May Memories - 2016

May was memorable ... ducks played a huge part! But there was quite a bit of family stuff and basketball of course.  Hubs had several derbies, but Meniere's and pinched nerve problems continued to really make things difficult and miserable this month. School is slowing down and almost out ... that will certainly shift up schedules. Here comes summer!

• Family: K&J were in town (they'd come in for Pammy's Party) so we had all the Blackhams over for a Sunday breakfast. That same day there was a Westra "Cookies and Cousins" in the evening. Visits to both moms for Mother's Day, and we got "the call" from our missionary. Hubs/Maga and the littles hit several cemeteries for Memorial Day. An impromptu BBQ for my dad's birthday. We went to Maga's to see the new kittens.
• Basketball: While not quite as many games as last month, there was still plenty of play going on. Happy to have Colton finish up the TwoxTuesday league, and Maga came out to see Cal play. A meeting for summer plans. 
• School: Shakespeare Day at school, a field trip for Coop (I don't have anything in my notes as to where they went), a "Fun Run" at the elementary for the littles (and then Keaton did the neighborhood 5k, even in the rain). Colton had his end of year program.
• Six Derbies
• Dinner & a Movie: We had a family Tepanyaki run, and Red Robin for Mother's Day.  Hubs picked up some Marco's Pizza after Keaton/Colton had it with friends and raved about it ... our experience was ehhhh. Hubs took the littles to see "Civil War" and he and I watched "The Martian" on DVD (it was really good). 
• Medical: Gray had an MRI and still struggled with spinning and sciatica. Another dentist appointment for Keaton.
• Hobbies: Jen still Zumba-ing, subbed a few times and got in a Saturday class. Generally going five days a week, but missed a few here and there. 22 total for the month. Hubs is still smoking up a storm. Yummy!
• DUCKS: Eggs were in the incubator last month, and this month they hatched! Well, one did. There was one or two others that were so close but didn't make it out of the egg, which was heartbreaking! Also sad for our solo baby, who didn't stay alone for long. Hubs picked up five additional ducklings. Then wild momma duck who had been visiting us all last month showed up with 13 babies! They were so fun to watch, but again, stressful as they would wander (a couple fell down a neighbor's window well, but we rescued them). After one wander, there were only 12 :(  A cat tried to get them (Hubs and I ran out in our jammies to chase the cat away and round up the babies and reunite them with momma). She finally made her way to the local canal ... good luck ducks. We still had our six, growing like crazy!

Shakespeare in School

Ah Shakespeare ... I have to admit, he's NOT my favorite author. A few months ago, Cooper's class was putting on a Shakespeare play. All the 5th grade classes at Terra Linda were. There was "The Tempest"  "A Comedy of Errors"  and "The Merry Wives of Windsor" ... Cooper's class did "A Midsummer Night's Dream". 

Yes ... the boys had to wear tights. 

Leggings were acceptable as well, and Shakespeare completely changed up Cooper's winter wardrobe. Cooper fell in love with leggings (sport leggings) and wore them the rest of the winter under his shorts.  Some good came from Shakespeare I guess ...

Parents were invited to come watch the productions. Some of the younger classes were invited to watch too. I did overhear this funny conversation on the car ride to school ...

Cooper: You better not have told your friends to laugh during my Shakespeare play today!

Colton: Naw ... I DID tell them to mock you at the science fair, but then the teacher said if she caught anyone teasing she would pull four cards! So I was like "abort plan, abort plan!"

In included the above conversation in my "Cute Quotes" page, but felt like it belonged here too.  I went and watched, and caught the play on video (much to Cooper's chagrin) ...

Here a a few highlights

Yes ... Cooper's play happened back in February, but I'm only getting to the blog update now? What's my impetus? Well, today was Shakespeare day at Keaton's school. All the 9th graders had to dress up Shakespearean style, and to make a mask. Probably a bit easier for the boys than the girls. It's fun to look around at carpool drop-off and see the kids in costume. I told Keaton to take pictures of him and his friends, but I guess I should just feel luckily he allowed me to take these ...

Keaton had donned the knickers (just some sweats pulled up to the knees) and an oversized white shirt. He didn't look quite costumed up enough, so I said I'd look for a "drape" we'd used for Callahan a couple years ago. Happily it was easy to find and did add a more authentic look.

Just for a little Throwback Thursday ... 

Callahan HIS 9th grade year!

Wild Duckies

Last year we raised ducks (Daddy's Duckies 2015). As the three birds tested their wings at the end of the summer ... they flew away. We wondered if they would return (they had been spoiled with yummy treats, food and a pool), but we didn't see them again.

Spring of 2016, there was a pair of ducks hanging around. Now that's not unusual at all, at the canal, but we're about a quarter mile away. This pair was in the front yard (our home and a couple of the neighbors). I pulled out some of the feed from last year, and they seemed to like that. I filled up the pool in the back yard ... and they seemed to like that too. They'd stay for a couple hours each day. Eat some food, take a swim, then they would fly away to spend their time somewhere else. We wondered if it was one of OUR ducks from last year, coming "home" to roost.

One morning in early spring, I was sitting at the computer with the blinds open to the backyard when I saw Momma duck and 13 babies! THIRTEEN! They were so fun to watch. They would swim, eat, and gather under Momma ...

... even as they got a little bigger, Momma would still snuggle and shelter them. 

They would wander a bit. We'd come out in the morning and they would be gone. The first couple times, they had only made it to the next door neighbor's yard. Stopped at the window well, as a couple babies had fallen in. Keaton climbed down and rescued them (as I tried to protect HIM from Momma, being protective didn't understand we were trying to help). 

She was a very good Momma!

Swim Time!

This is the view right outside my bedroom window.

A post shared by JenB (@jenblackham) on May 24, 2016 at 12:03pm PDT

It was mostly in the mornings when they would wander, although sometimes at dusk too. 

But then Momma would bring them back to the backyard.

One time though ... only 12 babies came back. The boys and I did a search of all the nearby window wells. Tried to listen for the chirp of a lost baby, but no luck. We have no idea what happened to it. If it got taken by a dog or cat, or there is a fairly open gutter grate that a baby could have easily fallen into. We were so sad!

Another time, around 4:00 in the morning Hubs and I were awakened by a commotion. Frantic quacking by Momma Duck. We ran out back in our PJs ... it was a cat! We chased it off. Momma had jumped into the safety of the pool, but there were only three babies with her! We knew that cat couldn't have made off with nine babies, so we got out flashlights and searched the yard and found them huddled in a far corner. Happily, all nine. We reunited them with Momma. One of the babies did look like it had been hurt. It walked with a limp for a while, but finally seemed to work it out.

One time I was watching the ducks out the window when ... Momma flew away! Ummm, Momma? You coming back? She did. I guess she just needed to stretch her wings. Then it happened pretty much every day. I then noticed that most of the time ... the Mr. had flown over calling to her. She would take off and join him for some big circles in the sky before she'd fly back into the backyard. The babies would just stay huddled together while she was gone (and we'd always try to keep an eye on them if we noticed she was gone. Chase off any magpies or other dangers). 

Then one morning ... the duckies were gone and they did NOT come back. I took several walks to the canal that day and the next, hoping to see that they had made it there safely. I was rewarded on one of my trips! There was Momma and her full dozen ducklings (while there are other momma/baby sets at the canal, in all the years we've been here, we've never seen a momma with a dozen ducklings, so we were pretty certain it was "our" family). 

I really thought I'd make more trips to the canal to check on them, but we had our own duckies in the backyard (ones we had hatched and were raising) so I was getting my ducky fix without the walk. At the end of the season, the boys and I were talking a walk along the canal when we saw a big group of ducks.

It looked like it could have been our wild backyard babies. Seemed to be a momma and quite a few babies, bigger now, but about the right size, allowing for growth in the time that had passed.

2016 will be remembered as the summer of the ducklings! 

We're glad you stayed with us for a while.

(stay tuned for a post about OUR babies!)