Operation ABC

Wednesday was Operation ABC--Anti Beaver Campaign.  This was how we found the pond, very full and right up to the edge of the road.

Herb carried the pipe he bought down to the pond.  He couldn't drive the Beast, our SUV, with the loaded trailer that far because the soggy road is so rutted!  Bad beavers!

Herb also brought down a frame he made to hold the pipe in place.  He ended up not even needing to use it.  Know why?  Look at the next picture and guess . . .

The beavers took one look at his scowl and took off running as fast as they could go!  Last I heard they were in Florida, headed for Cuba!

Actually, he was thinking about how to proceed, and no, the beavers didn't really run.  He didn't need the frame because the whole Operation ABC ended up being simpler than we had thought.

Herb did have to get pretty wet, though!  Better him than me--all I could think of was snakes!  So I stood safely on the big rock at the water's edge and took pictures!

To our surprise, this is what the beavers' dam looks like now!

First, Herb tore away some of the dam at one side far enough down to lay a piece of solid pipe right through the middle of the dam.

Next, he patted mud and debris back on top of the pipe to repair the hole in the dam.  It didn't look quite like the beavers had made it, but they didn't find it necessary to come back and repair it during the night.  I figure if his work passed the beavers' inspection code, it was pretty good!

Then Herb laid two holey lengths of pipe in the pond and connected them to the dam pipe.

He did not have to do this all alone.  Besides me helpfully taking pictures, he had both dogs to help.  Hero went gracefully leaping after field mice in the grass at the pond's edge.

Zephyr was REALLY helpful, setting out to single-handedly devour the entire dam, stick by stick!

She discovered that she could "tightrope walk" on the pipe, which she did happily until she lost her balance and rolled over into the water.  As much as she loves water, she doesn't like to swim, so she headed back to water that was no deeper than her belly.

Hero, meanwhile, had discovered frogs, and for the first time in his life he ventured to put his feet in the water.  As long as he could keep his feet on the ground, he was happy hunting frogs!

While the dogs were busy, Herb had been, too.  The pipe kept wanting to float, but the wooden frame seemed over-kill, so he wired a couple of fence posts to the pipe . . .

. . . and that was all it took to sink it to the level he wanted it at.

Two more lengths of holey pipe laid below the dam in the run-off stream, and we had success!  Operation ABC was up and running--literally!

This was how we left the pond that afternoon.

After dinner we spent about an hour standing out there waiting to see if the beavers would come out to repair the dam or try to block up the pipe.  We thought we saw a bit of wake, but it was too cloudy for the sunset to help illuminate things for us.  We did see about two dozen swallows darting through the air above the pond, hopefully devouring mosquitos!  And we saw a gorgeous blue heron fly right over our heads, honking mournfully as he went.

Thursday morning before we left, we walked out to check on the status of Operation ABC.  The pond was definitely down, and the water was still running.  Herb said the dam was untouched, so we're hoping the beavers are going to accept the status quo.

Compare this to the previous picture of the rock, and see for yourself!  I think we'll send a copy of this report to the FBI.  They might be so impressed with our handling of Operation ABC that they may want to enlist our help in one of their operations!  :)