I remember when rock was young.

Okay, that song lyric references crocodiles, not alligators, but you get the idea. On to the post in a minute....

I forgot to do something yesterday, and I am ashamed. In my strange, semi-freaked out state, I forgot to thank Rotten Correspondent for this:

I had just given out awards here, and now I have another one! If I get any more of these I may truly feel as awesome as some of you seem to think I am.

She said nice things, too (which RC is good at, I might add):

I'm giving this one to...

Jen at A Snowball's Chance In... because, well, she's awesome. And funny. And looks at things in the slightly warped way I crave. And because we've been through the blog trenches with pesky viruses and comment codes written in Vulcan code. Did I mention that she's awesome?

Rotten Correspondent is one of my very best blog buddies. She is funny, warm, and has a great touch with a story. We found each other through someone else who is no longer blogging, at least, not to my knowledge. Interesting how these things work out, eh?

So, THANK YOU, RC, and now I shall have to find another to pass this along to.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled post.

It seems we have a new plague to add to those of Guyton.

We have Muscovy ducks living in our twin ponds at the front of the subdivision. No, the ducks aren't a plague, but they have been known to hassle residents for bread. They hang out on doorsteps and wait for you to come home, and then follow you until you feed them. Buncha loafers if you ask me.

We started with five ducks. The first male got hit by a car, and eaten by buzzards. The we lost another male. Somehow we added a male mallard (he likes things different, I guess). He went missing. All told, we were down to just one duck as of last Monday, and she's now gone, too.

And I now know why.

Driving TFYO to school, I had to negotiate around a large truck parked at the front of the development. The sign on the side said "GA Alligator Trappers and Exterminators, Inc."

I almost drove off the damn road, and into the pond.

Early in the morning, and late in the evening, we'd been hearing a slightly odd squeaking sound coming from the direction of the pond. I have now been told that this is the sound of an alligator looking for a mate.

Swell.

The good news is that it's eaten all the ducks that were hassling people. The bad news, of course, is that now it's going to start looking for other things to eat, like pets.

I vividly remember the first time I saw a wild alligator up close.

Ray and I were at Middleton Plantation just outside Charleston, SC. We were looking for a place to hold our wedding, and we were walking down one of the nature trails that runs along the Ashley River. And that's when I saw it. It was half on the bank, keeping an eye on a duck. And then it saw us. And moved up on the bank a little more. We wisely stopped. The idiot tourists behind us did not. They decided to make a lot of noise and take pictures. Which kind of upset the alligator. He moved up until he was completely on the bank and then made a weird growling noise. At that point Ray told our comrades in scales they might wanna pipe down, as the alligator might get mad if we scare away his duck dinner. Ray and I walked backwards up the rest of the path, and so did the tourists.

So now we have an alligator. Or hopefully we don't, if the exterminator has done his job. We recently had a flock of Canadian geese move in. If they start disappearing, we'll know.