Yesterday (June 29th, 2020) evening in the early dusk, about 8:00PM, as Charlie and I turned the corner to head north on 8th Ave, past Beaver Pond, we saw a woman ahead of us.

She was standing on the edge of the pavement, looking intently down into the weeds and brush filling the roadside ditch. Getting closer she began gesturing and pointing into the weeds. When we approached to within speaking distance, she pointed into the ditch announcing in quiet voice;

“beaver!”

She further explained when I exclaimed at the beaver’s size and sleakness, that this beaver was the biggest, and is the granddaddy of beavers of Beaver Pond and that she often sees this beaver and that there were babies swimming in the water behind a dam as well.

Charlie I joined in to watch the beaver munching away on mostly horsetail.  Charlie of course, strained at the end of the length of leash that I allowed him. The beaver continued on down the ditch line grabbing up horsetail to stuff in her mouth. 

Notice here, that I switched gender from granddaddy to the feminine pronoun her.  A little further along she stood up on her haunches to reach for some higher leaves.  Then I saw her distended teats and knew she is a mama raising babies for whom she was stuffing herself full.

Charlie was disappointed that he wasn’t allowed a chance to meet beaver more closely.  He reluctantly and with great resistance allowed me to pull him away to come back home.

All the time we stayed to watch the beaver I learned more about this beaver and Beaver Pond from the woman who originally alerted me to the beaver’s presence.  And all the while more people came along to see and point cell phones at the beaver.  Beaver remained unmoved by the attention almost to the point of ignoring her appreciative audience; an audience enthralled by seeing up close, one of the iconic northwest creatures so important in the early European movement into Washington, all the while standing on asphalt pavement with cars passing.  Charlie and I thrilled to be part of the experience of seeing beaver and that we did not stand alone to watch and give beaver her due.