Tree Trimming

Photo: Cheryl Reynolds

Our own Cheryl Reynolds snapped this picture last night. Clearly our little Raja was waiting until I was trapped at work and couldn’t get away before s/he decided to display the cutest expression yet known to beaver. The little stinker. Good work, Cheryl, savoring the moment for us.

Clearly those big eyes mean mom’s condition, whatever it is, isn’t contagious. The kit was very cuddly with mom last night and appeared to approach her for nursing on at least one occasion. It makes me wonder about the possibility that we’re actually seeing two kits, not one. Saturday’s baby was snuggly and infantile. Sunday’s baby was independent and a strong swimmer. Monday’s baby again very cuddly and close to mum. Who knows what will see tonight?

Surely beavers have different facets to their personality, just like people do. And all babies are sometimes cuddly and sometimes independent….but….this seems like a pretty solid trend. We’ll keep watching.

In the mean time we received the loveliest donation from Castoro Cellars yesterday for the silent auction. BRING YOUR CHECKBOOKS, you don’t want to miss this! I also had a very positive conversation with Safari West who will donate again this year. It gave me such confidence that I wrote the SF and Oakland zoo, the academy of science, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and 6 flags just to see what might be possible. Fingers crossed. The beaver watching-children of today will be the biologists and researchers of tomorrow, I always say.

Also I noticed this on the CA Revels page. Looks like we get Morris dancers!

If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose,” the Walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

Lewis Carrol

Of course the gulf-update today has to mention that the president is speaking tonight about his plans. The Christian Science Monitor tells me the speech is a “take charge moment”. Maybe. I’m thinking that the take charge moment happened about 54 days ago — or more accurately, 20 days before that when he gave his speech authorizing more drilling and saying that it was much safer now.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In the past seven days we’ve received a flurry of donations or promised donations for the silent auction at the beaver festival. Last year we raised nearly 2000 dollars and our most popular items were a certificate for two to Safari West, dinner at chez panisse and a years supply of Peets coffee! This year we are hoping for bigger and better offerings to tempt open the hearts and wallets of the beaver devoted and the beaver-curious.

{column1}The Friday before last I had a remarkable conversation with Niels Usden, the owner of Castoro Cellars in Paso Robles. His ‘dam fine wine’ has been a regular at Worth A Dam planning meetings and discussion groups, and is a natural addition to the auction. I was still ready to offer five more persuasive reasons why he should consider donating to the festival when he asked me for a formal donation letter and said it would definitely happen! Clearly a man who was nicknamed ‘il castoro’ in Italy understand how to support hard work!

Back when I was excitedly writing about Hope Ryden’s remarkable book, ‘Lily Pond‘, we struck up a little correspondence. I was particularly interested in the powerful solitary grief the author communicated about the loss of her beaver heroine, and how different that was from Martinez, where the experience was so communal and shared. She generously donated a signed first edition of her book and shipped it to me last week. It is dedicated “To Martinez”.{/column1}

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{/column2} On wednesday I got a lovely email from New Jersey beaver-advocate Sarah Sumerville of the Unexpected Wildlife Refuge. She is very pleased about the work that we’ve been doing for beavers all over, and offered to ship the following items for our auction;

· T-shirt (you pick the size) “I support the Unexpected” with beaver – back/ our logo and name on crest – front;

· Mug – our logo, cream mug/green logo;

· Cards – b/w linoleum block carvings by fifth graders with poems by Beaver Defenders (12 cards / 2 of each in the pack of 24 – fit legal envelops);

· 8×10 beaver puzzle (our dining beaver photo on balsam wood scrapped from the local yacht manufacturer – laser cut);

· Books: Beaversprite: my years building a Beaver sanctuary by Dorothy Richards (Hope Sawyer Buyukmihci wrote it for her from her notes)

· Year’s subscription to The Beaver Defenders newsletter.

Did I mention Sarah is a very enthusiastic friend? She also suggested that we poke other wildlife groups to offer items and it got me thinking about all those attractive shirtless b&w photos the Gazette snapped of Skip while he was installing the flow device. Maybe they’d be willing to offer one or two and Skip would be willing to autograph? Maybe Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife could be persuaded to part with a year of their newsletter? Maybe the Lands Council could part with one of those snappy vests or Sherri Tippie could donate one of those little clay beaver figures she is famous for making? Certainly a copy of the new Beaver Solutions DVD just HAS to be included!

Any other ideas? It’s not even May 1st. We have lots of time to beg!