Extreme Knitting Redhead: Quackers

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Quackers

Mrs Duck has done it again. Last year she managed to hatch 9 little 'uns but this year she surpassed herself and produced 11. Awwwwh!

I knew she'd been sitting on eggs as she's been coming up for feeds at odd times of the day and coming to look for me so I can feed her. This morning she came bustling up from the pond with them following in a neat line, all fluffy and sweet.

I put some mixed corn out for them by the barn. It always amazes me that they instinctively know what to do with it and they all got stuck in straight away.

Mrs Duck allows me to come within about 4 feet of them when they are so tiny but as they grow they become bolder and follow me into the barn and even take grain from my hand.

She makes quiet quacking noises to keep them all together as she needs to keep a watchful eye out for crows and magpies. I hope she manages to keep them all safe until they are old enough to fend for themselves. As I type this I can hear her out on the driveway with them, no doubt familiarising them with their surroundings.

2 comments:

Marina said...: Aww! Too cute!

Do you have a pond, stream, lake or some other body of water near you?; July 2, 2008 at 6:20:00 AM PDT
Susie Hewer said...: Yes, we have a biggish pond in the garden and then a larger one (that we call a plake 'cos it's too big for a pond but too small for a lake!) in one of the fields.

Most of the properties in our area have a pond as many of them were iron ore extraction pits that have filled with water over the years.; July 2, 2008 at 6:53:00 AM PDT

Post a Comment

Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.