The ducks, the ducks.  They’re my favorite, hands down of all the animals.

The ducks are so social.  They waddle around, checking on all the animals.  They eat the dog’s food and drink his water.  In front of him.  Yeah, cool!  They eat the piglets’ food and drink their water as well.

I’ve been having a friendly competition with them.  They get into my garden and eat leaves off my mangelwurzen (fodder beets).  I turn the sprinkler on them and chase them out.  An hour later, I find them in the garden again.  This time, they’re enthusiastically making whoopee in the onions.

They crawl into the big pigs’ pasture and take naps.  The chickens and the geese aren’t that brave (or perhaps imprudent).  They swagger.  They walk like they own the place.

But I have news that absolutely makes me ecstatic…

One of our ducks has been MIA.  I thought maybe we’d lost one to a predator.  But…

The wife found her in some tall grass…

She’s sitting on eight or nine eggs.  This is so cool!  I know it’s not earthshaking news, nothing that changes our financial fortunes, but this is part of why I’m out here.  I get front row tickets to watch how life unfolds for these beautiful creatures.

Awesome!