Dear Olivia,

I know you might not see this for a while, 'cause you're busy taking a long drive, but I wanted to show you a picture of your favorite duckie-baybies, Cinderella and Mermaid:

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/3570/dscn5536rp5.jpg
3 mama ducks with 3 nestfuls hatched, smallest ones on Saturday, during storm.

We had a BIG ol' storm go by the past few days, named Tropical Storm Arthur.

During the storm, one duck mama hatched her babies, and today the ducklings came out of the nest for the FIRST time.

In the picture above, they are standing behind Choco's babies (your pals Cinderella and Mermaid) and also behind Belladonna's babies.

so, in the picture, you can see three different sets of ducklings, tiny new ones hiding in the back (look close!) middle-sized ones hatched last week, and two BIG babies (Cinderella and Mermaid) in front.

I hope you have a safe and fun trip, Olivia, and a happy day today!

lol, they're WATCHING me with eagle-eyes !!

picture me, squatting down in the slippery mud, clutching a pailful of chicken eggs, bags of corn and cabbage in my left hand, while trying to hold the umbrella, AND the camera at the same time.

I think they were LAUGHING at me !!

like: "Neener neener, lady! WE have FEATHERS and you don't !!"

Good afternoon, Olivia, honey-child !!

How are you today?

Things are well here in the jungle.

This morning, 9 baby ducklings hatched to Mama Tricia...

First, here's one baby duckling that had a ROUGH time.

it couldn't hatch all the way out of its shell, so we had to HELP it a little bit.

we dipped the duckie's bottom in nice warm water, and loosened the shell stuck to its butt.

then, we held it, wrapped in towels, while it dried and fluffed all out.

and HERE IT IS:

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6646/dscn5625qw6.jpg

and here's the duckling's brothers and sisters, all coming out to play, with their Mama:

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/4748/dscn5636uq9.jpg

Olivia, do you remember your old pals, Mermaid and Cinderella?

well, they're almost TEENAGERS (in the world of ducks)

so, they're almost half as big as their MOM now...

and here they are... I took this picture of Mermaid and Cinderella today:

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/9940/dscn5634uc3.jpg

here's Cinderella (but I'm not sure if it's going to turn out to be Cinderfellah yet.)

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/6232/dscn5631jq8.jpg

(Mermaid is the WHITE duck, on the farthest left, and Cinderella is in the center)

here's Choco, (Mermaid and Cinderella's mom), with an earlier clutch of ducklings last year...

the babies behind her are Thelma and Louise, lol !!

http://kayleon.ourbelize.net/pictures/DSCN2905.JPG

Hello there - OLIVIA !!

I've got some Wok-Woks for you today, sweetie...

Here's Mama Tricia, who brought her ducklings out to PLAY today:

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/1639/dscn5683dg4.jpg
Mama Trisha is named after our very own TK (lovely, graceful, and camera-shy)

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/5369/dscn5673sn2.jpg
it's VERY hard to take pictures of these duckies, as they move around a lot

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/7581/dscn5689yz0.jpg
after I spent an hour sitting in the nursery, Trish finally started to relax

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/8294/dscn5672zc7.jpg
Mama Trish is VERY protective of her beautiful little duckling babies, lol!

Olivia, we're going to have lots and lots of babies very soon!!

:D :winky: :D

This morning during my rounds, I counted FOURTEEN ducky-moms sitting on nestfuls of eggs...

four in the Duck House, two under the tree by the pond, four by the rabbit cages, one next to the cement bags - hiding under the tarp, and one enterprising mom who built her nest behind a tire, leaning up against a TREE, over by the guesthouse, and two in boxes under the guesthouse.

plus, ten chickens have gone broody (but I ain't a-reachin' underneath to see what they got, I leave that to my honey, the chickens like him better, lol!)

anyway, here's a few of the moms who posed for my camera this morning:

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6814/dscn5691gu7.jpg
one of the four moms in the Duck House, sitting on nests.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7152/dscn5693sr9.jpg
another ducky-mom in the Duck House

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/6008/dscn5628yl9.jpg
duck in the chicken boxes... silly girl!

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/5992/dscn5692dp4.jpg
cranky momma hisses at me... "Go away, I'm BUSY, you fool!"

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/926/dscn5639eh2.jpg
nestboxes aren't GOOD enough for some enterprising ducks!

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/1783/dscn5640hz4.jpg
Amelio holds back the tarp, to show me his discovery...

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/2543/dscn5690bq2.jpg
one mama-duck sleeping away the morning on her eggs...

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/5497/dscn5669ii5.jpg
Choco-latte on her nest in the nursery

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6517/dscn5647iw8.jpg
three broody chickens, sitting on only-mi-esposo-knows-what...

I love the pictures Kay! They're awesome.

I am also very honored to have a duck in Belize named after me. Now, if I could figure out a way that Mama Tricia and I could trade places so I can go snorkeling. lol.

LOL Not to fear I transported Olivias wok wok wallpaper to Arkansas with us! She loves the new Mermaid and Cinderella pics!!

oh my goodness, it's not a good idea to go snorkeling during hurricane season, honey!

and we're three hours inland from the Caribbean, 'cause that makes me feel safer from the storms.

better to come in the fall, or winter, it's wonderful then.

* * *

didja notice that Mama-Trisha has MUD all over her beak?

she's a funny girl, isn't she?

she's been trying to dig her way OUT of the nursery, 'cause she's SHY and doesn't want all those chickens and geese peeking in at her, she wants to take her babies and go hide in the bushes...

she doesn't understand that there's wildcats, poison toads, boa constrictors, tarantulas, scorpions, and WORSE out there in the brush...

the nursery is for her own (and her babies) protection...

so I was singing a little Queen to her, to get her to mellow out and trust me a bit:

You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Wavin' your feathers
All over the place

:D:):D