Beaver Tail as Real, Odd, Gross
Beaver Tail as Real, Odd, Gross
Beaver Tail as Real, Odd, Gross
Our morning ritual for the dog is let her out, give her a bisquit, put out her water and it’s all good. Waking up later than my husband, I saw the water still inside. I got the dog’s bisquit and she wasn’t inside, so I opened the door and called her. A short minute later and there she was, grinning with a prize in her teeth. I reached in my pocket for a kleenex and grabbed it from her just staring at it. What? Was it an under belly of a turtle…no, too large, wrong color. I brought it to my husband to see the long oval flat piece of brown-black flesh she’d been nibbling.
“What is it?”, husband asked. I gradually had the idea it could be a beaver tail. So glad I’d just refreshed all her shots and vaccinations last week! We couldn’t let the dog keep eating a carcass, so I let her out to show me where it was. Searching in my pajamas we went into the edge of the woods. She moved quickly at first but then slowed down and sniffed. Wherever it had been, something else had taken it in that short time and she was backing off quickly. Me too…we ran for the door!
Nothing chased after us as I came inside to Google the pictures of beaver tails. Yes, that’s what it was and it could have been so many other things made with my creativity. So glad it was Tuesday…garbage day.
I’ve had Becky Hubbard posting on my blog for a few months now, and a post was published questioning how anyone could teach their homeschooled children if they didn’t have the education in the areas they needed to teach. Today was a perfect lesson supplied by our dog!
Odd Uses for a Beaver Tail
Did you know you can eat beaver tail? I read that it was greasy, tough and bland. Not only that, a cactus was named after it called the Beaver Tail Cactus.
Northern Native Americans used the beaver tail as sheaths for their knives and someone recently put a picture on Google Images for a beaver tail wallet.
They also sell beaver tails as a deep fried sweet type bread not unlike the elephant ears found at the fairs.
The beaver tail has also inspired some costumes for little babies, and wallets for adults.
Gross Uses for a Beaver Tail
There you have it! My first homeschool lesson with something to pass around and touch. Of course it would have been put into a plastic zip lock bag first. The beaver tail was described by culinary students in New York as a large rat tail pounded flat and just as disgusting. Why were they talking about it? Beaver tail was on their menu lessons to prepare for the day!
We’ve had lessons like this when the grandkids and their parents lived with us a short time while they built their house. My granddaughter, then age 4, would help me pull dead mice out of traps in our fireplace and I put them in a zip lock bag. She would hold them in the bag and look at their eyes through the clear plastic as I explained life as a mouse. This all ended when she began pitching the one last bag with the mouse inside it against the wall. Experiment and lesson over! The last time guests were over she begged outloud to see if there were anymore ‘rats’ in the fireplace. That took some explaining for everyone. She’s older now and not wanting to meet up with all the mice anymore. The new cat has taken that hunting position and I won’t even explain what the cat leaves behind in the garage for me!
So you can see there are plenty of opportunities to teach your homeschooled children just by Googling as a search for images or information. Even your pets can be involved hunting up ideas!
I’d love to hear about your teaching moments…leave a comment!
