adventures

We went to the lake for 4th of July weekend and left Wobble the duck safely tucked into his brooder with a full water bottle, enough food, and the radio playing in the kitchen. I was a little nervous about leaving him just because I knew he’d be going without a bath for several days. I figured the worst that could happen was we’d come home to rancid unwashed duckling smell, easily fixed with a quick swim in the tub. But on the way home I developed a really uneasy feeling and Caleb barely finished pulling the car into the garage before I was out and rushing into the house.

I found Wobble on the floor in the kitchen.

Lets process that for a minute. Judging by the state of his brooder we think he managed to get out of it Friday after we left. This is just flabbergasting because he makes no attempt to escape while we are home to keep him company, but apparently a few hours alone was enough to make him climb his way out of a sterilite box with walls twice the height of his head. And of course, once he was out he couldn’t get back in, so he wandered all around the house looking for food and leaving little duckling poop everywhere he went.

That night was really awful. Caleb and I took turns helping our severely dehydrated duckling down water and food, wondering if he’d make it or not. He was pretty bad off, but still interested in his food and water. We got some electrolytes down him and turned to cleaning the house. Around 1:00 AM when we’d finished mopping, steam cleaning, and washing all the rugs we finally crawled into bed and just prayed Wobble would pull through.

I’ll skip the play by play of the next 48 hours, but today Wobble is looking much better. He’s at least 90% back to himself and even went for a swim and quick trip outside today. This is not an adventure we’d like to repeat. But we have a whole new perspective on the depth of his attachment to us.

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A few of the good adventures from the past couple of weeks:

When it rains we dance in it.

When it doesn’t rain we make our own.

State parks. And the off-road mudding required to get to them. We christened the truck with clay that day.

Random barn in the woods. I want to renovate it and live there forever.

Kayaking on the other lake we love.

This simplicity.