Weekend complete

[altivo]

Well, except for dessert.

Spinners' newsletter edited and released. Heatwave subsided Saturday afternoon and today was a normal weather day for July. Tess got to go out into the drought-stricken pasture for a few hours and hunt for anything green that might have survived. Screech owls still visiting at dawn and dusk. Still no rain.

From scratch buttermilk waffles this morning. Created homemade pizza for dinner tonight, and baked a pie from a new recipe. "Old Fashioned Sour Cream Raisin Pie" is actually a custard pie made with eggs, sour cream, sugar, and raisins. (Can you guess I'm trying to use up eggs? Three ducks laying daily is too productive.)

Comments

[lhexa]

Can you guess I'm trying to use up eggs? Three ducks laying daily is too productive.

You could leave them, thus encouraging the local mustelae. :P

[altivo]

I'd rather encourage the local mustelids to eat mice and chipmunks, of which we have a superabundance this year. The weasels and stoats are as likely to kill the ducks as they are to steal the eggs, and that isn't a desirable outcome either.

We have seen a mom fox and her kit fleeing from a raid on the neighbors' henhouse a couple of years ago. Mom had a whole chicken in her mouth, and the kit was carrying an egg. Alas, this year no foxes. I think a distemper epidemic in the area wiped them out, though we still have plenty of raccoons and skunks. Our duck yard is constructed to be fox and raccoon resistant, but weasels could squeeze through the welded wire fencing easily enough.

Fuck Ducks

[lhexa]

Mustelae (it's a term, just not a common one) dig for prey, making heatwaves worse for them. They have a high metabolism, making heatwaves worse for them. They often hunt by scent, making heatwaves worse for them. Meanwhile, the ducks are slurping all the nutrients out of your... pond, I guess?... and converting them into eggs. This is why it's dangerous to domesticate ducks.

(Sorry for the burst of family pride, I returned to Austin last night to find this sign. I'm a bit rattled.)

Re: Fuck Ducks

[altivo]

Our ducks are not in a pond. (Ducks and geese like to swim but do not need to do so.) They have two large rubber water containers that we keep topped up with well water, and we feed them vegetable scraps (peels, spoiled leaves, etc.) by shredding them and floating them on the water. They also eat bugs, slugs, and grubs that enter their pen. The egg producing duck breeds are as efficient as chickens, and much easier to care for and feed. They also tolerate a much wider variation in climate. They bathe in the drinking water "dishes" which are about 2 feet in diameter, and jump in even in the winter. Brrr.

I am happy to tolerate or even assist native wildlife such as the weasels, skunks, and foxes. But that doesn't extend to making it easy for them to take my own food supply.

Re: Fuck Ducks

[lhexa]

And, all of a sudden I'm impressed instead of annoyed. Unfortunately, I've seen many an urban pond slowly turned into a cesspool by ducks. -_-

As for the foxes, the chickens have been winning that particular war since the early Renaissance. :( Always good to see that the old traditions survive, though.