Your leaking thatched hut during the restoration of a pre-Enlightenment state.

 

Hello, my name is Judas Gutenberg and this is my blaag (pronounced as you would the vomit noise "hyroop-bleuach").



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   beaver in a horror movie
Friday, July 29 2022

location: rural Hurley Township, Ulster County, NY

I had to work today in the remote workplace, but it was almost the weekend, so it was as if it was a vacation from vacation. Despite having just spent most of a week on the west coast, I got up at my usual early hour (around 6:30) and began doing the things I do before a workday that often constitute the bulk of the work I actually do.

At noon, I drove into Uptown mostly to get beer, since I had very little in the house and wanted to have some at the cabin, which we'd be driving to this evening.
We left for the cabin a little before 5:00pm and drove directly there without stopping anywhere along the way.
We hadn't been to the cabin in two weeks, so the sprinkle of plants in the early stage of succession across the expanse where most people would have a lawn had all grown noticeably taller, and there were more plants appearing between them. While the early succession plants had been equisetum followed by broadleaf plants like lambsquarters, now many of the plants appearing are grasses. In a single long line, 'd planted a random mix of garden seeds that all were well-past their expected shelf life, and now the most plentiful plant in that line is some sort of squash, although it looks a little like it might be burr cucumber, an especially noxious weed. There had evidently been heavy rains over the past week, because there was evidence of additional erosion despite all my efforts to block gullies with various plantings (ferns mostly). I'd brought a bunch of grass plants that had been acting as weeds that I'll pulled out of our garden back in Hurley, and I concentrated the planting of these in the areas where the new erosion had happened. Interestingly, much of the erosion had happened entirely underground, producing small caves in the sand beneath my gulley-blocking plants. To deal with these, I carried armloads of dry leaves out of the nearby woods and packed it into the caverns.
At around sunset, Gretchen and I managed to convince the dogs to accompany us down to the lake. I'd expected the lake level to have gone up due to recent rains, but it was at about where it was two weeks ago, that is, at the lowest level I've ever seen it. The evening was so cool that Gretchen wore a hoodie and didn't go swimming. But she convinced me to fetch the canoe and take Ramona for a ride in it. She and Neville then headed back to the cabin.
As Ramona and I were returning from the outlet bay to the dock, we saw a beaver weaving back and forth in the water in front of us. She then slapped her tail and dove, and Ramona nearly capsized canoe with excitement. The beaver appeared again while we were on the dock, again weaving back and forth and seeming to approach like a beaver in a horror movie. Not today, Madyson! Ramona barked at her viciously and she retreated.


Gretchen, Ramona, and Neville on the dock I built. Click to enlarge.


Neville on the dock (with Gretchen and Ramona behind him). Click to enlarge.


Ramona in the canoe in the outlet bay. Click to enlarge.


For linking purposes this article's URL is:
http://asecular.com/blog.php?220729

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