Busy as Beavers As Seasons Change - Week 30: Holms on the Potomac

  

We’ve gone from summer to fall—the first two weeks of September were warm, green and summer-like, although some brown leaves fell in August because sycamores lose their leaves early. Now, it’s 49 degrees in the mornings—we wore jackets this week. Cicada sounds  nosedived into decrescendo but the crickets tuned up and made music all month.* (Sadly, we are now finding expiring crickets. In our apartment.) On the 15^th it cooled and I wore long pants on our walk instead of capris, and the weather has been cooler but beautiful since.  Maryland is still green, though some trees are yellowing and others show splashes of red. I always regret seeing the seasons change but then I wonder why, because energizing, beautiful, cool, not humid weather is invigorating. October will be lovely, although it’s rainy tonight.

A beaver in Heron Pond!

Beaver lodge!

Beaver teeth marks!

A couple of beavers are building a lodge near us! We saw them swimming a few weeks ago, but it was a surprise this week to see young saplings cut down and a lodge made of mud and sticks on the side of “our” pond. Our missionary friend, Elder Connell, who lives near the pond, saw the big beaver surface with paws full of mud, daubing it in between branches.  The beavers are munching on a large tree which the “powers that be” surrounded with wire mesh—which the beavers have chewed right through. 

 Beavers need to gnaw on wood to keep their teeth from growing too long. Elder Connell says they have a high iron content in their teeth which helps them chew hardwood. (He is a retired dentist, so he should know. Although he never filled a beaver’s molar!)  

What will happen to the beavers? Will they finish the lodge, mate, and be ready for kits in the spring, or will the constant presence of humans and dogs inhibit their natural behavior? Will the powers that be trap them and take them away before they cut down ALL of the tress girded with wire? Will rains coming in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian overflow the pond and wash out their lodge? I’ll keep you posted.

We’re excited to spend this weekend listening to General Conference: when President Russell M. Nelson, the president of our church, shares words of encouragement, power and revelation.  I look at it this way: If Moses, Isaiah, or John the Baptist were on television or the internet,  boy, would I listen to them and their fellow prophets!

Five teams of sister missionaries made elements of this bulletin board which both entertains and educates visitors to the mission office with quizzes, games, and windows and blinds that open and close. I was blessed to ask for their help and then stand back and see their creative juices flow. 

*We watched the movie Gettysburg. When they wanted to portray peace and calm, they played cricket songs in the background. As men prepared for battle, they played intense, urgent cicada sounds.