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!  :)

Same Song, Second Verse

When we last checked on the beavers, we found that their dam-building had indeed compromised the road.  When our farmer took his equipment across the dam to fertilize the hay fields, he left huge ruts in the road because the beavers have made it so soggy.

Not wanting to damage the road further, we couldn't drive out to the cabin to get a kayak, so Herb carried it turtle-style all the way back to the pond.

While Herb tied a rock to a string and I made myself useful taking pictures, the dogs helped, too.  Zephyr tested the dam by walking on it--making sure the beavers would come back out at night to fix it.
Hero was a little more useful--perhaps his "rodent radar" is honed by hunting field mice in the grass!  We figured out later that he probably actually found out where the lodge is--somewhere in that brush.

Herb paddled out onto the pond and measured the depth where the "anti beaver" pipe will go.  It's only two feet there, with the deepest part in the middle being a mere six feet.

The actual ABC (Anti Beaver Campaign!) will have to happen after school is out, so they can have their kingdom for now.  You can understand why they want it, can't you?

We stayed and did other work around the house that day, then finished up with Mexican take-out on the front porch watching the sun set.  Right before we left, we went out to the pond in the fading light to see if the beavers were working yet to repair Zephyr's damage.  The last rays of sunlight just caught the wake of a beaver (line of light in center of photo) coming out from the brush Hero had been inspecting earlier.  We never actually saw a beaver, but it was exciting to see evidence of them.  It made me think of the wind and the Spirit in John 3:8.  I've never seen the beaver, but I know he's at work!

Finally it was too dark even for wake-watching, so we left the beavers in peace in their little world and headed home.

Surprise!

On Feb. 26 we drove out to Leahaven to check on things.  To our surprise, we found that the stock pond had risen so high that it was creeping up onto the road next to it, making the road so soggy we didn't dare drive our SUV across it.  So we walked out to see what could have blocked off the overflow.

Surprise!  Beavers had built a dam!  Zephyr, sure they had made it for her amusement, walked back and forth across it. 
What amazing creatures beavers are--another testimony to the Creator of the Universe!  Even though it's a nuisance for the road, the dam is beautiful.  So are the individual sticks where the beavers have chewed the bark off in neat little spirals.  After we got home, I learned lots of fascinating things online.  For instance, I knew that beavers don't actually live in the dam; they use it to deepen the water so they can build a lodge elsewhere in the pond.  But I didn't know they have at least two rooms in their underground home:  The first one is for drying off before they go into the second sleeping chamber.  No wet beavers allowed in bed!

Unfortunately, Zephyr's explorations damaged the dam, so I took a picture to see if the beavers would repair it overnight.  Just like the old "Highlights" puzzles, can you spot the differences?

  The top picture was taken the evening of the 26th, and the bottom one, the morning of the 27th.  Sure enough!  The busy beavers worked at night to fix the dam (notice the new large stick at left with a knot-hole in it, for one), and no more water was leaking through the dam . . .

. . . until Zephyr got busy, too!  She's irrepressible where water is concerned--in it or on it, she doesn't care as long as she can be wet!

Herb and I couldn't agree whether to leave the beavers as permanent fixtures of Leahaven or to tear the dam up right then and there.  (Guess who wanted to do what!)  So we left the beavers in possession of our pond and road--with repairs on the agenda again--and we headed home to find a compromise for dealing with the (excuse the pun!) dam creatures!

Stay tuned for the rest of the story . . .