(no subject)

Happy birthday, think_tomorrow!!! May you have a good one, full of pirates and/or ninjas!

Oddly pleasant weather

Woo-hoo! Three! Day! Weekend!!! Hope I can get some writing and/or drawing done.

Also, it is now eighty-seven degrees out. In the middle of April. In Iowa. WTF, weather. (That's about thirty degrees C, for you metric types.) Thankfully, it should be something closer to the mid sixties (18­°-ish) next week. I should still probably shave and dig up shorts, though.

On the plus side, not only are the violets and bloodroot blooming (in addition to crocus, daffodils, scilla and one or two small tulips), but I found my first four-leaf-clover of the year today.

And now, back to re-reading Sluggy.

Edit: I need to be paying attention to metaquotes yesterday. *goes off to dig through*

Duck Pr0n

...I was just going to do another edit to the previous post, but then I had the perfect subject heading, so.

Anyway, for those who are unaware, in addition to the 'regular' four seasons that everyone gets, we in the town of my residence get a host of additional sub-seasons. Such seasons include Couch Migration Season (twice a year or so, when students get out of the university) and Dirty Snow Season. Today I am quite, er, proud to announce the start of Crazy Duck Season. Crazy Duck Season is not the time of the year when it's legal to hunt psychotic ducks (though I don't pay much attention to hunting seasons, so they may well overlap for all I know) but the time of year when the ducks come out and do crazy things. Such as bum around on tennis courts. Or, in this case, invade our back yard.

I was unloading the dishwasher when I got a call from Dad. Wondering what it was (I was in the middle of one chore, he could wait to give me another), I went to the window and asked. He pointed out to me a pair of mallard ducks (one male, one female) in the back yard, not too far from where we have recently set up a back yard pond. He then told me his camera was in the car.

After a bit of shuffling, I got the camera to Dad (who was then inside and on the second floor with me) and we looked out the window to see if the ducks were still there. I pointed them out to him where they had moved and were now bobbing peacefully in our mini-pond. Dad readied his camera, and that was when we discovered they were not just a pair of ducks, but a mating pair of ducks.

I, having no intention of intruding on their moment, went back to the dish rack. Dad stood at the window and continued taking pictures. He commented that if he had the video camera ready we could've made a nature film. (Later I wondered why I didn't stop to watch the ducks go at it. I mean, they certainly weren't embarrassed about their privacy; why should I be?)

I finished up as they were having a post-coital swim and decided this definitely needed to be recorded for history in LJ-land.

The ducks are still in the back yard, though (I'm pretty sure) they aren't swimming at the moment. Mom is wondering if we'll have a nest in the future. I'm just terribly amused. I'm not sure if Tomas even knows about it yet.

In conclusion, I now need a 'where do babies come from' icon, possibly featuring an innocent Ayumi and a freaked out Conan.

Iowa: where nature is!

Edit: The ducks have now moved on to different waters. Possibly the creek. It appears that our mini-pond was just a short honeymoon spot.