by One day last week as we were eating lunch Joyce asked me if I had seen any mallards up at the pond yet. I said I hadn’t and just then, as if on que, a pair swooped in and landed in the pond. Yesterday morning I think there were two pairs. I saw a drake and two hens but a little later I saw a hen and a drake fly off but shortly after that I saw a drake and hen still in the pond. There is a lot more moss and other growth now than there was last year which should give them more to eat. I would think the ducks like the cattails since they give them a little more cover. Anyway, it’s nice to have them back. Unlike the other fowl on the place, they are nice to look at and completely self-sufficient.
The goonie that had been sitting on a nest abandon it so Joyce and Chris had to dispose of the eggs. They counted 96. No wonder the hen abandoned the nest. It was a shame to throw all those eggs away but who knows what stage of development they had reached. I thought about calling Art Brokenbek to see if he wanted to join me in chunking them at cars like we did as boys with some duck eggs after the hen abandoned the nest but Joyce wouldn’t let me.
Yesterday I started the process of mowing the ground cover. I started on the strip along the street outside the fence. It first had to be raked to clean up twigs, pile of leaves blown against the fence and trash. As vile as the weeds are, without them there wouldn’t be much to hold the soil. Last year’s drought didn’t leave much grass.
The Wylies arrived shortly after midnight Friday night for Easter weekend. They left after Dave got off work and will return Monday. It’s cool and overcast today but no doubt the little ones will still get to hunt Easter eggs at some point.
A thunderstorm came right down I-40 from the west and gave us a good shower, maybe half an inch. It came down pretty hard for a little bit. If we can get a few of those from time to time maybe we can recover from last year.