Natural History

Posted in birds | Tagged domestic mallard, Khaki Campbell/Mallard hybrid, mallard, Muscovy duck | 1 Comment

One Response

1. on June 16, 2014 at 12:56 pm Jeff Hess

   Good afternoon RM,

   Yes, ducks have no manners.

   One of our ducks put me on crutches for two weeks because I was slow one morning with the feed.

   The ducks, about a dozen or so, knew which bedroom window was mine and would stand under sill quacking away if I didn’t get up early enough to feed them.

   One November morning, when there was a heavy frost on the grass, I came out the back door with my feed bucket and headed for the pond. The flock was all around me and as I picked my way down the hill, one large drake put himself right under my right boot. I pivoted to keep from making duck pâté, my left foot slipped on the frost and I went down hard on my back.

   Somehow the ducks avoided being squashed by my fall and were happy to get their breakfast a little further from the pond than usual. I, however, found I couldn’t get up because my back hurt so much. It was around 6 a.m. and no one else in the family was up yet. I had to yell at the top of my lungs to wake my younger brother and he came out in his pajamas to see what all the noise was about. After he stopped laughing I convinced him to get our dad up.

   There was no serious damage, but as I said above, I was on crutches for a couple of weeks. My big mistake was to be truthful as to what happened when my friends asked and around the school I was quickly known as the guy who tripped over a duck.

   I learned my lesson and now when one of my students comes to class with a cast or on crutches I tell them that no matter how it happened, come up with a good story.

   Do all you can to make today a good day,

   Jeff Hess
   Have Coffee Will Write

   
   

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