In the Family Way

no, not that way, but it got your attention didn't it?  haha!  well, she is back!

you may recall we have been a foster family to ducks before which we talked about here as well as on the DailyBoxer.  what i never did post was that our first adventure in 2007 (over on the DailyBoxer) did not end well - after 8 eggs mama abandoned the "nest" & Nacho had to take care of the eggs for me (no there was no omelet).  but we all learned from it (us and the ducks i hope) and our next two hostings in 2008 & 2009 were much more successful.
the last time we had guests, was 2009 & every year we anxiously wait to see if a mama, any mama, will return.  this year we got our wish - last Friday i saw a mama hanging out on our dock & just knew she was either house hunting or had settled in. she'd begun settling in by the looks of mulch all over the dock & the center of the planter dug out.  this was starting out a lot like 2007 & that concerned me.  but as i said before, we've all learned alot! so with that experience in hand, i did a little renovating to this year's rental unit.
we started with this little one bedroom number

i knew right away, based on the 2007 pot, this was not going to be big enough. when you go to your local nursery & ask to buy a planter that isn't for sale & they don't flinch a bit when you tell them why, but instead they offer it up for free, well you know you've got a partner in crime.  Picket Fence was kind enough to let me pay for this galvanized tub - i cannot thank you all enough!

now we are getting somewhere!  the new digs were looking more like this on Friday.

by Saturday, they were looking like this

a little hard to see but there are 2 eggs in there.  we think she has since laid at least 2 more.  her house got  a little beaten up today because we've had some pretty intense wind all day & out there on the dock, that tub is the only protection - i hope she has renter's insurance.  but mama duck is still hanging with us.  fingers crossed we will have a little family soon - whether we get to see them move on like before, who knows, but i will settle for mama just making it all the way this time.

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