A Snowball in Summer. 3/22/20 Well, we made it through another winter. This one was easy with hardly any snow on the east coast. No shoveling, no driving in mayhem, and no backaches and frozen feet. But what I did miss, was the fun for the kids. No igloo's, sleigh riding, snowball fights, or snowmen. Yes it was a very warm winter. Speaking of snow, let me tell you the story of Snowball. She was a duck. A big soft white goofy duck. I raise chickens and ducks which many of you already know. Snowball was one of my brood from two years ago, when I scrambled to Tractor Supply early one morning during a rainstorm. I bought six duckling in honor of my six grown children. The duckies grew fast and became part of our family. Between the chickens and ducks free ranging on our property, we have not had a flea or tick in the house, or on our Sparky in two years. They do a great job as insect repellers. Last summer, I would open the coop run door before leaving for work. That gave the girls all day to forage and fill their bellies. At dusk when I got home, I would fill the food trough, and all the water pools and buckets. The chickens are normally in the coop by dark, and the ducks are close by the run, waiting for me to gather and herd them inside the fence and close the gate. My neighbor has a huge garden. It covers his entire yard. My gardens are much smaller. I have four, 100 square feet each. We grow similar things. Tomatoes, beans, carrots, garlic, peppers, well lets just say we grow a good assortment. He throws a lot of scrap vegetables to my birds every day as he weeds and tends his garden, but he does not want them in his yard at all. I have trained them all pretty good, but sometimes a couple find their way over there and get me in trouble. One night I got home late. It was already dark. The chickens were in and the ducks were near the fence door. All except my Snowball. She was quacking away really loud by the small rock wall separating our properties. As I went to grab her, she flapped her wings hard and hopped over the wall. Oh God I thought, my neighbor is gonna get pissed if he sees her in the yard. I quickly climbed over the wall and again went to grab her, when she flapped those huge white wings and flew low to the ground and into his garden. My heart was in my throat. His spread is perfect. Not one weed, everything is in order. It could be in a magazine it is so beautiful. I guess g being retired has it's benefits. I looked toward his house and the lights were all off. It was strange that his garden gate was open. I guess he forgot to close it, I thought. I felt a hair of relief figuring he was asleep, and I could catch the duck and get out of there unseen. I walked slow and when I was close to her, as I squatted down to grab her she again lofted herself further down into the garden. Thank God she was still on the path that he runs the tractor on, and not into the green vegetation. I would never have gotten her out without crushing his plants. She was now down back by the pole beans. They were over five feet high and so thick, you couldn't see the raspberry bush rows behind them at the end of the garden. I quietly walked toward her. I got close, and she started quacking like crazy. And loud, holy moly was she loud. I looked again at the house and it was still all dark. She let me grab her this time. I picked her up and she got very calm and quiet. I held her firm and ran my hand down her soft neck and rubbed her belly. Good girl I said, daddy has you, it's ok now. As I turned to get the heck out of there, I heard a thump. I turned toward the back woods but didn't see anything. Maybe a deer I thought and turned again to leave. I took two steps, and snowball began quacking again. She was frantic. Trying to get away and out of my grip. I stood still to pet and quiet her before she gave away our presence. No sooner then she stopped quacking, I heard two more thumps. They sounded very close, then I heard it again. It was in the garden with us. I was looking in the direction of the sound, when I saw the tops of the bean vines shaking. Then it dawned on me. He left the gate open and something, probably a raccoon or opossum, or maybe a skunk, was in there eating. I brought the duck up and put her away and closed the coop gate. Then I went back to his garden. I had to get the animal out and close his gate too. Then I thought, maybe he already knew and left the gate open so the critter could get out on it's own. I decided to just give up and go in the house. I had the duck, and that was what was important. No sooner than I put my foot onto the deck steps, Snowball started up again. This time though, all the ducks were going crazy. I had never heard them so loud. I thought for sure his bedroom light was gonna come on any second. Shhh, SHHHH, I said. Be quiet. They just kept quacking. It was nuts. I walked around the run fence to the main coop door, and every one shut up. Thank God I thought again. Then I heard the thump thump again. It was much lower but it was the same thump. I walked to the wall and hopped over and in through the gate I went. I was really quiet. I was curious as to what animal was stomping on the ground like that. I headed down the tractor path to the bottom part of the garden. My eyes continually scanning over the plants waiting to see it run. When I was near the beans, I saw the same area moving again. I stood at the end of the row, and studied the ground in the dark. I just couldn't see. Slow and careful, I stepped foot over foot down the narrow space between the crops. When I was about a hundred feet in I found him. My neighbor was on the ground behind the pole beans. His one hand was holding the vine, and it appeared his one foot was making the thumping sound. His eyes were open but he could not speak. His left eye and the left side of his mouth were drooping. He had had a stroke. I gently dragged him down the row to the path, and then ran into the house and called the ambulance. It seemed like forever, but in ten minutes they were there. He was home from the hospital in two days. He had a heatstroke while tending the garden early in the day. It took a little time, but before long he was right back out in the garden, only this time, he had on a big sombrero. He still doesn't want the birds on his property, but I have caught him a couple times feeding the girls greens, and Snowball, handfull's of big juicy worms from his garden. So with winter almost over, and spring planting on the rise, no matter how hot it gets this Summer, keep cool, wear a hat, and most of all think of Snowballs in the summer.