It's not funny when their favorite bathroom spot is at the entrance to my patio slider. This resulted in a wire barricade to keep them away from that area! They have the whole back yard! Tired of washing off the offensive droppings a wire barricade has been erected to keep them out and the end result is I'm now a prisoner in my own patio! Ducks 1, Steve 0. They have a water trough, splash pans and a pond I've dug into the ground. They are always full of water but the ducks complain when I don't clean them out regularly. I went to the feed store to obtain a $56 bag of duck food. Nope, they don't eat it unless they are desperate! They would rather eat all the leaves off the dahlia's and the flowers off all the rest of the plants! Never saw that one coming. Bugs? They don't like them and their droppings keep bugs coming! They do provide entertainment though! The neighbor teenage boy had never seen, much less heard ducks in his life. Now he has. My two Boston Terriers have learned to "herd" them but also to not chase them. Animals living in coexistence! The ducks are amazing to watch especially in the water first thing in the morning. They make the water dirty in order to get their bath time done properly. Don't forget that they are very beautiful birds.
Like with my puppies, the ducks have trained me well. It would seem that animals and sometimes humans have trained me all my life. They have this need and there I am to meet their needs. The affection that comes keeps the training on track. They don't talk back, are appreciative and seem to understand when to be close and when to give me space. Now I won't argue major parts of my life were purely selfish focused. Animals are selfish but by innate direction from God to have their needs met. Animals of all sorts follow this internal rhythm written inside of them by the creator. I have that too but often ignore God in order to be more focused on me than him. Just watching the ducks eating the dahlia's leaves and the dogs trying to herd them from one place to another gives me entertainment and pause as they reflect the glory of God. After all, if He notices when a sparrow falls to the ground, he surly notices my needs and attends to them. Being outside of myself and enjoying God's creation of the world we live in and the animals we live around is church to me. We all need to take the moment to enjoy life from the perspective of the creation around us.
Life is short. Laugh at ducks, puppies and especially at yourself. Take time to watch your flowers sway in the wind with hummingbirds hovering above the flowers. Be as kind to yourself and others as creation is kind to you. Have a beer in the sunshine or storm and relax. Don't take yourself or your situation to seriously! In the end you and I have this moment...nothing more. Yesterday and the moment I have written are gone. Tomorrow is a privilege that is denied to many. Don't count on having one yourself. It might just be that the Lord needs you or I home with him. Oh, and don't step in the duck poop even if they dropped it in your doorway. Remember, it's always your choice.
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