Graduation Day, October 4, 2009

My working to get "The Peepers", to" Go Be Ducks", has become the mantra around here. The new plan, at the suggestion of the SPCA, is to throw their food in the grass. The staff said I can't keep feeding these ducks out of dishes. What was I thinking? They have to eat like ducks and really learn to fend for themselves. They do forage, but not enough to sustain their lives.

The last few days I did exactly that. All the while trying to keep the wild ducks away so The Peepers could eat. (that in itself was not only frustrating but damn near impossible)!

My other issue.....how do I get them to fly? I added to the plan. When they finished eating, I picked up each duck, and tossed it into the canal. They flapped their wings and a new light bulb finally came on! FLIGHT!

In the beginning, they just swam back to the island, but on October 4th, I had my first real success. The pictures tell it all.....

This is HUGE! They are across the canal! Woo hoo!

They stayed out for about an hour! They splashed and played, and seemed to be having a grand time. I think the concept has been adopted!

 This is day that took The Peepers from being "mine", to the start of being wild ducks,

living a real duck life.

Happy Thanksgiving~

^_^

Duck Theme

A recent thank you note from my brother....it's totally caught on. :)

At It, Not In It...The Canal

September 29th. I'm still at it. These ducks have got to get their large arses in the canal, not sit around being yard ducks. Here they are, reluctantly en route to the island. I "think" this is at the crack of dawn.  Most of my photo taking is early rather than late in the day, so I am going with morning. :) We are getting closer!

At least they're starting to drink out of the canal.

I'll take what I can get!

Fly Away Home

I saw this movie when it came out in 1996, but when one of our followers Tiffany said this movie was me, I knew I had to see it again. This movie starred Jeff Daniels, Dana Delaney, Anna Paquin. The latter adopts a clutch of geese when the mother is killed and takes them on a 500 mile journey south for the winter.

Last nite my folks and I watched it. I cried during the bulk of the movie. It's so similar to our own story. I have to say, thank goodness my flock does not have to migrate! We would be up a polluted tributary without a means of motivation! :)

I hope you will rent this, or see it again. Great story.

oh no.....

Gotcha!

^_^

Muscovy Ducks And.....Monkeys?

The Engineer had to go to the Sheriff's office to get a special ID for a job his staff was working on. When he was pulling away from the building - out of the brush, came these two characters (Rhesus Monkeys). WTH??

At this point, if a lion appears in my yard,

I'm not batting an eye. ;)

 The legend goes that the Rhesus Monkeys escaped during the 

filming of a Tarzan movie, started breeding and here they are.

Miss Runtie & Me

My Mother In Law, or Millie as I call her, sent me this photo, after her visit last year. I hope you can see the personality of Miss Runtie. Such a love bug.

(pardon the blimpo you see here. I know this is not about me, but I have dropped a few lb's since).

This was taken in March, 2009 - she was killed on April 28th.

I still miss her, even though I have 4 little carbon copies of her! :)

Still Not In The Canal ~

This photo was taken on September 09, 2009. One month and 8 days old. Look how big they are. Holy Cow! I have made some progress with the canal, not much, but some...stand by....

Look at them in comparison to the planter - They're HUGE!

Beaks!

The name of this bird is Ibis. We call them "Beaks". Not hard to figure out why! :) They honk & beg & drive us crazy! The Peepers are not big fans of them either. The Beaks try to get at their food.

As annoying as they are, when they line up on the fence or fly around in groups, they're pretty cool!

Our Ridiculous Stand-In Mom

A few days of unsuccessful attempts of getting the ducks into the water, I "thought" I had a great idea. The ducks follow me where ever I go, particularly if I have food in hand, so won't they follow me into the canal? Dude, that canal is full of snakes, snapping turtles, & ginormous fish. Some residents have seen manatees. I am not going in there.
.....I need a boat.

This is about the dumbest idea I've ever had. However, it's the most I've ever laughed at myself. Thank goodness no one was out - I am an idiot to do what I did next.

I need "something" that can contain me. I'm not letting my legs dangle in that water! I went to the the pool store and bought a kids pool floatie that was a little boat. $12.99 - I can swing it. I tested it in the pool, and it held my weight. I took some of their food, wrangled my fat rump into this contraption and set sail. I started throwing food into the water.

NOTHING! They did nothing! There I was, in this stupid little craft, throwing food and they're looking at me in complete bewilderment. If only I could have taken a picture from my position onto the shore. They had no idea what the hell was going on.

I took a picture of the darn thing when I was unsuccessfully back on shore. How bloody embarrassing.

Yes, it came with an oar.... O_o

Canal? What Am I Supposed To Do With That?

The Peepers are now one month and 5 days old. Ducks born with a mama swim in the canal after being hatched for a mere 24 hours. These ducks, now able to swim, need to know how to live life in the canal, not in The Cement Pond!

Off we go!

I took their chick feeder and walked them down to the canal. They looked in the water, turned up their noses and headed back to the yard and the pool.

Not a very successful first attempt. This isn't going to be as easy as I thought. :(

Who's Your Mama?

I know I am stating the obvious here, but I have been known to take pictures of ducks. O_o I have searched my archives and I cannot for the life of me find any photos of The Peepers Mama Speck as an adult! I have photos of Speck, Runtie, and OP as ducklings, so that will have to suffice. I'll keep looking....

POOP!

The question was raised on one of the last posts by Crafty Amanda about the ducks being free and their poop. The ducks being free is NOT when the poop problem presented itself. It started about 10 hours after they hatched!

My life revolves around this topic on a daily basis. I have 3 - 22 lb. + cats, so there are 2 cat boxes. I have 3 bathrooms so there are 3 toilets to clean. Mom has a bedside commode we call the Pee Piddly Pee Pot, and that has to be cleaned once a day. If it wasn't for poop, I wouldn't have a hobby! :)

I found some other names for this that you might find interesting, or funny:

Cow pies, cowplop, crap, dung, feces, fertilizer, guano, manure, meadow muffin, night soil, ordure,  droppings. poop, body waste, chips, discharge, egesta, evacuation, excreta, fecal matter, secretion, stool,  buffalo chips, compost, cow chips, humus, maul, mulch, peat moss, plant food, potash, top dressing, number two, sh**, stools, shite, caa call, doo doo, poo, ka ka, & turd.

Whatever you call it, I have been cleaning more of it since August 1st. First there were the towels of the brooder that had to be hosed off and washed daily. The brooder had to be cleanded too. The play pen had to be sprayed off and the lawn & towel where the ducks sat. Then the Condo came along. I had a towel on one side that had to be hosed and washed. The Condo and the droppings pan had to be hosed off every morning.

Now that the ducks are free, the patio gets a good hosing 1-2 times a day. I clean the patio with chlorine to keep it sanitary. They don't swim much, so the pool is not a problem. The pool chemicals and the filter keep it in good order.

Parents having to teach kids about and how to do this, is a vital part of all of our young lives. I grew up with boys - so flatulence & potty humor were no stranger to us. I am not offended by it. By the time of this post, the poop issue has not waned my love or interest for the ducks. It has just become a part of my morning & daily routine.

However, I am not, going to post a picture of poo. I just can't. I did find a Swedish website that sells potty training plush toys to help parents help their children fall in love with Pee & Poo. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce you to Pee & Poo - 

So if you find yourself in my position, and want to raise fowl outside of the farm, be forwarned. This is not for the faint of heart or the lazy. The poo part alone is darn near a full time job. (We haven't even started talking about me acclimating them to the wild so more work coming soon!). I am sure, this is the reason why good intentioned parents, buy baby chicks for their kids for Easter and then let them go, give them away or other horrid fates. :(

Anyway, should you be in the need for more pee & poo in your lives, these cute toys  can be purchased here:

http://www.peeandpoo.com/eng/flasheng.asp

....Or you can come by here with your shovel. My extra pee & poo are free....

More About Crafty Amanda

Let's call her Amanda here, it's a shorter moniker and I'm just starting my java intake! :)

Amanda and I met thru work circumstances, which are too long and boring to go into here. Suffice it to say, we are now colleagues! From that relationship, a friendship has sprouted. Since we both work from home (and it gets lonely - trust me) you need a phone and email pal. Amanda has become that. We have discussed everything from work issues, to hair color.

Professionally, Amanda is a web site designer and a blogger. She is damn near a professional cook and baker. Being the mom of four children she is also a craft afficionado. From her love of these, she has created two blogs:

Amanda's Cookin'

http://amandascookin.com

 

and

 

Crafts by Amanda

http://craftsbyamanda.com

 

This Halloween I made these darling ghost luminaries from Crafty Amanda and they were the hit of my yard! My theme this year was ghosts, and these fit right in. (Bonus! They did not cost me one thin dime, not a penny!)
 

 
Please subscribe to these blogs. I always look forward to my inbox bringing me her recipes and photos of the luscious treats. Her crafts are cute, easy and budget friendly.
 
Thanks Crafty Amanda for making our world a sweeter place!
 
 

The New Duck Order

Getting back into sequence, The Peepers settled into their new routine. I let them out of the duck condo bright and early. They would flap their wings and scatter, peeping like mad. After their breakfast, they would swim and preen. During the heat of the day, they took a big rest. Here they are napping under the banana tree, as seen from the watchful eye above. This routine went on for about 2 or 3 weeks....(mind you, every break I took, I ran to a window to check on them. Dad reads in the kitchen window and he keep his eye on them) Thanks Grandpa "Drake".