I spent a few days this summer building this great looking fence around my most beautiful tree in the backyard to keep the ducks from eating all my flowers.

I thought it was pretty ingenious and I made sure to put a stick wherever I thought they could squeeze through.  And besides being functional, I was looking for something that would blend with my yard and look good at the same time.  Most of the summer I had a big old piece of chicken wire wrapped around the perimeter of the tree and it looked a little trashy. 

The ducks….

had been laying most of their eggs either out in the middle of the yard or in various nests around the house.  Easy enough to locate.  A few weeks ago, I went out in the morning on my usual egg hunt and found NO eggs.  Thinking they were having a late start to their morning, I gave them till lunch to pop those puppies out.  Still, no eggs.  After work, no eggs!  And then I see one toddle out of the forbidden zone!

Lesson learned.  There is NO forbidden zone!

Yes, I’m a bit behind in my posting, due to a fabulous vacation to the northwest corner of the world (at least my world). We went to visit older daughter, Kendall, and her fiance Evan, in the country north of Bellingham, WA. She did a great vacation post at www.lonelilly.com . 

And so there are three ducks in the backyard now.  As sad as I was to see my others go, I have to admit that the peace and quiet that we experience now is pretty awesome.  I call them the Hoover Girls……

They came by that group name because that is their purpose in life, to hoover over the yard, usually in team form, and eat bugs.  I may have to name them now that I know them better.  Sometimes I actually go out in the yard and holler, HOOVERS!  Once again, I hope my neighbors aren’t watching.

I am fascinated by how much these girls preen.  They love the pool and then spend hours just fixing feathers.  Reminds me of teenage girls in the bathroom! 

You get the idea!!

My brother and sister-in-law live in the country and for many years have had a few kittens here and there. This last year they ended up with more females than ever before and this is what it looks like at their backdoor……

I don’t think they have ever had so many kittens that are so friendly and want all the human attention possible!

And if those aren’t cute enough for you, look at the kittens we saw at my cousins house.  They feed their cats up in a tree so the dogs won’t get to the cat food. 

Now, how many kittens did you say you needed???

Sad, but true, I ended up selling my three musketeers on Saturday. Cher had to go because of her insane quack. And I couldn’t let her go without her closest buddies, Sonny and Ringo, who had been with her since the very beginning. They did everything together and I didn’t know what would happen if they were separated. I was afraid the others might get loud just looking for Cher.  They had their last swim and then the fun began.  I’m always hopeful that our neighbors aren’t watching when we round up ducks!

Carl and I ran around the yard a few times and finally rounded them up, much to their dismay, and loaded them into our special duck moving box

I had one last picture taken with each of them.  This one is Ringo…..

This, of course, is Cher (who must weigh at least 10 lbs, OMG!!)…..

And last but not least, Sonny………..

And because we didn’t want to take the truck on a road trip, we fitted the box ever so perfectly into the back of the car!

OHHH, you’re wondering where this road trip is taking them?  Well, I called up my new duck friend, Tim Byrd (yes, really, that’s his name!) who has a beautiful pond way down south.  He had taken three of my drakes in the spring, so I’d done this before.  We met halfway for us both, about 45 minutes south of Lawrence in Garnett. 

We never discussed the type of vehicle he was bringing.  I figured if we had ducks in our car that surely they would fit in whatever he might have.  But, we didn’t know he was bringing his mom and his son in a car seat.  Funny thing is, his mom and I had smashed down a box at our last meeting to fit the first batch of  drakes into her car, also carrying a car seat with child.  So here we were all over again.  She commented, “You sure like to have enough room for your ducks to run around!”  I guess we did overkill on space requirements. 

After a bit of box cut up (no ducks escaped or were injured during this madness), the box fit perfectly in the backseat next to 18 month old, cute, flirty, Tim III. 

So there ends the saga of my difficult decision.  I was sad for maybe 15 minutes, but let me tell you about the great sleep I’ve had the last couple of nights.  ALL worth it!  Plus, I know the ducks are happy in their new home.  I’D be happy in their new home!  Tim said he will send me pictures, so I’ll make sure to show you some smiling ducks when he does. 

Not to worry, I still have some QUIET ducks giving me eggs each morning.

Listen to this short clip, multiply it by 18 hours, and then decide if you could listen to this beautiful creature day after day.  I love this duck, but even I have a loss of sleep limit!  Friday night she started her alarm quacking at 3 in the morning.  So, after lots of thought and deliberation, I HAD to do something. 

To be continued tomorrow night, because MADMEN is starting and I just can’t miss a moment!  Oh, and if you need to kill time till tomorrow night, looks like you might be able to see some Cher perfomances at the bottom of my clip.  Her voice may be more soothing than my Cher!

That is the question of each morning, most often beginning with the HONK of my most annoying duck, CHER.  If things are usual her day starts to rev up about 6.  But if the world doesn’t agree with her, then she may start at 4, like she did this early day.  She may have to be re-homed, but I am putting that off as long as I can because she’s the one that gives me a laugh.  When I went out this morning, this is what she looked like…..

And trust me, at this point she is quacking up a storm!  I’ll be sure to youtube her next so you can all feel my pain.

But the most fun of the whole morning is to find out what the girls have produced.  For awhile they were dropping all over the yard.  Lately, they have found a favorite spot and so I’ve watched them take turns sitting on the same nest. 

My garden is winding down, but this is the total backyard treasure for this morning, not bad! 

My kitchen man says “Come and get it!”  I think a fancy omelet is calling my name!

Oldest daughter, Kendall, and fiance, Evan, have just gotten their first puppy. He is a rottweiler/golden retriever mix and is 3 months old.  They say he is a very mellow fellow……..

Can YOU name this puppy?

Did you know it’s possible to have an egg with NO shell? I didn’t either, but I got one this morning! After spending a few minutes googling (what would we do without google search??), I found out this is perfectly normal for a new layer. And boy did I get my share of funky eggs today….

Most shocking is to pick up something you think will be hard and then have it feel like jelly, kinda creepy!

I punctured it when I picked it up, but the shape is exactly an egg and you can almost see through it.  After googling and visiting with a few “duck” friends, it’s called a membrane only egg.  This can happen when a duck lays its first eggs or possibly that they aren’t getting enough calcium in their diet.  Adding crushed oyster shell to their grain may also help with shell development. 

They can also lay these teeny tiny eggs.  Big difference here when you’re asking for a two egg omelet!  SH asks why I am keeping the oddly gross egg and my reply, “For show and tell, of course!”  It’s a great conversation piece!

More rain and mud this week.  Keeps the kids busy and outta trouble!

Dog sitting took over our lives last week. Theo, my friends chocolate pomeranian, came to visit while his parents moved this week.  This is Theo…..

At this point, 10 pm, Theo was wiped out, zonked, ready for bed.  Did I tell you he’s a puppy?  I forgot what puppies do.  They randomly pee and poop, they chew on everything, they cry, they wake up early in the morning, but they’re so damn cute you get past all that bad stuff!  And by the way, he only let me hold him like this because he was so dead tired.  We did our best to keep him awake at night to ensure a good nights’ sleep. 

Our dog, Kacey, tolerated him.  By late night she would lay near him, but during the day she seemed constantly bothered.   She is a whopping 13 years old, so imagine your 90 year old grandmother hanging out with your 2 year old for a few days!

There really is no keeping him awake at this point!

Theo went home today so things are back to quiet.  I always think in my next life I want to come back as a puppy.  It’s a pretty good world!

Or should I say, “What would 2 men, with 2 BB guns and 2 beers, do with a used pizza box?”

TARGET PRACTICE, of course!  By the way, my favorite pizza in Lawrence, KS…..PIZZA SHUTTLE!

The ducks just looked confused by the whole thing. 

Cher, as much as she drives me crazy is really a big BEAUTY!  If she could just quiet that quack. 

And doesn’t she LOOK like she knows she is gorgeous!!

PS……No ducks were injured or harmed for the sake of this blog