The Ugly Duckling

One of our little excursions in Clovis was to Ned Houk park to see the buffalo and feed the ducks and geese. While we were feeding the critters, we noticed this funny little black duck. He had absolutely no fear of us and my Mom-in-law said she thought we could just reach out and grab it. And sure enough, she reached out and picked up this little duck. Now it was not a baby duck, but not an adult either, it had some adult plummage, but still had a fuzzy head. And it was definitely the odd duck out! There were no other siblings and no other adult ducks that looked even remotely like it. After we took turns petting it, we let it go and I crouched down to take a picture of it. It made a mad dash and ran right up underneath me and stayed there, like it was wanting me to sit on it or something! So I sat down and it crawled right into my lap and laid its head down. I have NEVER seen a wild duck do this so I began to get suspicious. We spent the next half hour petting and loving and hugging this little duck. It was so sweet! But the time came for us to have lunch, so we started to walk to the car. Our goofy little friend began to follow us. I told everyone to get in the car and I picked the little duck up walked him away a bit and tossed him out into the pond. As I turned to go to the car I noticed that it was scrambling to get out of the water and when he did he took off chasing after me. I ran like hell to the car, jumped in and drove off. I stopped a little ways away to make sure it had stopped following and wasn't in the street. It was just standing there, looking confused. It broke my heart! I believe this little duck was probably someone's Easter duckling and when it got too big, they decided it was perfectly fine to go dump it at the pond. I HATE that tradition! Ducklings and chicks are NOT disposable pets! If you can't care for one, you should never bring one home! Anyway... off my soapbox, I spent the rest of the day and most of the night trying to figure out how the hell I could transport a duck from Clovis to Austin. And IF I managed to successfully get it here, what the hell I would do with it! I live in a suburban neighborhood, our Homeowner's Association doesn't take kindly to raising poultry! I didn't go back to get him, but I regret it to this day. All this little guy wanted was a mommy and a family to love it. I spend so much time telling my kids that it's our responsibility as good humans to take care of the little things that need our help, then I didn't follow through with it. I could kick myself! The little duck didn't seem unhealthy and hopefully he was foraging OK. I know they are resilient and have instincts, so I hope with all of my heart that this little duck grows up and has a happy life in the park. And I am touched that this little bird allowed me and my children to interact with it and have a wonderful "ducky" experience. Someday, if I ever have property, I will own ducks all because of this little guy!

The Duck...


A Piglet and a duck!


Duck kisses


Sweet ducky in my lap


One last ducky hug!

Heathens of Suburbia

So, if any of my neighbors pay any sort of attention to what goes on at our dwelling, they are probably convinced that we are total heathens (which probably isn't too far from the truth). I have hex ball that hangs in the window over my black front door, when I moved into my home and got my new car (which was actually used) I smudged them with sage in the Native American tradition. Last year before my good friend moved to Minnesota she dropped by in a big rush to give me a picture frame with an image of the Chinese kitchen god that she asked me to hang in my kitchen. I was supposed to hang him up and ask him to watch over my home. When the Chinese New Year hit I was to pull him out of the frame, rub honey on his lips (so he would go up to whatever higher god there is and tell it sweet things about us) and just as an extra measure, you dip him in alcohol so he's a little loaded and happy when he arrives to his destination! So here I was on a wind advisory day in a dry ass backyard, smearing honey on his lips and dipping him in Sailor Jerry's spiced rum and catching him on fire. The damn wind kept blowing him out, then it would catch a piece and blow it onto the dry grass where I'd have to run and stomp it out! Anyway, he was sent off in not so fine fashion, hope he was drunk enough not to notice! :-) Then as if all that weren't enough to have us labeled, we had the windows wide open the last couple of nights as the hubby has been having some ringing in his ears so we decided to candle them and clear them out. So picture him sitting on a stool in the bathroom with a long, burning candle sticking out of his ear! The smoke was awful so we had to open windows to ensure that the smoke alarm wouldn't go off and wake the baby! The Monkey Man was actually a little weirded out by the whole ear candle thing, he wanted to know why I was burning Daddy's ears, so I told him it was because Daddy doesn't listen to me! I think he is still a little unnerved by that little revelation! Anyway, I suppose I need to finish off my ecclectic heathinistic household by finding a horseshoe to hang over the back door, a four leaf clover to wear around my neck and a nice little black cat. Then hopefully I will have sufficiently covered my karmic ass on most levels!