And it begins.........

My son Ryan was over last night and was the one who first heard  a loud peeping noise coming from the incubator (about 9:00 PM), where 20 duck eggs are preparing to hatch.  Sure enough, when he went to check it out, one of the ducklings was poking his or her nose out of the shell! 

I was not expecting them until Thursday or Friday, so this came as a surprise.  We readied a place for the hatchlings, and by 2:30 AM this early bird was ready to leave the incubator.

At this time, more than 12 hours after this first appearance, there is one more egg starting the break-out process, but the others sit quietly awaiting a bit more time I guess.  So much for them all hatching within 24 hours of each other!

.....and here is my new little chick-a-dee, nice and fluffy, with wing feathers starting to come in!

A Ray of Spring

Last night and today were ridiculously blustery and wet.  Trees down, pools of water everywhere.  Soggy, soggy, soggy.  Winter has finally arrived. Just in time for the start of Spring!

To brighten my day, I am going to post a photo taken of my Flowering Quince before the storm hit.  Ahhh!  Now isn't that better?

Choice Suppers of Late

Asparagus / Feta Cheese Omelet

Steak au Poivre

Little Bit o' Fluff

Much better :-}

Look What Hatched Now!

Who would've thought it was such a bloody mess?!?!  Yech!  But the end result today of the one fertile chicken egg I ended up with in my incubator was this little critter!  Maybe it will be cuter tomorrow when it is fluffier :o}

March Hike

A beautiful day today.  My friend Chereé and I took a little hike to Barclay Lake again.

Barclay Lake sits at the base of Mt. Baring.

Daily Swims

Every day Mama Mallard and her brood spend their time in the pond.  Little fluff balls just floating and gliding around!  So cute............

Late Bloomer

Saturday after the mother took the ducklings into the thicket, I peeked back at the nest and saw one unhatched egg left sitting alone.  I bent down to scoop it up and toss it when I noticed a small hole with the tip of a dark beak barely poking out of it.  I could hear a faint peeping sound.  There was a late bloomer trying to work his way out of one very tough shell!  I broke more of the shell away, but the poor little guy was too exhausted to continue, so I worked the shell off from around it (kind of creepy, really) until he was free from the cumbersome womb.  Too weak to be placed with the others in the muddy thicket, I placed it into the incubator for awhile until he started fluffing up.

He enjoyed snuggling up with Tillie the Cat while I waited for DIL Bethany to arrive and enjoy him for a bit before I placed him into the duck run with the mother and siblings.  He was still wobbly, and it took Mama a few minutes before she incorporated the new guy on the block, but she finally took him under her wing where, I am happy to say, he is now happy and thriving  :o}

Proud Morning Walk

Early in the chilly morning of Saturday, the mom and her cute little brood emerged from their nest to be introduced publicly to the immense and curious world about them.

Mama Mallard was a bit nervous, trying to both keep her little family together, as well as avoid the amorous attacks of the waiting males.  She managed to show the ducklings the mud puddle nearest the nest, where they all had their first taste of water. 

Then the males got so disgustingly aggressive that she had to shoo her flock deep into the thicket to avoid the horny beasts. The poor babies had a tough time manuevering in the mud and brambles and the cats took up such an avid interest in the peeping critters that I decided to capture the lot of them (with the hissing, snapping mother) and put them in the safe enviroment of the fenced duck kennel.

One BIG family!

Coming Out

I caught some of the ducklings sunning themselves near to the nest, where Mama still sits.  I saw 7, and am not sure if more were under the mother. 

Here is ONE of the proud Papa's looking on!

Finally!

At last, they have arrived!  I believe the little ducklings actually pecked their ways out of their shell-encased wombs yesterday.  Mama Mallard would not leave the nest yesterday, and hissed at me when I tried to peek under her.  Early this morning on his way out to open the pen for the other ducks, my husband hollered at me that there was a lot of movement in the nest.  Grabbing my camera, I threw a coat over my jammies and went out into the frosty morning to investigate:

I do not know how many there are that made it, as Mama won't budge yet.  I will keep watch throughout the day and try to get a head count and better photo!  FUN!!!

New Life Poppin' Out

I didn't set out to do this.  Really... I didn't.

But I went to the Farm & Feed to buy duck mash to get ready.  You know.  For the anticipated ducklings.  And they had tub after tub of all varieties of soft little baby chicks, all peeping "PICK ME! Oh pick me!"

Though it was extremely difficult to choose, I managed to come out with a mere nine chicks.  That's all.  Just  nine.  Afterall. 

AREN'T THEY THE CUTEST?!?!

Waiting........

All the ducks are daily checking the nest now.....

Mexico 2008

Mount Baker

This is just an experiment to see how Animoto works with blogger.  It is from the summer of 2006 on a hike at Mt. Baker.  This day holds one of my favorite-day memories with my family :o)  Just click on the words "Mt. Baker" to link you to the short video clip:

Mount Baker

Spring Blooms

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.

~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

The Unveiling

Duck eggs were uncovered by Mama M. this morning, and the rest of the duck clan peered curiously into the nest wondering what to make of it!  Today is Day 24.  Duck eggs hatch between 24 - 28 days, so I am wondering if the unveiling of the eggs was the first step in preparing for the hatching.  I see ten eggs are remaining.......... not too bad considering Scout (the dog) had at least a half a dozen meals from the nest while Mama was off feeding.

Spring Song

It is so pleasant to hear the twitters and songs of various birds as they journey back north.  I have enjoyed watching them stop by the feeders.  Some are here to stay, while others are just stopping by to take refreshment on their long trips.  Following are my friends that I managed to catch on camera yesterday:

 Song Sparrow

It is recognizable by the dark spot in the center of the chest.  They defend their territory by singing from thick shrubs.  I love to listen to them!

Spotted Towhee 

This is the male.  The female has the same markings, but is not as vibrant in color..... more of a charcoal than black, and less red on the underside.

These arrived late last fall and have hung around the entire winter.  They will likely move down to a lower elevation to build their ground nests to raise their broods.

Dark-Eyed Junco 

This is a pair of Oregon Dark-Eyed Juncos.   They prefer ground feeding, though I have seen them nibbling from the hanging feeder.

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee

Distinguished from similar birds such as the Black-Capped Chickadee (which I have also seen here) by the rich, warm chestnut back and sides, it is the most colorful of the chickadees.

Varied Thrush

This is the female, with subdued orange tones.  The male has bright orange colorings, and I can't wait to see him!  Whereas the female is brownish, the male has striking black feathers.  I do  hope they nest in my yard!

Spring would not be spring without bird songs. - Francis M. Chapman

What a Yoke!

This was a first for me.......... a yokeless egg!  I soft boiled 2 eggs for breakfast today.  The second one I sliced opened with my knife made me gag.  Somebody was playing a 'yoke' on me! The yellow you see is from the knife having passed through my first egg, but the yolk in this egg was totally missing, so that the white in the middle where the slightly runny yoke should have been, was runny slime.  BLECH!!!  The cats enjoyed it though.

But on the subject of eggs...............

I candled my duck and chicken eggs I have in the incubator to check for fertility.  I made a candler from a box, with a hole about the size of a quarter, and a flashlight.

The photo is blurry as I was playing a balancing act to free a hand to take a picture.  You can see, though, that there is a cloudiness in part of the egg (in this case on top).  That means there is a baby duckie growing in there :o}  If the light shines completely through the egg, it was not  fertile.  The results?  Of the 5 chicken eggs not a single one appears to be fertile.  Guess the rooster is shooting blanks.  I will give them a few more days before I toss them, just to make sure, since I am a novice at this.  However, 100% of the 20 duck eggs have life in them........ not surprising, since the task of fertilizing eggs seems to be all that is on the minds of the male ducks these days.  Who wants a cute little duckling for their Easter basket this year?

Quacked Up

    

       Hired watch ducks                                   Off  to investigate                            Wait! Who's that in the window?

Blueberry Ricotta Cheese Crepe Cake

We get only a few TV stations  since everyone had to switch over to the digital TV's.  We bought a converter for our regular non-digital television, as there are no services out this way for us to receive digital signals even if we wanted to go that route.  I am not a big fan of watching TV anyway, so no problems here, except that the few stations we are able to pick up are more often than not broken up into unrecognizable digital segments, and the sound disappears. I do like to watch the evening news of which we only receive one station for that anymore, and lousy reception makes it frustrating.  We were not able to catch any of the Winter Olympics this year which was disappointing, to be sure.  However, one channel we seem to receive now but did not prior, has different cooking shows on it.  Need I say more?

This beauty is from a Hubert Keller cooking show.  Darrell made it yesterday.

It is comprised of alternating layers of crepes, cheese filling (ricotta & cream cheeses with lemon zest and powdered sugar), and a blueberry sauce with lemon juice.

Topped with a crepe and fresh mint that have been chiffonaded, and a dollop of blueberry sauce, it made one heavenly dessert :-)