you otter be in pictures

earlier this summer i was paddling up the little cove that has the semi-legal duck blind on it (it is legal in every way except the gentleman does not remove it after duck season) and a bunch of heads popped out of the water.

like a LOT of heads. slinky animals, not like beaver. i thought they were mink. i have since been informed and research suggests that they were river otters.

but still weasels. swimming weasels. more than six, less than a dozen.

but we were all going the same direction and nobody looked too upset. then we all got close to the back end of the cove where the weasels decided apparently that it was tie for me to go and they all started swimming toward me, rearing up out of the water and hissing.

now, if one weasel swims up to you, that's a kind of manageable number because you could probably fend it off with your paddle.

but eight or nine angry weasels in your boat would be a nightmare, so i turned around and got out of there, which is probably what they had in mind anyway.

then more recently i was paddling up to the moscow canoe access and a bunch of them came up and sniffed me, bobbing around in the water. the hissed a little sniffed me a little, checked me out, and went on their way.

river otters.

cool.