Thursday Morning Open Thread

by 10:29 am. It has 135 Comments.

I posted this on the book of faces this a.m., still confused how it all came to this:

My mornings now consist of a big white duck following me around the yard, squawking to be picked up and snuggled like a puppy. No longer happy to just get scritches. Once I pick her up and dutifully snuggle her, she’s happy to resume being a duck and waddles off when I put her down.

I just did not see this coming. I kept thinking she’d grow out of it.

smh

white duck

Penelope, mud-covered as always

She’s unique, that’s for sure. Luckily, Maddie and Mabel do not judge her for her weird obsessions, nor have they developed her habit of needing human interaction. They are happy for food, fresh pool water, and afternoon lettuce breaks.

Open thread





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Respite Open Thread: Some Serious Respite

by 9:05 pm. It has 24 Comments.

Okay, before I turn everything off for the night, I needed some respite. And then suddenly babies started showing up everywhere. So here they all are.

And my very own daily cuteness. Sometimes I just sit in the backyard and watch everyone play together. Dogs, cats and ducks.

great dane and duck friends

Feel free to add to the momentary relief with cuteness of your own.

Respite open thread.





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Open Thread: Raft of Ducks

by 12:25 pm. It has 19 Comments.

I assume if I do not post the occasional duck photos, there could be trouble. So here you go. Since Maddie and Mabel run from me whenever I have a camera, this is the best group shot I can get:

Ducks are messy. Happiness to ducks is any and all mud. Some ducks can’t hide it as well as others:

The cutest part of this is she runs up to me like this, wanting to be picked up. She has to be satisfied with scritches.

 

Open thread

P.S. Tomorrow we’ll have another WereBear guest post, so get your cat questions ready!





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Respite Open Thread: Egg-cellent News

by 10:42 am. It has 128 Comments.

So Penelope Pearl started laying consistently this week. Her endeavors have been adorable. The eggs have ranged from full-sized to fun-sized. I should have added chicken egg for comparison – but the third egg in is about chicken egg-sized.  Duck eggs are much bigger than even extra-large chicken eggs.

duck eggs, tomatoes on counter

You can also see that Mabel and Maddie have been busy, as well (in the bowl). Their eggs are back to being hard-shelled after a few months of soft-shelled eggs. The culprit? Bixby’s dog food. They do love their dog food, so I switched Scout and the ducks back to the old food, while Bixby has to have a beef food because he’s developed a chicken allergy.

Ten days off of dog food and many days of Ducks On Strike and everything went back to normal. Except they still wouldn’t lay eggs consistently, so I relented and give them about 2 cups of Scout’s food to share in the morning. They are eating more laying mix of seeds/scratch but happy to have their dog food back and laying eggs daily.

They are also EXCELLENT bug hunters and I love watching them run around the yard devouring flies, grasshoppers and grubs.

Respite open thread





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Respite Open Thread: Butterflies and Classic Cars

by 11:35 am. It has 129 Comments.

 

monarch butterfly on lantana

JeffreyW has been wowing me with his butterfly photos over on our blog. so I had to share.

black swallowtail on lantana

 

 

I tracked down this video because of the telephone car…but the entire video is full of fun classic cars.

I’m still completely tuned out and my energy level is much better. I feel like I’ll better be able to fight for the racist-in-chief’s ouster if I’m not completely overwhelmed by the awfulness of it all.

Yesterday, a full-length mirror fell from the wall and shatter, so I’m assuming I’m doomed anyway.

Respite open thread.

ETA: Bonus ducks because I know what you really want.

mud covered ducks

Ducks are messy. They can make mud in a drought. Here are three mud-covered quackers. Of course, Penelope is the only one it really shows on.





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