It's time for another episode of Weird Wednesday:
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| Is this the flower garden on a lovely estate? Nope, it's just a neighbor who really, really, really doesn't want the deer to eat his tulips. It might look like overkill, but white-tailed deer can jump incredibly high. |
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| I found this laying in my driveway, near the street. At first, I thought it had just blown onto our property. Until I looked at the other side. |
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| The day before, I had given away a graduation gown on my local Buy Nothing Facebook page (the home of everything weird!). The person picking up the gown (I left it in a bag on the steps near my front door) was named Nicole, so I guess she left this thank you, but it's weird that I didn't see it for 24 hours. We have a ton of rocks along our driveway that she could have anchored it with. Did she drive by later and throw it out her window? Plus, what's with the toilet paper flower on the front? I just found it bizarre is so many ways. Thoughtful though! |
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| No, I did not buy gas in France last week. Very strange. |
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| Recently, we've had a number of odd outdoor occurrences. Like this rock on our backyard bench. Our backyard is small, enclosed by a rock wall, and very private. My husband and daughter claim to not have put it there and I can see this bench every time I pull into the garage and I know it was not there the day before. The rock is big enough that I can't imagine a backyard critter carrying it by mouth and depositing it there. Why does this bother me so much?? |
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| Middle Child took this picture out her bedroom window one day, a few weeks ago. A duck just sitting in our front yard. Never have I seen a duck in our neighborhood. I mean, we've had a lot of rain, but come on! |
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| Then, a few days ago, my husband looked out the window and wondered if we'd been egged. There were eggs all over the sidewalk . . . |
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| and in the landscaping. |
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| On closer examination, clearly birds had hatched out of them. I looked online, and sure enough, duck eggs! There were probably about 8 eggs total. We have not seen any ducklings or found a nest. And they somehow managed to evade our security cameras, which is the oddest thing about the whole incident. |
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| Once again, I've found notes in a library book, this time These Precious Days by Ann Patchett. It's a collection of essays, recommended to me by my blogger friend, Nicole (Hi Nicole!). What surprised me was that they were negative comments about the essays! Apparently, the reader didn't appreciate the tattoo story ("So typical 20 something girl stuff"). |
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| Or the long-winded essay on why the author never had children ("She protests too much. Self justification.") I will say that as much as I love Patchett's novels, I do find her personal writing to be a bit sanctimonious, so I guess I understand where this other reader was coming from. But still! |
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| Our storm sewers were being cleared out and I had to take a picture of the 3 men watching the 1 guy who was doing all the work. |
"Did she drive by later and throw it out her window? Plus, what's with the toilet paper flower on the front? I just found it bizarre is so many ways."
ReplyDeleteThat IS bizarre! Or why didn't she just mail it to you? But as you said, thoughtful though!
Funny about the French at the gas pump because I've been noticing that my ATM keeps adding more and more languages to their screens, so that you have to choose which one before proceeding. Sometimes I will proceed using another language, just to see if I can do it. Ha!
"wondered if we'd been egged." - OMG, do people even do that anymore? That was such a big thing when I was a kid on Mischief Day. I initially assumed that perhaps someone dropped a carton of eggs while walking past your house on the way home from shopping. However, the fact that you found them IN the landscaping, sounds more like you were egged. OR, perhaps that DUCK laid them. LOL!
As to the notes left in that book - isn't it something how (particularly online), people have to leave negative comments? I see it on Instagram constantly.
That picture of the guys working made me laugh because I've been watching a group of guys working on the roof of the hotel across the street from my apartment, and noticed the same thing. One guy was doing all the work, while the others were looking at their cell phones. LOL!
Fun post, my friend! Have a great weekend! X
The thank you card was strange in many ways! I love that you try out your ATM in different languages! I’ve never noticed that option. I haven’t been back to that gas station to see if the pumps are still in French.
DeleteI think people still get egged, but this was clearly a bird because of the feathers. I did some trimming of our trees/bushes yesterday and still couldn’t find a nest. There are no ponds anywhere near us, so it’s very odd.
People are SO negative online that it’s now refreshing to see positive, encouraging comments. I don’t mind it so much if it’s a review, but why be so negative about everything???
I have totally noticed the one worker doing something while everyone else is on their phones. Why does the one guy put up with it??? Enjoy your week, Ron!
Lots of little mysteries! Writing in a library book is very inconsiderate. And what's a duck doing on the lawn? Any connection with the duck eggs, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly top-level protection for your neighbour's tulips!
I've read that Ann Patchett book. I didn't think it was as good as her earlier one This is the Story of a Happy Marriage.
Considering that’s the only duck I’ve ever seen in our neighborhood, I’m guessing that duck or its mate laid the eggs. I also liked the Happy Marriage book better than the essay collection.
DeleteOK That fence around the tulips really takes away from the beauty! I think there is nets you can get to keep deer from eating flowers. Nice thank you note but can't figure out the toilet paper flower! Weird about that rock..it would bother me too! We don't get many ducks around out house here but in our former house there was a nest in our bushes every year and the male duck would perch on our roof to watch over it! It was pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteWe use the nets, but they don’t work very well. Between the buds poking through the net and the deer being able to pull the stakes out of the ground, we have no luck. A duck on the roof would have been quite the sight! That’s neat that they came back every year.
DeleteThe rock on the bench would bother me too. How did it get there? Animal or kid? I've no answer but I understand the weirdness.
ReplyDeleteI know I've read about Buy Nothing Facebook pages and I like the idea. I'm not on FB so it's not an option. However we sometimes put large household items out at the end of our driveway with a FREE sign on them and the items seem to disappear. Very old-school!
I am befuddled by the rock. It just appeared one day. Buy Nothing has really helped me get rid of good stuff that I didn’t want to trash. Like my parents’ bowling balls! Goodwill wouldn’t take them.
DeleteI feel like you may be experiencing some energetic/otherworldly activity in your yard. Especially the rock, because no animal could carry it.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely come day drink with me. 😊
I'm laughing because some woman was mad enough at Ann Patchett to write in a library book. That's really funny.
My uncle would have laughed so hard at that last picture. "Look how it takes four guys to do a one man job." HAHAHAHA. I remember him once cutting out a picture from the newspaper of a man pointing in a field and he got the biggest kick out of it. "What's he pointing at?" He shared our sense of humor. ❤️
That rock is so weird! Yes, Ann Patchett really seemed to piss off someone! I’d love to know that person’s age. I am often noticing construction workers standing around while one guy works. I can’t imagine women doing that. It would be the opposite!!
DeleteTime to bust out that duck a 'lorange recipe. I'm drooling!
ReplyDeleteWe had deer jump our chain link fence in Rapid City all the time. In fact, I bet they could have cleared a fence twice as high, they made it look easy. Your neighbor is smart to take those precautions! Or just very attached to his flowers...
Did you buy a croissant from the convenience store or something?
Between the wild turkeys, deer, and now this duck, we could open a wild game bistro. And YES! Deer make it look so easy when they jump. The guy with the fence also has a summer vegetable garden, so that’s the real reason for the fence. This was the first year for the tulips and they were so plentiful that I had to take a picture. I only bought gas!
DeleteMy folks had a duck build a next in their gated courtyard a few years ago. They would not allow the package delivery guy to drop packages off there. Posted do not enter signs, etc. Then one morning the mama duck had herded her little babies somewhere and my mom was so sad. It was a bit of a mystery when the duck returned but ended up dying in their courtyard (no eggs this time). This story is sounding too sad and nonsensical to share here, but it's late and I'm feeling like there's no turning back. There is a lot of water in their neighborhood because they are on a golf course. The lone duck by your house and all the shells and no sign of the babies? Odd. What in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe rock? Could it be a raccoon? I feel like they can grab stuff.
I think I'd skip having a garden instead of building a pricey fortress just to have one, but maybe that's me. I'm not much for gardening. I enjoy the beauty in other people's yards, but I don't have time or patience in my own yard.
The one guy doing all the work is hilarious. Do they all take a lunch break, or does only the guy that works take one? Ha.
I would not be happy dealing with a dead duck! Ugh! We still haven’t seen the duck or ducklings since, so I guess they are gone. We will see what happens next year. Memorial Day weekend is usually when we have a fawn born somewhere on our property, so that’s our next wildlife moment in the suburbs🤣
DeleteThe rock seems big for a raccoon, but I guess it’s possible! I’m not much into gardening, but my husband and daughter attempt one every year. Usually, only the tomatoes, green beans and cucumbers work out.
The one guy doing all of the work is crazy isn't it? I see things like that all the time and just shake my head. What in the world is going on at your house? A mysterious duck, egg shells but no babies, rocks appearing out of no where? Crazy. lol We have a panel of our fencing that needs replaced because a deer ran straight in to it. Our fence is 6 foot high but I still don't understand how he ran in to it. All of this is making me think of the song...Things that make you go hum. Have a great rest of the week.
ReplyDelete"Things that make you go hmmmm" LOL! Those lyrics always made me chuckle because they are so true! A deer ran into your fence? I wonder if he was just a poor jumper?? Not all of them can be Olympians! At least the stuff at this house are just mysteries. Unfortunately, at our last house, we KNEW who was doing the crazy crap!
DeleteWe have some neighborhood ducks that hang out in our neighbor's pool until it is time to head to the river or canal to teach their babies how to make it. The rock mystery would drive me nuts as well. Maybe some one is messing with you? Take care.
ReplyDeleteDucks in a pool doesn't sound very sanitary, but it's better than the tiktoks I see of alligators on people's patios. The rock will forever be a mystery.
DeleteOdd occurrences, indeed! I guess kudos to her for being creative with the toilet paper, but as grocery costs rise, I'd just send a messenger note with my thanks. No need to craft with the butt napkins.
ReplyDeleteWe don't live by water, but my neighbor's have a pool in their backyard that 2 ducks like to visit in the summer for a little swim. I've never seen ducklings or eggs around there though. That would be cool to see some babies swimming in the pool.
I wonder if a crow dropped the rock. I heard they like to leave gifts. Do you feed birds?
I thought there was some kind of pee or something that you could buy at the garden store that will repel deer? Maybe I'm wrong about that though. We don't get deer in our yard either, so I don't really know how you'd keep them away other than that tall fence.
Butt napkins? LOL! It was strange. You're the second person to say they've seen ducks swimming in a neighbor's pool. I do not feed the birds, but we sure do have the crows. I wouldn't think a rock that size would fit in a crow's beak, but who knows? They are crafty creatures that creep me out at times. We've tried so many concoctions to repel the deer. My husband makes a hot sauce thing, but honestly, it just kills or discolors the plants, so why bother? I wouldn't tolerate the urine smell!
DeleteI've been tempted to try to make friends with a crow just to see if it would bring gifts, but I don't think they come around our yard either. I heard someone call them Halloween Eagles once, so that is how I refer to them LOL. We do have a crap ton of blue jays and they are the biggest bullies of the birding world. They screech and scream for their friends as soon as Jason puts out the birdseed and soon we have flocks of them. The smaller birds have to pick through the scraps if there are ever any left.
DeleteI’ve always said blue jays are the bullies of the bird world! We usually see crows on Sunday nights, as they anticipate Monday morning trash day🤣
DeleteThe toilet paper flower thank you note is nice and cute even if it was odd.
ReplyDeleteBaby ducks, aww too bad you missed them walking away.
It was nice that the person really appreciated the graduation gown. I was glad to finally clear out my closet of them. I don't know what took me so long. I wish I could have seen the ducklings!
DeleteDo you think Nicole got that stylin' t.p. card idea on Pinterest? At first I thought it was spider webby thing. Ugh. Kudos to you for even touching it! - I wonder if those eggs got attacked by birds and they ate 'em! - You have so much wild life around you your neighbor needs a peacock. Just one will do. It'll scare everything away and makes an excellent alarm clock! You'd love it! - The caption on the photo of the one guy working and everybody else standing around should be "motherhood." - Now, that damn rock. That would drive me nuts too. Put a trail cam up and see who's visiting you. - So, those are all of my weirdo answers for WW. Waving from Boise.. Hi friend. :)
ReplyDeleteGirl, you KNOW she found it on Pinterest or Tiktok! LOL, I would not have touched it if it wasn't in my own driveway! I thought I was picking up a piece of trash. I told my neighbor about the ducks and she thought maybe a coyote or fox had gotten into a nest, but the eggs weren't cracked that much to make it seem like an attack. We have 3 security cameras around the perimeter of our house and somehow missed the ducks hatching AND whoever left that rock. WTH? You've been missed! Come back to blogging!
DeleteDucks, rocks, and eggs? Sounds like quite the mystery going on here. And what's with the toilet paper and French gas pump? Your life is turning into an X File episode. Where's Mulder and Scully when we need them?
ReplyDeleteThese weird little things make life interesting
That person who wrote in the book is a little out of line. If you don't like what's being written, stop reading the book. Don't deface it.
Thanks for the update!
These weird things do make life interesting. What else would I be talking about?? The book notes were crazy. Almost like a college student making comments in the margins for an essay to be written later. Have a great week, Rob.
DeleteMy first thought was that there was maybe a paper flower glued to the thank you note? and it fell off? I dunno. Surely, she left the note closer to your door on the porch, and it blew away. Well, hopefully that is the case and she didn't just toss it out of her door randomly.
ReplyDeleteThe rock. WOW. Maybe the duck flew over and left it there before she had her See-Through Babies? 🤣
So many mysteries!
I loved that book by Ann Patchet, but you're right, she can be a bit sanctimonious. That being said, I'd never write in a library book, so what does that say about the previous borrower?
I wonder if those are city/county/state employees watching the work happening? That is pretty typical.
It was just weird that I found the thank you note the next day. I had been to the mailbox and driven up and down the driveway numerous times. The rock was a considerable size and I don't picture a bird being able to carry it, but who knows?
DeleteI'm glad to hear you think the same thing about Patchett. She's very East Coast, IMO.
The county maintains the sewers, so it was definitely the county employees.
I appreciate your enjoyment of the weird, strange, and odd. Which must be why you like me! And you even survived my sister!!! ;) So fun about the ducks! There were sometimes peacocks on my parents' street. That was also bizarre. That rock on the bench thing is bugging me now too. Could it have been a raccoon?? ~Betsy
ReplyDeletePeacocks in a suburb of Akron? That is crazy to me!!!! A raccoon is a pretty good guess. They seem handy, or at least more handy than a opossum or groundhog.
DeleteNice that you made someone's day with the give-away gown and agreed that the thank you was odd, but perhaps it was a paper flower rearranged by the elements? After you learned about the hatched duck eggs, the mystery of the lone duck may be solved, except that one was a male. It's always interesting to find things left behind in library books.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the flower did look better before it was exposed to the elements. I’m so glad my daughter saw the duck because otherwise, I’d never have thought to look up duck eggs. I had no idea they were so large.
DeleteThat's a lot of weird happenings! That is a very odd, but thoughtful, thank you note. I think the rock would disturb me, too, since it makes it seem likely that someone somehow accessed your yard without your knowledge or consent.
ReplyDeleteI moved the rock so I’m waiting to see if it happens again!
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