So, it was Easter. And I have a 4 year old, the only kid in our extended family. So of course we plan an Easter egg hunt for her enjoyment. All told about 2 dozen hard-boiled eggs were colored and about a dozen plastic eggs were filled with treats.

After the kid went to sleep, and before my brother Thomas and I got too far into our evening drinking (he was working on a case of Millerlite, I was working through a bottle and a half of pinot grigio), we decided to put out the eggs. Thomas put out the eggs - all 30+ of them, making a nice looping path around my backyard.

I live in the part of suburbia that has sprawling parklike backyards, btw.

Come morning, the family gathered to watch my kid hunt Easter eggs. And she found one. Then two or three. But they were few and far between. At which point it dawned on us that perhaps leaving the eggs out overnight was not the wisest idea. She did find all the plastic eggs, which almost all still had treats inside. But only 5 of the 24 hardboiled eggs made it through the night.

Ah, wildlife. Don't know if it was squirrels or foxes or groundhogs or what, but I imagine they are fat and happy critters now. Love my home.