Beaver Queen Pageant - Meet the judges

I think it's fair to say that without Beverly Woody, the Beaver Queen Pageant might not even exist. Beaver Lodge Local 1504 is honored that the very first Beaver Queen is making the long paddle from the San Francisco Bay to the wetlands of her youth to be a judge for this year's pageant. In her own words:

Beverly Woody has been conditioned to the dry cycle of life out here and how wetlands thrive and generally decline in an annual pattern. We are entering a long period of dry. No rain expected until October. The wetlands will be nourished by snow melt for the next few months, and thats about all. Its survival of the toughest beavers out here.

In San Fransisco Bay there has been a huge loss of wetland areas. An irony of life is the more humans there are the less wetlands, to the point that infill of soil to make room for more and more people has been the number one cause of wetland reduction. I can't tell if it is a byproduct of the Male Gay lifestyle that flourished here that wetlands were not only neglected, but covered over, buried even. One thing is for certain wetland conservation is on the rise and more and more progressive thinking people, even the Male Gay lifestyled types, long to bring wetlands back to the vital energy giving role on our planet. We take those short showers, and meter the flushes round here just like back home I hear.

As for me, I've been a busy little beaver. The latest project was an all comers drag evening at the seminary. We danced and 'sang', and generally cut up for hours. The crowd left satiated, and smiles all around. Just the way anyone should look after an entire evening of Beaver play. And for those who remember my communal crime prevention activities, I attended a Merchant Watch meeting this very evening. Life in California has gotten every bit as fast tail slappin' as life in Durham ever was.

Oh, one of my favorite things is the Big ol' Tree they have out here. I almost hate to say it but Big ol' Tree has its place sometimes. Big ol' Tree didn't get away from Westerners. I do not think they ever had it under control. I get wet in the choppers just thinking about the huge wood out here. Trees so tall, and fat, there seems to not be space left for sky. There is not much more beautiful that watching the rain and sunbeams racing each other, at the same time, through the branches to earth.

All of us are counting the days till we can give Beverly a big beaver hug in person.