More progress today.. Brought down a good sized cedar snag today that turned into one great post and one good post. Managed to get these and four other posts up to the stacks, leaving two posts a the the bottom of the hill and of course more timbers to harvest in the cedar grove part duex. Though I should say that there are probably between four and six left to harvest up there, clearing the way for wildlife, and other plant life to flourish in the newly opened space. It is surprising, even after clearing one such grove of snags, just how much light dead trees can prevent from reaching the forest floor.

My companions on this excursion were the morons.. my own nickname for Rancher Bob's two small dogs.. Mind you when I say small, I mean that they are under say 50-60 pounds.. most folks would probably call these medium sized dogs, but when you have examples of truly great dogs, ranging from 125 to probably 140 lbs on the property, 50-60 lbs is small..

These two, one a white boxer the other a mutt (with a likely fabricated backstory including wolf heritage.. ) are the sorts of beasts to get into trouble wherever they go. If you go near water, they get into it (especially the mutt), if a car goes by they will chase it, etc.. you get the idea..

Well the mutt in particular has an afinity for dead or otherwise attrocious things. I do not have the stomach to relate some of his more gourmet dishes.. On this trip these two wannabe great killers managed to find a small skunk.. Care to guess how this ended? They got their prey (from the smell the mutt is the killer in this case) but paid a heavy price in aroma. Of course they were very proud and left the carcass right in my pathway so that I too could revel in their prowness.. Sadly I do not share their love of the aromatic, nor their thrill of the kill..

Worse yet the mutt has a detestable habit of running just in front of the equipement which normally is merely dangerous for him, but today also served to treat me to hours of unbroken skunk stench..

And he is now whining about being "punished" by being left alone in the mud room cum laundry room and not allowed into the house proper....

Still, some progress made, much enjoyment had by these dogs, and with it done, I retired to the big house to check on the beef broth/bones specially cooked for all of the dogs. Broth is coming along fine and met the approval of these discriminating tastes.. All of this as the somewhat unexpected rains came in.

As I am typing this I am enjoying a bit of fortified lemonade sitting on the 95 foot long porch (I call it the big house for a reason...) listening to and watching the rain fall..

All in all a damn fine day..