Some days are bad, and other days there are beavers in the river

Hi everybody.

How are you?

Guess who I found on my walk this morning?

I know the video quality isn't great, but you should be able to see this guy's great tail, which, after I stopped filming, he used more than once to warn me to keep my distance.

I got to the river in time for some nice dawn color before the sun came up. I could hear lots of songbirds and fish crows, but I didn't see much along the river trail. BUT. When I got around the bend, I heard a big splash in the side stream, and that's when I saw the beaver. I think there were actually two, because I heard another splash from the opposite direction, but I only saw the one. I watched him for a long time. What an amazing creature. Did you know they use their tails as a plate? We learned that at the National Zoo. 

Gosh. I hope we will still have a National Zoo after all this. 

Anyway, here are some pictures from my walk this morning.

The Beaver!

The beaver's house.

Heron rookery.

Fish crow.

Cormorant.

Common Mergansers.

Great Blue Heron.

Pileated woodpecker.

Pileated woodpecker.

Look closely at the GIANT hole that the woodpecker made.

Horned grebe! A new one for me.

Yesterday, one of my democracy friends gave me this sticker. I'm trying to figure out where to put it. Isn't it sad that I have to be afraid to put it on my car? It was good to be around a group of people who are actively trying to do something about all of this. We wrote postcards to voters in Florida who are about to have an election to replace Matt Gaetz. It's a longshot. But at least we're trying. No one should be sitting idly by waiting for someone else to save us. 

I think the thing that has been bothering me the most the past few days is seeing people still cheering this on. It is really taking a toll on my faith in humanity. What will it take for people to be willing to admit they were wrong? I mean, if defunding cancer research and letting kids with HIV die doesn't do it, then what? 

Ugh. Anyway. Honestly, I'm feeling mostly pretty OK today. I mean, there was a BEAVER this morning and all those cool birds. It's the first day of spring. The flowers and trees are coming to life and the sun is shining. And Daph is coming home tomorrow for a whole week. The orange menace and his obnoxious sidekicks cannot take those things away.

And there is something trying to bloom on my new plant. That's exciting.

Hang in there, you guys. Happy Spring.

Onward.