janis

Still on the road!

I thought I'd share a few more pictures from my trip.  The last few days were spent in South Dakota and Colorado and we saw a lot of wildlife.  This first picture was taken at Lake Benton in western Minnesota.  It was just covered with pelicans.  It was really fun to watch them take off from the water and then land with their feet outstretched.  It reminded me a lot of my ducks (I miss them!).

At Custer State Park in SD (in the Black Hills area) we saw more animals than we could count.  Since I'm working from dial-up tonight, I'm limiting my pictures.  For now this very fat prairie dog will have to do.  He just makes me laugh!

This last picture is of a bison, aka buffalo, also in Custer State Park.  We saw a couple of herds of them, one of which ran right across the road in front of our car.  We stopped to take pictures, but now that I have a chance to look at them, I notice that most of them are of their back ends!  Not attractive for me and not attractive for bison!  But here's one that I got a profile of.  They're pretty big fellows and I was glad I wasn't in his path.

That's it for now.  I'll add more as I'm able.

Scenes from the road

Here are a few images from the trip.  This first picture is a hibiscus blossom we saw at the home of Cheri's friend, Sue, in Santa Fe.  Sue has a gorgeous home, just exactly what you'd expect to see in Santa Fe.  And yes, that's her hand next to the flower to give you an idea of the size.  We should have measured it, but I think you can tell that it is absolutely huge!  And Texas thinks they have the exclusive on large things.  I think not!

This is how we spent part of our morning in Kansas last week.  AAA is a wonderful thing!  It was so nice to just empty the (very full) trunk and let someone else change the tire for us.  The second picture shows what had lodged into the tire.  Fortunately, we were in a populated area when it happened and we weren't going very fast.  Also, the tire didn't actually go flat until it was pulled out.  I think you can see, however, that we couldn't drive very far with that thing jammed into the tire. It was the end of a bungee and the hard rubber was flapping furiously against the wheel well when we tried to drive.

Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with all the minute details of this trip, i.e. all the wonderful visits I've had with family and friends along the way, but I do want to share one last picture in this entry.  We saw this as we approached a small town in northwestern Iowa.  It made my day!  I think you can see why.  :) 

On the road

I'm now on Day 7 of a 2-week road trip and yes, I'm still alive and kicking.  A few things have not gone quite as planned (a flat tire, delays due to traffic accidents, issues with my laptop, driving through areas my cell phone didn't work...a LOT), but overall this has been a great experience.  We're driving about 5-6 hours per day which leaves us enough time to visit friends and family on the way.  We've already been to two scrapbook stores and arrived at our actual destination (Neenah, Wisconsin) yesterday afternoon (for a scrapbook weekend).  We had our first workshop last night and today we'll have several more.  I'd love to be able to show images of our projects, but since this is the first of three retreats for this company this fall, we are sworn to secrecy until the retreat series is over.  :)   Our time will be packed every minute but I'll try to get back on to give more updates now that my laptop is cooperating.  I understand my critters are missing me...Todd tells me that poor Jake is moping & doing very little except for laying underneath my desk and the ducks have been rambunctious.

I'm off to breakfast and workshops...

Testing their wings

Rouens "don't fly".  They're supposed to be too heavy to be able to fly more than just a couple of feet off the ground.  Ours, however, have been flying since they were very young, only taking flight breaks during their molt.  They all have their flight feathers back now and have been practicing their flying techniques when they come into the house from the outdoor pen each night.  A couple of nights ago, Louie and Huey caught a breeze and went beyond their intended target (the patio).  This caught them both by surprise and they chattered amongst themselves for quite awhile about it.

Then this morning, Todd was taking them to the outdoor pen at about 6:00.  All three decided to fly there.  Huey was first and not only flew in the right direction, but went through the door, straight to the pond and made a perfect water landing.  Louie and Dewey, on the other hand, went right over the 6-foot fence and into the neighbor's yard.  sigh.   Poor Todd.  He went over to the neighbor's house, rang the bell, woke them up, and asked permission to retrieve our ducks from their yard.  Permission given, he then had to round up two freaked-out ducks and get them back in our yard.  With Dewey, he simply put her over the fence and let her flap down to the ground.  But Louie got carried all the way back home and was not happy about it at all.  We're hoping this experience has discouraged any more such excursions, but I fear it may have given them wanderlust instead.  Time will tell. 

Tomorrow I'm heading out on a 2-week road trip with a friend.  Our ultimate destination is Wisconsin where we will be attending the Club Scrap retreat along with about 100 other paper craft fanatics.  We're going to be visiting a lot of friends and family on the way to and from, plus do some sightseeing as well.  Then, after leaving Cheri at her home, I'll be headed to Lake Havasu City, AZ to teach several classes at Scrapbooks and More.

I have to admit, right now I'm pretty glad we'll be motoring our way there instead of flying.  The idea of getting on a plane with various scrapbook supplies (scissors, glue, craft knives, etc), along with the beefed up security measures, doesn't appeal to me.  Granted, I totally understand why it's done....I'm just glad I don't have to deal with it right now.  Cheri's VW Bug will be just fine, thank you. 

And it will definitely be a working trip.  I will have a laptop with me and will be checking in throughout the trip, trying to stay on top of email, etc.  I'm hoping to be able to update this blog on the road too, so keep checking this space to see where I'm at and what I'm doing. 

It's not easy being green

I'm in a big rush trying to get things ready for a major trip (more on that tomorrow) but had to stop to take a few quick pictures.  This first picture (at left) is Louie last April while he had his girly colors.  You can see that his head was no longer green and his belly had turned a mottled brown & black (like the girls) instead of being all grey.  (I just love that orange foot!)  His most recent molt started in June when he lost all of his flight feathers and was looking pretty raggedy.  (You can see pictures of this in the June archive.)  Well, now he has all of his flight feathers back and his belly is turning a silvery grey again.  And take a look at his head!  This picture was taken today about 4:00 in the afternoon.  Poor guy.  He looks like an awkward teenage boy, doesn't he?  I wonder if he's embarrased.  Okay, I know, he probably doesn't even realize he looks any different.  I guess I'll have to hold him in front of a mirror tonight to take a good look at himself.   

And now here's Huey, the current object of Louie's affections.  I'll admit, he has good taste.  She's a looker, alright.  And such a sweetie, well, most of the time.  Dewey actually wins the prize for femininity.  I guess Louie likes his women a little more feisty right now.  She sure makes him chase her!   They go round and round in circles.  It actually reminds me of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.  There's a part in there where a pirate is chasing a maiden and the not-so-animatronic people are secured to a big disc that goes around in a circle, over and over again.  I always thought that was about the most unrealistic, cheesy part of the ride and couldn't figure out why a class act like Disney would even have it in there.  Every time I go there, I watch for it and hope they've switched it out with a better version.  I know, I'm strange.  But back to the ducks.  This is what Louie and Huey look like when Louie's chasing her.  Round and round in circles they go, sometimes with Dewey trying to intervene and play peacemaker.

And I couldn't post ducky pictures without sharing this one of Louie.  I caught him in mid blink!  Yep, that's his eyelid, closing from the bottom up. (You can click on it for a larger view.) Pretty wild, isn't it?  The first time we saw our ducks blink, it kinda freaked us out.  We hadn't known that they blink opposite of us.  Just one of the many things we learned when we became duck parents.

By the way, Dewey was hiding when I took pictures this afternoon, so we'll have to wait for another day for Dewey updates.

The molt is over

Our three ducks are all fully feathered again and have been testing their wings with regularity.  Normally, when they come in from the pen for the evening, they run to the door.  About 3 or 4 days ago, they started flying part way.  Last night Huey over-estimated the distance and had to make a last-minute course correction as she dive bombed into the patio.  It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen!  But I was proud of her:  she made a perfect landing right at the door.

Louie has been slowly turning back to his boy colors.  His head is becoming more green every day (looks pretty blotchy right now), but still no sign of the white ring around his neck.  I guess his genes decided that he doesn't get one.  (I'm disappointed, but I love him anyway.)  His hormones, however, have returned with rapid fire.  He is one horny duck!  Last fall, he saved his loving for Dewey and pretty much forgot that Huey was a girl too. Poor Dewey was pretty worn out and had a lot of broken and frayed tail feathers by the end of the season.  This year, however, it appears that Huey has his eye.  He ignores Dewey completely and literally chases Huey all over their pen, the pond, the bathtub, and (truth be told) our entire house!  Huey tries to position herself with Dewey between her & Louie so that she doesn't have to deal with him. Or, she'll come running to Todd or me for safety.  It's pretty difficult to work at the computer with a duck in my lap.  Same for Todd.  Last night he had two ducks (Louie & Dewey) to my one.  These are not small animals!  (We're such softies.)