Operation ABC from A to Z!

I didn't get a post done yesterday because we have Charis for Friday and part of Saturday, and I spent a lot of time posting the Operation ABC story to my Leahaven blog.  So here's a link to the story:

http://leahaven.blogspot.com/

Hopefully, tonight I'll have some astonishing pictures to post about our plans for the afternoon--and that's all I'm going to say for now . . .

Just One Look, That's All It Took!

Well, we've finally solved the beaver problem at Leahaven, and here's what happened.  We went down there Wednesday, and Herb built a frame to hold the pipe he was going to use to lower the level of the pond. 

Herb carried the frame out into the pond to see if he needed to shorten it for the depth of the water.  And guess what?  Suddenly there were no beavers!  They took one look at Herb's face (see left and above) and before you could say "Damn!" they were in Florida and headed for Cuba!

Well, when we looked at these pictures tonight, I told Herb that's what I was going to post about.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Until tomorrow, when I'm not so tired, and I'll tell you the Real Story!  :)

Busy Beavers

Here are pictures of last night's busy beaver!  First, Charis had a blast riding her rocking horse.  Later when I picked up "Good Night, Moon" to read it, she hopped down from my lap, turned on her noise maker, and pointed to her pj's on her changing table, asking to get dressed for bed!  Didi helped her brush her teeth before bed, and she does it very conscientiously!

Today was official Busy Beaver Day!  While I went to a women's seminar at church, Herb mowed the grass at home.  You can tell who helped him! (In case you can't tell from the picture, her paws are green!

After I got home, we headed to Leahaven with the dogs to address our beaver problem.  As we feared, our hay farmer had driven his equipment over the dam by the pond and made huge ruts because the beavers expanded the pond right onto the road!  (We expect Tony to be a busy beaver and repair the damage he did!)  Since the road is damaged and we couldn't drive to the cabin, Herb had to carry a kayak all the way from the lake, turtle-style.

I must admit, the dam makes the pond look beautiful!  It seems too bad to interfere with the beavers, but we do need to be able to use our road!  While Herb got a plumb-line (string+rock) ready, Zephyr climbed the dam and walked the edge again.  Poor beavers--more repair work to do tonight!

Busy beaver Hero was very interested in something in the brush, although he wouldn't get in the water.  I think he found out where the beavers' lodge is!  Meanwhile, Herb took the kayak out and measured the depth of the water where he has to put a pipe to partially drain the pond.  It's only 3' deep near the dam where the pipe will go, though the center is fairly deep at 8'.

Who wouldn't want to live here?  I think those beavers are pretty smart!

After Herb mowed the lawn and I cleaned the house, we had Mexican take-out on the front porch.  And before we left, we snuck quietly down to the pond to see if we could spot a beaver.  Sure enough!  In the picture at left, you can see a stripe of white wake reflected in the setting sun back near those reeds Hero was checking out earlier.  You can't see on this picture, but there's a little beaver head at the front of the wake!  That's the only reason we could see him gliding so silently through the water without even a splash or ripple.  You can see the line of wake near the bank in the right-hand picture, too.  You'll just have to take our word for it that we saw the beaver!

And in a few moments it was too dark to see anything, so we said good night to the beavers and headed for home.  Sleep tight, busy beavers!  We sure will!