positive,
             'nt': sub.unread_count_neutral,
             'ng': sub.unread_count_negative,
-            'updated': format_relative_date(sub.feed.last_update),
+            'updated': format_relative_date(sub.feed.last_update)
         }
+        if not sub.feed.fetched_once:
+            feeds[sub.feed.pk]['not_yet_fetched'] = True
 
     data = dict(feeds=feeds, folders=json.decode(folders.folders))
     return data
@@ -187,6 +189,8 @@ def refresh_feeds(request):
             'nt': sub.unread_count_neutral,
             'ng': sub.unread_count_negative,
         }
+        if request.GET.get('check_fetch_status', False) and not sub.feed.fetched_once:
+            feeds[sub.feed.pk]['not_yet_fetched'] = True
 
     return feeds
 
diff --git a/apps/rss_feeds/migrations/0011_fetched_once.py b/apps/rss_feeds/migrations/0011_fetched_once.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..06fa26e33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/rss_feeds/migrations/0011_fetched_once.py
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+import datetime
+from south.db import db
+from south.v2 import SchemaMigration
+from django.db import models
+
+class Migration(SchemaMigration):
+
+    def forwards(self, orm):
+        
+        # Adding field 'Feed.fetched_once'
+        db.add_column('feeds', 'fetched_once', self.gf('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField')(default=False, blank=True), keep_default=False)
+
+
+    def backwards(self, orm):
+        
+        # Deleting field 'Feed.fetched_once'
+        db.delete_column('feeds', 'fetched_once')
+
+
+    models = {
+        'rss_feeds.feed': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'Feed', 'db_table': "'feeds'"},
+            'active': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'average_stories_per_month': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'default': '0'}),
+            'creation': ('django.db.models.fields.DateField', [], {'auto_now_add': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'days_to_trim': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'default': '90'}),
+            'etag': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '50', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'feed_address': ('django.db.models.fields.URLField', [], {'unique': 'True', 'max_length': '255'}),
+            'feed_link': ('django.db.models.fields.URLField', [], {'default': "''", 'max_length': '1000', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'feed_tagline': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'default': "''", 'max_length': '1024', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'feed_title': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'default': "''", 'max_length': '255', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'fetched_once': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'False', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'last_load_time': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'default': '0'}),
+            'last_modified': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'last_update': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'auto_now': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'min_to_decay': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'default': '15'}),
+            'next_scheduled_update': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'num_subscribers': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'default': '0'}),
+            'popular_authors': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '2048', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'popular_tags': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '1024', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'stories_last_month': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {'default': '0'}),
+            'stories_last_year': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '1024', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.feedfetchhistory': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'FeedFetchHistory'},
+            'exception': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'related_name': "'feed_fetch_history'", 'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'fetch_date': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'message': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'status_code': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '10', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.feedpage': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'FeedPage'},
+            'feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.OneToOneField', [], {'related_name': "'feed_page'", 'unique': 'True', 'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'page_data': ('utils.compressed_textfield.StoryField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.feedupdatehistory': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'FeedUpdateHistory'},
+            'average_per_feed': ('django.db.models.fields.DecimalField', [], {'max_digits': '4', 'decimal_places': '1'}),
+            'fetch_date': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'number_of_feeds': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {}),
+            'seconds_taken': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.feedxml': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'FeedXML'},
+            'feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.OneToOneField', [], {'related_name': "'feed_xml'", 'unique': 'True', 'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'rss_xml': ('utils.compressed_textfield.StoryField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.pagefetchhistory': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'PageFetchHistory'},
+            'exception': ('django.db.models.fields.TextField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'related_name': "'page_fetch_history'", 'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'fetch_date': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'message': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'status_code': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '10', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.storiespermonth': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'StoriesPerMonth'},
+            'beginning_of_month': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {'default': 'datetime.datetime.now'}),
+            'feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'related_name': "'stories_per_month'", 'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'month': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {}),
+            'story_count': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {}),
+            'year': ('django.db.models.fields.IntegerField', [], {})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.story': {
+            'Meta': {'unique_together': "(('story_feed', 'story_guid_hash'),)", 'object_name': 'Story', 'db_table': "'stories'"},
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'story_author': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['rss_feeds.StoryAuthor']"}),
+            'story_author_name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '500', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'story_content': ('utils.compressed_textfield.StoryField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'story_content_type': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'story_date': ('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField', [], {}),
+            'story_feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'related_name': "'stories'", 'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'story_guid': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '1000'}),
+            'story_guid_hash': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '40'}),
+            'story_original_content': ('utils.compressed_textfield.StoryField', [], {'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'story_past_trim_date': ('django.db.models.fields.BooleanField', [], {'default': 'False', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'story_permalink': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '1000'}),
+            'story_tags': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '2000', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'story_title': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255'}),
+            'tags': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ManyToManyField', [], {'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Tag']", 'symmetrical': 'False'})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.storyauthor': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'StoryAuthor'},
+            'author_name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255', 'null': 'True', 'blank': 'True'}),
+            'feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'})
+        },
+        'rss_feeds.tag': {
+            'Meta': {'object_name': 'Tag'},
+            'feed': ('django.db.models.fields.related.ForeignKey', [], {'to': "orm['rss_feeds.Feed']"}),
+            'id': ('django.db.models.fields.AutoField', [], {'primary_key': 'True'}),
+            'name': ('django.db.models.fields.CharField', [], {'max_length': '255'})
+        }
+    }
+
+    complete_apps = ['rss_feeds']
diff --git a/apps/rss_feeds/models.py b/apps/rss_feeds/models.py
index 2985d9b0c..945846f1b 100644
--- a/apps/rss_feeds/models.py
+++ b/apps/rss_feeds/models.py
@@ -30,7 +30,8 @@ class Feed(models.Model):
     feed_tagline = models.CharField(max_length=1024, default="", blank=True, null=True)
     active = models.BooleanField(default=True)
     num_subscribers = models.IntegerField(default=0)
-    last_update = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True, default=0)
+    last_update = models.DateTimeField(auto_now=True)
+    fetched_once = models.BooleanField(default=False)
     min_to_decay = models.IntegerField(default=15)
     days_to_trim = models.IntegerField(default=90)
     creation = models.DateField(auto_now_add=True)
@@ -657,8 +658,45 @@ class StoriesPerMonth(models.Model):
         return month_counts, average_per_month
         
     @classmethod
-    def recount_feed(cls, feed):
+    def recount_feed(cls, feed, current_counts=None):
         d = defaultdict(int)
-        stories = Story.objects.filter(story_feed=feed).extra(select={'year': "EXTRACT(year FROM story_date)", 'month': "EXTRACT(month from story_date)"}).values('year', 'month')
+        now = datetime.datetime.now()
+        min_year = now.year
+        if not current_counts:
+            current_counts = []
+        
+        # Count stories, aggregate by year and month
+        stories = Story.objects.filter(story_feed=feed).extra(select={
+            'year': "EXTRACT(year FROM story_date)", 
+            'month': "EXTRACT(month from story_date)"
+        }).values('year', 'month')
         for story in stories:
-            pass
\ No newline at end of file
+            year = int(story['year'])
+            d['%s-%s' % (year, int(story['month']))] += 1
+            if year < min_year:
+                min_year = year
+        
+        # Add on to existing months, always amending up, never down. (Current month
+        # is guaranteed to be accurate, since trim_feeds won't delete it until after
+        # a month. Hacker News can have 1,000+ and still be counted.)
+        for current_month, current_count in current_counts:
+            if current_month not in d or d[current_month] < current_count:
+                d[current_month] = current_count
+                year = re.findall(r"(\d{4})-\d{1,2}", current_month)[0]
+                if year < min_year:
+                    min_year = year
+                    
+        # Assemble a list with 0's filled in for missing months, 
+        # trimming left and right 0's.
+        months = []
+        start = False
+        for year in range(min_year, now.year+1):
+            for month in range(1, 12+1):
+                if datetime.datetime(year, month, 1) < now:
+                    key = '%s-%s' % (year, month)
+                    if d.get(key) or start:
+                        start = True
+                        months.append((key, d.get(key, 0)))
+        from pprint import pprint
+        pprint(months)
+        
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/media/css/reader.css b/media/css/reader.css
index bad2e2325..1d18012eb 100644
--- a/media/css/reader.css
+++ b/media/css/reader.css
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ a img {
 .left-pane {
     display: none;
     overflow: hidden !important;
+    background-color: #D7DDE6;
 }
 
 .left-center {
@@ -321,13 +322,30 @@ a img {
 /* = Feed List = */
 /* ============= */
 
+#NB-feeds-list-loader {
+  background: transparent url("../img/reader/big_spinner.gif") no-repeat 0 0;
+  color: #C7CDD6;
+  font-size: 16px;
+  height: 51px;
+  left: 5%;
+  padding: 5px 0 0 62px;
+  position: absolute;
+  text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #E7EDF6;
+  text-transform: uppercase;
+  top: 40%;
+  width: 125px;
+  z-index: 10;
+  cursor: default;
+  display: none;
+}
+
 
 #feed_list ::-moz-selection {
-background: transparent;
-} 
+  background: transparent;
+}
 
 #feed_list ::selection {
-background: transparent;
+  background: transparent;
 }
 
 #feed_list {
diff --git a/media/img/reader/big_spinner.gif b/media/img/reader/big_spinner.gif
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..927bab412
Binary files /dev/null and b/media/img/reader/big_spinner.gif differ
diff --git a/media/js/newsblur/reader.js b/media/js/newsblur/reader.js
index 738556617..e8af63c72 100644
--- a/media/js/newsblur/reader.js
+++ b/media/js/newsblur/reader.js
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
             $feed_view: $('.NB-feed-story-view'),
             $story_iframe: $('.NB-feed-frame'),
             $intelligence_slider: $('.NB-intelligence-slider'),
-            $mouse_indicator: $('#mouse-indicator')
+            $mouse_indicator: $('#mouse-indicator'),
+            $feed_link_loader: $('#NB-feeds-list-loader')
         };
         this.flags = {
             'feed_view_images_loaded': {},
@@ -519,6 +520,7 @@
             
             if ($('#feed_list').length) {
                 $('.NB-callout-ftux .NB-callout-text').text('Loading feeds...');
+                this.$s.$feed_link_loader.css({'display': 'block'});
                 this.model.load_feeds($.rescope(this.make_feeds, this));
             }
         },
@@ -527,11 +529,16 @@
             var $feed_list = this.$s.$feed_list.empty();
             var folders = this.model.folders;
             var feeds = this.model.feeds;
+            
             // NEWSBLUR.log(['Making feeds', {'folders': folders, 'feeds': feeds}]);
             
             $('#story_taskbar').css({'display': 'block'});
 
+            $feed_list.css({'display': 'none'});
             this.make_feeds_folder($feed_list, folders);
+            this.$s.$feed_link_loader.fadeOut(250, function() {
+              $feed_list.fadeIn(750);
+            });
             
             if (!folders.length) {
                 this.setup_ftux_add_feed_callout();
@@ -563,7 +570,7 @@
                         ]);
                         (function($feeds, $folder) {
                             setTimeout(function() {
-                                $feeds.append($folder); 
+                                $feeds.append($folder);
                                 $('.unread_count', $feeds).corner('4px');
                             }, 50);
                         })($feeds, $folder);
diff --git a/templates/reader/feeds.xhtml b/templates/reader/feeds.xhtml
index 03d90074a..550af0fa2 100644
--- a/templates/reader/feeds.xhtml
+++ b/templates/reader/feeds.xhtml
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@
 </div>
 
 <div class="left-pane">
+    <div id="NB-feeds-list-loader">Everything is on its way...</div>
     <ul class="left-center" id="feed_list"></ul>
     <div class="NB-taskbar left-south">
       <div class="NB-callout-ftux NB-callout">
diff --git a/utils/feed_fetcher.py b/utils/feed_fetcher.py
index 3270c1000..732eaf007 100644
--- a/utils/feed_fetcher.py
+++ b/utils/feed_fetcher.py
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ class Dispatcher:
                 comment = u''
             
             feed.last_load_time = max(1, delta.seconds)
+            feed.fetched_once = True
             try:
                 feed.save()
             except IntegrityError: