Check out the interesting cover story in today's Sunday Seattle Times
"Pacific Northwest Magazine." It's about time the Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia)
earned it's place as a bell ringer local media cover story.

I can so relate! No wonder my big Camelia toppled over this winter having
been undermined then weighted down by the December snow. At least I, and
apparently one of the few it seems, have actually seen one of these alleged
mythical beasts, a dozen to be precise here in just my own Bellevue/Eastgate
backyard over the past decade. This I can't say for even Lewis and Clark who
never were able to procure one live during their legendary expedition including
that dreadful winter apart from skins given them by the Chinooks at Ft.
Clatsop, and it doesn't sound like they ever did quite figure out what they were
exactly.

Excuse me while I smugly gloat :-))
I've managed to capture an even dozen of these periodic terrorist yard and
garden invaders and release them promptly to a hereby undisclosed but "safe,
proper, and appropriate habitat" far far away (i.e., land after long and
careful searching far and wide and way far out of town believed reasonably distant
from inflicting potentially destructive impact to sensitive new growth
forest land and/or private property). These elusive seldom seen critters are in
fact just about as common as dirt throughout the lowland PNW, so it probably
doesn't really matter in the long run. They already are everywhere around
here. My only concern, if not slight twinge of guilt, is just how successful a
translocation might turn out. I have a hunch maybe not so well, especially
when dropped cold into likely another's territory, but at least they've got a
fighting chance, ...literally. Their demand and need for water is so
immediate and constant due to primitive poor working kidneys (=2/3 body weight per
day), prompt translocation after capture is necessary. Despite being so
capable of clear cut destruction and a gardener's nightmare (it only takes ONE
with a home range of 2-3 acres of subterranean runways which honeycomb and
undermine entire neighborhoods), mountain beavers are still as endearing in
their own way as they are cantankerous when cornered and don't even tolerate each
other in the same place or for long. Mating even is little more than the
briefest of trysts when it's pretty much "wham-bam, so long babe, and stay out
of my life forever, ...or at least until next time."

I bait the trap with romaine lettuce btw, not apples as is stated and of
limited success in the article. All have been captured over several years at
the exact same burrow entrance from which due to the impossibly steep and
overgrown terrain I've had resort to desperate measures by improvising and
constructing a level 2-foot long permanently installed wooden trestle-like platform
emerging from the burrow entrance (imagine a ramp for runaway trucks on the
freeway) upon which to place the trap when there is evidence of recent
activity. Once every year or two or three, I might have to clear the ramp of
recently piled dirt and rocks but that also alerts me that simple house cleaning
is in progress in preparation for another probable spate of attacks. Mountain
Beavers may be primitive and successful, but I maintain a constant vigilance
and endeavor to stay one step ahead despite their elusive and wily nature
and at the same time have a great fascination and respect for them. ...that,
despite all the nasty unflattering names and adjectives I've applied to them
over the years that aren't printable here in this forum :-))

Sorry, off topic I know, but I thought some of you might enjoy a heads up on
this interesting, enlightening, and amusing hard copy article in the Sunday
Times this morning which stopped me dead in my tracks when I stumbled on to
it in the Saturday Advance Edition. It can likely also be found online at
_http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/_
(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/) once it's posted in the next day or two if not within
the next few hours.

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA
**************Who's never won? Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on
AOL Music.
(http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?ncid=emlcntusmusi00000003)