"Reba"

 

Small harvest this fall, but enough to make cider!!  

Just wait until the trees get some TLC!

So, here we go....back to the "duck saga"...

The white pekins waddled off into the sunset...I mean, the county park, never to be seen again.  We've got our original female mallard and ONE of the original males.  I guess, just like a teenage romance movie, the love triangle was a problem and the girl had to choose.

Another week of me happily watching my pair build a little hut out of reeds on the water, waddling along the bank of the pond; me grinning ear-to-ear whenever I heard them quack from inside my house.

Then, one peaceful Sunday afternoon, while relaxing on my porch chatting with my sister on the phone, I notice only ONE duck quacking.  While continuing my phone conversation, I trek out to the edge of the pond to take a closer look...only the female is actively swimming, her partner is very still, floating next to the reed hut.  Hmmm...I said to my sister, "I wonder if he's sleeping?  Look it up, Stef - do ducks sleep with their heads down?"  (I'm sure she could tell quite a story about how our conversation unfolded...and how her sister has gone nuts, lol!)

I couldn't bring myself to make "the call" until the next morning...I wake up to my little female's sad-sounding quacks...He had definitely "made his final flight"....She, clearly in mourning.  My heart breaks again!

Rosie to the rescue!  The next day she relays our story to her co-workers at TSC, and one of them, Nicole, offers to give us her "extra" mallard male!  Oh, Happy Day!

A few days later, this handsome guy, named "Launchpad", joins our girl and they seem quite content to be together.  My girl still has no name, by the way.  With all the shananigans, I hesitated to get THAT attached.  Besides, after doing some research I learned that it is not uncommon for farm-raised mallards to get in touch with their "inner wild side" and take off.  OYE!

My pretty Gal!

For a few days, I was on edge, checking on the ducks every time I heard any quacking or flapping...even at 4am...with my flashlight...don't you go judging me, now!  😅

Days turn into weeks and I am finally able to relax about these dawg gone ducks when the unthinkable happens...Launchpad JUST LEFT!  I hear a commotion at 5am one cloudy, drizzly morning, run to the window overlooking the pond and see him flap away!  Either all these guys are losers or my girl is really high maintenance!  Maybe she just has very high standards and none of them measure up?? 😅

At any rate, I didn't see my girl at all, for a couple of hours, so my first thought - a fox got her.  Thank GOD, that was not her fate, as once the sun arose fully, I spot her safely hiding among the tall reeds at the edge of the water.  Phew!

Reba

But, ALONE - AGAIN?  Later that day, Don walks in the house and I announce that Launchpad has not returned, and our girl is "just livin' a sad country song."  He and Rosie laugh (at me or with me, I'm not sure!).

And, so, I dubbed her, "Reba".  I now have JUST - ONE - DUCK- named Reba, whom I love seeing and hearing each day...Hmmm, maybe, I aught to change the name of my blog... 

And to any fox nearby I say, "I got plenty of guns for hire around this place and I'll use them if I have to!  DON'T TOUCH MY DUCK!"  😂😉

Stay tuned for more shananigans at the Westbrook Family Orchard!