The answer that the riddle wants: Fox and grain in boat with you, move to opposite shore, drop off fox, move back to starting shore, grab duck, move to opposite shore, done.

My answer: Fox and grain in boat with you and drag the duck, who can freakin' SWIM behind your boat on an improvised tether.

Extra Credit: You feel like you are unable to manage all the sundry parts of your life without feeling you will leave something behind or unatended and it will atrophy or have destructive influence on other parts of your life?

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Fuck... only one other item... misread that.

Duck behind boat, fox in boat, cross, drop off the fox, drag the duck back across, grain, cross again, done.

*doublechecks this time*

Right...

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Drop off the duck, then the grain, then take the duck again as you pick up the fox, take the fox leaving the duck, then finally go back for the duck.

Hmm... many car trips with an annoying relative quacking in your ear? ;>

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Take the duck first, go back and get the fox, drop off the fox and pick up the duck and take it back, then get the grain and drop it off with the fox, go back and get the duck.

I bet you spent today doing something like this in your car, with people who don't like each other.

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Pretty close, although it was two passengers with no particular animus, and three cars that had to be juggled sequentially.

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Take the duck across, go back alone, take the grain across, take the duck back, leave the duck on the original side and take the fox across, then return alone for the duck.

Extra Credit: You had to make several journeys while your passengers were at each others' throats. This is unlikely, but never mind.

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Eat the grain, shoot the duck, and throw the fox in the river.

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Ah, the "Bush's America" solution!

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Take grain, drop off grain.

Come back for duck. Oops, duck eaten? Well that's one less trip for you!

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extra credit: so...........did the fox shit all over your car?

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Buy a bigger boat.

(This answer brought to you by a guy who used to own a sailboat, and who therefore became very familiar with the boat salesman's answer to ANY problem.)

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(sigh) in honesty I did figure out how to do this, but only because I'd seen that sort of riddle before many times. My solution was duck over, return empty, fox over, duck back, grain over, return empty, duck over.

But better would be.. duck on a bed of rice pilaf, give the fox some, and then cross the river with the fox.

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Lessee...IIRC, you bring the duck across, then go back, grab the fox, bring it over, take the duck back, bring the grain over, and then go back and fetch the duck.

As to how it has to do with your day -- that, I'm not going to guess. ;)

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Grain first, then fox, then duck. This is without looking at the other responses.

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IF your first trip is the grain, then the fox and duck are left together unattended on the bank until you return.

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Dam up the river, then walk across the barren river bottom.

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Leave the duck. Take the cannoli.

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Prop the boat up on a nearby log in a see-saw position for a makeshift catapult, place the grain in the end of the boat farther from the river bank, climb a tree with the fox, jump into the high end of the boat with the extra weight of the fox (being careful to bend your knees as you land to brace from the fall), duck under the flying sack of grain which should be launched to the far end, duck-tape the duck to the back of the boat, and carry the fox in the boat as you row the boat across. If you lack duck tape, use fox tape to attach the fox to the back of the boat. If you lack both duck and fox tape, repeat the catapult process for the duck.

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Cross the river with the grain in the boat, let the duck fly after the grain, and the fox swim across going after the duck.

You were on one side of a moderately wide town with persons A, B, and C, and a one-passenger car. You wanted to cross town with all three people. However, you knew that if you had left persons A and B together unattended, person A would have eaten person B; and if you had left persons B and C together unattended, person B would have eaten person C...

There are four people on one side of a river who need to cross the bridge to the other side. Of the four people, one of them is a runner who can cross the bridge in one minute, another is a brisk walker who can cross the bridge in two minutes, the third is a normal walker who can cross the bridge in five minutes, and the fourth person takes ten minutes to limp across. It's night-time and they have only one lantern. The bridge is rickety and small, so only two people can cross at a time, and one of them must be holding the lamp so they can both see. When a pair of people is crossing, the faster person cannot leave the slower person behind in the dark, so the faster person must walk at the slower person's pace. How can you get all four people across in as little time as possible?

May your next day involve fewer people eating other people.

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If I may try this riddle, since the first is solved:
Logic says that the first pair needs to be someone with the runner; for now, I'll say that it's the limper. 10 minutes, and the runner returns with the lamp(11 min.) Next, the runner and the slow walker cross, and the runner returns again; 17 minutes. Last, the runner and fast walker; 19 minutes.

The limper can carry the rice across; the slow walker can keep an eye on the duck, and the fast walker can hold the fox(with each guarding their item from the other items, I hope.) But that's beside the point.

My solution for the riddle noted, what's the solution that's just a little better than this one?

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