Not to question nature too much, but what do ducks themselves do when they’re all in a row? Mostly, it seems to me, they go walking where they don’t belong, stopping traffic or falling through drainage grates necessitating complicated but very TV-friendly rescues. They really don’t seem a whole lot more apt to take some vague next step than they do when they’re scattered about.
Indeed, I still remember the scene in the irrigation holding pond behind Horrock’s produce market just west of the city of Lansing, my wife and I standing in the parking lot watching a mother and brood of ducklings feasting on the myriad mosquitoes that would otherwise have been feasting on us, leaping off the water to snatch the little buggers mid-air. Nobody was in any kind of row, but I’ve never seen a group of anything choreograph chaos quite so well to such an effective purpose. That would have been well more than 20 years ago, and I still remember it like yesterday.
And I haven’t since felt the need to get my ducks in a row. Well. I haven’t since gotten my ducks in a row, at least, and I haven’t spent a lot of time feeling especially bad about it.
Bilan over 6 years ago
That’s one of those idioms that you just wonder where it came from.
sandpiper over 6 years ago
Good twist on an old saw
magnus over 6 years ago
It has been years since I have seen a Wills Wing T-shirt. The SST was a great wing in its time.
magnus over 6 years ago
It has been years since I have seen a Wills Wing T-shirt. The SST was a great wing in its time.
The Brooklyn Accent Premium Member over 6 years ago
I’ll get my ducks in a row when I get around to it, one of these days.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 6 years ago
Frazz8 hrs ·
Not to question nature too much, but what do ducks themselves do when they’re all in a row? Mostly, it seems to me, they go walking where they don’t belong, stopping traffic or falling through drainage grates necessitating complicated but very TV-friendly rescues. They really don’t seem a whole lot more apt to take some vague next step than they do when they’re scattered about.
Indeed, I still remember the scene in the irrigation holding pond behind Horrock’s produce market just west of the city of Lansing, my wife and I standing in the parking lot watching a mother and brood of ducklings feasting on the myriad mosquitoes that would otherwise have been feasting on us, leaping off the water to snatch the little buggers mid-air. Nobody was in any kind of row, but I’ve never seen a group of anything choreograph chaos quite so well to such an effective purpose. That would have been well more than 20 years ago, and I still remember it like yesterday.
And I haven’t since felt the need to get my ducks in a row. Well. I haven’t since gotten my ducks in a row, at least, and I haven’t spent a lot of time feeling especially bad about it.
Kind&Kinder over 6 years ago
In line, in line, it’s all in a line
My ducks are all in a row
They do not shift, they do not move
They have nowhere to go…"
—James Taylor, “Sun on Moon”