EVERYTHING IS DUCKY ~~ FALL IS LEAVING US (LEAFING US?) ~~ A NEW ADDITION ~~ PARTING SHOT

EVERYTHING IS DUCKY

Last week we ran out of sunflower seeds and cracked corn for our bird feeders. A short trip to Walmart was in order to stock up. Since it has been getting pretty cold over the last few weeks, we decided to once again buy some cracked corn for the birdies at the park. We left Walmart and stopped off at Randal Park on the way back home. We cut a hole in the 40 pound bag of cracked corn, and distributed it around the feeding area by dragging it across the ground. I thought it might be fun to put it out in a spiral, and that worked out pretty good for my pictures.

Fall is spiraling down

The mallards saw us as soon as we got out of the truck and they made a bee-line over to where we were. Before we could even finish getting the corn distributed, they were on it like nobody's business. It is so satisfying to watch them gobble up the corn and make that little ducky sound they make, kind of like a duck-purr. You might be able to hear them in the video below (taken with my phone so the quality isn't all that good). You can see that huge goose running over in the background, coming late to the party.

I overheard these two below talking (I speak duck, you know.) He was taking credit for the cracked corn, claiming he had "taken her out to dinner." The nerve of that guy!

A gourmet meal

FALL IS LEAVING US (LEAFING US?)

This past Sunday Linda and I took a little trip outside the Yakima city limits in search of the Ahtanum Mission Park. I had seen some photos of this nice little park in one of my Facebook groups, so I wanted us to go check it out. Alas, it was closed for the winter. So, next Spring we will have a new place to visit and hopefully get some great pictures.

Since it was on the way back home, we stopped off at Randal Park to take a short walk. We parked at the other end from the pond, so we walked down to the little creek that runs alongside the park. There wasn't much happening there, but you could see that Fall is in its final days here in Yakima.

Linda took the next two pictures below. She has a good eye for seeing what makes a great picture.

Ice skating may be possible soon

She wanted to get a closeup of these dried berries, but we couldn't get her camera to focus on them. I think we need to read the manual on that camera! The berries were too pretty to pass up, so I got a photo of them anyway.

Back at home, there are also signs of Fall's imminent departure. Linda snapped this picture of one of our rose bushes in the front yard.

A NEW ADDITION

We have a new addition to our family! Let me introduce you to Zorro, our nephew. Linda's sister Wendy and her husband Robin have finally gotten a dog. He's a Labradoodle, a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Standard Poodle. We look forward to meeting him, but it will probably be next Spring before we get over there. In the meantime, I am enjoying all the photos I get of Zorro. Summer Girl approves because he is the "right" color. Just what we need, a Black Dog Ninja as well as three Black Cat Ninjas in the family! (Summer Girl, Oz, and Indigo)

Zorro, BDN

PARTING SHOT

Little Summer Girl had to take a trip to the vet this past week. She had gotten to where she didn't want to eat anything, so I crammed her little butt in the cat carrier and hauled her off to the vet on Tuesday. It turns out that she had some inflammation in her lungs that was making her not feel like eating, so the Doc gave her some shots and fluids and sent her on her way. As soon as she got back home she immediately went to her food bowl and ate...and ate...and ate. Poor little thing must have been starving! After she got a full tummy she assumed one of her favorite positions...sitting on my lap.

That's all for this week, my friends. Next week is Thanksgiving, so the blog is going to take the week off because I will be cooking up a storm. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you spend your time being thankful for all that you have, you won't have time for any negative thoughts! (I saw this on a Facebook post and thought it was brilliant!)