Duck Feet

Duck Tales, oh that now that is bringing back memories, of Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Okay maybe that is not their names but ducks are not telling no tales of whose feet are those in the photos as they woddle their tails. So let me end by quoteing Dark Wing Duck, "Let's Get Dangerous!"

Ducks in a Row

I don’t have all my ducks in a row but I got them all together which must count for something, right. Right?

I used to enjoy coming to work as this is an awesome office park, easy on the eyes and that I know what I am doing. Now with ducks waddling off on their own agendas, something is going give. Today the doomsday clock has moved ticked ever so closer to midnight and I worry that we might be casualties in the fallout. So if my ducks don’t seem all in a row, well sorry for you as I am not all that quacked up lately.

Doolittle Klipspringer

Did I really wanted to go into work today? No, because I still did not feel that I was even 50% better but my sick leave was over. I simply had to drag my flu ridden body into my work clothes, and somehow walked to my car then drove to work which somehow happened

Once here I had to just keep throwing one tissue after the next into the waste paper bin just to keep me going. I had the Discovery nurse come over to do vitals for the life insurance this morning so you can imagine I was not kind of feeling up to it. To help calm myself down, I used photos of chocolates on my computer and some real chocolate just to smell not to eat as they say the smell of chocolate releases a natural chemical in the body that relaxes you. But through my clogged up nose, came no smells so luckily the photos must have helped as I passed.

Walking up to fetch the Discovery nurse at the reception, I passed this dishevelled looking Klipspringer and I said to her, "I know what you going through buddy, just hang in there." Oh my goodness now I am talking to the animals, Mr Doolittle. What is in these medications?

Water off a Ducks Back

Well it is downhill now till the weekend, and these forced breaks that I have been taking have helped, as the stress has rolled off me as water off a duck’s back. No I am sure that saying doesn’t quite fit with stress and workload but somehow I found myself at this duck pond with cute little ducks frolicking in the water without a care in the world. If I close my eyes, I can just about hear the weekend calling, Jerome, Jerome, come away, oh human child, to waters and the wild with a fairy hand in hand for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Green and Wild

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Green and wild, with pretty ponds for ducks to play.

Babies Growing Fast

Our babies are starting to grow quite fast and more pregnant mommies are expectant soon. Our eco-park at Mogale is expanding nicely.

The Ice Chick has tripled in size since she arrived 3 weeks ago. Mommy and daddy Blue Crane are very protective over their single baby. But poor Mr and Mrs Black swans, they lost one of their cygnets, and are down to two since they were born two weeks ago.

Last week a duiker gave birth but now it looks like poor baby duiker has been left on its own to fend for itself while mommy goes foraging. The little thing is so inquisitive and comes out of hiding to check us out. Every time the sound of the camera triggers, a shiver runs up the back of the duiker which is about a metre away from us. All the best little ones.

Water Water Nowhere

Today shouts of despair are coming out of all parts of Johannesburg as water is cut in many suburbs. It is way too late to avert this water disaster as no one in government was prepared for the full might of El Niño. To them the El Niño is too far away and as far as they know it never affects South Africa.

Oh how wrong they are. El Niño is a weather phenomenon that forms over on the other side of our world in the mid Pacific Ocean. This rapidly heating up of the Pacific, regularly brings with it drought to the southern hemisphere, and we are in the southern hemisphere. El Niño brought South Africa to its knees twice before, in 1983 and again in 1992, by crippling the agriculture segment and the economy.

A new government is now in place since then and it seems that they have not listened to history. Since 1992, El Niño has been mild to South Africa, why do we need to make a fuss? Well now you know, El Niño seems to have a score to settle. The weather service is warning a bleak summer with substantial rains only expected in March next year. Soon our beautiful land will be parched and dry that even the ducks will find themselves high and dry.

After El Niño comes La Niña, when the Pacific rapidly cools, which leads to heavy rains in the southern hemisphere. This blessed rain which we now long for can be too heavy in the beginning and washes away the dry topsoil.

Home of the Chicken Pie

The dawn broke with some promise and a lick of rain but the African sun was fierce enough to show that it was his time. The few fluffy clouds in the sky don’t seem to bring respite to this hot sweltering Sunday. News from the radio while our aircon worked overtime was that this heat wave is to stay for another week.

At about high noon, we ended up on the veranda of Maggies Farm, Home of the Chicken Pie. The wind was warm which brought no relief until the rock shandies arrived and really hit the spot. We placed our light lunch order and then sat back and enjoyed the view. I ordered a chicken pie with wedges and Lynda the chicken pie with salad.

Okay the seats were hard and the warm wind didn’t help much, but the food when it arrived was tasty and filled the spot although the presentation wasn’t much to write home about. I think the best part was the drinks. What do you expect on a hot summers day like this.

And then seeing that it was safe to come out a brace of ducks waddled out among the tables looking for treats. Of course everyone knows what chicken pies are made from, and so do these ducks.
Quack quack! As safe as ducks.

Smew Bad Hair Day

These small ducks look like they are having a bad hair day, which thankfully I don’t suffer from. Better known as the Smew, these ducks originate from the colder climes of northern Europe and Asia. No wonder they don’t fancy the brownish water of the pond. With all this wind and no rain, they too must be waiting for the summer rains.

Strange name for the Smew, sounds similar to a cat’s mew even though this pair didn't make a quack.  Maybe its the water that smews.

A-Wooing Go

A Duck he would a-wooing go, quack quack, quack quack.

The male Wood ducks don one of the most beautiful colours when a-wooing season starts. It is as if God went wild with a paint brush. I think male Wood ducks along with his cousins the male Mandarin ducks, are the most beautiful birds ever. Surely they surpass the fantastic displays of the peacocks.

The duck and his lady, they went to the pond, and this is the end of my romance, quack quack, quack quack.

Quack Quack

After a late morning start which was caused by sleeping in because we deserved it and because it was cold last night and who wants to get going if you nice and snug.

By early afternoon we ended up at Brightwater Commons to buy a cell phone cover at the flea market there. This place is sure going downhill even after the change from Randburg Waterfront to the Brightwater Commons has not saved it.

In the middle is the flea market with cheap Chinese goods, on the one side is the anchor shop of a small Pick ‘n Pay supermarket, and the other is the skate board park. On this side most of the shops have been boarded up. Sad but the trend is to still build more malls.

Anyway we had lunch there at one of the restaurants, and between the bees, cigarette smoke, and noisy children running between the tables play catch, not much was going for the ambiance except watching mommy duck trying to keep control of her paddle of ducklings, quack quack.

Goosey Ganders

I arrived at work this morning just before eight to find all our offices still locked up only to find out that the caretaker Andrew who usually opens up our offices before six in the morning is on summer leave. So I spent about an hour sitting on a stone bench next to one of the duck ponds in the beautiful gardens surrounding our offices. That was until the sprinklers was turned on and I ambled back to my office to find Richard, a stand in caretaker opening up.

While sitting in the tranquil gardens, the normally aggressive Hawaiian Geese couple decided to investigate to see if I had any food for them followed closely by the Bar-headed Geese couple while the beautiful coloured ducks kept their distance.

Goosey goosey ganders swam over only to find the food was none and all the little ducks went quack, quack, quack.

Four Ducklings

We are into the beginning of summer and babies are popping up everywhere. From the cats bringing in baby chicks from their raids to these four little ducklings feeding in the stream. They are quite well camouflaged amongst the small rocks, one is at the bottom middle while the other three are at the top middle busy bobbing for food. After the hype and busyness of Ingress yesterday, we weren’t sure of what to do. Well Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest né. With thoughts of babies everywhere how can anyone rest? Even yesterday there was quite a few prams at the Darsana XM Anomaly. It must have been a busy productive spring.

Friday Ducks

Friday is for the ducks. I have so much work but the week now seems so short. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the weekend breaks but on this Friday l have to go home sort out the Bosch repair man, then travel 2 hours in rush hour traffic to the east rand then another 2 hours back in the dark. All to be repeated on Sunday, that is the 4 hours on the road.

Anyway, I am not sure what ducks these are on a pond in our office park but they sure look tasty.