Mountain beavers

Matins went pretty well today, with Drew and me sharing the duties (I was a little worried before the service because I began to feel like I might be suffering a relapse of last week's bug). Good sermon, and a good pitch for his class on St. Paul's writings next month! Sadly, it seems I might miss the first two classes due to travel: I know I'll miss the first.

Nancy and the Garden Guild have been doing a wonderful job on the gardens, and in just two weeks it was very visible! I was amazed and pleased to see the condition of the gardens this morning; things look well-tended, weeded and watered.

But the joke to somebody this morning was that they needed to check the damage from the mountain beavers down by the old signposts. We're not sure if they really are mountain beavers (I'd never even heard of them before), but when that area was overgrown with blackberries something moved in and left holes big enough to trap shoes. We know there were rabbits because we would see them from time to time, but since that area was cleared the rabbits appear to have retreated to the wooded wedge at the south end of the property.

While waiting for the ACW meeting to finish this morning Paul Jr. showed me the damage. It sure looked like something big had plowed through the hillside, but the mystery didn't last long -- the lighting for the old sign had been taken out yesterday.