TIME FOR EGGNOG AND OLD FAVORITES

heidi08 Beavers December 25, 2025

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On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Two adult beavers and A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Three watching women<
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Six baby ducklings
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Seven on committee
Six baby ducklings
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eight eager muskrats
Seven on committee
Six baby ducklings
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Nine children laughing
Eight eager muskrats
Seven on committee
Six baby ducklings
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Ten news reporters
Nine children laughing
Eight eager muskrats
Seven on committee
Six baby ducklings
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Eleven cameras snapping
Ten news reporters
Nine children laughing
Eight eager muskrats
Seven on committee
Six baby ducklings
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Twelve hatching turtles
Eleven cameras snapping
Ten news reporters
Nine children laughing
Eight eager muskrats
Seven on committee
Six baby ducklings
Five City Council!
Four furry kits
Three watching women
Two adult beavers and
A Dam in Alham-b-ra Creek

BE-A-VERY CHRISTMAS EVE

heidi08 Beavers December 24, 2025

I saw this card on Etsy and was so impressed. Obviously the artist has spent time around actual beavers. I wasn’t surprised ten to learn that Liz Bradford was the artistic talent behind the awesome instructional illustration in the Montana Outdoor magazine too. Click here to be reminded of its glory.

And Happy Christmas Eve and may beavers beavers bless us every one!

A LITTLE MORE ART; A LITTLE LESS AI

heidi08 Beavers December 23, 2025

I thought this was missing something so I had a little fun with it and Amelia’s paintings over the years…You can see it needs a lot more work and someone much more talented than I, add a turtle, an osprey a deer drinking upstream, but this will do for a start…

AI ARTISTRY GETS CLOSER

heidi08 Beavers December 22, 2025

This appeared on the “iNature” FB page last night with a lot of aplomb. When I asked for the artist the little bot that runs their page told me “I create this”. Thanks for the chat. Amy and I both like it, but her hand chalked version would be so much better.

TEACHING CHRISTIANITY TO JESUS

heidi08 Beavers December 21, 2025

If you were awakened last night by a whirring noise it was the inevitable sound of R. Grace Morgan turning over and over in her grave at this report from the CBC. The headline alone has left me in a horrified state of shock from slapping my own forehead so many times and with such velocity,

How the beaver is teaching Indigenous communities about ecological balance and reciprocity

Read that again out loud. And really appreciate the arrogance. Because we all know if there is ONE thing indigenous communities need more of it is government scientist teaching them about ecological balance.

You know in much the same way as Navy seals can teach orcas the value of limiting their oxygen intake to dive deeper, or French chefs cab teach Chinese peasants about the value of cooking meals quickly over with high heat to conserve fuel.

Thank goodness those beavers came along to teach the natives about balance. They were so UNbalanced before.

She says even though the relationship between the Anishinaabe and manoomin has changed since colonization, it still remains essential to understandings about themselves and their relationships to homelands.

“It makes sense that our ancestors obviously understood some of the work that beavers were doing, and saw that beavers create wetlands where then manoomin would grow,” said Garrity.

Displacement and relocation from colonization as well as major changes to the natural landscape from development has affected where manoomin is harvested.

Garrity sees the pre-colonial relationships as reciprocal.

“The beavers, the rice and the people were here existing in these changeable, dynamic ecological and cultural systems and relationships for a very long time.”

Hey, I know a funny story., Let’s imagine that there was this tribe that lived off the land and learned about it and tended it and served it for an eon in relative harmony and then this other group of rag tag ham-fisted greedy people sailed in and took over everything and gave them alcohol and guns to shoot beavers so they could sell their fur for hats.

Then the first peoples drank the alcohol and shot each other and totally messed up their culture by killing all the beavers which ruined the fish and the water and the hunting so that there wasn’t enough of anything to go around, Meanwhile the the ragtags got rich and their children all graduated from college and came back and told them that beavers were actually GOOD and they should learn ecological balance from them!

Wouldn’t that be HILARIOUS!!!