Our Little Flock

Hello, this is Pearl. We went to a duck hatchery in Lancaster County. We got four Khaki Campbell female ducklings. We asked if we could see the parents, and this is what we saw.  There were 1,000 ducks, the boy said. They have little boxes to lay the eggs in. All the parent ducks were chasing each other and running around the big room.

Then the boy handed us a box. It had our four duckies. We looked in and they were all so cute. We had these for two days before we got four Mallard ducklings, straight run, so we don't know if they are girls or boys.

We put the ducklings in the swimming pool. The purple things is where they get their water, and the green one is where they get their food. The ducklings did not know how to eat when we first got them, so we had to dip their beaks into the water and into the food. We have to do chores to keep their swimming pool clean. We have to change the bedding every day. And we have to change and clean out the water each day. That's my job.

Ducks are a little harder to take care of than I thought.

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Pearl has signed off.  I can share that we picked up the extra Mallards because three of our adult male ducks chose to stroll in the blind curve above our house (all for love), and they didn't make it back to the pond. We now have a quiet pair of last survivors outside, and we hope they will stick around to train the ducklings when they are ready to free-range.

Sapphire reached her goal of reading 20 books, so she earned a trip to the Hands on House which they all thoroughly enjoyed.  They especially like the face-painting station, as always. We played there for about five hours. After her next 20 books, we're heading to Perrydell for a double-scoop cone. 

Our co-op wrapped up this week, and all the girls brought home the projects they had worked on with their friends this semester. I'm in my last week of classes, so soon we will be rolling into the luxury of our early summertime.

Sapphire with "Rose"

Easter Traditions

We have made Easter eggs at this table in Rockwood, using these melamine teacups, for about 25 years, I think.  We have it down to a science, and we enjoy it thoroughly.  This year we had only one spill, and many, many lovely eggs.









This week our co-op took a field trip to a county park and learned about raptors. I had planned this as an extension of my Bird Science class. We also enjoyed a hike guided by an enthusiastic park educator. 


Pearl went to her second tournament and brought home a silver medal, obeying my firm instructions not to bring home any huge, gaudy trophy which is impossible to display, or store. Her daddy totally ignored this advice.  Here's a picture from Pearl's first tournament.  We encourage her to do these not for the medals, though they are nice, but for the chance to get out in front of people and do her best.