This family of Wood Ducks took up residence in our neighbor's pond. On this day, mom must have been teaching them discipline. She would swim in one direction with them following her. Then she would turn around, swim past them and call them to follow her. Then she would turn in a different direction and do the same. This went on for a long time, but she never led them far from shore.
We did accomplish a little bit this year. We decided the leaves had to be kept out of the eavestroughs, so we had guards installed on all our gutters. It has worked well so far.
It seems every year, sometimes more than once a year, a storm will come through and make havoc with the trees, especially the Willows. This year was no exception.