Last night was a win for the beavers I think. It got off to a rocky start when our dog got skunked on her walk so the car smelled like skunk perfume and our house smells – well, don’t ask. Then we got lost and couldn’t find the place in the dark and breezed in with just enough time to spare. The good news is the growing panic made me not sleepy at all!
And then, well from then on it went perfectly.
The crowd was large and supportive and laughed and oohed in every single right place. Afterwards there were many compliments, some women who wanted to follow up with trapping that has occurred in Walnut Creek and a woman from Antioch that wants to work with Dow Wetlands on beaver issues. A man who works for Condor Consulting in Martinez and knew the story about Wendy Dexter’s daughter making a beaver tail at a festival and agreeing to help us because of that. And Brenda from Berkeley was there who had heard my interview on Terra Verde, bought the book and be came a true believer.
It actually turned out to be a great night, skunk not withstanding. I was so enthused by the end that I fondly remembered my favorite Paula Poundstone line where she observes forlornly ,
“I did an hour and a half that night
I could have done more but
the club had really bad security
And a lot of the audience got away.”
Onward and upward I say. Now its time to concentrate on city grants and Jon’s swearing in ceremony next week. He thought he’d become an American during what’s obviously the final days of the republic, so that should be exciting. Meanwhile there’s a fine new film that just premiered from our friend Doug Knudson at Windswept films, this version is unlisted but it recently was shown at the film festival so I think he would be happy for us to share it now. It starts out with the story I shared before about his finding a trapped beaver and then talks more about what he’s learned since.
Enjoy.