If you’re like me you might need help facing the tiger of a week ahead that’s staring down at you. Maybe you also stayed up too late last night watching the icy splendor of beautiful and deadly killer whales tipping iceberg after iceberg until they could sneak up on an exhausted seal, and baby polar bears hungrily nursing off a famished mother who hadn’t eaten in 4 months in the Frozen Planet. Let’s face it, it’s a dog eat dog world out there – where the penguin that steals rocks for his nest usually does better than the penguin who works to gather them.
If you’re like me you might need help facing the tiger of a week ahead that’s staring down at you. Maybe you also stayed up too late last night watching the icy splendor of beautiful and deadly killer whales tipping iceberg after iceberg until they could sneak up on an exhausted seal, and baby polar bears hungrily nursing off a famished mother who hadn’t eaten in 4 months inBut then you see something like this and your heart is comforted. Honestly, you have to watch this. It’s well worth the commercial.
Don’t kid yourself about the ‘aw’ factor here. Baby ducks are cute, but we don’t have any shortage of them. What you’re enjoying in this clip isn’t the animals, its the humanity. When we see a banker catching baby ducks as they leap onto concrete, or a fireman lifting a bear cub to safety, or an entire town struggling to save some beavers against incredible odds our hearts are comforted that the world isn’t quite as terrible a place and that people – even some people you might never suspect – are capable of compassionate and generous things.
It’s easy to forget sometimes, so I’d keep this video handy.
Three beavers last night. One (I assume Dad but wasn’t close enough to see more than his swimming V) emerged way down by the third dam. Sometimes he moves downstream when there’s been a washout to make him feel safer when the water level drops. One big ‘sister’ came from the primary dam and made a bee-line to Reed’s bank hole at the footbridge. The secondary dam has survived very well with its clever curve, and only the gap is leaking. Reed came out in floating vigilance to eye what repairs needed to be made. Then the larger beaver emerged and they floated in slow-motion, side by side in military formation so that their size difference could be clearly registered. They poked a bit at the dam, but the water was still running too fast to start repairs.
It was lovely to see them. That and the baby ducklings should at least get me through Monday.Too dark for a photograph but here’s a simulation…
