The last few days have been...not busy, but full. Monday I spent most of the day working on a dress. In the late evening, I saw that one of the ducklings wasn't standing up. (S)he died in my hands around midnight. I went out and sat on the front steps for a couple hours.
Next morning I buried Jamie next to Helen and Josie. Then, since I now had only one duckling, I went to the store and bought two more. The chick wasn't too happy with its new siblings. They are twice its size. I continued working on my dress.
Today I woke up and promptly had to clean dog poop out of my carpet. Oh, Annie... Eva
never did this. Well, then the room smelled like cleaner, so I opened the window. The hot air came pouring in. It was going to be another sizzling day.
With high temp of at least 100F, I was content to stay inside and finish that dress. And finally it was done - almost. I have to hem the zipper flap and tack in the shoulder pads. Then I went to the store, only to find that most things on the list were not available. I came home, started dinner, and went for a run. This time I did 1.60 miles in 10 minutes. A year ago I could have never imagined running that far, especially in 85F!
Of the ducklings, I
think I have two girls and a boy, judging from how vocal they are. So I've named them (tentatively) Susie and Sally, and the boy is Sylvester. The chick is assumed to be a girl until proven otherwise, and is called Marta.
The dress
Sky tonight
Eva and Annie enjoying the creek after a long hot walk
A bit of humor during that sad night:
I had everyone up in my room. I was holding the dying duckling, while the other one and the chick played on the dogs' cooling mat. Annie was lying next to me. So was Eva, but she was more interested in the chick. Anyway, so the remaining duck got bored and it would run up to Annie, pull her whiskers, and run away again as fast as possible. Then it'd do it again a few minutes later. Annie's expressions were priceless! Here they're just being friends.
Oh, and Constance? She came running down from the high places and lies in wait for a luckless bird to get too close. Then,
swat! (She's declawed, arthritic, and can't hurt a fly). You can see her behind Annie.
Annie in mid-jump
Lucy
Proud mamma (though I doubt she knows about her kid) Lydwinne
Eva saying hi to her friends at the petstore
An old statue of the Infant Jesus of Prague my mom inherited from my grandma a long, long time ago
Annie and Eva
Betsy Lee