I often wondered what it was about me- maybe it’s just my “maternal warmth”….
I first noticed it at the doctor’s office- you know that privacy sign that says please stay behind this sign until it’s your turn, well one day I noticed someone snugged up right behind me(I could actually feel the polar fleece jacket they had on- scary). I thought, hmmmm that’s kind of odd- funny thing- it happened several times there since! Then it started happening in the bank line…and when I’m driving, cars coming towards me veer towards the center line- I know -I’m slightly paranoid about this lol. And walking on a sidewalk is like playing a ditching game! It is so weird. So, one day last spring I was talking to my Mom on the phone… as I turned around there was a duck standing at my front door staring at me. OK…. I said Mom, there’s a duck at the front door. She said well, she must have laid an egg. AT THE FRONT DOOR? Sure enough… unbelievable- one egg right there in a little nest in my new mulch- out in the open, at my front door.
She laid a total of ten eggs altogether. Craig said she must have felt pretty comfortable here and must have known I’d give her a good meal- haha. Aaaand I did. We got to know each other and every day we chatted. I named her “Honey”. She became quite used to me as I would sit on the step with my coffee. I did my best to protect her from my cats.
And she had daily visits from our resident nurse Allie <3
I helped cover her nest in bad weather. Craig even put a chair with a sheet over it to protect them from the hot sun.
And she was ok with my camera lol- especially when we thought it was time. I wanted to get a good view, ok, maybe this was too much haha.
Three of the eggs hatched and they were incredible!
Those babies would only spend the next 12 hours here by us then she had them jump down a good foot or so off the retaining wall, across the lawn, past the new garden, across the yard, across the street to the corner house.
Whew! Those brand new little legs just booked. I was so disappointed. After all that and we didn’t even hardly get to enjoy them : ( Miss Honey never returned to her nest and the rest of the eggs were left. We waited for a couple of weeks because no one here had the heart to discard the remainder of the eggs. We made Tyler do it. He wasn’t very happy with us….
Eventually Miss Honey’s 3 babies were big enough to be transferred behind us in the lake. She would proudly swim by me with her kids when I would stand on the dock. As a Mom it was hard for me to understand the whole “leaving the eggs thing”… sometimes nature is complicated.
So, what are the chances she comes back? It’s April, I guess we’ll have to wait and see <3
