Take a waddle on the wild side.

Lots of fun wildlife to be found here!

Linus


Honk Shoo!


Sage


Honk Who?



Sly-vester (picture by Carolyn)


Thomas (picture by Carolyn)


Pandora





No letters! I didn't name them, people - they come with their own ID. And, this is not the way we tether our animals ordinarily. This was a special circumstance.

And, speaking of wildlife ...



... Kathy and Jill (Internet names Rudy and Judy) came to visit Annie and Carolyn, and we were kindly invited to join them for a cookout. It was unavoidable. Guests would start pulling up next to the Duck, beans and buns would walk past laughing, and they all knew they didn't want to deal with our sad faces and big eyes staring out toward the campfire.

Jill and Kathy lived and traveled the US and Canada in a small truck camper for six months; they were hardcore! Great stories. We could tell by the glimmer in their eyes that they would do it again.

It is so peaceful here that we hate to go back to the house. I sleep very well in a background of peepers and rain on the roof, and birds are better than beeps for waking up to.

A Severe Prudery.

Some friends joined us for merriment in the Big Duck last night, and we all enjoyed a high-spirited round of furtling. I'm not sure it's a real word, but it's real enough. I'm not even sure the activity is genuinely Victorian; it's a pretty fair impersonation, from what I know of the Victorians first-HAND. However, if you happen to suffer from A Severe Prudery, I cannot recommend it.


A friend is making a huge transition in her life, and we got to catch up with her status over dinner out and Girl Scout cookies here at the BD. She's not packing her life into a bus, but it's entirely as dramatic. I can't include a picture, or a name, address and phone number, because she is Internet-shy. So, I'll give you the geographic coordinates of her house and workplace. I can probably say she's getting married, and I can probably say where (in a barn, between milkings), but I'm walking a thin line. The rest is right out. Plus, I indirectly introduced her betrothed to furtling, so I may owe her a ginger ale, or an untainted fiancé. But, let the record reflect that she brought up the whole sordid affair herself, so the rest of us are practically blameless.

Today we are exercising the generator under load for the first time since its repair. We have chosen as our load the air conditioning, because it may reach 87° today. We were getting no AC for the A/C, but Annie troubleshot it and we're up and running. The generator has its own breakers, and they needed to be reset. Separately, I turned the engine over and automatically retracted the steps that Annie worked so hard to extend. Come on over, and bring your ladder.

Lily and Carrot are about as happy as two clams who missed the chowder. It's a good life. One gets the bed, the other the dashboard, rotate, repeat. What were we thinking in 2000 (Bob), 2001 (Penny, Ellen, Max), and 2002 (Lola)?? Well, our SPCA was not no-kill in those days, and each time we chose the cat who had been there longest. We can console ourselves that it was the right decision then, with 1700 square feet for them all to wander in.

We're looking forward to seeing other friends tonight, whose tolerance for fame and worldwide exposure here on the blog will be delicately determined.

Census-takers?

Can we come in? We're a sedate family. We'll probably fall asleep soon.

Big calm people: Kathleen and Kathy
Small calm people: Mason, Violet and Alex

You remember Violet from an earlier visit to the Duckette. I haven't seen her for a while, but she did remind me that my house is messy. Okay kid, quiet down and drive.


Naturally, Alex can drive, too.

Mason won't consider driving until he's confident the thing is roadworthy.

The kids helped me visualize things. What do you mean, 24 cubic feet? That makes no sense. What I'm asking is, how many six-year-olds will it hold?

Q: How many triplets will fit in this storage hatch?
A: All of them.

It was sad to see kids so unfamiliar with being photographed.

These guys play hard and work hard. I can see the leak from here, Annie. Where's your duct tape?


Eventually, it was time to go. Y'all come back!

Release the Hounds!

I had visitors yesterday!  Bruno (referred to hereafter as "Annie K") and Violet came to see me the cats and to look around, as Violet says.  Violet is five, and can say things like I want to look around your house without getting the stink-eye.  She did suggest I clean up the bedroom, but she wasn't judgmental about it.

I was actually pretty honored that she chose this stop on her rounds;  since Annie K was facilitating an afternoon of fun.  She tried to pet Lily, who swatted her hand without preamble.  Lily CrankyPants.

Later, Violet said to the cat I'm calling you GRAYFACE.  And just like that, Lily was put in her place.

Violet also wanted to examine the Duck.  She asked pertinent questions that cut right to the heart of what matters.  How do you flush the toilet?  [I demonstrated what passes for a "flush" in a composting toilet.]  Where is the food?  [I showed her the refrigerator.]  Where is your music player?   [Stereo on.]  She also wanted to take a cat out, so I brought Bob along.


Annie K asked "What's next?" and Violet considered out loud.  What do I love?  What do I love?  which seemed like the sort of question we ought to be asking ourselves all the time.