Leave it to beaver...

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"Wow, how many are there?" Asked the lady on the roadside. She was, of course referring to the bevvy of beavers that have taken up residence by our driveway. Busy as... well... beavers, they have been wreaking havoc in the most adorable sense of the word. Trees that have stood for many a year are painstakingly nawed to the ground. The stump hone into a perfect point, the trunk stripped of its branches and said branches, combined skillfully with mud are crafted expertly into a dam, blocking off our storm water drain. Creating their own private pool.

The Beavers have become much loved members of the community, bus drivers stop to gawk, passersby pause to ogle, the children I nanny enquire after their wellbeing. I love watching them and can be entertained for ages watching them swim, tail slap, preen, and eat. There are 5 altogether. Big daddy, mama, 2 teenagers and a baby. I watch the teenagers squabble over food and the baby cling close to mama's side. While mum and the kids are shy, Big Daddy doesn't seem to care about us humans at all. I watched tranfixed as he ate a twig in the fashion we might eat a cob of corn or at least how we'd eat a cob of corn in the cartoons. I could almost hear the typewriter ding at the end of each munch.

I felt compelled to research beavers. What makes them tick? Why are they so damned obsessed with damned dams? As it turns out it seems that the answer is simple: beavers cherish peace and quiet. The sound of a babbling brook is like chinese water torture or nails down a blackboard to their little beaver ears. In one study they put domesticated beavers indoors in a room with mud and sticks in one corner and a cassette player emitting sounds of running water in the other. In the morning when they checked on them the cassette machine was buried under every available piece of debri. Something tells the beaver to stop that sound.

But not everyone loves the beavers and a battle of sorts has ensued. Many are concerned that when the October rains come the dam will cause massive flooding of the apartment car parks and road. Some say they are pests and someone last year took matters into their own hands at another nearby urban beaver home, clubbing one of the poor things to death. But the beaver lovers seem to outweight the beaver haters and the council recently sent out workers to build up the banks of the storm water area to try and avoid the flooding and keep human/beaver co-habitation amicable. So far it seems to be working.

Other news in: We have been enjoying hiking and found an area near Function Junction that can be reached by bus and a short walk so that is more agreeable with our budgets than costly gondola rides.

We also took a cab with 2 friends to Garibaldi for a fantastic hike. We estimated the ride would be around $20 but it was more like $60. Still it was well worth it, the beauty of the area is hard to beat. Garibaldi was a freezing cold glacier fed lake nestled in the mountains and it was refreshing after a few hours hiking but we couldn't stand to stay in too long. We managed to hitch a ride with another set of hikers back to Whistler, saving ourselves another costly cab thank God.

Well, fall is almost upon us and the weather is cooling down. I must say that after almost a year of endless summer it is actually quite a nice change. Thats it for now. Take care out there.

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Photos

Beaver
My new neighbours!

The Boys
Jim and Colin enjoying the vista half way up to Garibaldi Lake

One of the Locals
Chipmunk looking for a snack...

Garibaldi Lake
Picture perfect

Comments

[Dan Jordan]

So Jealous
Leigh, sounds like ur having such a good time and those beavers sound super super cool. The whole place looks totally untouched + pristine so i've decided that i hav to get there one day. Another good blog Babe.