Looks like a Duck, Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck....Must be a duck!

We have seen a lot of ducks on our lake over the last few weeks.

Some are shy and I have a hard time, even using my zoom lens to capture them before they fly away.

I don't know what kind of ducks this mother duck and babies are, because I couldn't get close enough to see their markings. But the mom's head has fuzzy feathers.

If your screen is wide enough, you will see the mom in the next two shots...as I used landscape on the camera for a wider photo.

Look at this beautiful family of ducks:

She has seven babies...which is great..usually I only see them with five survivors:

This female mama mallard comes by our dock and bay almost every day:

She often brings her frisky babies with her and swims right up to the dock, begging for food.

Look at the drop of water dripping from her beak!:




Here is a closeup of one of her babies....this one still has the fuzzy, downy feathers on it!:
Look at the water droplets on his back...(they are pretty waterproof. Thus the saying: Like water running off a duck's back!):





This is the Mama Mallard again...she had an itch that just needed to be scratched.
Ahhhhh....a little to the right...............

On the lookout, protecting her babies:

(See her beautiful blue side feather?):

One of her downy babies, splashing about by the dock:

"What?", she's saying. "Aren't you done taking my picture YET?"

"The LEAST you can do is give me food for my work, then! Have YOU tried to take care of seven baby ducks on this huge lake? It's hard you know!:

We have a routine now, on the nice evenings.

We have dinner and go down and sit on the pontoon, overlooking the lake and take in the lovely summer breezes.

It isn't long before she spots us, and here they all come, swimming up fast and making little quacking noises for food.

Sometimes we bring bread crumbs down and reward them. Other times, I keep apologizing to them saying that we have none, and she gives me that LOOK (like the last photo). You know, the look that makes me feel reallllllll guilty for not bringing them food everytime.

But she forgives me, and comes back again and again.

They then swim in the grass right beside the dock and eat in there for 15 minutes and then swim away. At least we always have the "salad" bar there for them.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree, OR: A Close Encounter of the Love Sick Bird Kind

For those readers out there who have heard the Christmas song: "The Twelfth Day of Christmas" where they say "and a partridge in a pear tree...." and wondered what the heck they were talking about, this is the blog post for you today.

We were out on our usual jaunt in the woods looking for photos and my husband puts on the brakes of the truck and says two words I LOVE to hear: Look~! Partridge!

Here is what we saw:

A beautiful male partridge, otherwise known as a ruffed grouse.

So of course, I grab the camera and get out and get a little closer, using the zoom and get this nice photo of him. I was surprised at this point that he didn't fly away:

So, I decided to try to get a little closer. As I start to approach, I hear him making clucking noises at me. So.....of course:

I clucked back.

Evidently, this turned him on.

(After all, I was wearing red):

Did you see that puffed up neck? It is part of their danger AND mating signals.





Since he couldn't decide if I turned him on (or if I meant danger), he fanned out his tail, and headed into the side grass as I approached. (Maybe he thought he could lure me to a private spot!):

Where he immediately proceeded to continue to look proud, dance a little circle and puff up his neck some more. Must have still been looking for love:

Did it work? He asked.

Because I am trying my hardest to puff up my neck and its starting to hurt!:

Here is a (somewhat blurry) closeup of his efforts.

Yikes!:

I decided I better stop coo-ing and clucking at him, before he hurt himself.

He kept peeking out at me and talking.

So, I waited until he went deeper into the woods and then followed him in.

He kept cooing, and clucking.

I kept answering back.

He kept peeking at me through the grass.

I kept laughing.

We finally had to go.

This will be my last memories of him:

Until fall , that is.

Because they are game birds for hunting here.

Did I mention they taste like chicken?????

Dumb State Laws: California!

Yes!
It is time, once again for Dumb State Laws discussion.

Up next:
The wonderful state of California!





Here are some of the dumb state laws still on the books in California, along with MY COMMENTS in bold italics, of course!:

1. Sunshine is guaranteed to the masses. (Well, isn't that special? They have made it a law that the sun shines. Wonder if God, or Mother Nature for that matter....knew about this? Who gets arrested if the state goes through a period of no sunshine?)

2. Animals are banned from mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship. (I am sure they know about this! When they are feeling a little "randy", they will just make sure they measure the distance from a tavern, school or place of worship with their toolbelt tape measure, so as not to get arrested.)

3. Bathhouses are against the law. (Must get a little stinky in California).

4. It is a misdemeanor to shoot at any kind of game from a moving vehicle, unless the target is a whale. (Oh....ok. I will make sure that I bring my whale gun. Because, you know...there are so many in cars driving by these days.)

5. Women may not drive in a house coat. (Well, hell. What about in those MUMU dealies? or in the nude....is that okay?)

6. No vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per hour. (So I gotta quit putting those bricks on the gas pedal and letting my car go....Then again...I can just set the car speedometer on 55 without a driver and all will be all right. Besides, there won't be a woman in a housecoat driving it, so it must be legal.)

Arcadia:
7. Peacocks have the right of way to cross any street, including driveways. (Well, of course they do. They are beautiful. All things beautiful have special rights in California, especially in Hollywood, right?)

Baldwin Park:
8. Nobody is allowed to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool. (Well, damn. There goes my plan for my next birthday party!)

Belvedere:
9. City Council order reads: “No dog shall be in a public place without its master on a leash. (It is imperative that mean Masters without rabies shots are kept on a leash. No one wants THEM going loose, endangering others.)

Blythe:
10. You are not permitted to wear cowboy boots unless you already own at least two cows. (Well, that seems reasonable, don't you think? After all, you shouldn't wear tennis shoes, unless you own two tennis courts (especially in California) right?)

Burlingame:
11. It is illegal to spit, except on baseball diamonds. (Of course you can spit in baseball diamonds....you wouldn't have any players, umpires or coaches otherwise!)

Cathedral City:
12. One may not bring their dog to school. (Dang! It is the only fun thing at school! How else will he learn to bark in French?)

Chico:
13. One must obtain a permit from the city to throw hay in a cesspool. (Well now I can't ride my bike in the pool on my birthday, and now the activities have to be cancelled too. It just isn't fair!)

14. It is illegal to own a green or smelly animal hide. (Better tell those starlets in Hollywood...do not, I repeat, do NOT wear a green mink!)

15. Bowling on the sidewalk is illegal. (There goes my backup plan for the birthday party activities. No throwing hay in a cesspool and now THIS!)

16. Detonating a nuclear device within the city limits results in a $500 fine. (Who will be left to fine the person who does this? So...never mind...go ahead.)

Dana Point:
17. One may not use one’s own restroom if the window is open. (Well, so much for fresh air when it is needed the most. Must be a noise pollution law?)

Downey:
18. It is illegal to wash your car in the street. (You can't bowl on the street, and you can't wash your car! But if you want to get the permit to throw hay in the cesspool, as long as the cesspool is in the street, sounds like its a GO.)

El Monte:
19. Waitresses are not allowed to consume drinks bought by her customers. (Well now else are you supposed to get free doubles and a happy waitress? Now they are all going to be pissy.)

Eureka:
20. Persons may not sleep on a road. (Because someone may break the law and wash their car there and you may drown? Oh, wait a minute, maybe its because so many people are illegally bowling there. Yeah. That's it. No wait, it is because if you set your car under 60 miles per hour, it may be legal for the car to be driven without a driver...yeah. That's it.)

21. Men who wear moustaches are forbidden from kissing women. (Wow, there will be a lot less babies born in California, then. Is it okay for females to have the moustaches? Whew. Then, being postmenopasual: I am still okay.)

Fresno:
22. Permanent markers may not be sold in the city limits. (They are probably being purchased by females so they can draw mustaches on all their ugly dates. Confused about this comment? Read #21 again.)

23. It is illegal to sell gasoline to a drunken person. (How about it being illegal to sell booze to a drunken person. Lets not forget THAT possibility, shall we? Oh yeah. Also, how about it making illegal for them to DRIVE. I mean, their car may still have a full tank yet, with lots of mileage in it to kill people.)

24. Elementary schools may not host poker tournaments. (First no dogs in school and now THIS? How else are they supposed to learn math????)

25. Getting drunk on a playground is against the law. (It is okay as long as you don't sell gas to any body else while there. Besides, how else are the teachers supposed to make it through their day?)

Glendale:
26. One may not take his dog on an elevator with him. (What if it is a seeing eye dog? Oh, I get it. THAT is why the elevator numbers are always written in braille.)

27. A person must be 18 years old to buy a wax container. (I've got nothin'? Maybe they don't want anyone younger than 18 to suffer a bikini wax due to the torture involved?)

28. It is illegal to jump into a passing car. (Must be legal to jump OUT of a passing car then? Maybe it has to do with that law about a driverless car not being able to go over 60 mph?)

29. Cars may not be driven in reverse. (Wow. A lot of people are driving in circles in California, then. That explains the freeway congestion!)

Hermosa Beach:
30. Public restrooms must be supplied with toilet paper. (Okay, I totally agree with this one. Go California!!)

31. No person may show his or her buttocks on a playground. (Well, I don't see why not...because of the toilet paper supply requirement, they will obviously be clean. Oh, I get it...it is because the teachers can't have alcohol on the playgrounds).

Hollywood:
32. It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time.
(That would be baaaaad. (Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!))

Indian Wells:
33. It is illegal for a trumpet player to play his instrument with the intention of luring someone to a store. (So the Pied Piper is still okay? Because that is a flute, right?)

34. Drinking intoxicating cement is prohibited. (I thought that Screwdriver was filling! Maybe they thought that is what gave them the hard abs?)

35. Fortelling the future for donations is illegal. ( I predict that there are no donations involved...they outright CHARGE people, now...no donations involved.)

Lodi:
36. It is illegal to shoot “silly string” at parade participants. (I refuse to go to the Rose Parade this year then. They are taking all the fun out of it).

Lompoc:
37. It is illegal to posses, own or raise roosters. (Too much cock a doodle doo going on in California, I guess. Going to be really hard to fertilize all the hen's eggs there!)

Long Beach:
38. Cars are the only item allowed in a garage. (Boy, I am so glad I don't live in Long Beach. I don't think most of us can fit our CAR into the garage!)

39. It is illegal to curse on a mini-golf course. (It would be impossible for me to play, then!)

Los Angeles:

40.It is illegal for a man to beat his wife with a strap wider than 2 inches without her consent. (Well , obviously the wife beaters are unaware of this. The next time he starts up, I hope they quote this little jewel to him. I am sure he will cease.)

41. You cannot bathe two babies in the same tub at the same time. (The Octomom is in bigggggg trouble. So is Kate.)

42. You may not hunt moths under a street light. (Again: they keep ruining my birthday activity plans!)

43. It is illegal to cry on the witness stand. (Yes. Forget that they murdered your entire family, burned down your house and violated your Grandma. Stiff upper lip!)

44. Toads may not be licked. (Shit! Just kiss them to find your prince...no licking, do you hear me?)

45. It is a crime for dogs to mate within 500 yards of a church. (We already knew this from the other one way up above. Gheesh. They seem up tight about animal copulation. Didn't they read the Bible where is says: Go forth and mulitiply??)

46. Zoot suits are prohibited. (Does the Godfather know this? So much for my costume party.)

Norco:
47. All persons wishing to keep a rhinoceros as a pet must obtain a $100 license first. (Silly, you didn't know this? And don't be throwing their dirty hay in the cesspool either! I think you can wash him on the street, though...unlike your car).

Ontario:
48. Roosters may not crow in the city limits. (What is it and California and roosters? Its rooster discrimination, I tell you! Besides, has anyone TOLD the roosters about this law?)

Pacific Grove:
49. It is illegal to molest butterflies. (Oh Boy. If a guy has small enough "equipment", I say...go for it!)

Palm Springs:
50. It is illegal to walk a camel down Palm

Canyon Drive between the hours of four and six PM.
(Shriners: remember this when you come to the next convention in Palm Springs!)

Pasadena:
51. It is illegal for a secretary to be alone in a room with her boss. (Did Monica Lewinski know this? Never mind...that was Washington D.C.! Besides she wasn't his secretary...just an intern!)
(Did anyone else notice that the law assumes the boss is a MAN? Humph.)

Portola:
52. It is illegal to fish from an overpass in the city. (You will undoubtedly run out of lures and fishing line anyway.. I mean the way they speed? Look Harry, I hooked that Corvette...ooooh.....woops!)

53. No person may carry a fish into a bar. (Okay. That's it. rooster and fish discrimination is going on in our country. Right in California! Something has to be done about this, people!)

Prunedale:
54. Two bathtubs may not be installed in the same house. (With a name like Prunedale, they are going to not only enforce the toilet paper thing, but they better revoke this one. We need Prunedale to make sure they allow more bathtubs for cleaner bottoms!)

Riverside:
55. One may not carry a lunch down the street between 11 and 1 o’clock. (Isn't that lunch time?
So much for carryout at McDonalds!)

San Diego:
56. It is illegal to shoot jackrabbits from the back of a streetcar. (Well, they may not respect roosters, butterflies and fish in California, but at least they respect rabbits!)

57. The owners of houses with Christmas lights on them past February second may be fined up to $250. (Go California. I am WITH them on this one. The lazy bastards should remove them by then! If I have to freeze my ass up north to take them down by then, then THEY should be made to do so too!)

San Francisco:
58. Prohibits elephants from strolling down Market Street unless they are on a leash. (Right beside the camels, evidently).

59. It is illegal to wipe one’s car with used underwear. (How about in Prunesdale? Oh, I get it. That would be dirty underwear, due to the no-2-bathtubs-in-any-house rule). (Besides, you can't get much cleaning mileage out of a thong).

60. Persons classified as “ugly” may not walk down any street. (I see less and less people strolling the streets these days, how about you?)

61. It is illegal to pile horse manure more than six feet high on a street corner. (Shit.)
( Exactly!)

62. Giving or receiving oral sex is prohibited. (Hooo Boy. Does anyone know this? Especially in San Francisco? And, who wants to start enforcing THIS one!?)

Temecula:
63. Ducks have the right of way to cross Rancho California

St. (But evidently, not roosters! Bird discrimination, bird discrimination!!!)

Walnut:
64. Ice cream men must obtain a license before selling any ice cream from their car. (Come here, pretty lady. I've got something for you.......)

65. Males may not dress as a female unless a special permit is obtained from the sheriff. (Cross dressers beware!!!! Again, in California...this law would be unenforeable, folks! Besides, wasn't Tootsie filmed there?)

Whew! That was the most laws in my series of dumb states thus far!
I am going alphabetically, so if your state is after California, be prepared. Your state will be discussed soon......

Useless Facts and Trivia: Volume 10

It has been a while since I posted any more "Useless Facts and Trivia" for you, so here is the next installment. (Along with MY COMMENTS in bold italics).

1. Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor. (I have NO COMMENT on this one. No matter what I say, it will get me into trouble. However, I will say...wouldn't history had been different, had she done so?)

2. Walt Disney was afraid of mice. (Man, Mickey and Minnie Mouse should've known this when it was time to renew their contracts!)

3. The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing their hands in jelly. (Wonder how they came up with THAT idea? Wonder how much the people who squished jelly got paid to do it? Wonder if they will say to their grandkids: I was in the movie, E.T....I was the jelly squisher. Just listen!)

4. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated. (That explains that rubbery lunchmeat I was chewing on the other day. Man, I thought Oscar Mayer was putting fillers in their bolgona!)

5. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

(I knew they gave one gas when you eat them, so now I understand completely!)


6. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. (I'm not going to figure this one out. The thought just gives me a headache!)

7. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing. (Who studies this stuff? What if you are a "hunt and peck" type of typer? Does this mean that your left finger pecks 56% more than your right finger? Then that means your right pecker is 44% i idle. Yeah, go ahead and giggle....I said PECKER!)

8. There are more chickens than people in the world. (If we are not careful, they will take over....no more KFC's....we need to double up our orders on chicken

sandwiches, people!! Now, get the cluck out of here and eat more chicken!)

9. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
(Any comments, those of you from New Jersey??? I've got nothing.) (Sound of crickets chirping).

10. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."

(I KNOW you are dying to walk away from your computer, go into your co-worker's cubicle or where your family is and ask them, right now..."what is the longest one-syllable word in the English language...... Go ahead......... I'll wait. )

(I always thought it was the word "love"...you know..when you get up the courage to tell someone for the FIRST time that you love them...isn't it hard to get out that one syllable word??? ...."You know, Joe....I really want to tell you that I l....,

I lo.....

I lov.....

I mean I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeee you.")

(Sweat beads forming on forehead, waiting for response).

Hope you enjoyed this installment of Useless Facts and Trivia.

Oh.

There will be more.....

RIBBIT....RIBBIT.....

As mentioned before, we have been exploring the woods lately.

Especially ponds.

This year, we have seen a multitude of turtles and frogs. Or maybe toads. Who can tell me how to tell frogs from toads?

I just know that you gotta kiss a lot of frogs/toads? before you find a prince. Since I already found my prince, I am not going to worry about it! :-}

So today's post is a tour of the frogs/toads? we have seen over the last week.

Let's make it simple...for simplicity, I am going to call them all frogs from now on in this post.

First, for those of you that have never seen a tadpole, here you go:

The photo isn't dirty, the pond was a soupy color, full of all kinds of goodies that frogs live in:

We spotted this little guy swimming under the pond's water:

And then we found this bright green frog:

Wanting to also get in the blog, this little guy swam up pretty close to me. Aren't they supposed to be afraid of giants armed with cameras? Maybe he heard that I was going to make him famous by putting him on a blog. Now I get it! He was a Kermit-wanna-be:

This one was sunning on a big rock in the middle of the pond. Who could blame him on a nice summer day?:





This one THOUGHT he was hiding from me. Thank goodness for zoom lens!:

Another shot of the lime green one, with a friend. I am afraid the one on the left does not win any beauty contests in my opinion. Perhaps a nose job?:

But here, is the King of all Frogs. He is the prettiest one I saw all day. And he knew it.

He let me take about 10 shots of him really close and only blinked at me as if to say: Are you done yet???:

We saw more turtles, a deer and yikes!...a snake (!) on the same day out in the woods.

I will post those pictures in a few days.

Oh yeah...we also saw a partridge doing a mating dance (just for me!) and a turkey vulture too.

Wow...I've got some more blog posts to get ready for you!

So much to do....so little time.....

Another trip in the woods...

As I mentioned in an earlier blogpost, we took a trip a few days ago in the woods.

When we went there, we saw so many things I wanted to photograph, so I did. And I kept them for future posts.

So, today I thought I would share some more shots I got out on our trip.

When we first pulled up beside this pond, I looked across it and saw EIGHT big turtles on a log, sunning themselves! They were spread out, so I could only photograph a few at a time on the log:

Here is a closer look at one of them:

Here are the ones on the other half of the log:

And this single one, on another log!:





This is what we commonly refer to as a "picker bush" because of its thorns. But up close, it is kind of pretty. Look at the spider web tangled up in it:

This is a little river we saw out in the middle of the woods:

And a frog I saw in the middle of the lily pads:

I went to take a picture of the daisy and a BIG BUG landed on it!:

And, as we drove down a wood's road, we saw this adorable cabin (in the middle of nowhere!):

Here is a closeup of the horns over the door! I think they are moose horns:

Here is a beautiful butterfly I saw (or is it a moth, Ratty?):

We call this a "devil's paintbrush"...they are considered weeds to most people...but look how pretty it is up close:

Here, is another shot of some. I love the deep orange colors of them:

We saw some more wildlife both on that trip and on the lake, so I will be posting more in the next week or so....

Guess what we did yesterday!?

Guess what we did yesterday????

Take a walk though my photos, and soon you will see......

What is THIS???

Nope, we weren't out on a search party.

Or wait.

Maybe we WERE.....

I loved this picture of a little boy, doing what we were about to do...

Ok.

Now you know.

Look at the haul this little girl made!

YUM!!

So off to the field we went.

My hubby bent down, lifted up the leaves and LOOK

what he found!:

Oh Yeah.

We ate some in the field.

I THINK that's allowed, isn't it?

Before long, we picked 10 quarts.

Well, SOME of us did.

SOME of us were taking pictures, eating strawberries and putting one or two in the containers...

Here is another shot of them hiding on the vine. Drooling yet?








How about NOW?

It really didn't take too long to pick 10 quarts. Now the work begins. Later today, I will be making homemade jam and biscuits for strawberry shortcake.

Its a rough life to be retired, but someone has to do it!! :-}