Running toward a burning truck?  Not very smart, Queen of the Parasitoids…  Miss “I’m from the USDA and I am here to help…”  Of course it was Eddie and his idiot friend schlepping garage sized backpacks that started this part of the mess…

Oh no, she thinks… this is going to come out of my pay…  as flaming cogs, cams and other debris whiz past her head!  She must have had explosives in her stores to create a violent explosion like that. Of course the flaming tree did land right where the gas tank is situated, so I guess this isn’t completely implausible…

If this ruckus doesn’t distract Mark and Wally from their Beaver relocation activities, I don’t know what will…

…as much as any child subjected to the ravages of an alcoholic father in his early, brain-pattern-forming years can…

And once again, Mark seems to be on the verge of violating one of the key tenets of the Trailian Way:

But hey, why not… as much as Mark enjoys breaking Rusty’s heart at every turn, it will be fun to watch when the animals are released back into the wild, Mark suggests that they go do “a little fishing,” and then abandon Rusty on the stoop, with fishing pole in hand, while Mark goes off on assignment…

But what of Abbey Powell?  She’s in a bad spot only getting worse, as her government issued vehicle falls prey to the fire… and she’s managed to not find her glasses, which means that she is not likely to be seeing all that clearly now anyway… So while Wally ogles the captive Beavers, Abbey contemplates the fact that she may have released her last vial of stingless wasps… Quick, Abbey, what did you learn in the Peace Corps?  Certainly something useful…

Or did Abby release the stingless wasps on the southern face of slumber mountain?  Why would she release them in Wally’s woods?

The dialogue is funny… Again, I go back to the TV show… “C’mon, Wally, don’t shoot the Beaver… he didn’t mean to dog-ear your Lou Gehrig rookie card…”

The look on the Beavers’ faces is matched only by the expression that Mark has mustered in panel one…  I have never seen that one before… suggests a depth of character and a capacity for empathy…  And of course Mark carries beaver-sized live traps around with him at all times…  and of course both Beaver walk right into them, as if on cue…  And what will Rusty do to the Beavers when Mark presents them to him??  I envision a sort of fiendish glee and and acknowledgement that part of the “deal” is that Mark bring Rusty burnt offerings periodically in order that he not terrorize his adoptive parents, given that they have left him with the “Old Man” for much of his life…

Poor Beavers…  I don’t like this turn of events…

How awesome is this!?!  Abbey Powell has suddenly, inexplicably lost the use of her legs, willing herself to “get up” while the fire rages on and bears down on her and her government issued field dress…    and in the opposite panel, Wally is snatching his rifle from the rack while Mark continues to smile at him in almost-disbelief…  “Seriously, Wally…” he says…  “Chill, Man, we can relocate the Beavers…”  Wally is having none of this…

Is there a “Beaver Season? Or are they always available?  If that’s the case, the Wally is within his rights, I suppose, but now-a-days everything has to be done within the rule of the local law- fishing limits, slot limits, season openers, etc…

So it would seem that there IS a season for everything,From Snipe to Crow to Bear and everything in between…  so be careful, Wally, you might find yourself on the wrong side of the Game Warden…

But is it Duck Season or Wabbit Season?? Let’s find out…

…apparently.  As Abbey Powell finds herself between a fire and some dead-fall, her true outdoor chops come shining through…  she is, after all, in marketing and communications… I mean, what business does she have being out in the field??  So down she goes, glasses falling off, pulling a Ralphie… (“oh no… my glasses… <voice over> pulverized!)

So as the tree / body count stacks up, we are left wondering how all this mayhem will resolve itself…  is it possible that these motions set in place are unstoppable?  I mean, there’s no evil-doer to punch out!  Just Man against Nature, and well, Nature usually wins- with man left to apply for Federal Aid and Disaster Relief…