Pom Poms and Ducks

What do the two have to do with each other?  Oh, nothing, just trying to come up with compelling titles ;-)

But, I do have something to say about both.  First, the pom poms.  I think I've found someone to make them for me, whew.  Just working out the details, but all I'll say right now is that Etsy is wonderful for finding artisans and crafters who can make just about anything for you to your specifications.

As for ducks, there has been a continuing saga at my condo complex all summer.  We have a beautiful fountain in front of the building, and a mother duck has made it her home.  She started out the summer with 4 baby ducks, but alas, only 1 seems to have made it.  Can you imagine the trials and tribulations of trying to protect your chicks in the middle of DC?!  I saw her leading 3 of them down the street towards a major thoroughfare earlier in the summer.  What has been amazing is watching the humans become fascinated by her and her struggles.  People were stopping traffic to try to protect her!  Thankfully, she finally seemed to figure out that the fountain was the place to stay put.  She and her baby would snuggle together on the ledge, or she would sit while the baby would swim around and around. 

Last weekend, though, another duck came for a visit.  The three of them hung out all weekend, but then on Monday, the visitor duck and the mother were gone, and the baby's been there by him (or her)self all week :-(  I guess it's the way of the duck world, but it just seems so sad by human standards.  Well, the saga is not over -- mama duck is back this morning!!  Maybe this was a test run to see how baby would do without her.  I guess she's just got to start toughening up baby so that s/he will be ok when it's time...

Again, what's been so interesting is the reactions of the humans around here.  There seem to be two camps:  one that worries about the ducks bringing diseases or nuisance, so they seem more concerned about keeping the ducks away and the other camp that seems to want to be sure the ducks are comfortable and taken care of.  The latter camp saw to it that a ramp was propped up in the fountain so that the baby could make it up to the ledge when people saw s/he was struggling to get out of the water.  I admit, I think I'm in the latter camp -- I find myself looking out the window all the time or stopping by the fountain to be sure that the baby is still swimming around or resting on the ledge.  Mmmm, I think we need a webcam!