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Dixie is getting old. She is going to die soon. So the question becomes: What do we do with her?

As I see it there are three options:

1. Provide all available medical care available in an attempt to extend her life;

2. Pamper her around the house and make her as comfortable as possible for as long as possible; or

3. Let her live the life she loves until she drops dead.

   
   

*Putting a bullet in her is not an option . . . my daughter would never speak to me again.

Life finds a way and Pirate is a survivor. He just won't give up the ghost. I think it is a waiting game to see if he recovers enough to where I feel comfortable harvesting him. Will he be butchered or culled?

The family joined me on my chore hike around the property this "morning". We stumbled upon two really interesting critters.

*Identified and described by Grok.

The first was "a Locust Borer (Megacyllene robiniae), a flashy longhorn beetle that’s basically wearing a wasp costume."

"That bold black-and-yellow zigzag pattern (especially the “W” across the wing covers) plus the reddish legs and extra-long antennae is its signature look. It’s a classic example of Batesian mimicry—pretending to be a stinging wasp so birds and other predators give it a wide berth. Adults are out and about in late summer and early fall, which is exactly when you snapped this photo. They love hanging out on flowers (goldenrod is a favorite) to sip pollen, but they don’t eat much as adults. Their real job is finding a black locust tree so the female can lay eggs in bark cracks."

"The larvae are the ones…

The pigs survived the first fall rain of the season. Over the past week, 1.67 inches of rain has fallen on Sasquatch Wallows. Allegedly, its going to clear up and remain nice for a couple of weeks.

Transforming a regrowth PNW forest into silvo-pasture for rotationally grazing pigs is a big project. First it's covered in poison oak, blackberry vines, and weeds. When the pigs eventually eat it all away, there's no undergrowth. So you need to replant the understory with pasture seed. And that's what I was doing in Galt's Gulch and Rabbit Meadow.

Establishing the silvo-pasture is a long ongoing project.

If we want the return of Mountain Man Cult, we need to pick a date for the next installment: Occupy Till He Comes.

I'm thinking of late September or October.

Let me know what works for y'all.