Make Way for Ducklings

It's beginning to seem like the only real news in this blog is duck visits.

A few days ago we came home to find a Mommy duck and nine ducklings in and around our pool.  Between the waterfowl and the multiple birds nests in the nooks above our covered patio, it's a regular sanctuary.

The ducks seemed to be having a great time until the little ones tried to get out of the pool.  They couldn't.  Of course Ellen and I immediately flashed on having to fish nine lifeless tiny bundles of furry feathers out of the skimmer.

A few of them were able to figure out how to jump up onto the floating chlorine dispenser and get out.  Others weren't.  Were we witnessing survival of the smartest in action?  Ellen decided to step in, God-like, and help out.  First she went out and put one end of the the clothes-dryer sneaker-drying rack into the pool, a kind of metal ramp for the ducks.  (When she first entered the pool area Mom -- and the few ducks who had already jumped out -- jumped right back into the pool.  So at first, she made the situation worse.

But then a brainstorm: she stuck a few Noodles (long tubular pieces of styrofoam used as pool toys) of varying widths into the skimmer.  After some skeptical examination, the ducklings each hopped their way up the styro-staircase and out.  Success!  After some dilly-dallying, the ducks then exited through the gate toward the front yard and disappeared into the ivy that covers our front slope.  Bye-bye!