In honor of Carson and Avery

Yesterday, while tearing out old bushes and planting new ones in our front yard, we remembered Carson and Avery, the two ducklings who hatched along with their siblings ten years ago  in the bushes by our front porch.  Their beautiful mother had built her nest within 3 feet of our front door in the thick prickly bushes that were there at the time. She was quietly diligent about sitting on her eggs most of the time in spite of our busy household.   Kristin, Nick, Reuben and Kim were all home that summer, and Curt was living with us too.   With so many people coming and going, the front door and front porch were used alot.  Mama Duck rarely flinched.  The eggs eventually hatched and I can’t remember exactly how many little ducklings there were.  Mama Duck started to trust us, it seemed, until Curt, the tallest and the bravest, was appointed by the rest of us to capture two of the baby ducklings for pets. Whoa!!! The rest of us watched through the window, while  Mama duck went wild. She tried to fly up on Curt and caused quite a commotion. She was so protective of her ducklings! Luckily Curt was wearing heavy garden gloves and survived.  He was able to capture two of the baby ducks.  By family consent, the ducklings were  named  Carson and Avery.  A rigorous duck-training program began.  Much bonding occured.   Lloyd got talked into building a duck-coop along the side of our house. It worked OK, until Carson and Avery got to be adolescents.  We remember lots of crap on the yard. Eventually, as fall approached, everyone agreed that it was time for Carson and Avery to be re-united with their siblings and their mother.  They were returned to Tara Lake across Pioneer Parkway, as some of us had witnessed Carson and Avery’s mother and siblings waddle off our yard, across Winwood Drive, towards Tara Lake. According to group think, Carson and Avery were soon to be re-united with their real family.  I sure hope that happened.

Here are a few pics taken 10 years ago, and then a few from yesterday:

(Sorry, just noticed that none of the picture captions showed up. O well.)

Does anyone remember how many eggs actually hatched?  Who exactly, brought Carson and Avery back to Tara Lake? Regardless of how much we enjoyed Carson and Avery, did anyone else feel sad like I did? (actually, I felt sad at the “capture”, and also at the “release”). I’ve always wondered how Carson and Avery fared over time.  Did they really find their real family? Did they even care?  Was this project a good thing? Or not?