bob and mary have left

at least for today. they are the ducks that reside in the pond behind my father in law's house. it is a regular venture for us to take bread out back and feed them til they wander off full. usually they start swimming over the minute they spot us in the backyard. today when avery and i headed out there armed with what seemed like half a loaf of bread, nothin! we waited, called to em and avery so sweetly yelled, "hey, ducks, c'mere. bread! food!" of course, all in toddlerspeak but they've never had a problem understanding in the past. she even called bob by name. and still nothing.

at one point i though i had spotted them but they coolly swam under a tree, ignoring us. i really don't think it was them or maybe i wondered if we offended them. yeah, that thought crossed my mind.

i also thought that maybe there was a falling out in coupledom. for months it's always been what i think is one male and one female. shawn enlightened us with "either the girl or boy duck has a little curled feather on this rear". thanks shawn, for clearing that up. but one did have it and the other did not. well, last time we were out there, they came a'visitin' and lo and behold, two ducks with two curled feathers on their rear. so either, there has a been a little "swapping" going on or somebody had a bad visit to the ducky salon. but that led me to think that maybe things weren't working out and they've moved on.

hopefully i'm wrong. we've got lots of stale bread...

sim