The elk came for a visitation the entire first week of January.  They were spotted on the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th.

When I stepped outside to let the ducks out on January 6, it was still dark.  I saw a lovely animal below the house, and when i asked aloud whether it was a deer or an elk, the entire herd was startled from their munching near our front door on the other side of the house.  A giant thunder ensued as about 30-40 elk ran past me, heavy toed shadows racing past.

An owl hooted, disturbed by the noise, I thought, as I opened the cage and the ducks poured out into the darkness.  They ran around the back of the house, and I went inside to cross through the house and meet them by the garage to feed them.

I heard a male duck chat briefly as I went through the dining room.  When I met the ducks, there were only 3.  So I asked the ducks “Where’s Huey?”  The girls looked around as if to ask the same question.  Then they started to quack loudly, calling Huey.  They continued while I raced around the back, looking for some sign of the beautiful duck.

There was nothing.  No feather, no sign of an animal fleeing through the grasses.  Nothing.

Owl.  Silent, deadly, owl.

The girls were in a funk all day, looking for Huey, calling occasionally.  Clyde seemed happy to be unquestionably “in charge” now.  We are recovering.

My daughter caught Huey on video January 3, and I share some video of the rest of the ducks the same day Huey was taken.

new hardy cactus garden

We have been collecting and receiving hardy cactus for a few years and they usually pile up in the existing sand bed next to the pump house.  While we will keep a few agaves in the sand bed because they are too large to move, we have finally built a small hardy cactus and succulent garden.  The new garden visually completes a stair that previously just ended in a pile of concrete rubble.

existing hardy cactus bed

cactus bed as continuation of rock stairs

We also have been propagating a few opuntias to replace scraggly plants inside the greenhouse and for sale at the lavender festival next year. The varieties are very low prickle, especially meant for eating. One variety, a ficus-indica opuntia Var.Burbank Spineless, has narrow leaves and looks like a saguaro. The other one, opuntia robusta, has big, round, blue pads.

indoor cactus cuttings -- opuntias that are not hardy

As we hunker down and deal with winter, I’ve been looking back over photos and videos of our 4 ducks — Hewey, Lewey, Dewey and Clyde.  Born on mother’s day, we have 2 girls and 2 boys, we didn’t realize until they’d almost hit adulthood just what the gender mix was.

what gender are we?

We thought we had 3 girls and 1 boy (the all-black Lewey).

still looks like 3 girls and a boy?

Then we realized that 2 of the girls were boys when they began to change colors (Hewey and Clyde).

Some male/female differentiation occurred in August.

Then we realized that Lewey is a girl. Dewey was always a girl in our minds. Girls don’t have curls in their tail feathers.

Search

Categories

• art world (6)
• astrology (1)
• autumn (4)
• biography (9)
• cactus (2)
• craftsmanship (3)
• crochet (2)
• ducks (1)
• entertainment (7)
• farm (31)
• healing (3)
• jazz (2)
• kirtan (1)
• mantra (1)
• media (2)
• meditation (6)
• money (1)
• music (7)
• plant sale (6)
• spirituality (10)
• storytelling (6)
• studio (8)
• technology (1)
• Uncategorized (32)
• video (5)
• what\'s growing (11)
• wildlife sitings (7)
• yoga (10)

Archives

• January 2015
• December 2014
• November 2014
• October 2014
• September 2014
• August 2014
• July 2014
• June 2014
• February 2014
• December 2013
• March 2011
• February 2011

Blogroll

• Brad Smith
• Eamonn Hughes
• Elena's Dream CD
• Elizabeth Leach
• Gardener to Farmer -- Jean Ann Van Krevelen
• Hap Tivey
• Hazelnut tech talk
• Helen Yoest, Gardening with Confidence!
• Jai Uttal
• Laura Crockett
• My Mantras CD
• salvador molly's catering
• WebVisions Conference, Portland, Oregon