Tuesday, October 6, 2009

surprise!


Ping


My sister called me Sunday afternoon.  There had been another tragedy recently.  Something killed Fred.  You may recall that Fred was one of the ducks that my sister got to keep Ping company after his companion was also killed.  The only problem was that Fred took exception to Ping’s attentions to Ethel and became so aggressive that my sister had to separate Ping from the very companions acquired to keep him company.  He did have his chicken though.  She still lives in the duck yard.


Now that Fred has gone to the great beyond, Ping has the run of the whole duck yard and Ethel.  What Ping wants more than anything else though is to be let out with the two little terriers.  What Ping wants to do is to beat up on those two little dogs.  Since he is not allowed out of the duck yard, he spends his time running back and forth along the fence when the dogs are in the back yard and if they get too close to the fence he’ll peck at them.


Ethel started laying eggs last May.  You may also remember my first (and last) eating of a duck egg.  After Ethel’s first attempt at sitting on a couple of duck and chicken eggs (that sneaky chicken was laying her eggs with Ethel’s), which was totally unsuccessful, and coupled with the fact that no one wanted duck eggs to eat, when Ethel started laying eggs again in late summer, my sister would go get them and throw them away.  This upset Ethel so much that she started hiding her eggs.  My sister thought she had stopped laying but in reality, she had made a nest under the ramp to the pool.  She found Ethel sitting on a pile of eggs under the ramp a week or so ago when she was in there mucking around.


Well, Sunday, after it stopped raining, Ethel proudly marched herself out from under the ramp closely followed by 5 little ducklings.   



Go Ethel!



They weren’t really very cooperative about getting their picture taken.


My sister is trying her hardest to convince me that I need some ducks out at our house.  Oh yeah, Jimmy’s dogs would love that.

21 comments:

  1. Go Ethyl - how great is that? Nicely done.

    And you do. Need a duck. Doesn't everyone? ;D

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG! Ellen! I rushed right over before reading your post as soon as I saw the photo of Ping.

    Do you know my LuLu story? Next time you're at Casa Hice, type LuLu in the search window and the series of 8 short posts should pop up. I think it's the best stuff I ever wrote.

    Now I'm back to read about Ping!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ducklings!!!! Is there anything cuter in the wide world? I mean really?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE duck eggs. They beat standard eggs easily. As for Fred, I'm very sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ha! No one understood, her biological clock was ticking and SHE WANTED BABIES! :-D

    Too cute. Like Alix, as soon as I saw Ping in my blogroll, I had to come see.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My first pet was a duck named Sally. My Dad brought home what my Mom thought was a cake. Only the box had holes on top. Out popped Peter & Sally. We ended up with lots and lots of ducks. We gave them to farms and finally everyone, including Sally, went to the local zoo. We would visit them. I to this day cannot imagine why anyone would eat a duck.

    Ping ... looks like Peter and she was really mean.

    Yes, my sister and I goofed with the names but Sally was a really nice Dad and Peter was mean as can be.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's just too cute.. what a proud mama. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congratulations! Your duckette had ducklings! Or is my nomenclature lacking?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Ellen!
    Ducks, how can you not love them?
    Sweet!

    Loved your post: Mother
    Great expression and writing of your truth!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Never ate a duck egg. Oh my but those little ducklings are cute! I have three terriers, I can imagine how excited they'd be to have a duck to torment! Entertaining post!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dogs and ducklings? But, you could train them all.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cute ducks. You need one. I need one. Can you post one over?

    ReplyDelete
  13. hi ellen, i love the drama!! starting with one grumpy duck and continuing with the legacy flock!!! cute fuzzy needy little ducklings. oh my!!! steven

    ReplyDelete
  14. Terrible mishap but it reminded of words to an old song, "Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred, tan me hide when I'm dead. So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde and that's it hanging on the shed"

    Adorable babies.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Such cute little yellow fluffs.... they will grow, you know and ducks can be mean cusses!

    ReplyDelete
  16. When I saw your photo of a duck named Ping, it brought me right back to my childhood and The Story of Ping. I don't know who has it rougher, this Ping here running along the fence chasing the dogs, or the Yangtze River Ping running up the plank, hoping not to be last in line!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow!

    SkippyMom - It is tempting.

    Alix - I'll be sure and read about Lulu. And they are so cute.

    mo.stoneskin - you are welcome to all the duck eggs you want. Oh, you live across the pond.

    Fireblossom - one clever duck.

    JC - girl, you made me laugh.

    Hilary - Ethel is a good mama. chirps to the young ones and then tries to lead people away from the babes.

    Snowbrush - welcome! Technically speaking, she is my sister's duckette but I'll gladly take the credit.

    Joy - thank you. and welcome to my following.

    Elizabeth - If you didn't read about my duck egg encounter, check out the link. It's at the bottom of the post.

    lakeviewer - I could join the circus!

    Madame - if you didn't live so far away, you would be the proud owner of a little duckling.

    steven - I'm telling ya, the drama is never ending with chickens and ducks.

    Gail - my sister draws the line at actual usage of the carcasses. No feather pillows in her future.

    Kathy - I'm telling you, Ping is out to get him a dog.

    Joanne - OK, now I'm going to have to look up the Story of Ping.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I've heard of mother tigers, but I may have to start using the expression mother ducks now!

    Geez! That is one resourceful mama duck. I am sorry about Fred, though.

    What's next? Geese?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Wow this is so cool!!

    Go Ethel!! Indeed. Excellent pics, even with squirrely little ducklings.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh how wonderful. I know if we let every egg hatch you think the world would be full of ducks, but the sad fact is, few survive. BAby ducklings seem to be the hot fudge sundae of the food chain. I have watched mothers with 10 babies, the next day there ate 6 the next 1...

    Some young mothers are inexperienced and march them into places they can't follow her out of too. I have been known on occasion to sneak into the park under cover of night, wearing big rubber boots, to fish them out here when I've seen baby ducklings unable to get out of a fountain (with mother sitting nearby). :-)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Of COURSE you know I LOVE this story. How smart was Ethel to outwit the people? The ducklings are darling. That really cheered me up to read. I have followed this entire story line (no surprise there) and it's a great ending... though I hope you'll report many more.

    ReplyDelete

I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.