The weather simply won’t make up its mind. We’ve been enjoying a mild moment over the holidays. Morning fogs to bright sunny skies. And come Wednesday a fall in temperature and we are back to being cold, but with sun.
I am very curious what this winter will bring. Even if it has moments of freezing cold, I have hope. The days are getting longer already, which means we are that much closer to spring. My favourite season.
Life here in our little corner of the world is dictated to by the sunrise and sunset. Like all birds, ducks become very active at dawn. I can barely see the change in light as I write this, but I can hear George calling out from his bedroom that ‘surely, it must be time to get up and go out!’ (Not quite yet sweety.) The ducks have to wait until I can just see outside my window. Then I will make the daily trip down to release the little beasts from their enclosure.
On a rainy or very cold morning the ducks will often make their way into the courtyard, it’s slightly warmer than the duck enclosure. After all it’s ‘outside’, exposed to ‘the weather’, when there is the option of warmer and drier environs to be had in the courtyard and its outbuildings.
But, in the courtyard there are no ponds, only a shallow puddle to bathe in, if it’s been raining. And it is cobbled. This means little dirt to forage amongst for bugs or worms. On a really wet day there may be some damp moss to play in. So, ultimately, there is not much to do there. And ducks get bored easily. Consequently, I get lots of requests to come out and play.
On what we would call Maggie days, days where she would get fed up with the weather, or being a duck, she normally came upstairs for a visit. She would climb the stairs herself, followed by her George. But more likely (as it was quite a hard climb for a little ageing duck) she would stand at the bottom and call up for me to come and get her.
Once inside, it was a quick run around to all her favourite spots. A bath in the dog water bowl. More running around, and then a settle down on, or under, the sofa for a well deserved snooze. Being inside was obviously much more energetic than outside.
Our other ducks can’t wait to get outside, no matter the weather. Although they don’t like frozen grounds, as that makes digging for worms impossible. Sometimes they are so excited they even fly out of the enclosure. It’s a wonderful sight to see.
Duck’s aren’t the best flyers, and are really bad landers. The call ducks often come down and then somersault, tumbling end over end on landing. Beepbeep had perfected the ability to hover and drop, rather like a helicopter, when she could still see a little. She is blind now and doesn’t fly, but we think she had developed this technique to be certain she didn’t fly into something (which she had done in the past).
And now dawn’s light has definitely arrived. It’s time to bring my musings to a close, shift a purring Noisette from off my lap, and go see what the weather will dictate today.
And…
If you would like to read more : Duck Tales
And should you be on the lookout for duck and other animal inspired gifts – you’ll find quite a few in our shop.
