A (key)Stroke of Jean-ius

This is our 396th post, and we’re approaching Worth A Dam’s first Birthday! Other great reasons to celebrate?

Our loyal readers will remember that we suffered a website blow last month and have been struggling to right ourselves since then. The kind viewers using Microsoft Explorer have seen a navigation bar of gibberish, and the rest of us on Firefox and Safari had to put up with general untidiness. Beaver friend Kelly boldly offered help, but WordPress was not forthcoming in disclosing her secrets and he despaired. In one of those extended panics that just keep getting worse I wrote our friend Lisa Owens Viani of the San Francisco Estuary Project and said, “by the way who does YOUR web page and um…how do they feel about beavers?”

Lisa suggested a beaver fan closer to home, Jean Matuska who was one of our tree planting volunteers. Like Kelly I had no idea of what she did for a living or I’m sure I would have bothered her sooner. (I’m thinking any woman with a shovel can plant a tree, but how many can decipher html?) So I got my Sunday come a’courting email out and approached with the most imploring and unassuming tone I could muster to ask if she might possibly consider helping.

SHE DID!!!

Today in a burst of brow-furrowing, puzzle-solving, encryption worthy of any sudoko match, she rebuilt our navigation bar, expanded, resized and recolored the links and made more space in between. Then she went back and did it all again for explorer users because explorer is no longer feeling the love from WordPress and obeys only half of every other command it is given. Next she unearthed the beloved Worth A Dam at the top of the page which, like a chameleon or cuttlefish, was there but had so blended into its surroundings as to become invisible. Mind you in the middle of this she continued to respond kindly to all my panicked emails and resembling Washington in the Potomac, remained steady.

And the best part? When it was all finished she said she might continue to help out in the future!

So Beaver friends all need to repay her kindness by following the link to her site and admiring the other sites she has designed. Maybe you have a boss or a colleague that is thinking about a new look for their online presence, or maybe you’re just interested in what a real designer can do. We owe Jean great thanks, and I promise to need her help as little as possible in the future.

Remember the former resident of St. Catherine’s who volunteered to take the beavers if the city wanted to get rid of them? It was Audrey Tourney, who we wrote about back in June and who founded the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. A former high school teacher, she went from teaching students about wildlife to dedicating herself full time to their care. She has a special place in her heart for beavers, and has raised hundreds of them.

Audrey’s life took an unexpected turn one afternoon in ths 60’s when someone gave her two orphaned skunks to care for.400 skunks later she has only been sprayed 8 times, which gives you a sense of her gentleness and patience. She says she likes skunks “almost as much as beavers”, which is pretty high praise in my book.

From: Through the eye of Alan Gillis:

Beavers are Audrey’s favorites. Any current resident would make himself at home in your lap, and do in hers when pint-sized, feeding and nuzzling. Since they’re to return to the wild, close human contact is kept to a minimum. They’re as wonderful as Grey Owl says they are, the one who used to be a trapper and lived around Parry Sound. His cabin was loaded with them, very sociable and unstoppable. Can’t sit still for a minute unless they’re sleeping in your bed. If you’re a cottager, they could wind up gnawing your furniture. See the Aspen Valley website on how to deal with furry and feathered visitors, in a kindly way. There’s a downloadable pdf, Living with Wildlife. Animals should be respected and protected. With a little understanding, they’ll mind their own business, even bears.

Check out the website and follow the links to read about this remarkable woman, who faced life’s furry challenges and made a difference.