The Canoe Trip, Spooking A Lot Of Beavers And Leading The Wild Life

This is a picture of my sister and has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that she is reasonably "wild".

The advantage of canoeing is the fact that you don't make much noise and you stand a much greater chance of coming upon wild life in it's natural state, i.e. unaware that man is there.

On this trip I saw more wild life than I could shake a paddle at. Mind you, there were a few that I shook a paddle at, mostly carp, gnats, mosquitoes, and one really determined horsefly that now regrets his very birth, but mostly, I just observed.

I saw a million herons fishing for their breakfast and almost twice that many carp sucking mud and trying to impress lady carps with their mud sucking ability. I saw countless loons, kingfishers, and dragonflies that varied in color from chartruese green to a deep metallic blue. I saw one robin and three copperhead snakes.

I saw one moth with a death wish that circled our campfire for twenty minutes before he decided that it was the right thing to do. While I feel some regret at his untimely demise, I also feel absolved of responsibility as the choice was ultimately his own. Poor bastard.

The real treat of the trip was shocking a beaver or two, as who doesn't enjoy scareing an unsuspecting beaver? These docile creatures were always starled at our presence and took off in a plume of moisture. Poor, gentle beaver. You have nothing to fear from us, as we have always loved and respected beaver as a wonderful facet of our environment, despite your clumsy dams that you put up to impede us.

But make no mistake beaver, we will never understand the inner workings of your mind, even if that is what we love you for.

This is my niece Ideshia in here Mardi Gras outfit. The stilts were made by her dad and her mother, seen in the background, sewed the costume. Forgive me, I don't know how to turn the picture right side up. This has nothing to do with anything either.

Doc