Farm Fowl

I love my Golden girl, Sadie - LOVE her! There is nothing like having a Golden, in my opinion, and I have had them forever. My parents' first "baby" was a Golden, Sunshine, that I grew up with and we've had Goldens ever since. Well, my heart dropped the other day when I look out our beautiful front windows the morning after Christmas and see our Golden Sadie standing on our semi-frozen lake. I thought for sure I was about the watch her go through the ice. Now, why is this post entitled "Birds, birds, birds"?? Well, she wasn't just standing on the ice, no ... she was chasing our ducks who were desperately trying to get away from her, but not being too successful with it.

I'd gone to call my mom, but couldn't find my cell or the house cordless, so I'd wasted time looking for those and then finally having to use the house wall phone in the kitchen. I'd tried to find boots (we'd had sooo many pairs out with the snow we just had a week ago) and could not find a single pair. I tossed on the only shoes I had: rubberish, running shoes that slip on and don't come above the ankle. In the rain and the cold, I ran out with a leash. The only reason I caught up to Sadie was because one of the ducks was stuck in some reeds. I got her! ... I had seen at least two motionless, disheveled looking ducks and one was definitely bleeding.

I figured the bleeding one was the most crucial and when I got to the spot where I had found Sadie and left the one Peking (bleeding) duck, it was gone. I was so upset! I looked around and it was limping into the woods. Whether from my cooing of "It's just me. Easy now. It's just me," or just sheer exhaustion, the duck didn't wander too far away before laying down. Did I mention my parents pulled in the driveway right as I'd caught Sadie? Well, they had. I'd tossed Sadie in their car so they could drive her up to the house and after safely getting her in, they came back to see where I was concerned about the ducks, but me too - I was soaking wet and could hardly even see anymore from the rain on my glasses (yea, no time to find contacts and stick them in during this craziness). I handed off the bleeding duck to my mom and went in search of the two I had seen in a bush ... they were gone, wandering up for food, actually.

After changing, getting boots on (from wherever my mom had found them) and calling my aunt, we spent at least on hour repeatedly walking around the lake, in the woods, using a duck call and trying to find duck prints in the little snow left. Our baby black duck that we just got this summer, a favorite for her unique coloring and the fact she tried to stand up and walk like her Indian Runner "sisters", was never spotted (and to this day remains missing). The 3 other Peking (including the one with the broken/deformed wings) and 2 Indian Runners were all seen, fed and fine.

This whole ordeal obviously ruined my day and even a hot bath for a long time didn't remedy my mood. Below are some pictures of my shirt (and me) post wrangling Sadie and carrying the bleeding duck around. And, yes, that sticker on my mirror does indeed say "No Mutts With Nuts"


The farm bird stories aren't done yet, but this one was pretty long ... maybe I'll save the others for later.