a country moment (Wild Ducks)

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Yesterday I was dinking around in the basement shop. The basement North wall is fully exposed and overlooks the ponds. One pond is maybe 1/3 ac and the other, across the driveway from the first is about the same. The first pond, nearest the house, is open with full exposure to the sun and the other is semi secluded, surrounded by trees and somewhat shaded.

I heard an odd eeek eeek sound. It was kinda loud so I looked out the window and saw a flock of 20 or so wood ducks splash down in the secluded pond. I think they were doing some kind of mating thing, acting playful and goofy, chasing each other around, bathing, and displaying. I watched them for 20minutes or more before they took a walk up our secondary driveway which leads into a tree lined trail.

Today five of them came back. I've been spreading a little cracked corn around and it seems to be attracting them. Maybe a pair will decide to stay the summer. That would be cool. Country life is good!

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), April 18, 2000

Answers

Response to a country moment

My husband went canoeing in the little creek at the back of our place on Saturday, and said he saw a wood duck.. They really are neat. (I didn't go with him, because I figured just in case we fell in, the water is still too cold to be going swimming -- sure enough, he went in!!) I saw a robin the other day, and then a red-winged black bird, and Saturday and Sunday we could hear the spring peepers all around us. You're right, country life is good!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 18, 2000.

Response to a country moment

Oh, I cannot wait to have those country moments !!!!!! I heard an odd noise outside my window last night......it was the neighbor revving up his car in his driveway.. how peaceful, how pastoral... la la la... I keep telling myself.."soon, soon".....tell your ducks "hello' from me !!! Cannot wait to meet their Southern cousins...

-- lesley Chasko (martchas@gateway.net), April 18, 2000.

Response to a country moment

Ahh...Spring has sprung! Redwing blackbirds and robins have been back for a while and we heard the first whip-poor-wills a week ago last Sunday. (Local lore says that means the morel mushrooms will be up in two weeks! The poison ivy has been up for some time : ( ) The goldfinches have turned from grey back to their glorious bright yellow - can barely see them when they roost in the forsythia near their feeders. Canada geese have been flying over for some time now - we have a couple of pair that nest on the nearby lake and come up to the fields to forage for leftover grains. A pair of barn swallows stopped by for a short while - checked out the cat situation, and went on down the road. We have had a couple of pairs that raise at least 2 broods of young a year here, in spite of the cats. Haven't seen Jenny Wren or the bluebirds yet - must get out some new houses. Had a wren INSISTING upon building in our porch light one year - hubby knocked together a wren house in a hurry - she flew in with a beakful of dog hair as he was nailing it to the post! At the other farm, I had a row of rose-of sharon bushes parallel to the clothesline and a wren house on the clothesline post - it was taking your life into your hands to hang laundry in late June - between Jenny Wren scolding from her house full of babies and the hummingbirds zipping past you to the rose of sharon!! We ususally put out the hummingbird feeders (4+ feeders at the height of the season) on my Dad's birthday - May 4th. Last year, it warmed up early and on 4/27, I told him I thought I had heard a hummer-bird. He snorted - said it was much too early. "Bout 5 minutes later, as I was doing dishes, I requested his presence at the sink - there, looking in the window, was Mr. Hummingbird. He perched on the hanger where we usually hang one of the feeders, and waited (not patiently!) while we rapidly mixed up a batch of feed and brought it out to him. This year, the feeders are cleaned and ready to go already!! Haven't made it back to check on the beaver dam yet - the lake is so low, I expect that they've moved down stream. We finally got some rain this past weekend - much needed rain. I dug a post hole 2 /12 feet the other day and the soil (clay soil, mind you!) was crumbly to the bottom. Supposed to get more rain in the next couple of days - of course! I have 3000 strawberry plants in a 'fridge in the shed, waiting to go into the ground - and have invited the whole family plus friends out for a cookout on Easter - ya know it's gotta rain! The redbuds, lilacs and maples are all blossomed out and most of the trees in the woods are showing some sign of green. The peepers have been hollering for quite a while - haven't heard the bull frogs yet. Lots of possum roadkill, not too many racoons or skunks noted on the way to work. I've seen several ring neck cock pheasants dancing in the grass ditches on my early morning drives home from work - hens must be nearby, but haven't seen them. Found a three foot long black snake skin on the old tractor frame last Sunday - it hadn't been used in a couple-three years, so no telling how long that has been there! Or if he's still lurking in the shed! Hubby and Dad have been doing a lot of clean up and mowing outside, I have been busy building a raised bed garden, hauling manure, cardboard and wood chips, washing windows, and cleaning a winters worth of dust-bunnies out of the house. The brat has been bouncing on the trampoline, trying on last years shorts (and bemoaning her white legs!) and bikini shopping. Oh Why oh why do Prom and bikini season come so close together!? And just when all the bedding plants show up at the nurseries! Well, time to go shop for the Easter grub - and back to clean house a bit more .... if I don't get distracted measuring how tall the tomatoes are getting under the grow lights in the basement!!

-- Polly (IL) (tigger@moultie.com), April 19, 2000.

Response to a country moment

I spent all day Friday working in the garden. In my area, the meadowlarks are a sure sign of spring! It was wonderful to be outside in the fresh air and hear meadowlarks singing all around! It makes me really appreciate my choice to live in the country.

-- CC (car-col@usa.net), April 22, 2000.

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