First published in 1908.  I got my copy 60 years later and I still have it. Badger, Toad, Ratty, and Mole discuss re-taking Toad Hall. Ratty and Toad. Mole yearning for his old home. Ratty rejoices after finding a boot scraper while him and Mole are lost in the Wild Wood. On a beautiful spring day, Mole meets Ratty and they go for a picnic.  Mole has never been so happy. Delight and wonder. Ratty and Mole seek refuge with Mr. Badger in the Wild Wood.   "Now the very next time this happens, I shall be exceedingly angry"! The stoats and weasels have taken Toad Hall and turn away Badger and Mole. Toad's best friends in the world prevent him from buying and driving his latest motor car. Toad, having deceived Mole, strolls into the Red Lion where he will soon meet his fate.    The profligate Mr. Toad of Toad Hall. Toad is nuts for automobiles and has bought and wrecked many of them. Dressed as a washerwoman, Toad hijacks an auto that kindly gave him...

 Who knows how to chop timber better than a beaver? From sketch~ To finished painting~ To video-Oregon is the beaver state after all!

 A tribute to the ladies of country music~from sketch~ To finished painting~ To video-could she be the next Dolly Parton?

  I was fifteen when I first came across this.  I was scandalized and intrigued.  It blew my mind to see anthropomorphic animals acting like real humans, in this case a dog on the outs with society.  The depiction of God is a riot.  Anthro cute bunnies were only supposed to decorate Easter cards, not watch over the sex fantasies of a shabby, lonely, probably unemployed dog.  I had never read something more brutally honest.  And then there is this: The Cute L'il Bearzy Wearzies In this story, the two bears, one divorced, buy shoes, get drunk, high, rebuked by a cop, use bad language and engage in sexual activity.  I thought they lived in a world that was wonderful, partly because of how adorable they were even as they misbehaved.  The influence of this on my life cannot be easily dismissed.  One of the reason these stories caught so much of my attention is because I grew up on a diet of talking animal...