Camera Not-here-a

The other day, Hubby, the boys and I were running errands, and our final stop before heading home was Costco. Everyone's fave, right? Darn, I wish I'd seen those hanging fuchsia baskets before Hubby got to the checkout lane.

Anyway, as we were driving away, we passed a lot that is quite swampy, and Hubby pointed out a beautiful red wing blackbird sitting on a fence post, with it's wings all puffed out. "Aww! Pretty!" I said. I really do like it when Hubby shows his "sensitive side" like that.

Just a few minutes later, Hubby stopped quickly in the middle of the road, behind another car also stopped short. I gave him a questioning look, and he said, to me and the boys in the back, "Look at the duck and the ducklings!" Sure enough, a mama duck was leading her little ducklings across the road in front of the car in front of us. Very "Make Way for Ducklings". This time I said, "Awww! Cute!" Then I asked Hubby if he remembered the names of the ducklings I had as a child. (He's heard this story probably 22,000 times, but you never know if he's actually listening when my gums start flapping.) Amazingly enough, he said, "Uh, Flebster and Webster." I graced him with my widest smile and another, "Awww!"

I'd forgotten about these bird watching in the car incidents until this afternoon, when I pulled up to the bus stop to wait for Hutton. I looked over at the fence across the street and saw a beautiful bird with a scarlet throat, and wondered what it was. Then another bird of the same species flew up and they were "talking" to each other. I tried to take a picture with my cell phone, but they were too far to get a good shot, and they flew off when I got out of my car. So, I'll have to throw in some random pics I found online to illustrate, since I didn't have a camera for any of the above stories. Well, except for this:

Yep, those are the amazing Flebster and Webster in the cage my dad made for them, before they were big enough to be released in our pond. (There were snapping turtles that would get the little ducklings.) And check out that cool feathering action on 8-year-old Laura's hair! (But please ignore the tight lavender pants pulled up a bit too high.) Flebster and Webster (yes, I came up with those names myself!) were Rouen ducks, and they followed my around in the yard wherever I went. Awww! I miss them.

~~~~~~~~~~
While looking for photos to add to this entry, I found this not-so-lovely story. Jeez.