DUCKS FOR BREAKFAST

As some of you may know we used to have a drainage system in our backyard. All this area was swampland before it became a town. As a result, the yards are frequently under water when it rains. Our back was so bad that we had drainage tile put in, and with permission ran it (underground) along the neighbor's side of our driveway to the sidewalk. Our yard was lovely. No more ducks when it rained (seriously, we had ducks swimming in the yard.)

Recently our neighbor got her undies in a bunch and ordered us to remove the tile that was on "her property". Ok. So John spent a back-breaking couple of weeks digging it up. It was put in with a backhoe, so it wasn't a couple of inches under the soil. He got it out but then had to plug up our end so that it would not puddle up at the corner of "her property". Consequently, when it rains, the yard fills with water. And I mean, it fills. Pond time.

It's really a mess.

This morning I decided to have breakfast. I put some onion, tomato, cilantro and a handful of cheese in a little bowl. I got out the eggs, sliced some pepperjack cheese, sprayed the pan with Olive oil, turned on the burner and looked out the window.

Ducks.

Two of them, a drake and a hen Mallard swimming around, eating. Now there is a lot of fence back there. There is fence around the mosquito trap to keep the dogs out, and fence behind to keep the dogs off the big fence. But there were the ducks. Happy as can be.

This is what the area looked like before we took the drainage tile out:

As you can see, it is dry and there are no ducks. So I grabbed my camera and tried to take pictures from inside but it was hopeless. Ve-ry quiet-ly I tippy toed out the door and began taking photos except that it was very chilly and I was cold and so either I moved or they moved and then I took one step too many and off they went.

Our ducks.
And then, only then....did I remember the pico da gallo in the little dish, and the pepperjack cheese, and the very sharp knife on the counter and I came flying in, to be greeted with an empty dish, no cheese, knife on the floor and, worst of all, the PAN ON THE STOVE, smoking like mad because I had left the burner on!!!! And just then, of course, the smoke alarms went off and Cooper, after a night of thunder was completely undone and while I tried to cool the pan down he fled out the door and now will not come back in the house.

John, who was asleep until the smoke alarm went off, turned it off and I washed the dish and picked up the knife and stared at Conley, who smiled.
What could I do? I left it all right there for the dogs. Right within eyesight, nose-sight and tongue-reach.
The ducks are gone, I'll have breakfast later, and Cooper is barely visible outside in the little spot he has found next to the fence.

(A lot of this will be cleaned up in the next few weeks, but you can see the pond that the ducks were in, to the right --and left-- of the birdbath.)

I guess I should welcome them back. But somehow...............................