Beaver Hunt

Well, this was an exciting Sunday.

We went walking along the levee, where thickets fringe a slough, and
Danny and Rainer got in a fight with a beaver. There was a lot of
growling, screaming and yelling, coming out of there, I couldn't see
anything, and I was afraid Rainer had gotten into a steel trap. This
thicket is pretty close to impenetrable. No entry at all from the
bank without a good machete, so I had to go out in the water and
enter from that side. Even so, visibility was less than five yards,
and I had a hell of a time clambering through the willow, bramble and
alder thickets. Got all scratched up. My hands look like they got
caught in a tenderizer.

That beaver gave as good as he got. Rainer got pretty chewed up.
Beavers fell large trees with their teeth, so it was nothing to slice
up ears and nose. There was mud and blood all over, even on me. I had
to wash him in the bathtub to find out where the blood was coming
from. He shook, of course, so the bathroom looked like Norman Bates
just left. A schnozz that looks like it was sliced by a razor, and an
ear with several slices in it. There were also some wounds elsewhere,
but nothing too serious. I think the nose will grow back together
without stitches, but the ear might have tassles on its edge from
here on out. He is hurting right now, so I gave him an aspirin.

They say adventure is something happening to somebody else a long way
off. It never seems to go that way in our family.