God Bless Kurt

Have you ever been naming off a list of people and know that you have forgotten someone, but you can't remember who? I do that with my students all the time if I am trying to think of them all, it is inevitable that I will leave one of them off. I call this the "God bless Kurt effect" and if you can't figure out why, well, I'm not sure that we can be friends! :)

The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorites. In the movie, Maria is the governess to seven children. On her first night with the Von Trapp family she is praying for each of the seven children, but she forgets one and she can't remember who it is. So, to end her prayer she says, "Oh, God bless what's his name." Later one when the children rush into her room, scared from the thunderstorm, and she is reminded of who she left off, she screams "God Bless Kurt!"

Well, the the other day I decided to name the two black ducks, the two largest ones, Friedrich and Kurt. I have to admit, I'm not totally sure why, except for the fact that there are two of them (like the only two boys in the Von Trapp family), and that they eat a lot ("It got caught... in Friedrich's teeth."). Friedrich has a little yellow on his stomach, so I can tell them apart that way.

Well the other day, I was talking to my dad and I told him the names that I had given to these two. I asked him if he knew where the names came from and he said, "Well, Friedrich is from the Sound of Music, but I don't remember Kurt." Ironic? And today, when I came home, I greeted the little ones at my back door and counted them, as I often do, to find only 14 and that Kurt was missing! It's ok, he ended up just being asleep in the corner a few feet off, but still, he seems to be living up to his name somehow!

As I sit here in the backyard typing, 9 of the babies are crowded around the end of the hose in a perfect circle, all pecking at the end of the hose at heaven knows what - the water is turned off!

I believe they are three weeks old today...

Two Weeks Old and a Swimming Pool

Have you ever been sleeping and had someone kick you in the face? If you answered yes, I assume you have brothers or sisters, or perhaps you slept on the floor on a church mission trip with a lot of other people. It must be hard to sleep with someone constantly kicking you in the face, in fact, you would probably only catch short winks of sleep here and there.

Well, I'm not sure why, but the babies have been sleeping with their feet stretched out behind them. I'm not sure if it is because they are so hot, or perhaps because they are growing and it is more comfortable that way. However, if it is the first one, they still sleep so close together that when they stretch out, their feet are in someone else's face. So, I'm not sure what it is, but they sure look funny.

Although, I cannot think of a day when they have not made me laugh. The way they run, the way they huddle together, when the come to me in the morning, how they eat watermelon, how they peck at everything... yep, they make my day everyday.

Yesterday marked two weeks that they had been living with and I decided they were ready for a real swimming pool. So, off to Wal-Mart I went to buy a small plastic pool for them. After filling it with cool, fresh water, I had to try and usher the little ones into the pool. It is a step up for them, so it is kind of complicated, and of course if they aren't all doing it, non of them will do it. I threw a couple in, but it was like they barely hit the water before they were back with the crew. How to get them in there? I knew they would like it.

Then, like any good parent, I remembered the best trick in the book... bribery! Watermelon! With just a few bites of watermelon, then the rest held out over the pool, they were soon diving and splashing around in their pool which remained clean and fresh for probably a whole 15 minutes after it was discovered.

They absolutely love it now and are in it most times I go out to check on them. (They are now running around the backyard with free range since they pretty much outgrew the cage.) I have small "steps" for them to get up into it because it is sort of high for them. These "steps" include the litter box/small pool, and so I can hear the thump, thump as each one enters the pool.

This morning when I woke up they were in the pool. I leaned my head out of the window and called to them. I guess they did not see me, so instead they rushed to my back door. My the time I got there, I heard peck peck peck up against the back door. Now, as I sit here, every now and then, I see a little head pop up to the glass, just to say hello. They seem very comfortable and happy here.

I continue to feed them chick starter, and of course the frequent treat of watermelon. I had some spinach that was a tad old for me, so I decided to let them try it. To no surprise, my little oinkers loved it. In fact this morning, since they were pecking at the back door as I was getting ready, I threw two handfuls of spinach out to them. I walked the 20 feet to put the remaining spinach back into the fridge and when I returned, there was not an ounce of green anywhere! They devoured it in mere seconds!

Here are two of them in the box that just two weeks ago 15 of them moved around comfortably in (of course they were lured into the box with watermelon). I expect they will be begin getting their feathers in less than a week. My they grow quickly!