"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Here's the consequences of being late on one of my normal garden
tasks: pulling/grubbing out the grass and common daylilies that
keep invading the veggie garden from the neighbor's yard along the
west fence.

Last Sunday I pulled and hacked part of the way along the fence.
Skipped the next day to work in the flower beds. Then the rains
came. Finally Friday dawns clear and back to the veggie garden
to do some more work.

But first, run the perimeter to check the electric fence wire, because
it's time to reinstall the charger. So I'm walking north along the
west fence, walking toward the area I cleared on Sunday when a
mallard duck explodes from the ground at my feet! Holy crap!

Right at the edge of the uncleared area was a nest with seven eggs
in it. And I don't think she's done with the clutch. How the hell was
she intending to get those ducklings anywhere? The whole fence
bottom is lined with chicken wire (to keep the baby bunnies out).
The last thing I need is a small horde of ducks rampaging through
the lettuce or newly-sprouted corn...

(One spring few years back, a duck and drake turned out the be
the critters that ruined my first planting of snap peas.)

I'd have bought lettuces and peas and considered myself to be lucky to do
that if I could only get a wild duck to nest in my veggie garden.