Uncle Bucky's Lucky Duck

What happened when Daisy duck made the decision to pass the ladder? Daisy passed on the left hand side and she was sure that Mrs. Owl had told her that that was the only safe way to pass the ladder. The right or under or even over the ladder had negative bad luck consequences. She didn't remember what those consequences were but she was sure that she was going to elude those consequences.

Daisy Duck is a superstitious bird.

Waddling is okay and everything, just not too close to the ladder. When I got to the park she was standing in one spot and I couldn't tell how long she had been in that condition.
Someone had told her that ladders were bad luck. She couldn't recall whether it was walking around the ladder or to the left of the ladder or under the ladder was unlucky. She stood there trying to remember which was the lucky side and which was the unlucky side.
I saw her and she wasn't phased by anything that I had to say to her. She was figuring which side was the lucky side and what to do to un mess her luck if she was wrong. She was stuck.














I watched as she made her decision which way to go. Everyone else at the park was enjoying the sun and the water. All was pleasant and bright. The Goose family was practicing their formations: line formation and star formation and they are presenting a new teardrop formation at the New Years paddle parade. They had quite alot of flaws to work out of their formations but they have a few days to work on it.
New Years up north is too cold for such goings on, but the southern birds have an entire shindig planned for New Years' Eve night.

Walking?...in a Winter Wonderland?

Not even the smell of a white Christmas, down here in NC. Not even the hint of a frosty snow covered lawn on Christmas day. It is still the most wonderland Wintery with my family!
I spent the morning walking through the frosty aisles of the supermarket with my most respected woman of God who is in my life. We giggled and pontificated and came up with all sorts of dreams for now and tomorrow and it is truly beyond what we both could've thought or imagined except there is no son in law yet to dote over. We are enjoying the love of wondering and wishing and sour grapes, sometimes:)
My dad would've joked at us that we both are so much like Aunt Lorraine, and she, more than I have never spent more than an hour or so with Aunt Lorraine. So I guess, in heaven, we will, the three of us; sit down and talk about what made us who we are. How could we three be so identical?
Dad would talk about the way she grabbed him by the wrist and the strength that she had and Tony-boy and Abby would have similar stories about me. It is a joy to live with a kindred spirit, sometimes:{.
I came in from my Christmas eve saunter with my Elyse(Suzie homemaker) and Emily and I were doing the shimmy shake and imitating Grandma Ruth in my living room to James Brown. We cannot figure out how Grandma Ruth was able to do that shimmy shake well into her latter years. I am achy from imitating her. I better get into shape to keep up with Ms. Emily. Then, we put on Thriller and my bumble bee big boy taught us how to do the Thriller dance in the living room. We pretended that the sugarplum fairies died and came back as the Thriller dancers and we danced around the living room as the sugarplum fairies reincarnated in a Thriller. What fun!
Ethan, the wolf man came into the room anticipating boredom. He didn't want to join the dance and he hasn't figured out how to incorporate his wolf story into the Christmas pleasantries, so he just barks at us all. Ezra is waiting for us to pull out the baking items to make the linzer tarts. Dad in his cap and I in my kerchief and nothing at all is quiet as a mouse...

It has been so very wet around here lately,

that you could almost forget that we were in a drought this time last year. The squirrel family is gaining weight and their children are now going on a special diet, unprecidented for squirrels. They had a little too much Thanksgiving feasting. Last year we were trying to find nuts to give to them.
It is amazing how the weather changes and how we can always find something to complain about the weather.
Last year, when we could see the little squirrel ribs poking out, it was so sad. This year when they are running slower and stepping on the scale every morning, before school it is just as sad. but we do have a tendency to overdo it. Don't we?
Fog and water and rain have been so prevalent that it nearly feels like...London?

When winter comes to NC..

Even Mrs. bluejay is picking out of the garbage. I saw her and she let me see her picking out of the garbage the other day.
Usually it is far below her to even sit upon the garbage, much less forage through the garbage for a tasty morsel. She considers herself far above the sparrows, who "take what they can get". This week was tight for the Bluejays and I got no more pep talks from her about showing off to my children. It is all about survival when it gets cold.
It's "slim pickins" around the building these days and all of the bird community is battening down the hatches for winter.
The finches have moved south and the other small birds are nowhere to be seen. I was reminiscing about the spring and the young bluejay couple who were sitting on the branch in front of the building for hours admiring oneanothers' reflections in their eyes. It is amusing that now, in the cold, I rarely see them on the same side of the building together.
The angels come to play the instruments earlier in the day than they did in the spring. Seems that they prefer to play in the warmth of the day better than in the cold night air. The beautiful music of winter around the building, is offset by the silence of the wildlife which is scurrying around searching for food. We are all ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus.