New neighbors

There's a new family in the neighborhood.  So far I've only seen the mom and dad, but I know they have children; I just don't know how many.

This evening I needed to run to the post office and Target.  As I was preparing to back down the driveway, I glanced toward the lilacs at the front of our house.  I was surprised to see a Mallard drake sitting just off the grass, in the flower bed partially underneath a lilac bush.  He seemed very settled.  As I peered more closely, I could barely make out the hen, completely sheltered by the lilac.  Her coloring blended in so seamlessly with the twigs and branches of the bush and the dirt of the flower bed, I could only be sure she was really there when I spied her dark beak as she moved her head from side to side.   

These new neighbors are going to be a challenge -- maybe even more of a challenge than the family with six (SIX!!!) kids who live across the street. 

Every day the mail carrier walks right past the lilacs on the way to our mailbox.  Most of the time our carrier is a woman who talks on her cell phone while she makes her rounds.  I really don't think she looks where she walks.  She could easily step on a little duckling . . . or trip over one and then decide to sue us.  : // 

Lately we've had a decent amount of rain and our lawn is beginning to look very green and lush.  But lush only lasts so long before it becomes long and raggedy.  G will need to mow carefully to avoid upsetting the ducks and their nest.  Maybe he can leave at least one mower width of long grass along the front of the lilacs until the ducklings hatch and make their way to their permanent home, probably down the street, closer to the creek.

In the meantime, we will be living in the midst of a real-life version of the beloved children's book -- Make Way for Ducklings!