I’ve always been a fan of smoking, as long as that refers to smoking delicious meats. Barbecuing and related culinary feats let us taste summer. This year, though, is a year of strange smoke.

Three years after a pandemic canceled a vacation to the Ozarks, I returned to the breathtaking hills and lakes outside Branson, MO last week. I discovered something beside me had made its return: the Ducks.