March 11


A few weeks ago Joyce asked me when the mallard couple shows up in the spring.  I told her I thought it was as early as late March, but, at least this year, I saw them for the first time March 11.   They made themselves at home and soon had the water muddied up all the around the island.  They don’t pay me any mind.  On Tuesday I donned waders and started the process of cleaning up the winter’s accumulation of dead cattails.  Instead of just the two, a drake and a hen, there were two drakes.  Neither drake was skittish as wild ducks usually are, which made me wonder if one of the drakes was an offspring of the pair.  Anyway it was nice to have their company.

Jill and her girls arrived Wednesday before noon, having started their trip early to avoid the traffic on the way out of Dallas.  Kari and her crew had gone to Denver for a volleyball tournament over the weekend and stayed an extra day or two to see the sights.  They didn’t get home until about six o’clock so the Wylie girls had to cool their heals all afternoon waiting for their Cousin Rebecca.  Since then the foursome has been going non-stop.  Thursday afternoon we went for a hike at Wildcat Bluff.  It was a warm afternoon and we were thankful for what little breeze there was.  It was pleasant to go down in the man cave to watch a movie and eat ice cream when we got home.

Friday we visited several sites; steam engine #5000, a relic of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad that used to pass through Amarillo, refurbished ol’ Tex Randal in Canyon and the Cadillac ranch.  You might not believe the number of travelers stopping to walk out to the half-buried Cadillacs and maybe do a little spray painting or take each other’s picture in proximity to this monument to someone with more money than sense.  Cheap entertainment, I suppose.

Saturday the fearless foursome set up a lemonade stand and generated over $100 for Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.  It was a nice day for it and though their little stand didn’t generate much traffic, it did attract some generous folks willing to contribute to a good cause.

Chris continues his jihad against the reproductive rights of the neighborhoods cats.  He must be up to eight, give or take.

After working on removing last year’s cattails out of the section of the pond on the south side of the island on Tuesday, yesterday I noticed two blobs of frog eggs.  They could be toad eggs but here’s hoping they are frogs.  Nothing against toads, but frogs are more fun.  That part of the pond is shallow and gets the most sun so I’m wondering if those are requirements for hatching tadpoles.  Other parts of the pond are deeper and get less sun and consequently the water would be cooler which could be unsuitable for a successful hatch.  We don’t know if ducks eat frog eggs but it seems to me that they would be like caviar to them.  I put a piece of chicken wire over each cluster hoping to avoid them being gobbled up.

We’ve had a string of nice days.  The warmer weather is welcome as long as it doesn’t overdo it.  Some rain would be nice, nothing to speak of for the last three or four weeks.