[Today’s run: 3.2 miles]
You all know I’m not a big fan of animals in the house, or pets in general. I think they are perfectly OK, but I’m lazy, over committed, under achieving and I just don’t want a lot more big sad eyes looking at me making grunts or groans so that I get to guess if I’m to let them in/out, turn on/off the faucet, stroke, walk, entertain, or just step over yet another live body.
Anyway, I succumbed to a different set of pleadings and we now have 5 rapidly growing baby ducks (are baby ducks called chicks?) which are going to be living in the dog cage on our new hardwood floor in the solarium until they are big enough to go outside. (there is already duck-poop on the walls)
I’m sure it will all turn out fine. Ducks are infinitely better than chickens. It could have been chickens. Or lizards or any number of worse critters. I’ve survived many of them already so I’ll survive this.
I have to be careful not to develop a bad attitude about it, that just pollutes the atmosphere and doesn’t get me anywhere. Maybe I can inch the regime expectations from indoor dogs and cats toward outdoor ducks. That would be a win. It is unlikely. (There was a short window, a few weeks, some years ago, when we were down to just a single cat!)
Ducks are better than chickens. We knew a guy who had a full size pig, in his house. He was a librarian. You never can tell about people.
We did have bees for awhile. All of the cute pets pretty much get whatever they want, and probably a few things they don’t even want. We had chickens and who knows how much money we spent on watermelon and other summer time treats… for the chickens. I don’t think your average chicken has watermelon on his bucket list.
But the bees never were cuddly enough to get actual names. And if some of them died off we didn’t really notice except that honey production would decrease. They were to be managed not petted. Maybe that’s because they were insects, or that they inexplicably sometimes would go kamikaze and stick their little stickers in one’s face I’m not sure.
My Mother’s family were farmers. They grew both flora and fauna for selling and for eating. I don’t think I inherited much of that.
The ducks already have names.
Update! In order to spare the decor of the solarium, I think we will be moving the ducklings to the unused jacusi tub in the master bathroom.
I approve!
One reply on “Ducks”
Duck eggs for breakfast! I think they are good at eating slugs in the garden (if you need that kind of thing).
A couple of weeks ago I was with the neighbors on their deck above the river and someone noticed a duck struggling as it was swimming on the far side. We thought it was a seal but turned out to be an otter. It pulled the duck under and came to our shore and was nibbling while the duck struggled. So I yelled to shoo it off and pull the duck under water and drown it. I was thinking that was a better way to go.