I went into the house and told the wife and daughter to come outside and told them what I thought I saw and wanted help in looking for it. Now remember we live in the desert, high desert at 3000 feet in elevation but desert none the less complete with Joshua trees and sage brush. Well their help lasted about a minute with a
"If you see your duck again come get us". Well that was the end of the duck hunt as I had other things to do and really I wasnt sure what I saw, could it have been one of the kittens?Well anyhow the evening goes on and we had some company over for a BBQ (wifes Brother and his Wife and daughter) and of course I was the butt of the goin' crazy jokes with my duck in the desert. Our company had their 6 year old daughter with them and she of course spent the whole time terrorizing the kittens and basically getting into whatever she could find which is considerable around here. We were sitting on the porch and here she comes running around the corner arms outstretched screaming "I caught a duck"
, she told us she was stalking a kitten and the kitten jumped on the duck so "I whacked the cat and took the duck". It looks like a mallard but hard to tell as he does not have his feathers yet, more of a fur still.Well she saved my sanity for the night by producing the object of my delusion and we set up a kiddie pool for which the duck seemed very grateful. We also tossed some bread into the pool and it ate as it swam around seeming to love that it had both food and water. They ended up taking the little guy with them when they left that night because they knew someone with a small pond a couple other ducks, I hear our little desert duck is quite happy in his new digs.
Now how this little fella showed up here is a mystery. We are miles from water and close to a mile from any neighbor that might have had a duck, hard to imagine him walking that far through the sage.
Well the following week the same folks were over for another BBQ, it was dark by the time I started cooking and the wifes Brother and I were out in the Gazebo BSing while the chicken burned. The yard was quite dark with no outside lights on other than right at the BBQ and I needed something from the house. When I approached the deck I heard what I thought was a growl and a scurrying sound. When I got back to the Gazebo I told the wifes Brother and he started in about the duck and said it was probably one of the cats. Well a short time later I took a flashlight and shined it over onto the deck and there was three raccoons eating the cat food, these were little guys maybe half grown but still a fair sized animal.
I smacked him upside his head and told him next time I tell you something you better believe me and he assured me he would.
Then we come around to the following week and I was sitting on the deck enjoying the evening and the momma raccoon just wandered up onto the deck with me not more than 15 feet away. There was no food out so I got up and went into the house and got a scoop of dog food and dumped it into the bowl on the porch then sat back down. It wasnt seconds and four little raccoons were on it like sharks in a frenzy. I had not given them much and it was gone quick, momma did not come back onto the porch but I could see her in the shadows keeping a close watch.
Well about the time they finished up what was there the wife and daughter got home from their JuJitSu class so I got some more food and the camera and we all sat out on the deck 10 to 15 feet from the food bowl. I think three came back to eat more but never more than two at one time, here are some pictures I took.
The oddest thing though has to be that damn duck. I have some pictures but they are on the camera memory instead of the memory card so I will have to figure out how to get them off.
). She hasnt come around since, but I still remember that weird week last year.