The Lettuce Eaters

Is frenetic a word?  I think it is...rushed; hurried; overly active.  In a word: me.  End of the trimester; benchmark tests; report cards; parent conferences; Harvest Festival; Red Ribbon Week; Halloween; science lesson study; curriculum council.  I come home with stacks of schoolwork and spend time in the evening answering emails.  Even when I sleep, most nights I dream about school.  School follows me home each night like never before.

Autumn floats in to Frogpond; languid; ready to slow down the year; making preparations to settle in for a long winter nap.  I'm really making an effort this year to take the time to participate in the day-to-day changing of the season.  I deliberately set school aside.

This evening I went out (glass of wine in hand) and fed lettuce to the African Geese.  It used to be just them that enthusiastically wolfed down their greens.  The ducks, Chinese Geese and chickens sort of milled around wondering what all the fuss was about.  They occasionally half-heartedly pecked at a leaf, but that was about it.  Then, one day, they decided that lettuce actually was edible.

This is what it looks like now when I throw lettuce out to the African Geese.  They are right there, the first ones chowing away, while the other birds watch and ponder on if lettuce is really food. 





One or two of the brighter bulbs will remember that they like lettuce, and decide to give the green stuff a try. 

Everyone else takes note.  And thus commences yet another feeding frenzy.   

Entertainment: Frogpond style!

At this point it's time for me to come clean and admit that one of our ducks is setting on a nest of eggs in stall number 3 in the barn (the same stall that Arlo and Seal sleep in at night).  We didn't discover this until she'd been brooding for several weeks, so we let her be.  This afternoon Mama Duck was off the nest, so I was able to count the eggs.  Nineteen.  Heaven help us.