More Baby Duck pics

The ducklings are so cute.  The kids have taken turns sleeping in the room with them.  We had to get a taller tub because Cassie was up at 3am to tell us that they figured out how to escape and then couldn't get back in the box.  They take care of the smaller mallard duckling "Ducky" and will circle around him/her if we try to pick him/her up.  Here are some pictures taken this morning at about 5 days old.

I had to inform T that we have three "Pekin" ducks.  He thought they were "Peking Duck" but that is certainly not the same thing, especially in chinese restaurants!!! 

The new babies...

Pile of Sleeping Ducklings

Here they are - the new babies about two days old.

The mallard (black and yellow one) is "Ducky".  One yellow one is "Nibbles".  Rory's yellow one is "Sunny".  And the third yellow one is nameless - any ideas?  And no I can not tell them apart but I think Jack can...

The ducklings are coming!

So...I know you have been anxiously awaiting more duck news.  I would hate to have you suffer in suspense.  The verdict is in and we will be getting ducks!!  There are somethings you just can't get in the way of.  I used to think it was a boy and his dog but in our house it's a 9 year old boy and his ducks!


Let me begin by cautioning you that it's not altogether easy to get ducks.  Especially if you want ducklings.  Sure you can order fertilized eggs online but then you've got shipping costs and an incubator to purchase.  The trouble with ordering ducklings online is you usually have to buy at least 12 and the 1-day shipping is $35.  We have scoured craigslist and the internet, talked to the owners of Davis Farmland and everyone said "Klems".

Klems  is a farm supply store in Spencer that carries everything from toys to tractors.  They also have chicks and ducklings in the spring.  We were originally told that they come in around Easter.  We took a trek down there (about 45 minutes) the Friday before Easter only to find a handful of chicks and an anticipated due date of May 1st for the ducklings.  Well, May 1st came and the ducklings still hadn't arrived yet.

I have become good friends with Ralph who is in charge of the birds.  He works 8-12 M-F.  He told me that Klems receives their shipments on Thursdays and Fridays each week.  He said the ducklings should be there at 9 a.m. on Thursday (today).  They were flying in from somewhere.  He ordered a few different kinds but couldn't tell me which would be there until they arrived.

Today is Thursday.  I called at 2:30 to confirm that the ducklings had indeed arrived.  I was told that they had, but that half had been sold already (!).   They had about 30 left.  The person on the phone thought they had Pekins and Indian Runners.  No you can not place a hold on the ducks.  She had no idea if they would have any left by Fri afternoon when we were planning on going down there.

So I relayed the information to T who said "What?!  Do I have to go down there?!".  I told him that he didn't have to do anything....  It helped that it was pouring rain and he was unable to do his planned yardwork.  It also helped that Jack was sitting at the table doing homework with a big grin on his face.  At about 5:00 the troops pulled out of the driveway heading for duckland while I went on to work.

Jack really wanted light-weight (bantam) ducks.  He had his hopes set on Khaki Campbells - small ducks that are good egg layers and good mothers.  I told him to pick me up a black Indian Runner.  In the books, these are weird looking ducks, but I met one in person and he was the cutest thing you ever saw (for a duck).
Alas, I just called the home-front and when they arrived at the store they only had pekins and one mallard to pick from...

Adult Pekin Duck

Adult Mallard Female with ducklings

Jack said he had waited long enough!  And picked three Pekins.  These are BIG classic looking ducks (8-12 pounds).  Not quite what I had in mind...  Cassie picked the mallard which is a much smaller duck - 3-4 lbs.  We will not know their gender until they get bigger, but hopefully we didn't get all drakes (that is duck speak for boy ducks).  T said the rule in Massachusetts is that the minimum number of ducklings you can buy is three.  He had his receipt as proof that we had purchased four so if we wanted to go back and buy another one they would sell us one or two more(?!).  Hmmm, I think I said four not six! 

I actually can't wait to go home (at midnight) and meet the new arrivals.  Jack held the phone out so I could hear them quack (well okay, peep).  Are we prepared for duck ownership you ask...well, not exactly.  We are prepared for ducklings - we've got a plastic tub with a heat light, shavings for bedding, a water container that they can't drown in (baby duck soak up water like a sponge) and chick food and vitamins.  They have to stay inside until they are bigger, which is a good thing since we haven't exactly got the outside pen figured out yet.

I did find a free half-finished dog house on craigslist that I am going to modify into a duck house.  Well, to be honest, my Dad is going to modify into a duck house with my assistance.  We are going to set it up on the existing concrete garage pad to prevent predators from burrowing in.  So we just have to finish the house and buy/install the fence.  Piece of cake, right!

Future Duck House

Note the fancy shed in the background.  Isn't that a beauty?  That's about the kind of duck house I could make.  

I promise to have fuzzy duckling pictures for you tomorrow!  We might even need you all to help us name them.

Spring is really here!

Tulip Tree in full bloom

Morning Dove Nest with Eggs in Juniper Bush

More Stinky Dead Things...

Digging for Dead Treasure

So once again the kitchen is filled with a strange bad smell.  It seemed to be coming from the room off the kitchen aka T's workshop or Ed's freakshow or the crap room.

T feared that it has something to do with the 2-seater outhouse that's in there.  Maybe they never pumped it out or the wetness was causing whatever remained to get churned up and stink.  It didn't smell like septic though (and yes I am also very familiar with that smell).  I told him it was Ed decomposing under the house (the previous owner whom he blames for all the quality craftsmanship or lack thereof).

So last night he got the flashlight and went down the basement stairs (which are still treacherous and not fixed) to peer in-between the wall slats and look under the floor in the "crap room".  He called me over to look at the furry creature he could see that appeared (and smelled) to dead by the old crapper. This is a picture of T digging under the house (the foundation consists of a few rocks and some cinder blocks if you are lucky) to try and scoop up the beast.

Not enjoying himself...

And this is T with toilet paper stuffed up his nose to try and deaden the horrible smell while he retrieves the creature.  He wasn't happy about the camera either.  I wanted to video him but the dry heaving and profanities would have been a problem for you tender viewers.

We did successfully remove the offending creature.  It turned out to be a very large possum that apparently crawled under the house to die.  The weird thing is that when we were looking at this house, this particular room had a similar smell and in September T found a dessicated skeleton of another possum...hmmm...

The source of the stench - a possum bigger than my house cat!  He is now buried way out in the back yard and the house has been aired out.

On another note, T found two dead baby bunnies in the well.  Shall we take the toll - one squirrel, countless mice, one snake, two possum, two baby bunnies...let's hope that is all for this year anyway.

Dear Easter Bunny....

There is no doubt about it, the Easter Bunny is in over his furry bunny head this year...  These are notes to him from my children...

This is from my daughter:

"Dear Easter bunny,
What I most want I want a puppy and igseresreas (accessories) for my doll.  I don't want candy.  I want a puppy.  so can you give me a puppy
Love,
Cassandra XOXO"

and this is from my son...

"Easter List"
All I want for Easter is ducks.  I can give you 3 reasons why

1.  I would like to watch and learn about ducks

2.  I'm intred (interested) in birds
3.  Cassie has Rory, Rory has Cassie but me I don't have anyone.

Now if that isn't about enough to break your heart I don't know what will.  Thank goodness my three year old cannot write!!!!

Poisoned by Ivy

ITCHY!

Okay yeah, so all this yard work is really starting to pay off.  I've got my first case of really bad poison ivy.  Of course it is my own fault - I did have short sleeves on and I did suspect that there would be some residual poison ivy...

T and I both had it mildly last year.  He sprayed with round up and the plant is pretty dormant - no leaves yet - but yup alive and well. 

Thankfully I wore gloves!  I've got it bad on both forearms and one elbow and scattered patches elsewhere.  The itching is so bad that it wakes me up at night.  I went online to see if there was a cure.  I came up with a lot of conflicting information - the gist is to dry it out, but whether you do that with calamine or alcohol or saltwater or gasoline is debatable.  I even read something about rubbing a mango on it.  I haven't tried that yet, but I am about that desperate...

So I went to visit my docotor.  I thought maybe she would give me a cortizone shot or prescription strength something to stop the itch.  She told me to use ice.  She also wanted to put me on a steroid called prednisone.  She then cautioned me that some of the side effects might be weight gain and depression.  If I felt puffy I could stop eating salt (!)...

I can't help but being reminded of Jack's "Would you rather" book ...  Would you rather have skis for eyelids or buttocks made out of bologna?  Neither!  But after weighing my options I decided that I would rather be itchy than fat and crazy.  It's been a week now and I am taking my nightly epsom salt baths, washing with Burts Bees Poison Ivy soap, slathering up with hydrocortizone and trying not to scratch...