H-A-W-K

About this time last year we had a visit from a very big Hawk, named Dave, who tried to carry off one of our ducks and  nearly succeeded.  He hung around until about the beginning of winter and we haven't seen him since...

Now there is a new hawk in town, two actually.  They showed up when the husband and I were on duck duty.  Daisy sounded a loud quacking alarm and all the ducks hid under a bush (we had trouble finding them).  We safely locked everyone into the put under the bird netting (an essential item if you have poultry or water fowl).

The next morning the little bugger was sitting on top of the duck pen, waiting for his breakfast.


He is quite fearless (or should I say young and doesn't know better), and lets you get pretty close.  He has been hanging about the duck pen, so we got some reinforcement...



Yes, he is plastic, but seems to be doing the trick so far...haven't seen the hawk since we put him up.  Of course that could be coincidental...

Bed for Rent

I don't know if you experience this at your houses, but my middle child is constantly playing musical beds.  I believe the reason she prefers not to sleep in her own bed is she doesn't want to make it in the morning.

It seems the boys are onto her.  Her older brother will not let her sleep in the bed unless she promises to make it in the morning.  She has reneged on this a few times and so he has refused to reconsider her access.  Now he says she will have to pay him.  So she stuffs herself into the twin lower bunk with her younger brother.  However, her younger brother is also onto her and has also decided to charge her rent.  Daddy suggested six cents per night, but he decided he wants six DOLLARS.

Nighttime is a bit interesting as she tries to negotiate the rental fees.  Just the other day I found this notice...the price is suspiciously the same as the rent...  I like that it has its own web address.

Of course when I broke my toe and asked her to help me out she said "Hey!  I should be getting paid for this!".  Really?  I asked her if she would like to see her bill of what she owed me and she agreed to work for free!

Why she doesn't just make her own bed in the morning is beyond me...or at least sleep on top of the covers or employ any of the tricks we learned as kids to make a less messy bed...  I found this one this morning, so I don't think the negotiations are over yet...

...and I have no idea what membership entails, so I asked Jack and the plot thickens a bit.  He said he made the membership cards.  Her rate is 5 cents a night plus making the bed in the morning or 10 cents a night.  The more she rents she earns points which can be redeemed for something, but he isn't sure what yet.

Interesting...The frightening part is that they have this whole system between themselves and were it not for the notes, I may not even know what was going on.  Right now it's just bed rentals, but as they get older it could be a lot worse.  I hope they keep putting things in writing and leaving them around!  Or, I can do what most parents this day and age do, just log-into their social media accounts and monitor them.

Meet Henry...

We are down to one unhatched egg and one duckling.  Isn't he adorable?!  Daisy has no idea that he is not biologically hers.  I say the duck that spent four weeks sitting on the egg, definitely deserves to be the Mother!

We won't know for awhile the gender, until it starts quacking.  Girls  have a loud duck quack and drakes a low pitched mumble.  Very distinctive, but right now it just does baby peeps.

We are hoping that we don't have an only duckling...  The other egg is getting darker, showing signs of black feathers under the egg shell.  If we do have another duckling hatch, then the name might change...  East Indie Anna & Jones baby  is named Henry, after Indiana Jones son.  If there end up being two of them I hear we may have instead Chocolate and Rain...  

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Duck Eggs...

This summer my son has decided to try and let some of his duck eggs hatch.  The trouble with this plan is that some of the domesticated ducks will not sit on their nests.  Ducky, our mallard, will sit on her nest, but complains loudly and gets bored and leaves to go play with the other ducks.  Anna, our East Indie bantam, makes nests and lays eggs around the yard, will sit for a few minutes and then abandons the whole project.  Snowball, our Pekin, just doesn't care about any of it.  Thankfully, there is Daisy.  She is some kind of Pekin hybrid who seems to still have an intact mothering instinct.

We noticed Daisy making nests in the duck house and also in the hay in the pen.  We need the nest to be protected within the pen.  Ducks lay one egg a day and once they get enough eggs they will start sitting.  We didn't want to hatch a bunch of the big ducks for space reasons, so we smuggled Anna's eggs into the nest when Daisy wasn't paying attention.

Once there was one Daisy egg and seven Anna eggs in there, she happily sat on them.


Ducks eggs take about 28 days to hatch (which is 7 days longer than chicken eggs).  We have all been patiently waiting, but then we noticed eggs disappearing.  The first egg that was missing was Daisy's big egg.  She was still sitting on the 7 of Anna's though.  After another few days we were missing two of the little eggs...  Finally we were down to four.  We had no idea what was happening to the eggs..

Then yesterday, the husband noticed a little black puff running about the pen and lo and behold we had a duckling!



So far the other three eggs have not hatched.  Today we noticed a bit of a stink.  The boys said it smelled like tuna fish.  Then we saw Daisy pick up the stinky egg and chuck it out of the pen!  Unfortunately, it was a almost formed duckling that just did not survive.  The egg disappearing mystery solved.  Somehow ducks must know when the eggs are viable and get rid of those that are not.  Jack said that he did find a few eggs outside the nest that were squishy...

We are down to to two eggs...waiting to see what happens with those...they are hoping the other two hatch so then the boys can name them Mo, Larry and Curly.  Mom is hoping they are all female!!!

Spring, Finally!

It looks like it might finally be safe to think that spring has arrived...the Saucer Magnolia tree is in full bloom as is the forsythia, daffodils, and hyacinths. The tulips are just starting to open as well.

Close up of Blossoms

Saucer Magnolia Tree in Full Bloom

Daffodills

Full bloom!  Last year a frost killed all the blossoms before they opened.  This year is quite spectacular.

Up a Tree

This morning we noticed a strange nest high up in the tree by the driveway.
Upon closer examination it seemed to be a very large raccoon!

According to MassWildlife, "Raccoons are mostly crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal (active at night), however they may be active during the day if food is available. Daytime activity does not mean that the raccoon is diseased." MassWildlife Racoons

I wonder what "food" it might be looking for...according to Yahoo and Wikipedia the answer to "Will a raccoon eat a duck" is a resounding "YES!"...

Here is an article from a Walla Walla Park blaming a raccoon for eating chickens, ducks and peacocks!

According to Mass Audubon, Raccoons are omnivores, eating both plant and animal matter, and opportunistic in seeking their food. During spring and early summer, insects, aquatic animals, mice and other small mammals, and bird and turtle eggs typically make up a large part of their diet. In the late summer, fall and winter, raccoons tend to consume more plant material such as seeds, grains, and wild fruits. Actually, there is very little a raccoon will not eat. Consequently, raccoons inhabiting suburban and urban areas often become night raiders of garbage cans and backyard gardens.

The ducks complained loudly, but we kept them inside their pen!

Phase II - Internet Connectivity...Check!

Last Night we moved the Cable Internet and Phone line from the dining room into the remodeled office.

Ready to fish the Internet line into the new wall...

Of course, nothing is without its challenges...  The fishing line broke off and created a bit of a dilemma as to how to get the cable into the box...  Thankfully the hallway is still unfinished and we were able to remove a piece of wallboard to fish the wire that way... Someone put the wallboard on extra snug (and then added a door) so there was a bit of cussing...

The husband stuffing himself behind the now-removed wallboard to fish wire through to box on other side...

Line in, desk moved, Internet and Phone re-connected. Amazingly enough, everything is WORKING!!

The wall before...

The wall after...more mess...

I heard a rumor that the hallway might be next...note to self, finish wiring before putting up the wallboard!