**QUACK ** QUACK ** WADDLE ** WADDLE**

Pete called me on his way home from work the other night to tell me that he had a houseguest coming home with him. I knew enough to ask him immediately if it were a 2-legged or a 4-legged houseguest!! He laughed at me and said 2-legged..... so I asked if it was a human and the answer was no. Hmmm, now I was curious so I continued playing 100 questions to discover that our visitor and probable newest family member was a 'duck'!

Yup, you read that correctly! Somehow this little duckie found her way to Pete's work site and had followed the guys around all afternoon. After eating Cheese Nips and 'quacking' with all the guys it was decided that Pete 'NEEDED' to bring her home. They looked around for her home (her people family or duck family... ) and found nothing. Since we already have chickens & goats, 3 cats & 1 dog the guys at work decided that adding a duck shouldn't be too difficult!

I have to admit when Pete walked in with her perched on his arm... she was kinda cute! After ooohing and ahhhing over her, she was put on the kitchen floor and went right over to Toby's water bowl to drink! He looked at me as if to say "It's bad enough I have to share my water with Yoda, Twinkie & Zoe (the 3 cats) but a duck too??!!"

We set up an area in the milking room for her complete with hay for nesting, a water bowl and some cracked corn & chicken feed..... (It is nice that 2 of the kids work in a feed store so they knew the grain was compatible for the duck!) and she made herself right at home in the barn!

In the morning the kids brought "Margaret" (maybe?) back inside to check her out better since we didn't have much time to get aquainted the night before! Soon
the duck was swimming in my largest bowl.... and enjoying spattering water all over! My teens became children again right before my eyes!! It was sooo much fun to watch them be as excited as preschoolers as they went down the hall to "FILL THE BATHTUB"! :) Oh my, what a homeschooling family won't do in the name of science!! Believe me, it was fun..... she quacked and swam around as if in her own private little pond!! (We were only lacking pond plants & feeder fish!) When Pete got home that night, he laughed as we told him about the day's adventures... he said he assumed the duck was going to end up in the tub!! Did you know that a duck can twist its head around kind of like an owl, just not as far?! The duck's bill has quite a few colors in it... not just orange! And, they hiss like a snake when they are trying to scare something (like a dog or cat) away!! She is very friendly and comes over to say hello when approached by people! Stop in for a visit..... we'll introduce you!!