March 14, 2004
Some Surprise Visitors
I was getting ready to go to work, when I happened to glance out the kitchen window towards the pool. I don't know if something caught my eye, or what. But, I noticed the drake floating on the pool. We used to have a plastic chlorine tablet dispenser that floated on the pool. It looked like a drake. But, after several years of weathering, it developed cracks and I took it out of the pool. It's actually in my garden in the front yard. So, when I saw the drake, I figured that someone had removed the float from the front garden, and went through the trouble a painting it. And, whoever did it, did a damn good job too! It looks so real!!!! And then, I saw the female. Shit! Real mallards! In our pool! I watched them for quite a while. I took a ton of pictures. I made myself late for work yesterday, because I wanted to see what they would do. Both male and female were in the pool when I first saw them, but the male got out and stood sentry for awhile while the female continued swimming. After about 45 minutes, the male must have felt secure and he dropped back into the pool and joined his mate. About that time, Pepper got out and ran onto the deck and started barking at them. They seemed to realize that she wouldn't go into the water, so they swam as far away from her as they could get. They really didn't seem too afraid, they stuck around. After Pepper got fed up and came back into the house, both mallards settled down and went to sleep:
I finally left for work, about 1 1/2 hours late. My daughter, Helena, sent me a tect message later in the afternoon, telling me that they flew off. I guess they just wanted to rest awhile.
Posted by Valkyre at March 14, 2004 09:07 AM