Spring Break at the Farm

I can't believe it is Friday.  The weeks have been flying by, but this one takes the cake.  Maybe it's because we are taking a break from school and Monday is just around the corner...

These gorgeous tulips arrived in a box on my front porch on Saturday.  What a sweet Easter surprise from my brother and sister-in-law!  Tulips are such a gentle flower, don't you think?  

Our baby ducks grew up fast.  They have discovered the joy of living on the pond.  I love watching them out there.  Since taking this picture, we've lost one duck.  She completely disappeared one night without leaving a feather.  We are baffled.  We've lost ducks before to a mean weasel, but they usually leave us enough feathers to stuff a pillow.  Not this one.  She just disappeared!

This week, the ducks learned to share the pond with there crazy people.

The kids took advantage of our first beautiful day and pulled out the kayaks.

 Lots of squealing and splashing.  I soaked up the sun and curled up with a good book on the bank.
 And served snacks.

We didn't go anywhere special this week, so I tried to plan alternating days of rest and fun.  On Monday morning I heard "what are we going to do today" 346 times before 10am.  I wanted to poke my eyeballs out  gently explained that this was my break too and that I plan out the other 48 weeks of their school year.  With a little help from Mimi and Papa, we enjoyed a week of fun, rest, relaxation, and catching up on projects.

 Our newest batch of foster pups have kept us busy and happy.

Look at that polka dot tongue!

This girl sure loves the pups.  She cares for them every single day without complaint and loves playing with them.  She has a gift with animals and I love seeing it blossom.

We did the typical staycation thing:
movies
shopping
reading
sewing
long walks
time with friends
time with grandparents
playing cards
playing outside

Our weather temps were crazy.  Two days after the kids went swimming in the pond, it was sleeting rain.  Variety is the spice of life, right?
What's your favorite thing to do for spring break?  And no, cruising in blue water doesn't count because that would make me jealous. ;)

Bye-bye, Hello Again??

First of all, let me just say that it is totally ridiculous how much these ducks have consumed my blog.  I really and truly thought that this would be my very last post about them.  Mmm... we shall see.

We deemed Saturday to be the day of  liberation for our feathered friends.  It took a village to get 6 full size ducks to the pond.  We first tried to load them into a wheelbarrow/garden cart.  Uh... that didn't work.  Then we decided to carry them down the path, through the woods to the pond.  We wrapped them in towels for protection from scratches and transport poop.
The path we take to the pond from their pen is just under 1/2 mile.  Far enough to give them a new place to live.  Close enough to go visit when we want.
As you can see, it is a beautiful, secluded pond.  The perfect haven for 6 ducks.

It was a hard day for our animal girl.  She was sad, shed a few tears, but very brave.  We took our time to say goodbye.  We slowly backed away, one by one so the birds wouldn't follow us.

Sunday afternoon my dad did a reconnaissance mission to make sure the 6 made it through the night.  After an a-okay from him, we took little miss down to see for herself that Doodle and friends were enjoying their new home.  Although sad, she did great in saying goodbye. 

And then Tuesday night happened.  

Around 7 pm my daughter and I were working in the bonus room when hubby came upstairs and said, "you wanna see something funny?"

He pointed out the window and ...

THERE WERE OUR 6 DUCKS enjoying a feast of homegrown grass and clover.

Ya'll.  Let me say it again.

Ya'll!!!

I couldn't believe it.  Those ducks walked all the way back to our house (they can't fly yet) after being gone 3 days!  How did they find their way home?!  We carried them to the pond.  It's not like they walked there and left some kind of scent on the path.  Seriously!!! What are we going to do now?!  

We had already cleaned out their pen and planted a garden.  (Manly man doesn't waste any time on a new project, you know)  We offered them some water to drink.  But the stinky kiddy pool had been put away.  So with no pen, no pool what do I have now? Yard ducks?  

Little animal girl doing a happy dance in her pajamas on Tuesday night.  "I knew they would come back!" she screamed.

So much for my "perfect temporary pet" theory.  

Feathered Friends

Remember these guys?  

Our little yellow ducklings are gone, replaced by these white/black beauties.  It is a little miracle that we still have the original six, alive and well!  

Doodle still likes to snuggle.

They've been outside for about 3 weeks and love it.

We gave them our preexisting garden/weed bed.  It was already fenced in.

Hubby just added some wire on the top to keep out predators.  Notice the sticks growing out of the ground in front of the fence?  Those used to be my rose bushes.  Who knew they were so tasty?!  They have their own spa/pool, too.

Life is tough for these guys.

Waddle on Over

Check this out!  It is unbelievable how much they've grown in just 2 weeks!

Their downy white feathers are starting to show underneath.
Bath time is their favorite time of the day.  We put a kiddy pool in the yard for their bathing pleasure.  While they are adorable, they are beginning to stink up the garage.  I bought some air fresheners, but they aren't helping much.  We have a pen (formerly a weed garden, where tomatoes used to try to survive).  The ducks will be moved to it in about a week.
This is Doodle. He's the one that survived the near-death-lovin'.  He is the cuddler of the group.  He also follows my daughter around like she's the mamma.  It is precious.  He is also pigeon toed.  It's hilarious!

We're having a pig pickn this afternoon.  If you're not from the south, I'll post pictures later for educational purposes.   =)

Just Ducky:: A Colloquium

I had no idea so many questions would arise from our Easter purchase!  Thanks for the comments and questions.  Now to answer some of them.

1. NC law requires that ducks and chicks be purchased in quantities no less than 6 to prevent the general public from purchasing only 1 or 2 for Easter presents.  A woman in her 60's recently told me that when she was a child, it was popular to receive baby chicks dyed pink, blue or green for Easter.  I am sure PETA had a fit over that!

2. Some of you asked where we are keeping them.  Well, first let me remind you that I am married to a builder who loves to whip out a good project.  So we went from a galvanized tin tub to this:

This, my friends, is the mac-daddy duck pen.  It is currently in our garage, away from predators, and out of my house.  It measures approx. 2'x6'.  I call it the duck run.  He is talking about creating a door at one end that will open to a kiddy pool.  I'm thinking that I really like parking my car in the garage.  Also, please note in the picture above my contribution:  hand sanitizer.  Two bottles.

Oh my!  Did one of them lay a blue egg?!

3. As far as maintenance, they are very easy.  We have a water dispenser (red and white thingy), a bowl of food (purchased at the local farm store), heat lamp, and fresh shavings.  They love to drink and play in the water.  Yesterday, we filled a large tin tub and let them play in the water and test out their swimming skills.
4. Now to answer the question asked by several friends, "what will you do with them?"

That is the best part.  They are a temporary pet!  After 8 weeks, they are ready to be released into the wild.  We have a pond, so they will have a nice home.  But our care-taking days will be over.  It's kind of like foster care.  The only thing we have to be careful of is our dog.  Once they are in the water, they will be safe.  Our retriever is afraid of water.  Go figure.

We are amazed by this little creation of God.  Since last Friday, they have almost doubled in size.  We have one runt that hates to be held.  Doodle got past his near death experience and now loves to be cuddled.  I guess he figured, if you can't beat em, join em!