Inching forward

heidi08 Beavers August 11, 2016

Who wants to go camping? Four days after the beaver festival and we’re down to a mere 8 items remaining to get to their owners and finish up the auction. And no one could be happier than I, believe you me.

Besides it’s getting to be time to buckle down and ready myself for the NEXT Placer foray, this one to the Board of Supervisors. Good news/Bad news report: I found out yesterday I get 25% less time. Bummer. The aide that told me also noted “I heard that Placer really kills more beavers than anywhere in the state. I can believe it!”

My reputation proceeds me, obviously. Good. Spend some time thinking about your reputation as the deadliest beaver county and the least able to use tools to solve problems. Shame is a great motivator. And the more people that think about this the more people I might be able to get to try something new.

In the mean time folks at home need something pretty to look at.

All in a days work!

heidi08 Beavers August 10, 2016

582.00 in outstanding auction items have now been collected by folks who won their bids but didn’t collect that day. We have two more today, two to mail, one on thursday and two on friday and then we’re done. DONE. Hurray!

Just in time for the Beaver Mania event conference call on friday and Jon’s very much anticipated birthday! He deserves a day of treats and rewards don’t you think because he worked so hard for the festival. Aside from hauling, moving, and nailing down everything, his tours were very well attended and broadly appreciated.

I finally went through most of Cheryl’s photos from the day, and thought I’d share a little about our awesome exhibitors this year. Ann Riley wrote appreciatively

” I am impressed that you got seemingly all the urban environmental-wildlife groups in one place. Don’t know of another event like that. So congrats on a class act.”

which coming from the author of this newly published work I will take as high praise indeed! Here are a few of our many wonderful exhibitors and what they had to offer for the day.

Lots to see and do that’s for sure! I’m just happy I got my computer desktop cleared off of all the details and contracts I wasn’t supposed to forget or needed to keep handy. Now they’re all in a neat folder marked festival 2016 and I get to see my beautiful screen saver again. Bob Armstrong’s wonderful Mendenhall beaver dam. Breathe!

mendenhall — Mendenhall Glacier Beaver Dam: Bob Armstrong

Oh and a beaver has now attacked not one but TWO people in a prophetically named town called Killingly in CT. It is all over the news but the story is pretty much the same. Swimming, dog, kits, beaver, rabies, you know the drill. And a prosthetic leg was found in the beaver dam, which is old news in Martinez where it has happened at least twice already.

Details, Details…

heidi08 Beavers August 9, 2016

15 auction items exchanged hands last night on the bridge and some really nice folks who said great things about the festival got a fun chance to see this: There are about 15 more exchanges to go.

I also completed the summary for our CCFWC grant yesterday and hunted up the receipts for the activity. They need to receive it by September in order for us to get paid. Hopefully they’ll be able to award it since our activity had to change when we found out we couldn’t get the charms this year and had to figure out a way to use buttons instead.
The-ninth-annual-beaver-festival-was-an-exciting-success
The very best part was that the office coordinator wrote me yesterday that they had hung the buttons from our last activity on the wall in the office wall! I guess that means they liked it!

Unpacking

heidi08 Beavers August 8, 2016

Wouldn’t this be an AWESOME way for your kids to have a sleepover in the back yard? It’s beautiful to see the finished product and touching to see kids working on it soberly all day. FRO is already scheming ideas for next year.

There was plenty to see and do yesterday even if you weren’t ready to paint a tent.

We spent yesterday going through the unclaimed auction items and arranging pickups. There were 40 phone calls to make and a host of meetings still to arrange. Jon took back the u-haul and unpacked while I did the calling and imploring. Tonight we’re meeting a bunch of folks by the Ward Street Bridge to exchange items for dollars in the hopes that they might catch sight of some beavers About 80 children completed the bracelet activity and 48 took the post test with 91% accuracy overall. We sorted out the right answers to the after quiz and drew two at random from a bucket. One in Martinez and one in Walnut Creek, and both were excited to learn that they had won. I wish we could give that post test to congress!

All day there were surprises and special moments, including our stellar musicians and their many unexpected lyrical substitutions with beaver words. Where else on God’s green earth can you enjoy Bluegrass, Dixieland, bagpipesAND clog dancing?

Oh and THIS, which FWS is very interested in having broadcast their Beaver Mania event. A second life for Bob’s genius!

About that beaver festival…

heidi08 Beavers August 7, 2016

There are far too many amazing things to say about yesterday’s beaver-extravaganza. I will be editing photos and memories for many days to come, but for now let me just say four things in particular.