Ducks and Pitbull

Oh hey, Blogger's working. Geeze, way to find a new way to get on my nerves, Blogger. #shakesfist

So, this past Sunday was Pitbull's last day with us. It was... sad. I tried so hard not to get attached to him, but he's just so damned cute. Worse yet, I thought I'd be able to say goodbye to him and go to sleep so when I woke up, he'd be gone, but no dice. I was the one who had to give him away. He seemed happy enough, all ready to go on a car ride with a couple of strangers. I gave him away, said goodbye, wandered up to my room, and cried myself to sleep.

Another sad thing is that Nuba hasn't been able to get in touch with his new owner since I'd given him to her. Nuba's left messages, but hasn't gotten any replies. I'm afraid it's because he's such a terrible dog that the new owner is having trouble with him and doesn't want to say anything. But then, I'm a pessimist who likes to pretend she's a realist.

I had grabbed my camera early that morning to take some last pictures of him.

I'm happy he's gone. Really I am. He was just so stupid, he wouldn't learn anything. He'd always destroy something or use the floor as a bathroom. Piddle papers were useless with him as he'd tear them to shreds. And taking him out on a leash results in twenty minutes of you standing there while he's flipped over on his back, trying to chew on said leash. Every time you'd walk in to the kitchen you'd have to clean up his bathroom break. And he almost chewed through a bar on one of our chairs. Geeze.

Yeah, you see the bar that's going across his chest there? And the other bar that's connected to the other leg on the right? You can see the beginnings of the spot he destroyed and almost chewed through.

At the same time... he was real cute. And as I've established, though maybe not on the blog before, looks apparently go a long way with me. Ha. I'll be watching some movie about some gosh awful character, but all I'll really notice is how cute the actor is. Pitbull was too damned cute.

Another upside to him being gone? Ducks.

A few weeks ago... a couple friends and I went to play on the playground near my house. We noticed three ducks - two boys and one girl. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to catch a duck, we left them alone.

Days after that first encounter, I noticed all three of them in my backyard. MY backyard! I'm fairly certain, at that time, that our house was the only one in the vicinity with a damned dog we'd let out. And so the ducks choose our backyard to hang in??? I saw them, more than once, flying away at top speed due to Pitbull. Dumb ducks.

And then Sunday came. I was talking to my mom in the kitchen, and she let Pitbull out and left the door open for some air. I hear a rush of feathers taking off, and it sounded very close. So I went to investigate. Naturally, I assumed it was a duck, and I wasn't surprised to see the duck was not there. But then I noticed Pitbull hovering awfully close to a spot he'd been hanging around for days, and I got curious. When I realized what that spot was, I picked Pitbull up, and took him inside. He didn't like that, he started squirming and attacked me. See the bumps on my hand from the attack? ha.

But I couldn't let him go, there were eggs.

I counted ten. Not including one I had originally assumed Pitbull removed from the nest.

From the research I did immediately upon finding out there were eggs, this lone egg will die. I can't put it back in the nest, else the duck might decide the eggs were tampered with and abandon them all, leaving them all to die.

Really? REALLY?!?? You get chased out of our yard MULTIPLE TIMES and so you decide that our yard is the prime place for a nest?! Dumbass duck. Why are all these animals so stupid?? 

The other day, my mom and Nuba had been looking outside to check on the nest, and determined it was "gone". All they could see were feathers. Which, scared me, because I was guesstimating that the eggs wouldn't be hatching for at least another 2-3 weeks. But I looked out and the duck was still there...

so I'm assuming she's covered the eggs with feathers or something. I explained to my mum and Nuba that the momma duck leaves for a bit every day for food and water.

Another frightening thought: according to research, a duck takes 1-2 days to lay an egg. There were at least eleven eggs. (including the lone one) So this duck had been there for 11-22 days?! This NEST had been there for 11-22 days?! And NO ONE NOTICED IT?! Just Pitbull. Seriously? I couldn't find an average amount of eggs a duck lays, so I don't know if the eggs I counted are all that she's laid or if she's made more since. I do not know if the lone egg was the only lone egg around, but I think it was. However, I no longer think it was Pitbull who moved it.

Yesterday, I opened the screen to see if the duck was still there, (actually, I was hoping it had gone off for food, so that I could check to see if I could see any eggs in the nest) and I saw another lone egg, just a couple feet from the first lone egg. So... now I'm wondering if the duck is the one who's moving her eggs. And if so, how's she choosing the ones to go? I can't imagine it's something else that's moving the eggs.

Eh.