Rabid beaver attacks NY man swimming in Pa. river

PINE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- A Boy Scout leader from New York who was attacked by a rabid beaver while swimming in the Delaware River is recovering.

The Poughkeepsie Journal reports that 51-year-old Normand Brousseau, of Pine Plains, was swimming in eastern Pennsylvania on Aug. 2 when a beaver swam through his legs and bit him in the chest.

The animal then bit him in the leg, buttocks, arm, hand and torso before he managed to grab it and hold its jaw closed.

One Boy Scout pulled Brousseau to shore, where he tossed the beaver away from him. The Scouts then used rocks to kill the animal.

A doctor confirmed the beaver had rabies a day after the attack.

Dutchess County health officials say a rabid beaver attack is unusual.

(you can't make this stuff up, nor do you get to use 'rabid beaver' in mixed company very often)

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Catskill Farms was building in Barryville long before it became trendy - now the farmer's market sells out in a few hours on a sunny Saturday Morning.

Catskill Farms has been adding great houses in Narrowsburg since 2003 with a big uptick in activity in the last 3 years.

With the Pig Fest, the Eagle Fest, the firework-less July 4th and now a sizable grant from Sullivan Renaissance, Narrowsburg seems like the place to be.

Which makes me wonder if the subtle impact of our homes and the subsequent homeowners is a lot greater than I give them credit for.  And that's saying something since I'm not afraid to say that our homes have a lot of impact.  I think we have 19 homes within a few miles of the town, including Farm 1, 2 & 3, where each day it seemed less likely we were going to make it out of the dangerous infancy of a business.

Now, the only thing to avoid will be a self-inflicted shot in the foot, which is typically par for the course for these small towns and their small town politics. Provincial charm is nice up to a point, and typically that point is where it impacts your wallet.

This inspired Cottage on Glasco Turnpike, 5 miles from downtown Woodstock, 7 miles from Saugerties is just getting started.  A very challenging building lot, but now that we have it figured out, well worth the effort of all the engineers, inspectors, surveyors and the like to make it happen.

And we do that a lot - 'making it happen' - with all the things that can come in the way of the finish line, or actually the starting line, Catskill Farms has a great record of helping families figure out what they want, and then the strategy to make it happen.  It's not easy, but our end to end integrated approach leaves few persons swallowed up by all the seams and crevices inherent in the process.

Cottage 40, in Bearsville, is inspired by Matthew and Sarah's Cottage 36 in Narrowsburg, and now it appears we will be doing a deal on Cottage 43 in Saugerties on a house that is similar.  It's always a double-edged sword bitter-sweet pill for our clients that pioneer a new path or design - it's quite the compliment to have persons with good taste choose a design you had a hand in designing, specially since these new folks are typically quite discerning.  But at the same time, some of the absolute purity is lost when we do a design more than once, but in the end it's the nature of the beast, and typically, the similarities are basically the structure, with the finishes and design approach in general being fresh and unique onto the new persons aesthetic.

Cottage 2 is Cottage 6 is Cottage 18 is Cottage 22 is Cottage 38 is Cottage 41.  Little bigger, little smaller, darker, lighter, bigger porch, finished basement, red, brown, natural, blue.

This 3 bedroom 2 bath home has been a winner since it was built, inspiring a few families to pull the trigger (and I don't even think I can give all of the credit the subtle decorating humor of Cottage 36 owners).  It's just a hot little house with a lot of punch.

In this home the cabiny/stain approach was taken a step further than the previous version, with the great room ceiling and the upstairs bedrooms and bath getting the 'rustic' 'woodsy' treatment.

It's a good design and we spent a few hours nailing it down and making it work.  That's Carl, from Glasco Cottage fame, checking out what we are doing at Cottage 40 and the Craftsman over in Saugerties, either for inspiration or in order to continually gauge our professionally.  I'm fine with either.  The more people see us in action, be through the blog or in real life, the more they believe they can pull this 'build the perfect little house' thing off.

Tito the painter stays right with us, which is quite the accomplishment considering how many homes we have going at any point.  While we have 2 framing crews and several masons and excavators we only have one painter, and he's good at what he does.

The Thing about the Herman Miller Eames Lounger is its arrogance.  I have one in my office, on my polished concrete floor, underneath my vintage typewriter collection.  It's comfy, but the angle is not adjustable - these designers in the 1950's just decided they knew what was best, and how to get most comfortable in a seated position to read or relax.  And they designed and marketed a chair based on their feeling that they knew best.

I feel the same way - at this point, we know how keep our clients aligned for success, and we are very serious they keep the chair in the right position.

The River Distorter has struck again with its multi-year propaganda campaign concerning anything related gas drilling.  If it can be spun, they spin it.  If it doesn't match the pre-set Fox News-like filter criteria, they can omit it.  In fact, what they don't choose to report is actually where they do the most harm.

Anyways, a letter to the editor boldly lumps me in with the 'fanatical pro-gas drillers' and typically they wouldn't allow something like this to run, but I guess they're mad cause I've been saying their newspaper isn't really a newspaper but actually a wholly- propagandist rag that has no regard for anything other than their righteousness.

But just to clarify matters - I'm not a fanatical pro-gas guy, but it's pretty clear that if you aren't going to use the gas under our feet, and you continue your use of fossil fuels without alteration, then you are a 'pro-foreign energy' person - that's where the energy comes from duh.  I'm not sure why that simple piece of logical would get Laurie McFadden's panties all tied up in a knot and motivate her to write a mean libelous letter about me.

It really hurts my feelings.