Out for a morning constitutional, I came upon a really big beaver on the Willamette. I was easing up on him, down wind. He sniffs, turns and looks at me from about 10 meters. He eyes my Pygmy like a starving man eying an ettoufee, thick with andouille sausage, shrimps and okra, a chunk of garlic bread dripping with butter, a tall glass of cold whole milk, and a creme bruler. Starts chugging right at me. My mind flashes on the infamous Jimmy Carter canoe rabbit attack. That beast was actually a nutria (nutrium?), the only slightly less vicious step brother of the beaver. At about 5 meters he slaps tail and dives. Can't out run him; I'll sit and fight. I wait, listening, like the guys in "Das Boot", for the terrifying sounds of gnawing on my hull. The seconds tick by. I haul booty. Unscathed... this time. About 15 minutes later, I spot a coyote loping along the bank below the tank farm. I turn, and give chase. Got a good tailwind; throttle up the HP and start gaining on him, but he loses me in the brush. It was a good morning. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Dec 14 1999 - 13:07:46 PST
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:30:17 PDT