Pearland Realtor laments, "I'm stuck with ducks!"

(Or, "Grumpy Old Man -- LIVE")

Was it a sign from heaven?  I'm sitting at my computer just now in my newly-created "man-cave," staring blankly at the screen with momentary writer's block.  I hadn't yet opened my blinds to the beautiful view out my front window of the two lakes with a little waterfall in between, each with a fountain.  (It is a nice setting!)  Then, I was startled by a strange ruffling sound coming from underneath my window (fortunately on the outside) and I realized it was those blankety-blank ducks.

When this area was being developed in the late 1990's, I was fortunate to have been here selling new homes for my favorite builder, Beazer.  I didn't work for Beazer, but rather was their top-selling Realtor-partner at the time and I (of course) worked for RE/MAX.  So when Beazer decided to develop this little area surrounded by Silverlake, they called it "The Lakes at Edgewater Estates" and built these engineered detention ponds and built them like lakes, complete with fountains, waterfall, pretty lights . . . and ducks.  Lots of ducks.


I understand how cute these ducks are . . . at first.  People come from miles around to bring their children to feed the ducks and take pictures, just like my parents used to take me to Forest Lawn Cemetery when I was a boy to do the same thing.  Cute.  Unless you live across the street from them.

First of all, they're nasty.  You think that they waddle slowly across the street and block traffic because their fat little bodies restrict their movement.  But just let a drake get behind one of the hens.  You've never seen them both move so fast.  The drakes, being faster and more powerful, capture the hens wherever they can and rut them constantly.  Which produces more and more ducks.

Second of all, they're nasty!  All the ducks -- drakes, hens, and ducklings -- wander around close-by (and I'm right across the street) and poop all over the yards and sidewalks.  My front yard and sidewalk are a river of duck feces that is a constant cleaning requirement.

And lastly, there are so many of them -- and they multiply so quickly -- that the homeowners association has to have them thinned out quarterly.  When they first announced that they were going to do that, it created quite a ruckus in the neighborhood.  Those who don't live near the lakes were "up in arms" about animal cruelty . . . and that they loved the ducks.  Hmpf.  They should have to live with them.

So . . . am I just being a grumpy old man?