Local News: Local Family Relocates

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I have begun riding my bicycle again. I travel the same 7 mile (+/-) track each day, sucking up nature’s wonders. Pollen is among Nature’s most prolific wonders.  I guess sneezing and red, swollen eyes are indicators of good health?

Avid readers will recall it was last year that a Beaver family moved into our nature trail. Within hours, they converted a low-lying acre of plant life into a large, fetid swamp. Let me tell you, there is nothing more natural than a beaver swamp. Well, maybe a convention of skunks would be comparable, but little else.

Recently, I awakened to some odd quacking noises outside my window. Too sleepy to locate my gun, I peered out the window to identify these untimely quackers. Sure enough, a Mallard drake and his floozy hen were paddling about in my creek having a grand time diving for insects and small fish.

“Oh, it’s only ducks,” I told myself falling back into bed. I tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. The party in the creek was too much.

Eventually, I saddled up for my morning bicycle ride. I zoomed along the trail enjoying the fresh air when I realized there should not be any fresh air in this part of the trail. The beaver swamp was dry.

“Uh, oh,” I thought. A bad feeling came over me and I pedaled for all I was worth toward the place where the creek behind my home empties into the larger stream by the trail. It was just as I feared. No water was flowing from my creek into the larger artery. This could mean only one thing: Beaver trouble.

I should mention here that we measure the “normal” depth of my creek in inches. It is more of a babbling brook, a foot deep in places. Now, I began to put the cheese and quackers together and they did not add up.

When I got home, I staggered down to the creek side. Sure enough, we now have several duck-entertaining feet of water where before there was barely enough to hatch mosquitoes. If it turns out ducks eat mosquitoes, this could work out. Otherwise, I may have to resurrect some ancient skills and remove the dam before the air becomes unbreathable. [BOOM!]