janis

Tragedy

Last night Todd was a little late getting home from work so instead of bringing the ducks in right away, we ate dinner first.  Around 9:00, I opened a back window to let some cool air in (it was hot yesterday but it's been cooling off at night) and heard the ducks calling to us from their pen.  They do that when they think we're late with their treats or bringing them inside for the night.  (This first picture is Huey at far left, then Louie, and Dewey stretching for some grass at the right.)

A few minutes later, Jake started getting antsy.  He obviously wanted to go out back so Todd decided to let Jake out and bring in the ducks.  Jake bolted out the door and chased something across the yard toward the back fence.  Since we have baby bunnies back there now (yes, bunnies...it wasn't enough to have squirrels, quail, frogs, turtle, ducks, fish, and a dog), that wasn't too unusual. 

But then Todd went into the duck pen.  There was a huge hole in the side of the pen and feathers and body parts everywhere.  It was a horrible sight.  He came inside to tell me that Louie was dead and we went back out there together.  Jake was still running back and forth across the back fence.  Once inside the pen Todd showed me confirmation:  one of Louie's wings and a foot.  Then we started to panic about the girls, and quickly discovered more feathers and parts.  Just when we thought we'd lost them all, I noticed Dewey floating on the pond (it was very dark back there).  She didn't even have a scratch on her but was very scared. (This picture is Huey in the front, Louie in the back, and Dewey at the right.)

We're positive it was coyotes, probably two of them.  We think they had just broken into the pen right before Todd & Jake went outside (and that's why Jake wanted out so badly).  Based on the amount of remains, our guess is that one had Louie and the other had Huey and they hadn't had time to get to Dewey yet.  When we brought her in, she was totally soaked, and flapped her wings to get the water out for a very long time.  I think that Louie & Huey were probably standing on the nesting boxes calling for us and Dewey was in the water when it happened.  This is a typical scenario for evening with them.  Louie & Huey would beller for us, but demure little Dewey would patiently wait on the pond.  In fact, we would often have trouble convincing her that it was time to come in.  Anyway, we think that when they attacked, Dewey ducked down under the surface of the water for protection.  We knew there were coyotes in the area; we've heard them howl at night and Jake has had a few tussles with them on his walks (he showed them who was boss!), but we never thought they could jump a 6' block fence and get into our backyard.

Dewey was scared and jittery for a very long time but was content to stay on our laps until we went to bed.  And for the first time ever, she didn't call for the others while separated.  She knew they were gone.  (Here's Dewey in the front and Huey at the back...don't you wonder what they were talking about?  This picture makes me think of two teenage girls sharing secrets and talking about boys.)

This morning we saw everything in the morning light and cleaned up the mess.  We found coyote tracks going from the pen to the back fence, along with some blood drops.  Dewey is spending the day inside with me and will continue to do so until we can get our pen fixed and reinforced.  She's been a good little girl...she spent the first few hours sitting in Todd's desk chair watching me work, then got bored and took a nap.  Later on she got up and decided she wanted a bath.  She wandered over to the tub and has been floating for several hours now. 

I hadn't taken many pictures of the gang during the last month, but shot a whole bunch last Saturday.  I've included some of them in this post.  I was actually hoping to get some individual shots for the blog, but they didn't cooperate.  They would go everywhere together, even floating on the pond as a group.  We will miss Louie and Huey terribly.  They had such great personalities and were such gentle spirits.  Louie gave great hugs and Huey had her little sassy attitude.  Dewey's very special to us too and we're so grateful to have her still with us.  But we know she's going to be lonely.  Ducks are very social creatures and do not like being alone.  We do have some eggs from both Huey & Dewey and we're considering incubating them.  We'll have to see though.  We still have time to decide.

So it's been a sad day around here.  It's hard to concentrate on work and every time I pass a window overlooking the backyard, I expect to see them out there or hear them splashing in their pond. 

Phone issues

A quick heads up to those who might be trying to reach us by phone and encountering "Sylvia"... 

Our voice messaging service is somehow messed up.  You might get "Sylvia" or you might get us.  Either way, we are currently unable to retrieve our messages, so if you can't get through to us, please send me an email!

Thanks!

A ducky update

It ocurred to me today that I haven't given an update on the ducks lately.  For awhile there, I was waiting to show a picture of Louie until after his molt was over.  I wanted everyone to see his gorgeous green head.  Well, that didn't exactly work out the way I expected it to.  It's like he stopped in mid-molt.  He has some green patches on his face now, but it's nothing near the full thick set of green feathers he had last fall.  I don't know if it's because of the heat here or what, but I guess we'll just have to love him only partially green this year.  He's still very handsome to us. 

When I returned from Memory Trends, Todd told me that he thought Huey might be sick.  Her normally very loud and insistant QUACK was coming out more like a -squeak-.  When I heard her for myself I thought it sounded like she'd inhaled helium!  It was a very high-pitched squeak.  But after a few days, she seemed to be fine and she's back to her normal, quacky ways.  By the way, for any of you duck owners out there, the general rule of thumb for knowing if they're ill or not is this:  are they eating, pooping, and laying eggs like normal?  If so, they're probably okay.  If not, get to an avian vet quick.

During this past week I noticed that we weren't getting nearly as many eggs as we had.  We typically get one per female per day and they usually skip a day a week.  Therefore, we can count on about a dozen eggs per week.  I was picking up Huey eggs (with a green tint), but there weren't any Dewey eggs (beige).  I figured it must be time to quit production for awhile and wasn't concerned because, well, she was eating and pooping as normal.   Then yesterday when I went out to their pen to give them their afternoon Cheerios treat, I noticed that a nest was being built in a quiet corner of the pen.  It was obvious that "someone" had scratched an indentation in the dirt, then pulled some straw from the other nests around it.  This picture is what it looked like today, complete with 5 Dewey eggs!  She has really built it up, just in the last couple of days.  But don't worry, we will remove those eggs now so that we don't end up with any ducklings this winter.  Ducklings are soooo cute, but 3 ducks is enough for this household!  And here's a picture of the sweet girl who laid these eggs and is obviously exhibiting a maternal instinct.

Speaking of Dewey, I just have to tell you what I witnessed last night.  Todd brought them in around 7:00 or so, they had their tomato treats, then had a clean bath in the tub (the pond gets a little smelly so they get a fresh bath inside each evening...yeah, they're spoiled.  We know it.), then went into their indoor pen for a fresh drink and some more Cheerios.  I was watching them and noticed something on the underside of Dewey's tush.  What on earth is that?  She was taking a drink, minding her own business, when all of a sudden....PLOP!  It was an egg!  Sweet, maternal, nest-building Dewey, who carefully places her morning eggs in her newly-built nest just popped one out at 8:00 in the evening, without a care in the world of what would happen to it!   Then she kind of turned around, looked at it, and went back to eating.  Louie walked over, pecked it, and moved on.  At that point I took it away and stuck it in the fridge.  (It will make great brownies!)

And here's one last picture of Huey & Dewey that I have to show you.  In the afternoons when I take them their Cheerios, I usually toss them in the water for them to eat.  They float and the gang likes to chase them around the pond.  After awhile they do get a little soggy and then we have Cheerio diving.  So I leave you with Huey and Dewey diving for Cheerios on this fine fall (high of 80 degrees) day!

Memory Trends report

The Memory Trends Trade Show was pretty interesting.  Some exhibitors had fairly extensive product releases while others had what seemed to be an extension (or split) of their CHA-Summer show release.  In most cases, everything looked alike to me.  With very few exceptions, the booths seemed to blend into each other, with hardly any identifying features.  As expected, I saw a lot of chipboard (letters and designs) and the expansion of even more distressed and bohemian-style patterned papers.  Some of it was very nice, but seriously now, how much of the same "look" do we need?  Where's the innovation?  I have a lot of respect for the retailers/buyers...I don't know how I would even begin to sort through all of the cookie-cutter products and figure out which ones to buy. 

But, speaking of buyers, there sure didn't seem to be many around.  The aisles were pretty empty.  When we arrived on Tuesday afternoon, some of the exhibitors said, "we think it'll be busier toward the end of the week so that the buyers can stick around and play over the weekend."  On Wednesday, exhibitors were saying, "it looks like buyers left after the first day."  On Thursday morning, I was standing in an aisle near the front of the hall and could see all the way to the back.  Not one person was in the aisle.  Totally empty.  sigh.   Yes, it was pretty quiet in there.  And it was easy to get around and see things...too easy.  I haven't heard any stats yet, but I can't imagine very many vendors broke even at this show.

And yes, I visited the booth where the latest version of our product line was displayed.  A part of me was very angry (almost every design was taken from our template patterns, some were virtually identical), but another part was very relieved.  I had the chance to pick them up, hold them, really look at them closely.  They're very thin (as little as 1/3 the thickness of our templates) and the holes are very large.  It will be difficult to get good, accurate results with them.  Yes, consumers may buy them thinking it's a cool idea, but I think they'll ultimately be frustrated and disappointed.  So while we do have some additional competition, I am more convinced than ever that we have the better end product.

In my previous post I mentioned "fighting back".  You may wonder how I'm going to do this.  Am I going to sue?  Call them nasty names?  Yell at them?  As tempting as that might be, no, I'm not going to do that.  Instead, I'm going to focus my energies on making our products the very best that they can be.  I've spent many hours planning our product release for CHA-Winter (in Anaheim the end of January) and I think everyone will be just as excited as I am when they see what we're doing.  And that's just the beginning!   Wait until you see what we have in the works for a Summer, 2007 release!  Exciting things are happening and I'm not going to let those other companies stand in my way!

A cut-throat industry

Most people think that everyone in the craft industry must be "nice".  Afterall, the whole focus is on leisure activities, down-time, relaxation, hobbies.  And yes, I've met many wonderful people in this business, many of whom I'm thankful to call my friends as well as colleagues.

But at the same time, there are a lot of really nasty people in this business too.  People who are in it for themselves, don't really care about the heart & soul of scrapbooking.  They're looking to make a buck and don't care who they step on to do it.

We've been in business nearly 5 years...started out on a shoestring with a dream and a goal to help scrappers and stampers achieve awesome results with easy techniques.  We felt so strongly in our product line that we sought patent protection.  (Long story summarized:  getting a patent is expensive and time-consuming.)  Our first product release included our Fiber Friend, a ruler-sized template with small holes to aid in stitching on paper.  It also works wonderfully well with brads and other small embellishments.  We have revised it several times, making it easier to use and more functional.  And since that first template we have expanded our product line to include many shapes and sizes of stitching and eyelet templates.

To date, we have been copied by at least 7 different companies...a few medium-sized and several large.  Most of them are a simpler version of the Fiber Friend.  One is nearly identical to ours, even using the same hole spacing.  Then there's the very large direct sales company whose buyer talked with me in person at a trade show about doing a custom template or private labeling for them to sell.  Instead, they chose to copy our designs.  You can see their version in their 260-page catalog.

And now I have learned that yet another company has copied us and will be releasing their version of our line at the Memory Trends Trade Show next week.  They are marketing them as brad templates and have near duplicates of our shapes patterns, i.e. nested stars, nested hearts, daisies, etc.  This company started out as a mom & pop outfit but was recently bought out by a much larger company.  That translates into advertising dollars....dollars that I don't have.  And even though I still believe that we have the superior product, they will probably sell more than us, simply by virtue of name-recognition and advertising capabilities.  Oh, I forget to say that the owner of this company approached me about doing a custom template for them over two years ago...once again I got the "we changed our minds" speech when following up.

Did I mention how angry this makes me?  How I feel like I'm going to be sick?  Or simply cry all night?  For these other companies, it's a small piece of their product offering. They can all run a vibrant, profitable business without it. For me it's my entire business....literally my bread & butter.  Part of me just wants to hang up my hat and admit defeat.  We're the little guy.  How we can compete with all those knock-offs?  But another part of me wants to fight back for all I'm worth. 

So I guess I'll go have my cry.

And tomorrow I'll start fighting back.