christmas, after opening presents, we went on a nice walk all around our property, up to the top of the hill and then down to the brook on the other side. after the nice weather of the weekend, it had rained hard and most of the snow had melted. the brook was running higher than i have ever seen it before – the place we usually walk across on stones was probably a foot under water, the current was running strong and fast, and i imagined how the beaver dams at the outlet would possibly deal with this. it has been an unusual year weather-wise, but even so, i never 