Luna Saves the Day

Today was a beautiful, 67f, sunny day. The duck and the ducklings had been cooped up since Wednesday, so I figured I'd let them out and escort them to the creek which ought to keep them amused. HA! Walked up to the house to see if my mom wanted to come outside and sit and there was momma duck escorting the ducklings into the pond! Apparently, the shallowness of the creek (hasn't rained much lately) did not amuse her though the ducklings had found it delightful, so she took matters into her feet and made a foll out of me again.

Fortunately, the "wannabe baby killers" (WBKs) were snoozing under Hal's truck, so I let momma and ducklings have a very good time for 2 hours in the pond. Mom got to watch them play, too. Then something occurred to the WBKs and they headed for the pond. Probably they heard idiot momma quacking loudly. I spent the next 2 hours keeping the 2 contingents separated by throwing the ubiquitous sticks again and again. At one point the WBKs were preening on the bank and idiot momma wanted to take the kids out at that end. As they approached the bank, l'Orange plopped back into the water and made a mad dash into the ducklings, separating one out and trying to whomp him on the head to drown him. Another stick took care of that and the stand-off continued.

Finally, the WBKs (frustrated I assume) swam to the north end looking for choice edibles and momma and kids climbed onto the bank. Now the question was how to get her back to the garage. If I got too close, she'd just dive back in and the whole thing would start over. Hal suggested throwing small sticks between her and the pond but that did not phase her. Then a light dawned as I saw Luna laying in the shade behind me. I called and asked her if she'd like to swim? She ran right up to the pond edge and I threw a stick. She dove right in after it, the momma duck watching. Then Luna, instead of heading back to me, took her stick right up the bank momma was sitting on. That drove momma and ducklings far enough away from the pond edge that I could skirt around between them and the water and chase her back to the garage.

Hal knows not to let her out while I am gone. Those ducklings need to be much bigger. One of these days I will learn momma duck is too fast for me and just not let them out!