Pictures of Ducks and Such

Wow.  Nothing has had the ability to temporarily kill this blog like moving did.  Perhaps I jumped the gun in announcing that we obtained Internet service, because all I've been wanting to do is collapse in bed every night.  Writing and sharing pictures often feels cathartic to me, but then there are times, like these past three weeks, when the living of life has been so overwhelming that I haven't had the desire to recount or relive it all at the end of the day.

I think I'm getting there, though.  As much as I'm ready for this upheaval of our lives to be over and for the dust to settle, I know I'll want to remember it, too.  So let's do this vignette style.  Small entries.  I'll begin with the ducks.

There are ducks who regularly visit our pool.  Wait, maybe I should back up and first explain that our new home has an in-ground pool in the backyard.  I think we can all agree this means that Joe and I are certifiably insane for two obvious reasons:  the maintenance involved, and the safety concerns for our children.  I mean, despite often driving us crazy, we do love the little buggers and strongly prefer to keep them alive.  I'm not sure the exact moment in time when we lost our minds, but it wasn't that long ago.  Just check out the house hunting wish list that I recently found on my phone:

   
{I think we got some of these things?}

The pool had not been opened for the season when we moved in, so I assumed the ducks were enjoying its pond-like nature, but I've since learned that they don't mind chlorine.  And despite having to do a little more clean up work, we don't really mind sharing with the ducks, either. They are a big improvement over alley rats. With no further ado, I give you our very own Duck Dynasty.


{Filling up the pool.}


In addition to our feathered friends in the background, please notice the inclusion of ACTUAL VEGETABLES at this meal.  I'm in that limbo land where the thought of cooking nearly sends me over the edge (since we're still buried in boxes), yet the thought of eating any more takeout or pizza or moving-related convenience meals makes me want to barf.  Enough so that I am forcing myself to suck it up and cook. 


My phone is full of duck pictures just waiting to be deleted.  I excitedly snapped them everyday before it finally dawned on me that the ducks weren't really going anywhere. 

   
Finally, us humans swimming approximately two weeks after our move date.  Now we just need monsoon season to end.  June talks about the rain as if Downers Grove has a different climate than Chicago, but how would she know any different? 

Come on over, the water's fine!  We're happy to be putting the "pool as friend magnet" theory to the test.