My curious Capkin and I found this treasure to match the description.
❤ ❤ ❤
What other natural treasures did you find in your P.L.A.Y. today? 🙂
Draw, write, color, and creatively capture your discoveries
on the pages of your Nature Adventure book!
Purchase HERE P.L.A.Y. Nature Alliteration Adventure Guide Books
Farmer Brown’s boy sat with his chin in his hands staring at the new pond in the Green Forest and at the dam which had made it. That dam puzzled him. Who could have built it? What did they build it for? Why hadn’t he heard them chopping? He looked at the stump of one of the nearby trees, and then a still more puzzled look made deep furrows between his eyes. It looked very much as if teeth, and not an axe, had cut down that tree. Farmer Brown’s boy stared and stared, his mouth gaping wide open. He looked so funny that Peter Rabbit, who was hiding under an old pile of brush close by, nearly laughed right out.
Peter didn’t laugh though for just that very minute something happened. Sniff! Sniff! That was right behind him at the very edge of the old brush pile, and every hair on Peter stood on end with fright.
“Bow, wow, wow!” It seemed to Peter that the great voice was right in his very ears. It frightened him so that he just had to jump. He didn’t have time to think. And so he jumped right out from under the pile of brush and of course right into plain sight. And the very instant he jumped there came another great roar behind him. Of course it was from Bowser the Hound. You see, Bowser had been following the trail of the boy, and since he always stops to sniff at everything he passes, he had been some distance behind. When he came to the pile of brush under which Peter was hiding he had sniffed at that, and of course he had smelled Peter right away.
Now when Peter jumped out so suddenly he had landed right at one end of the dam. The second roar of Bowser’s great voice frightened him still more, and he jumped right up on the dam. There was nothing for him to do now except go across, and it wasn’t the best of going. You see, it was mostly a tangle of sticks. Happy Jack Squirrel or Chatterer the Red Squirrel or Striped Chipmunk would have skipped across it without the least bit of trouble. Peter Rabbit however has no sharp little claws with which to cling to logs and sticks, and right away he was in a heap of trouble. He slipped down between the sticks, scrambled out, slipped again, and then, trying to make a long jump, he lost his balance and tumbled head over heels into the water!
Poor Peter Rabbit! He gave himself up for lost this time. He could swim only just a little and doesn’t like the water. He couldn’t dive and keep out of sight like Jerry Muskrat or Billy Mink. All he could do was to paddle as fast as his legs would go. The water had gone up his nose and down his throat so that he choked, and all the time he felt sure that Bowser the Hound would plunge in after him and catch him. And if he didn’t, why Farmer Brown’s Boy would simply wait for him to come ashore and then catch him.
However, Farmer Brown’s boy didn’t do anything of the kind. Instead he shouted to Bowser and called him away. Bowser didn’t want to come and yet very slowly he walked over to where Farmer Brown’s boy was sitting.
“You know it wouldn’t be fair, old fellow, to try to catch Peter now. It wouldn’t be fair at all, and we never want to do anything unfair, do we?” he said. Whether Bowser agreed or not he simply wagged his tail as if he did and sat down to watch Peter swim.
It seemed to Peter as if he never, ever would reach the shore, though really it was only a very little distance that he had to swim. When he did scramble out, he was a soggy looking Rabbit. He didn’t waste any time, and started for home as fast as he could go, lipperty–lipperty–lip.
“Well, I never!” exclaimed Sammy Jay, who had seen it all from the top of a pine tree. “Well, I never! I guess Farmer Brown’s boy is quite nice after all.”
From January 2019 to March 2020 Karen P.L.A.Y.fully captured signs of a beaver’s local activities at her home in the hilltowns of Massachusetts to pin and share the adventures with you on her Pinterest Beaver Board.
My curious Capkin and I found this treasure to match the description.
❤ ❤ ❤
What other natural treasures did you find in your P.L.A.Y. today? 🙂
Draw, write, color, and creatively capture your discoveries
on the pages of your Nature Adventure book!
Purchase HERE P.L.A.Y. Nature Alliteration Adventure Guide Books
Across the Old Pasture and on to the foot of the Mountain and back of the Green Forest tramped Farmer Brown’s boy. Ahead of him trotted Bowser the Hound, sniffing and snuffing for the tracks of Reddy or Granny Fox. Of course he didn’t find them, for Reddy and Granny hadn’t been up in the Old Pasture for a long time. He did find old Jed Thumper, the big gray Rabbit and gave him such a fright that old Jed didn’t look where he was going and almost ran headfirst into Farmer Brown’s boy.
“Hi, there, you old cottontail!” yelled Farmer Brown’s boy, and this frightened Old Jed still more, so that he actually ran right past his own castle of bull-briars without seeing it.
Farmer Brown’s boy kept on his way, chuckling at the sight of old Jed Thumper. Presently he reached the springs from which came the water that made the very beginning of the Laughing Brook. He expected to find them dry, for way down on the Green Meadows the Smiling Pool was nearly dry, and the Laughing Brook was nearly dry, and he had supposed that of course the reason was that the springs where the Laughing Brook started were no longer bubbling.
And yet they were! The clear cold water came bubbling up out of the ground just as it always had, and ran off down into the Green Forest in a little stream that would grow and grow as it ran and became the Laughing Brook. Farmer Brown’s boy took off his ragged old straw hat and scowled down at the bubbling water just as if he thought it had no business to be bubbling there.
He didn’t know what to think. Here were the springs bubbling away just as they always had. There was the little stream starting off down into the Green Forest with a gurgle that by and by would become a laugh, just as it always had. And yet down on the Green Meadows on the other side of the Green Forest there was no longer a Laughing Brook or a Smiling Pool. He felt as if he ought to pinch himself to make sure that he was awake and not dreaming.
“I don’t know what it means,” he said talking out loud, ”however I’m going to find out. There’s a reason for everything in this world and I’m going to find out what has happened to the Laughing Brook, even if it takes me a year!”
With that he started to follow the little stream which ran gurgling down into the Green Forest. He had followed that little stream more than once, and now he found it just as he remembered it. The farther it ran, the larger it grew, until at last it became the Laughing Brook, merrily tumbling over rocks and making deep pools in which the trout loved to hide. At last he came to the edge of a little open hollow in the very heart of the Green Forest. He knew what splendid deep holes there were in the Laughing Brook here, and how the big trout loved to lie in them because they were deep and cool. He was thinking of these trout now and wishing that he had brought along his fishing rod. He pushed his way through a thicket of alders and then Farmer Brown’s boy stopped suddenly and fairly gasped! He had to stop because there right in front of him was a pond!
He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Then he stooped down and put his hand in the water to see if it was real. There was no doubt about it. It was real water and a real pond where there never had been a pond before.
It was very still there in the heart of the Green Forest. It was always very still there, and yet it seemed stiller than usual as he tramped around the edge of this strange pond. He felt as if it were all a dream. He wondered if pretty soon he wouldn’t wake up and find it all untrue. However he didn’t, and so he kept on tramping until presently he came to a dam, a splendid dam of logs and sticks and mud. Over the top of it the water was running, and down in the Green Forest below he could hear the Laughing Brook just beginning to laugh once more. Farmer Brown’s boy sat down with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He was almost too surprised to even think.
From January 2019 to March 2020 Karen P.L.A.Y.fully captured signs of a beaver’s local activities at her home in the hilltowns of Massachusetts to pin and share the adventures with you on her Pinterest Beaver Board.
A September treasure quest for you and your curious Capkin
is to search in nature for
” Funny + Fuzzy + Friendly ”
Bonus Color Challenge – Black/Yellow/White
❤ ❤ ❤
My curious Capkin and I found this treasure to match the description.
❤ ❤ ❤
What other natural treasures did you find in your P.L.A.Y. today? 🙂
Draw, write, color, and creatively capture your discoveries
on the pages of your Nature Adventure book!
Purchase HERE P.L.A.Y. Nature Alliteration Adventure Guide Books
These are some of the top “sense-sational” experiences I’ve had P.L.A.Y.ing in 2020:
*Hearing the buzzing bees while soaking up the warm sunshine on my skin and taking in the scent of summer in bloom in the butterfly garden.
*Listening to the babbling brook as it cascades down the rocky pathway.
*Hearing the birds singing an early morning wake-up call and the owl’s calling out to one another as dusk sets in to say goodnight.
*Watching the young goat kids, only a few months old, butting heads and frolicking about or cuddling one of these newborn cuties up close.
*Feeling the warm sunshine on my back as I P.L.A.Y.ed pick-up-sticks in early spring to create a brush pile.
*Seeing the ducks peeking out between the grasses in the meadow as they gobble up grubs.
*Watching the clouds sail by and a storm roll in.
*Tasting the delicious newly ripened apples in the orchard and the last fresh greens from the gardens.
*Feeling the cold on my lips while tasting the sweet local maple syrup on freshly fallen snow.
*Smelling the apple wood scented smoke outdoors on a winter’s eve from a nearby home burning a fire in a wood stove.
*Breathing in the crisp cold air while walking in the bright light and shadows created under a full moon on a winter’s night.
No special equipment or experience is required!
Just pack your senses (+Capkin),
step outdoors,
and
soon the smiles will appear!
🙂
❤ ❤ ❤
Dog, kids, partner, neighbor, friends, or solo – nature P.L.A.Y. is for ALL!
My curious Capkin & I found this treasure to match the description.
❤ ❤ ❤
What other natural treasures did you find in your P.L.A.Y. today? 🙂
Draw, write, color, and creatively capture your discoveries
on the pages of your Nature Adventure book!
Purchase HERE P.L.A.Y. Nature Alliteration Adventure Guide Books
Now it happened that the very day before Paddy the Beaver decided that his pond was big enough, and so allowed the water to run in the Laughing Brook once more, Farmer Brown’s boy took it into his head to go fishing in the Smiling Pool. Just as usual he went whistling down across the Green Meadows. Somehow, when he goes fishing, he always feels like whistling. Grandfather Frog heard him coming and dove into the little bit of water remaining in the Smiling Pool and stirred up the mud at the bottom so that Farmer Brown’s boy shouldn’t see him.
Nearer and nearer drew the whistle. Suddenly it stopped short as Farmer Brown’s boy had come in sight of the Smiling Pool or rather, it was what used to be the Smiling Pool. Now there wasn’t any Smiling Pool, for the very little pool left was too small and drained looking to smile. There were great banks of mud, out of which grew the bulrushes. The lily pads were forlornly stretched out towards the tiny pool of water remaining. Where the banks were steep and high, the holes that Jerry Muskrat and Billy Mink knew so well were plain to see. Over at one side stood Jerry Muskrat’s house completely out of water.
Somehow, it seemed to Farmer Brown’s boy that he must be dreaming. He never, never had seen anything like this before, not even in the very driest weather of the hottest part of the summer. He looked this way and looked that way. The Green Meadows looked just as usual. The Green Forest looked just as usual. The Laughing Brook – – -Aha! What was the matter with the Laughing Brook? He couldn’t hear it and that, you know, was very unusual.
He dropped his rod and ran over to the Laughing Brook. There wasn’t any brook just pools of water with the tiniest of streams trickling between. Big stones over which he had always seen the water running in the prettiest of little white falls were bare and dry. In the little pools minnows were darting about as he cast a shadow over the little water that was left.
Farmer Brown’s boy scratched his head in a puzzled way. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “I don’t understand it at all. Something must have gone wrong with the springs that supply the water for the Laughing Brook. They must have failed although I never have heard of such a thing happening before, and I really don’t see how it could happen.” He stared up into the Green Forest just as if he thought he could see those springs. Of course, he didn’t think anything of the kind. He was just turning it all over in his mind. “I know what I’ll do! I’ll go up to those springs this afternoon and find out what the trouble is,” he said out loud. “They are way over almost on the other side of the Green Forest, and the easiest way to get there will be to start from home and cut across the Old Pasture up to the edge of the Mountain behind the Green Forest. If I try to follow up the Laughing Brook now, it will take too long, because it winds and twists so much”.
With that, Farmer Brown’s boy went back and picked up his rod. Then he started for home across the Green Meadows, and for once he wasn’t whistling. You see, he was too busy thinking. In fact, he was so busy thinking that he didn’t see Jimmy Skunk until he almost stepped on him, and then he gave a frightened jump and ran.
Jimmy Skunk just grinned and went on about his business. It always tickles Jimmy to see people run away from him, especially people so much bigger than himself; they look so silly.
“I should think that they would have learned by this time that if they don’t bother me, I won’t bother them,” he muttered, as he rolled over a stone to look for fat beetles. “Somehow, folks never seem to understand me.”
From January 2019 to March 2020 Karen P.L.A.Y.fully captured signs of a beaver’s local activities at her home in the hilltowns of Massachusetts to pin and share the adventures with you on her Pinterest Beaver Board.
My curious Capkin and I found this treasure to match the description.
❤ ❤ ❤
What other natural treasures did you find in your P.L.A.Y. today? 🙂
Draw, write, color, and creatively capture your discoveries
on the pages of your Nature Adventure book!
Purchase HERE P.L.A.Y. Nature Alliteration Adventure Guide Books
Paddy the Beaver kept right on working just as if he hadn’t any visitors. You see, it is a big undertaking to build a dam. And when that was done there was a house to build and a supply of food for the winter to cut and store.
At first it didn’t look much like a dam and some of Paddy’s visitors expectations were not met. They had heard stories of what a wonderful dam builder Paddy was, and they had expected to see something like the smooth, grass covered bank with which Farmer Brown kept the Big River from running back on his low lands. Instead, all they saw was a great pile of poles and sticks which looked nothing like a dam to them.
“Pooh!” exclaimed Billy Mink, “I guess we needn’t worry about the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool, why, the water of the Laughing Brook will work through that pile of sticks in no time.”
Of course Paddy heard him, said nothing, and just kept right on working.
“Just look at the way he has laid those sticks!” continued Billy Mink. “Why didn’t he lay them across the Laughing Brook instead of just the other way?”
Paddy said nothing; he just kept right on working.
”Why, that pile of sticks will never stop the water,” Billy repeated in disbelief.
“Wait a minute Billy Mink, I think you need to take another closer look” said Jerry Muskrat.
Billy squinted his eyes and stared and said “Nope I still don’t get it.”
“Did you notice that the Laughing Brook is over its banks above Paddy’s dam?” replied Jerry, who had been studying the dam with a great deal of interest.
Then Billy took a longer look and sure enough there was a little pool just above the dam, and it was growing bigger.
Paddy still kept at work, saying nothing. He was digging in front of the dam now, and the mud and grass he dug up he stuffed in between the ends of the sticks and patted down with his hands. He did this all along the front of the dam and on top of it too, wherever he thought it was needed. Of course this made it harder for the water to work through, and the little pond above the dam began to grow faster. It wasn’t too long before it was nearly to the top of the dam, which at first was very low. Then Paddy brought more sticks. This was easier now because he could float them down from where he was cutting. He would put them in place on the top of the dam, then hurry for more. Wherever it was needed, he would put in mud. He even rolled a few stones in to help hold the mass.
So the dam grew and grew and so did the pond above the dam. Of course, it took a good many days to build so big a dam, and a lot of hard work! Every morning the little folks of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows would visit it, and every morning they would find that it had grown a great deal in the night, for that is when Paddy likes best to work.
Now by this time, the Laughing Brook had stopped laughing, and down in the Smiling Pool there was hardly water enough for the minnows to feel safe for a minute. The little folks who live in the Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool were beginning to worry.
To be sure Paddy had warned them of what he was going to do, and had promised that just as soon as his pond was big enough, the water would once more run in the Laughing Brook. They tried to believe him, and yet they couldn’t help having just a wee bit of concern since this was new for most of them. Jerry Muskrat was the only one who seemed absolutely sure that everything would be all right. Perhaps that was because Paddy is his cousin, and Jerry couldn’t help feel a bit of pride watching his big cousin build something so amazing.
So day by day the dam grew, and the pond grew, and then one morning Grandfather Frog, down in what had once been the Smiling Pool, heard a sound that made his heart jump for joy. It was a murmur that kept growing and growing, until at last it was the merry laugh of the
Laughing Brook. Then he knew that Paddy had kept his word and water would once more fill the Smiling Pool. Hooray!
From January 2019 to March 2020 Karen P.L.A.Y.fully captured signs of a beaver’s local activities at her home in the hilltowns of Massachusetts to pin and share the adventures with you on her Pinterest Beaver Board.
