I've been away from the diary for too long! I'm sorry... I've been very busy working on my new Pet Duck Guide Book. I've also been very busy out in the pens. The grass is coming in beautifully and I put in the three new ponds in The Courtyard pens. Everyone is very happy. The piping for the ponds can't be installed until our parts order comes in, so for now I have to drop the house into each of the 3 new ponds and flush them out for a few minutes in the morning and evening. The ducks LOVE them!

In sad news... my cat Nephilim is very sick. Not eating. Wanting to eat... I brought him to the vet on Friday and we did blood work, but it won't be back until Monday. This morning I rushed him to our local emergency vet and had x-rays done. We could see that he has to go potty and appears constipated, so she rehydrated him and gave him painkillers. His heart appears enlarged (although it could be just line with fat because he used to weigh 16 pounds and is now down to 14. And his intestines are not evenly distributed in his body cavity. They don't know why. So we have to wait for the blood work. If that comes back normal then we might have to do an bi-cavity ultrasound.

The ER vet tried to get me to pay another $155 to repeat the blood work, so we wouldn't have to wait, but I told her Nephilim is still bright eyed and walking around and I can't afford to do the same test twice, nor do I want to put him through that again. She's talking about degenerative heart disease, but it seems strange to me that this would have happened overnight. I don't buy it. And then she started rattling off tons of options to examine him, including ultrasounds and cardiograms that cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I asked her if they find something wrong with his heart, what our treatment options are and she said there are none, we would just know that there's nothing we can do. I told her, I am not putting him through all that; he's scared enough. And if diagnosis doesn't offer him any course of treatment, then there's no point in it. She was a very doom and gloom vet trying to sell big tests and trying to scare me into it. But I look into Nephilim's eyes and he said, "I just want to go home, Momma." So I took him home. Aside from not pooping, he is still bright eyed and very responsive. We'll take him to All Friends Animal Hospital on Monday. Dr. Melgey is very good at only ordering the tests we need and knowing just what we can do.

So... that has kept my mind away from the website too for the last few days...

Now back to ducks:

Can you believe how Gulliver has grown! WOW! He is so big! He shares a pen with Aladdin while the ladies and Benny are on the big pond and watches them. I let him out for a swim with them in the late afternoon. He gets along well with everyone, so it hasn't been a problem... yet... I just love the way he fluffs up the little feathers on his crown. He's so cute!

And here he is again, coming over to tell me something!

And below is Deirdre, Jezebel and Vida (back to front):

Isabel's teacher and husband came over for a visit recently. Isabel was giving her the tour and said, "That's Deirdre, but Mommy calls her Deirdre Dear Heart."

And how sweet is this...

And how funny is this one of Young Jeffrey & Young Matthew and Benny in the foreground:

"Hey, we see all the girls over there. Open the door, Benny! Open the door!"

Timmerlane watches Aladdin: