Hi everyone,
Here is exhibit A.
Those are not sparrows on my front lawn. They have been there all day. I’ve a strong hunch that Mama is eating all the grass in sight for a reason.
I think I know what they have in mind and where. If I were a goose in a motherly way, I would find a quiet spot like this, which is just outside our front door. 
So the question before the house is this: What should I do? On one hand I hate the idea of creating an ancestral home for a bunch of gangly goslings. If they’re like salmon, some of them might come back next year to make more children beside my front door. And of course there’s the matter of goose grunt all over the yard.
On the other, having a family of geese ten feet from where I get my mail every day has a certain appeal. I would have to warn our mail carrier but otherwise we could probably live with the occasional hisses, a fair tradeoff for a close-up look at nature.
How do you vote?
P.S. Yesterday was a fine day. I’m back!
Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog 
If I was David L. Harrison, I’d let Sandy have the vote and I’d do whatever the MOW says. It’s her house too.
Hmm. Not a bad idea, Joy. Sandy is the one who is always out there waging war on the weeds. She might have an opinion about this.
Perhaps you can nudge them just a bit farther away. (Though they are great doorbells! You will never have anyone sneak up on you.)
Good point, Jane. Might cut down on the number of guys who ring our doorbell to sell us various services. Last night the geese were on our neighbors’ yard so maybe the die isn’t cast yet.
My husband was born and brought up in West By God Virginia. He always said geese were called “West Virginia doorbells.”
Ha! Come to think of it, our doorbell needs to be replaced. Sometimes it sounds, sometimes it doesn’t. A protective mama goose might be just what we need.
You know what I would say, leave them, watch and photograph them and write volume II for your e-book, “Goose Lake.” I would love to have them. Great to use as illustrations . Take care of your newly adopted family. Please keep us updated.
Well they would make good writing material. I bet the men who mow our yard would have an opinion too. Especially about all that free fertilizer they’d be walking through. Stand by, Mary Nida.
The beginning of a tag-team poem. Keep the rhyme scheme going!
David’s geese are very fowl,
Very fowl, very fowl,
Make the local hounds all howl
Go away geese.
Gosling geese would drive me bonkers,
Drive me bonkers, drive me bonkers,
Hate the thought of all those honkers,
Go away geese.
Hmm. Are we playing by ourselves? Surely not! Come on, poets!
Geese will scare the front-door guests,
Front door guests, front door guests,
David surely knows that best,
Go away geese.
Yes! Thanks Jane H. Now we’re doing it!
If I told you I currently have a pet duck on a nest with 18 eggs on my front porch, would you know how I would answer your question? 🙂
Sandy’s duck is on her eggs,
On her eggs, on her eggs,
She might leave but Sandy begs,
“Don’t leave, duck!”
Bingo is a happy duck,
A happy duck, a happy duck.
Her eggs will hatch with some luck.
Good girl, Bingo!
Blame it on Jane, but these are fun. Thanks, Sandy.
Let the happy couple be.
They chose your space for their home base
To feed, to nest, to birth their young.
They feel your gentle loving care-
You’re blessed, oh David, let them stay.
The trouble with you, my dear sweet Cory, is that you are just too hard-hearted! (:>
Cory has a gentle soul,
Gentle soul, gentle soul,
To keep those geese would be her goal,
Here to stay geese.
Thank you for your kind words and lovely poem, David! I am SMILING! and geese everywhere are too.
Nature is a precious thing,
Especially as we enter spring.
Let those geese stay with no rent –
Surely they are heaven sent!
Susan has a flinty heart,
Flinty heart, flinty heart,
She won’t let those geese depart,
Hard-hearted Susan.
LOL!!!! I had six antelope outside my bedroom window this morning. Hope for some babies in the next month or so!!
The geese have come to ask for more
poems written from their shore.
They won’t stop being in your face;
They”ve taken a gander for your place.
Happy writing!
Mama Goose is back for more,
Back for more, back for more,
She likes my stories of her shore,
You can stay, Mama.
For two years now I have gone out of my way to prevent people from coming to our front door because of birds nesting in our wreath. (And I’ve cleaned up all the poo on our door afterwards.) I just don’t have the heart to shoo them away. So I guess that gives you my answer, David.
Sigh. Not a hard-liner among all my friends? Are we softies because we’re poets and teachers or poets and teachers because we’re softies?
Which came first, the goose or the egg? 🙂
Reread HERE COMES GOSLING! and follow the advice contained therein. You’re welcome to make up your own melody for the song and dance routine, but the stage version offers Ric Averill’s music, if you prefer. Your young guest(s) will enjoy your performance. No telling how Sandy and the neighbors will react.
Ha! My friend, if I start dancing in our front yard, Sandy and the geese won’t be the only ones alarmed. Better, I think, to put on some of Ric’s music. XO
Canada geese are protected. Once they nest… You can’t remove them without permission from wildlife authorities. So I’d go ahead and call them. But that’s just me. 🙂
Click to access CanadaGooseColorFAQ2007.pdf
I keep trying to send this… but it won’t let me. So I’ll try again. 🙂
The Canada Goose is protected in the US. Not sure where you are. But if you are here in the US, and they nest, then you are not allowed to move them. You’ll need to call the wildlife folks to come move them. And they can get mean when they are protecting those babies.
Rats. They’ve got the Mounties on their side? Thanks for the reminder, Donna. We’ve lived with the geese in relative peace for twenty-seven years so I suppose we’ll work through this if it happens. And yes, they can indeed have an attitude!
Yah. It’s a tough balancing act… loving nature, wanting to keep your yard as your own… and yet not wanting to go to jail. 🙂
Dear Canada Goose,
If you stay, may I request —
you use my neighbor’s yard to nest?
Sincerely,
D. Harrison
Dear Human,
Thank you for your kind regard,
and offer of your neighbor’s yard.
My answer is…
No.
Sincerely,
The Bird
p.s. Don’t walk barefoot in your yard. It could get messy.
I can easily imagine such correspondence, Donna. I’ve not found our geese to be very forgiving. When we first moved here, they used to hiss at me when I went out for the morning paper.
Greasy grimy goosey grunt
Goosey grunt, goosey grunt!
Listen for my angry whoop
When I step in goosey poop!
Hmm, when you put it like that, sweetie, makes me wonder if I’m ready for foster parenthood.
Okay… I will be the bad guy…. with the argument that rattlesnakes and alligators are part of nature also, but we don’t let them in our yards.
Take your goose grunt anywhere
Just not there
Near my chair
Take your goose grunt anywhere
But not in my backyard.
I do love to see them from a distance. Maybe the attached article will give you some management ideas.
http://mdc.mo.gov/your-property/problem-plants-and-animals/nuisance-native-wildlife/canada-goose-control
Good luck with it! Your flinty friend…
Karen
Dear Flinty,
Many thanks for the poetic encouragement as well as the link. The birds were back yesterday so I’m beginning to fear the worst. Stay tuned.
I vote that you move them a distance away. The mess will make you sorry!
So far so good this morning, Anne. I’ve spotted them on three neighborhood yards so maybe they’re still shopping.