Subject: [Tweeters] Anchor Aplodontia Again
Date: May 30 07:28:52 2012
From: jeff gibson - gibsondesign at msn.com



It's May at the Anchor Pub. The birds are singing, bee's buzzing, the maples leafing out, the Aplodontia are snooping...

Aplodontia?

Aplodontia (AKA Mountain Beaver) are supposedly the most ancient form of living Rodent. A quintessential Pacific Northwest creature of the moist lowland woods - common but seen fairly rarely. What they are doing around the Anchor is a bit mysterious because the place is located on the industrial waterfront of Everett with hardly any vegetation except a bit across the railroad tracks ; a little Maple grove mostly invaded by foreign plants, and some 'greenbelt', as urbanites say, about a 1/4 mile south down the tracks, that does connect to some great Aplodontia habitat in Pigeon Creek.

Last year (5/19) I reported about "Aplodontia Attacks Anchor Pub!" when an adult male Aplodontia found its way inside the bar and tried to chew it's way out. Alas, that resulted in the murder of that creature by an overzealous bartender. It currently is zip-lock bagged in our morgue (freezer) and supposed to go the Burke Museum when I ever get down there with it.

About closing time on Saturday morning (2am) my wife's bartender radar went off about some commotion outside. There at the end of the road were three of our music guys with a video camera hassling a young (or at least smallish) Aplodontia as it tried to cross the old brick pavers under the railroad bridge. It was upset and rushing at them and having a general hissy-fit when my wife showed up and yelled "leave that beaver alone!" It then disappeared into the horsetails.

So that is what you would've seen if you had been on the Western end of Highway 2 at 2am Saturday night. Yes, it's true that the Anchor Pub is the last building on Hwy. 2 as it dead-ends on the shore of Puget Sound. (don't believe that jive in wikipedia written by boring traffic engineers - Hewitt Ave is the traditional, and I might say spiritual end of that great transcontinental highway.

As usual this gave me an idea for a movie."Me, You, and Highway Two"- Sort of a 'Thelma and Louise' deal except featuring Rodents: Charlene (played by Sigourney Weaver) is a burnt-out waitress/bartender trying to escape Northern Michigan has just crossed the great Mackinac bridge to St. Ignace on the UP, and the start of the Western section of Hwy.2. She's just pulling onto the highway when she witnesses a bunch of punks pelting rocks at a young adult Woodchuck. Pulling up in her big old convertible she scatters the bullies and throws open the passenger door. "Hop in kid" she tells the Woodchuck, and it does.

I should mention that with respect to wildlife all of the Rodents in my movie will be speaking their own language (with subtitles). No hokey Disney talking animals here! And Charlene just happens to understand Rodent as several of her ex-husbands were real rats.

Then Charlene gets that crazy glint in her eye. "Hey kid, ever been out West?".
"Why no ma'am but my mom said we have lots of relatives out there!" the Woodchuck replies.

And so off they go across the country on Hwy. 2. There a great 'Western scene' in Okanogan county (with a cowboy, a rattlesnake, and the Woodchuck gets to meet a tribe of it's relatives the Yellow-bellied Marmot. And then there's the 'Sound of Music scene' in subalpine meadows above Stevens Pass where Woodchuck meets a bunch of whistling Hoary Marmot relatives.

I forgot to mention that this is also a chase movie. As it turns out when Charlene rescued the Woodchuck she was being observed by sneaky wildlife cops who thought she was abducting wildlife. Having eluded the authorities all across the country (which was pretty tricky since she stayed on Hwy 2 all the way) they finally caught up with her here, Everett Washington, the end of the road. Speeding down Hewitt ave Charlene notices that she just ran out of road. Slowing down she notices three guys hassling a small mammal. "Oh no, not again!" she cry's. Pulling up in her big car, scattering the guys, she let the little critter jump on the back seat. " I don't know what you are, but lets get out of here". This is when Homeland Security, the Navy, and every other flavor of law enforcement show up, with SWAT teams and all, and Charlene figures screw it, and guns that big ol car thru the chain link fence, over the railroad tracks, guns it across the wide tarmac at the Port of Everett and hits the water doing about 70 mph.

Since this is a feel good movie it ends with Charlene and her Rodent friends being saved by Harbor Seals under the cover of darkness. After a brief scene getting to know the Aplodontia ("you're news to me" Charlene say's) the movie ends with Woodchuck high-fiving a Olympic Marmot atop Hurricane Ridge, silhouetted by a spectacular Olympic sunset.

Jeff Gibson
The Anchor Pub
1001 Hewitt Ave/ Hwy 2
Everett Wa