This past weekend has taught me two life lessons. I was up at Lake Buckatabon (a.k.a. The Fetal Snoopy), near Eagle River, WI, to visit a friend. Lesson #1: Being diligent and thorough isn't always a good thing. Beavers are such diligent and thorough creatures... and they're a pain in the butt when you're in a canoe. He probably derives as much satisfaction from so perfectly blocking off the river just as I like having a clean washroom, but that doesn't mean he's being considerate to other users of the river. I wasn't kidding when I said "pain in the butt." It hurt going over those dams: Each bump wrought a jolt to our tushes as we tried to inch our way across his collection of twigs and logs by concertedly shifting our weight. By the third dam, we decided it took too much effort to get over the dams in that manner and just started to break through the dam with our paddles. By the sixth dam, we decided just to get out of the canoe and carry it over the dams. By the eighth dam, we were still carrying the canoe over the dam, except with mild cursing. So, the moral of the story: Only when what you do has absolutely no consequence should you be as diligent and thorough as you want.

Lesson #2 is a little different, perhaps having a more serious tone. I�ve discovered how sterile, in a certain way, life has become. I remember when I was a kid on family fishing trips, I�d be playing with the leeches ("Hey, Ma! Look, no hands!") and the crayfish ("Hey, Ma! Look, my hand�s bleeding!"). Some of my first thoughts this time around went to Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia lamblia as I rinsed my hands in the stream and Hirudensis spp. as we waded in the water that was but a few inches deep. I started even considering parasites that aren�t even found in North America (such as Dracunculus medinensis while we were in the water and Loa loa as I rubbed my eyes, all watery from allergies). I long for those times of nescience, where anything goes and each experience is a rose-coloured new encounter. I suppose things now are just the way they�re meant to be. While ignorance does have its place in life, I guess we�d all be dead a little earlier if we never grew out of it. Just thinking of all those parasites makes me cringe...