Backstory: When I was a junior in high school I tried out for the musical ‘You’re a good man charlie brown!’ and with no acclaim whatsoever got the part. (I bet you can guess who.) That really isn’t important. What is important is that because I rehearsed over and over and heard the music in my sleep sung by people I went to school with every day, the lyrics occasionally play in my head 30 years later.
This especially happens at the beaver dam after a terrible storm has flattened the secondary dam and our poor little beavers are living in a muddy hovel where a rich pond used to be. No one has seen an adult for days and the 6 month old kits apparently have no idea how to fix things on their own. They are completely confused by high tides, which make ample water/then no water at regular intervals. I start to get gloomy in my thinking, and this is the soundtrack that plays and replays, imagining that their parents have left them and the kits are left vainly trying to scratch out a meal from blackberries and gnarled roots.
Then just like Snoopy I’m shaken from my grim reverie by a bright email from Jon this morning, who walked the dog at 5:00 am before heading in for day shift.The beavers aren’t dead or lonely! And they have a grown up to help them work on the dam! And we’ll have a beautiful secondary soon! Just like we do every year!
Beavers everywhere this morning! Saw all three kits, two were “working” on the dam, little tiny handfuls! Also Mom cause one of the kits followed her back in to the bank hole.
Whew! Talk about an emotional roller coaster. (What must parents go through? Beavers can’t even drive!) It has gotten slightly easier than it was that first winter, when I had no idea what to expect and the experts all told us that the beavers had moved on. You would think after 6 years I wouldn’t worry – but it’s more accurate to say I at least know I shouldn’t worry. Of course I do anyway. It’s just another of the many moody adventures in following a family of beavers I guess. Who knows, I assume the flooding drives out the adults because there’s not enough room in the bank holes for everyone. But maybe mom and dad stay a way for a while to get the kids motivated to work for a living? Ms. Glass half full would mention that there has been a beautiful great blue heron hanging at the ripped dams, enjoying the escaping fish. She even beaked it out with a night heron wednesday when they were both greedy for the best position. I’m just happy our kits are doing what they need to do and have some adults to show them how.
Oh, our Charlie Brown never made it to the stage, btw. My english teacher (who was the director) decided that he suddenly needed a divorce from his wife (who was the piano player), and the entire production was scrapped.
Broadway mourns I am sure.
