Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Monday, September 22, 2025

Something Big in the Back Yard

Shortly after arriving home from the cabin, Desiree drifted out the back door to check on a small garden she’s been tending throughout the summer. After only a minute or two, she popped the door open, leaned in, and called to me:

“There is a big vole or something out back.”

“What?”

“There is something big back here. Come look at it.”

Intrigued, I trotted to the door and followed Desiree across the deck toward the east end of the house. There, under the chokecherry bush, I saw what she was talking about.

“That’s a beaver. A giant beaver!” We were not confronted with a real beaver, but rather an artistic relief rendition of one. We both started laughing.

“And I think I know where it came from,” I added as we drew close. “It’s from the old Montana Historical Society Museum. This is Tad’s work.”

Our friend Tad has been working on the new Montana Historical Society Heritage Center, and this looked suspiciously like something from the old museum. A flurry of texts, followed by a phone call, confirmed my hunch—Tad had been tasked with disposing of the beaver, a life-sized representation of prehistoric beavers that once inhabited our Montana spaces.

The beaver will eventually find permanent residence near the lakeshore on the property adjoining ours. I’m sharing a photograph of Desiree with the giant beaver as we found it near our house.

Desiree and the Giant Beaver

—Mitchell Hegman

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