welcome to my zoo

When Cady was in the 2nd grade she took a duck egg to school. It was put in an incubator and in time it did what it was supposed to do. It hatched. It just so happened that Cady was there at that precise moment. That whole imprinting thing,it's for real. That duckling never had a clue he was not a little girl. Cady named him "Mr Peepers". He was supposed to be kept in a box in the laundry room while she slept or was at school. When she was home she took him out to play in the front yard in the grass. He followed her everywhere. Every night before I go to bed I always check on all the kids. ( we are down to just 1 now) It was nearly every night that I would find Cady asleep with Mr Peepers sleeping between her neck and shoulders under her hair. She loved him and he loved her. As he grew bigger, it became clear he had to live outside with the other ducks. Okay, not clear to Cady. We tried to get him to make friends with his duck relatives. He would take one look at them coming his way and run and fly into Cady arms. This was awful cute but didn't change the fact that he was a duck sleeping in my daughters bed. He was about half grown and the decision was made to move him out. This is getting too long so I will cut to the chase, his first night outside he drowned. He couldn't get out of the little wading pool. Cady never got over that. Just 2 days ago she found a picture of Mr Peepers and got all teary eyed. About 2 weeks ago she saw that we finally had a duck sitting on a nest full of eggs. That day she took an egg out and wrote her name on it and returned it to the nest. The daddy duck is the same dad from Mr P. Well as fate would have it as she checked the progress of the eggs tonight she found one with a little hole the size of a pencil eraser. Can you believe it? It's the one with her name on it. I thought it would be neat to post it. Ran to fetch my camera. As she held the egg we heard a tiny "Peep". I looked at Cady and instead of a smile I saw what Oprah calls "the ugly cry". Poor little Cady went to pieces. I should have known then what was coming. But I didn't. "NO, not keeping that egg in the house". I know what she wanted all along. Another duck to call her mom. No !I said. Put it back in the nest. It took forever but she finally got the egg back out there. Then she called Lynne. When Lynne lived here she was hatching ducks and turkeys . The kids would walk in with a goat following in hot pursuit. I wish I was like my dear friend Lynne. She's always calm. Hey, if they poop you can clean it up. I always feel like we have to sterilize the floor. So, I'm tryin to be like Lynne with this duck thing. I'm not thinking she will tell Cady that at this point the mom duck may be confused and kick the baby out of the nest. Cady has taken it in and out a few times. It was the "ugly cry". I knew we would find a little dead duck in the morning and I would hate myself. So tonight my daughter, Horton,um I mean Cady, has a half hatched duckling under a tiny heat lamp on her shelf. She also has 3 dogs asleep in her room. (We will cross that dog bridge in a few days.) I have to be at the dentist at 8am. Pulling a tooth that never got a new crown. Now it's a mess. Soon as I get done with that I have to pick up Gage at other Grammys place of employment and then go buy baby duck food. I am sure he will be all hatched out by then. It's gonna be a busy day in the neighborhood. A busy day for a neighbor,would you be mine, could you be mine,won't you be my neighbor? oh, that picture is not our duck. He's not hatched yet. It is a duck from the UK with 4 legs. I wanted a duck pic and it's what I found.