If you've been reading this column, you know there's a lot of wildlife roaming around the island. When a critter gets too close, sometimes weird things happen. Our newest form of wildlife is what I like to call Toddler Redhairus, also known as my son Logan. He loves playing outside now and the fenced in area for the dogs was getting rather crowded (5 weenie dogs and a toddler) so we decided to fence in the backyard. We finally decided on a white picket fence, which meant that we'd need to dig holes for the fence posts. So far, so good. My husband Bud bought a posthole digger and like any boy with a new toy, he wanted to play with it so he dug a couple practice holes. We didn't think much about it at the time.
The next afternoon I went out to feed the assorted moochers. I got to my big flower garden and noticed some holes with dirt piled around them. I thought they were dug by some sort of burrowing creature (I had forgotten about the digger) and got closer for a better look. That's when I saw the duck, or at least part of it. All I could see was basically a duck butt. The first thing I thought of was that the mystery burrower had ripped a duck apart and left part of it in the hole. Ewww! Just then the duck wiggled. It was alive! Somehow this duck had fallen into the hole beak first and couldn't get out.
Now, I grew up on a farm and I knew that ducks could be nasty creatures and since it was just Logan and me at home and I'm in the third trimester, I chickened out. I didn't want to have to call my doctor to check on the baby and have to explain that I was attacked by a surly duck. But I didn't want to leave the poor thing so I started calling people who might be able to help. Of course, none of the neighbors were home. My brother was at his mother-in-law's house. I have a friend whose husband grew up on a farm but they were at the vet's trying to straighten out their cat's botched trim. Ok, time to call Animal Control. I got their answering machine! I couldn't call the police because they'd just transfer me back to Animal Control and there was already a message on their machine from me.
