{"id":10237,"date":"2026-08-22T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=10237"},"modified":"2026-08-21T21:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:37:31","slug":"ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/ducks\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Brian
Sunset here in Sauk Centre: no ducks, just a nice photo. (August 20, 2026)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ducks haven’t been a major part of my life, but our paths have crossed now and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, for example, I was driving north of Moorhead, Minnesota on \u2014 I’m not sure what its name was then. These days it’s called 57th Avenue N, CSAH 22, or 40th Avenue N; depending on which stretch of pavement you’re on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, on its way toward the Red River,the road went through a cluster of homes. It was like those housing developments that popped up after WWII. Except that the houses weren’t all alike, and there were trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I gather this is because folks had built their homes piecemeal. Most of them apparently liked trees, and had varying notions of what their house should look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn’t a monument to urban design, but I liked the result. Particularly compared to what happens when a developer clear-cuts land, plops housing units on what’s left, and I’m drifting off-topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Just Me and Some Ducks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This particular duck encounter happened when I was still living in Moorhead. I’d been driving to Fargo and decided to take the long way, on \u2014 whatever the road was called.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was still driving between fields, maybe a thousand feet from the houses and trees, when I saw something in the middle of the road. It was a duck, waddling deliberately down the road’s centerline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there I was, sharing a road with a duck. With decisions to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not the sort of situation discussed in the Minnesota Driver’s Manual. Not specifically, at any rate. So I was on my own, without official guidance, facing a duck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There wasn’t anyone else in sight, just me and the duck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stopped the car and watched the duck. And my rear-view mirror, of course: so I wouldn’t be blocking the road for someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as I stopped, the duck turned its head \u2014 to look at me, I’m guessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It paused, then turned again, so it faced the grass growing by the road. I couldn’t hear it quack, but saw its bill open and close. Then the duck did a quick about-face and scooted for the left side of the road, with a brood of ducklings racing after it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within seconds, mama duck and her ducklings were out of sight in the tall grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I waited a few moments, making sure there wasn’t a straggler still in the grass to my right, and then drove on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Animals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I’m none too fond of mosquitoes, ticks, and leeches. But by and large I like animals, and think they should be treated humanely. That’s something I didn’t need to change when I became a Catholic. I’ve talked about animals, priorities, and somewhat-related matters before:<\/p>\n\n\n\n