O How Long It's Been

Time flies when you're reorganizing your entire life. Well, just about the entire thing. Most of it, anyway. Was the last post really in 2012? Such a long time has passed, especially in duck years. Even more has happened. Where to begin is the most difficult question.

Since the last post, we have both gained and lost friends. The duck routines have changed immensely and many duckyard and duckhouse practices have been revamped. We've faced and conquered rodents and illnesses. Overcome disabilities and feasted on plenty of organic tomatoes.

Sofiya, Bee, Mallaidh, Nora-Luka and Lukas.

One of the last posts is about Lukas falling in love with Sofiya. Shortly after three more girls, Bee (buff/Pekin), Mallaidh (pro. Mollie, blue Swedish/Pekin) and Nora-Luka (blue Swedish/Pekin) joined Lukas and Sofiya and this group became known as "Lukas and the Rafters". Lukas and his harem, as we like to call them, are healthy and flourishing here with Augie March: King of Doodles. They have their own pen as Lukas and Augie butt drake feathers, so to speak. Soon Lukas and his harem will relocate to the west side of the state, to an historic area of Tacoma, to live with my friend C. (who originally adopted him and had him flown to Spokane from Santa Barbara). C. is busy building a predator-impenetrable duck palace and expects to have Lukas and his flock by the end of November.




Since our last post we have lost the following beloved flock members who we miss terribly every day:

Miss Ghalita has spent her second summer with us. Do you remember Ghala, the muscovy from Lafayette? Well, her mother A. now lives in Camas, Washington and Ghala spent summer 2014 with Augie March and the flock while A. took a much needed vacation. Ghala was happy to give mani-pedis during her stay.

The duck house was remodeled inside over the summer with 1/4 inch hardware cloth put up around the edges. When the black plastic backsplash was removed we found a frenzy of mice had created a colony in the walls. How convenient for them! A good two months of the summer were spent flushing out and eradicating these mice. What else could we do?

Started using pine bedding in place of straw and hanging water buckets, avoiding feedings inside the night house, and hanging feed buckets over tubs of water out in the yard. We found ourselves hunting mice all hours of the night and some made their way inside the house where they climbed the curtains to get to the cockatiel food and raided our new roommates storage boxes where they scored a box of 50+ flavored instant Quaker oat packages and feasted for a good while before they were discovered. You can read more about this HERE!

The past two years there's been a lot to take care of around here. The past year and a half has been non-stop work to get the house and property in order, the way it should have been all along. Everything had gotten out of hand around here. I've spent months cleaning up: getting rid of the ex's crap and my own compost piles and materials I just didn't need that were taking up valuable space. And then there was the furniture, left over from the break-up--furniture I actually loathed. 

So, you guessed it! My living situation and relationship situation have completely changed. Augie March and the flock live with me, of course, and we have two nice roommates (after experiencing some not-so-nice roommates for a while). And I have quite the boyfriend. So in love...

A wonderful goose named Freddie came into my life. He was crippled, his feet pointed inwards, tripping his little gosling body every time he walked. I took him home, kept him warm and named him after Freddie Mercury, because...

...he told me to, of course.

Freddie recently started his own blog called Freddie: The Life and Times of a Rock God Gander where he shares not only his past accomplishments as a human rock star, but what it's like to be unexpectedly reincarnated as a goose. The site also shares recipes and other writing.

You never know what Freddie will post next! His life is never boring.

Sao-Ree Dactyl and his mate Jing-Jai managed to hide an egg this past spring and that egg, though nearly trampled to death, hatched into a little chocolate scovy girl named Bernadette. Since Bernadette was alone, I (stupidly, some might say) decided to get her a companion, a fawn and white runner duckling named Henry. Well, all was well for a few days until Jing-Jai picked Henry up and beat him on the crate walls like a rag doll. Luckily I was close by and came to the rescue. There I was, imprinting another duckling. This was not in the plan. Stupid me.

Bernadette's egg was trampled before she was ready to be hatched when Augie's flock undid the latch to Jing-Jai's cage.

Henry nearly died before reaching adulthood from some sort of bacterial infection that got into his intestinal system. We spent hours at the emergency clinic and a couple weeks nursing him back to health, but he is strong and full of chivalry now.

Henry, left, trying to snuggle with Jing-Jai, took a liking to Bernadette right away, but was later rejected by the scovy mom.

More photos from the past year or so:

Long-term couple Iliya and Bella.

Scovy mom Jing-Jai with little ones Bernadette and Henry.

Emily modeled the latest Spring 2013 mod necklace.

Henry ended up being imprinted and raised by me after Jing-Jai rejected him.

Despite Jing-Jai's rejection of Henry, after the ducklings were old enough to play outside, Henry and Bernadette became best friends.

Henry enjoys a nap.

Adolescent Bernadette.

Lukas enjoyed the mud.

Henry looks out the front door.

Freddie prowled his garden all summer long.