The Duckling Rescue

A few weeks ago, my friend Lynn informed me that she now had 10 little ducklings swimming in her pool with their mamma. (By the time we saw them, there were only 9 left. One little guy had gotten trapped under the makeshift ramp that Lynn made to help them get out of the pool.)

Lynn was going to Prague for the summer, so she needed to do something about the ducklings before she left. She had talked to someone who knew about ducks and they told her that she could relocate the little ducklings to a nearby lake. If she caught the babies, then the mom would follow. It was within walking distance from Lynn's house. I thought this sounded like a fun little adventure and one that needed documenting, so Adam, Emma and I headed over there last week.

Here they are. They're a little over 1 week old. 

The next part of the plan involved catching them. Emma and Adam did not mind at all helping out with this part.

Uh-oh... a little slippery.

Before we left, there was some business for Lynn to take care of...

One last picture. And...a kiss good-bye.

We're ready to head out...

This is when things started to NOT go as planned. We had the ducklings, but where was their mom?! She was not following us, that's for sure. We found her in a grassy area behind Lynn's house, so we thought if we showed her that we had her babies that she would figure out the plan.

We stepped back and gave her some time. She eventually flew off in the opposite direction. We decided to proceed to see if she was just watching us from afar.

I don't know about you, but if I were a duck, I would much rather prefer this open space to a backyard pool (no offense to your pool, Lynn, but it is a pool, after all). We waited...and waited...and waited...no mom in sight. In fact we didn't see ANY ducks at all. We could NOT leave the little ducklings.

We decided that our hearts were in the right place, but it was a failed plan...back to Lynn's pool, where we found mom AND dad (sorry, no pic of him, but she must have flown off to get him when we left for the lake.)

We let them go and they knew exactly where to go.

Reunited.

Lynn still had a problem, of course. She was leaving in two days to be gone all summer and the ducklings could not stay in her pool. The next part of the story reminded me of the scripture in Luke 12:6:

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?"

Heavenly Father was aware of Lynn and her Duckling problem. Through a serendipitous series of events, Lynn found out that relocating the mom and babies to the lake would actually have  resulted in their demise as the other male ducks in the area may have accidentally killed the mother as they tried to mate with her. Her orphaned babies would have been left as vulnerable prey and would not have survived without their mother's care. (Good thing our plan failed.) Lynn also came in contact with Lenny, the Duck Whisperer. Lenny volunteers for AZ Covey, an East Valley Bird Rescue and he knew exactly what to do. He told Lynn that the adult ducks could survive in her chlorinated pool, but the little ducklings could not, so first they would try to capture the mom AND the babies so they could be together...but if that didn't work, then they would just get the babies and raise them until they could be on their own at which time they would be taken to a protected lake up in Heber where they could stay or fly off if they wanted to.

The mom flew off with the dad and so Lenny took the little ducklings into his care.

I just love that there are people out there who do this type of thing. Thanks, Lenny and AZ Covey. Mission accomplished. Now...is there anyone out there who can help me get rid of the ants that refuse to leave my house? Help me...Lenny? 

Miyuki + Kawana= TLA

We had a dog in our home for a short time while I was growing up. I say "in our home" because it was more of a co-existence rather than a relationship. It didn't work out and my mom had the painful task of taking him to the Humane Society. She didn't know what else to do. She cried all the way home. I must not have been too attached because I don't remember crying at all.  Now I know why my mom cried. She was the one who took care of this little dog and so I can only imagine how attached she got even though he wasn't quite what we had expected. 

Our youngest, Emma, 8, is a complete animal lover. She cried and cried when our little hamster, Henry, died. He "mysteriously" disappeared from his Postmortem Crayola Box Home in the freezer to some undisclosed location in an attempt to give him a proper burial (which translates to: we needed to get him out of the freezer). Emma made him a little headstone and R.I.P. out of mud and put it symbolically in our flower bed. I happened upon it a couple of weeks ago. She was still thinking of him.

A few years ago, out of the blue, I got puppy hungry. I could count on Emma to be on the same page. I investigated different breeds to find the right fit for our family and finally settled on a Shih Tzu. They're small, they don't shed, they don't bark, they're mellow and pretty low maintenance. I found a local breeder who called us when our little dog was old enough to leave home. That was nearly 4 years ago. We named her Annie and she has exceeded our expectations. She loves us and it's humbling to think how little she asks of us and how much she gives  in return. Annie was the beginning of my journey to becoming a dog person. I believe in the power of a pooch. Because of that I was so touched by Miyuki and Kawana.

Miyuki & Kawana

Miyuki is my neighbor and she has been training Kawana, a beautiful Golden Retriever, to be an Assistance Dog through the Power Paws organization. They have been together for 18 months. When I learned a couple of weeks ago that it was time for Kawana to go to his new home and new owner, I could feel how sad Miyuki was to see him go. She had done a good job training him and their bond was strong. Kawana will be placed with a person who's life will be greatly blessed by having him around.He is lovable and smart. He can go to the refrigerator and get a water bottle, he can push the handicap button to open doors among other things. I wanted Miyuki to have more than a snapshot to remember him by, so we did a little photo shoot with the two of them the afternoon of his departure. Here are some of my faves:

I know Miyuki will always remember what it felt like to love Kawana, now she can remember what it looks like.