My Duck

Tonight I ran across some old pictures of my duck I found and raised in the summer of 2005. I had just recently been laid off from my job as a designer for an office design firm and was spending my time sitting around worrying! My ex and I were still together than and he was also unemployed....oh wait, he was unemployed or under employed the whole time we were together! Okay, that's another story for another day...back to my duck. I was driving through town and saw this little creature run across the busy street. I instantly stop my car and run into the street to save the little creature! Yup, I'm the dumb, idiot girl who goes running into traffic to save animals.... I have done this to many times to count.

I cornered the little duck by a building and scoped him up. He was so tiny he fit in the palm of my hand! I brought him home and he immediately became attached to my ex by jumping right up onto his lap..... He was so little.... of course at this point I was only guessing that he was a boy due to all the attitude he was giving me....I mean what the hell, after all I was the one to save him but NO, he's rather bond with the ex!


Being the good duck parent that I was... I went right out and bought him something to swim in! At first he was to little to swim well but eventually he got the hang of it and went crazy by swimming laps under water...round and round he went splashing all the water outside of the little tub!


I built him a little pen and gave him the cat carrier to live in.....the cats were fine with this as they hate the cat carrier! Notice the little ramp I had to build him to get into his pool!


My neighbors enjoyed seeing me walk my baby duck around the block. I had to walk really slow so he could keep up with me but he would follow right behind me. I liked to take him out after the rain storms to play in puddles! The neighbor kids loved him. He learned to fly off my back porch and I was so proud when he took his first flight even though he ended up on the garage roof and I had to send the ex up to get him down! Eventually he learned to fly and after taking off from the back yard he would fly circles over the house quaking the whole time as if he was saying, "look what I can do!" He had a problem making it back home though and I would always find him down the block walking along the side walk. Once he saw me he would run over to me and then follow me home. This is another reason why the neighbors think I'm weird! He grew really fast and no matter what I did he still favored my ex over me!



Once we thought maybe he was lonely for other ducks and decided to see if we could drop him off at the local pond with the other gazillion ducks there! He wanted nothing to do with it and came running after us. That's a picture of him below....running for his life away from his destiny as a duck!


Eventually he did realize he was a duck. He finally got his adult feathers and flew away. I thought that was it, I'd never see him again. He came back two weeks later and looked like he had been beat to hell by the other ducks! He ate, stayed for the night and then left again. I knew that time was it...he was gone for good! And he was....at least until spring came around again and my neighbor stopped me to tell me she saw a duck on my back porch pecking at my door! She said I know it was your duck and he had a girl duck with him! What a cad! I saw him a couple of times that spring hanging around the block....he comes back every spring like clock work! I think he does it just to say hello, look Mom I'm still okay! He's such a good boy! Spring will soon be here again and I can't wait to see my duck!


Yup, that's him.... he never once would hang out on my lap! He pooped on me a lot though!