Of Sushi and Stripe (and The Last Airbender)

Yesterday I once again cruelly left Bruce languishing on his sickbed and fled Frogpond -- this time to have sushi down in Stockton with Claire.  We tried out a new restaurant and she made big points with our waitress by chitchatting a bit with her in Japanese.  Those lessons are paying off!  This place was great -- fabulous fish and our portions were so large that Mama actually boxed up leftovers to take home (I believe, in the long history of her sushi-eating, this was a first).



Got home to find Bruce up and shuffling around a bit more.  At this rate, I can soon go back to being my normal ornery self with him and everything will be back in balance around here!  I'm sure he can hardly wait.

That morning I'd taken down the fencing that penned in Stripe and her babies.  Part of me wants to keep her and the ducklings safe up here, but I've decided that the time has come to let them go down to the pond to be ducks.  When I left for Stockton, Stripe and the ducklings were still hanging out in the barn.  But when I got home, the barn was empty and the little family was happily down at the pond.

All is tranquil on the pond

I sat on the bank with the dogs to watch for awhile.
Granny Goose, one of our Chinese Geese, swam over.  Granny has never had goslings of her own, but is extremely maternal and tries to take under her wing any new baby that comes to the pond.  As you can see, Stripe was more than happy to share babysitting duties with her.

Such a good Granny Goose!

The ducklings had no fear of Granny at all, although they definitely hadn't any confusion as to who their real mommy is.






Then Stripe and the ducklings, with Granny taking up the rear, began a leisurely amble along the edge of the water...

Big Love

...and along came their papa, Big Love.  Muscovy drakes are easily a third larger than the hens and many people are very put off by their bumpy red faces (sort of like a turkey) and ponderous way of moving.  The word "ugly" frequently comes up when people describe them.  I, however, find something very noble in Big Love's bearing and think he's exceedingly handsome in his own way.  His tail is a blur in the picture because he has the endearing habit of wagging it when greeting other ducks (or anyone else at all, for that matter). 

Big Love leading his family while the geese swim up

And then began the most fascinating part of this little drama.  Big Love moved into the lead as they slowly strolled along the pond, while all three Chinese Geese moved into a sort of triangle formation alongside them in the water.

This is how they all ended up.  Big Love was casually dabbling out in front, Stripe was behind him with her babies, and the three geese were ranged out in the water in a perfect point formation like three white patrol boats.  The whole group remained like this for as long as I watched.  Perhaps I'm reading too much into what I saw, but it sure seems like all of them were looking out after these newest, smallest pond babies.





Much later, towards evening, after I'd finished watering the orchard garden, I said to Bruce that it sure would be a relief to find that Stripe had taken her ducklings back to the safety of the barn for the night (I held no great hope that this would be the case, though).  I peeked around the corner and...

Clever Stripe!

I took one last pic before closing everyone in for the night. Take a look at the little guy with the glowy eyes, bravely protecting his mama...

It's not a mere duckling, it's...

...The Last Airbender!

Ok, so Bruce is the one who made this connection and pointed it out to me. A most remarkable resemblance, wouldn't you say?  :)

A Walk Around the Pond

Bruce is sick.  He came down with his first cellulitis infection of the summer and is now home with a hurting leg and a fever.  He feels miserable, but we've been through this before, and there's nothing to do but load up on antibiotics and Tylenol, rest, and basically just wait it out.  So that's what we're doing.

Every morning at dawn, as regular as clockwork, Bruce takes the dogs for a brisk walk around the pond.  I stay in and sip coffee (if I'm awake, that is).  This morning, I looked up to see Seal, Arlo and Murphy staring in at Bruce as he lay on the sofa.  They were obviously eagerly waiting for their walk, and Bruce was just as obviously not going to spring up and give it to them.  So they got the next best thing, which was me with my cup of coffee in one hand and camera in the other.  No brisk walk today, but more of a stroll around the pond with lots of pauses along the way to look at things and take pictures.  Here, then, is a little bit of daybreak at Frogpond.

Raft still not fouled by fowl

Neighbor's heifer in lower pasture below dam

Gopher Ridge

Arlo loves to pack along a rock in his mouth

The road along the dam

"The Queen": we were married under this grey pine

A wild turkey hightailing it away from the grain pan

This scene is classic California

The stone bridge: water from solar pump flows to pond

Note the charming poison oak leaf among the berries

The solar panel and storage tank

Groggy hens...

...and a groggy Mulligan (streeeeeetch)

 

This ended my official walk around the pond.  However, before going back in the house, I had to say good morning to the hens and see how the orchard garden was doing.

Multipass meditating at the birdbath

The driveway down to the orchard garden

Wind chimes in the old plum tree

More morning glories -- I love these flowers!

And then I, my camera and what was left of a cold cup of coffee came back in the house.  Bruce's fever was down, so I sat him at the table and fed him tomato soup and toast.  And then, I looked up to see this:                                                               

"Hey, Mom!  How's about a walk?"