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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Afternoon Open Thread: Duck Update

Afternoon Open Thread: Duck Update

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A few of you already know this, I bought a duck coop off Craigslist this past week. Got a good deal.  So now  the ducks have to stay. Really the only one in denial about this looming foster fail was me.

They’re happy, I’m happy. The only one who is not happy is Jake…the ducks have suddenly decided he’s the bomb and follow him EVERY WHERE around the yard. They LOVE him. He is not amused. There is a full duck update here  (I did not feel like copying and pasting).

I’m working on menus for tonight, I just need to figure out the bonus recipe.

How are you spending your Labor Day weekend Sunday?

Reader Interactions

67Comments

  4. 4.

    Another Scott

    The yellow rubber ducky is perfect. :-) Thanks for the update.

    I’m slowly recovering from my annual head cold that usually tries to work its way into my lungs. It just wipes me out. :-( With luck I’ll be over it tomorrow, but if not I’ll call the doc and get the usual antibiotics…

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  8. 8.

    feebog

    No big plans for the weekend, so we are going to see Wind River this afternoon. Maybe some dinner after that. No GoT tonight, so will have to find something interesting on the tube, or maybe just read.

  11. 11.

    Ruckus

    @TaMara (HFG):
    The picture at your link of them sitting together, they are gorgeous birds.
    They look like fun as well.
    Jake knows when he’s being squeezed into a smaller piece of the picture.

  13. 13.

    Catherine D.

    @TaMara (HFG):

    Yes, we have year ’round ducks swimming in between ice floes in our local streams. The fat insulation is prodigious and is why I rarely cook duck or goose. Makes a mess of the oven!

  15. 15.

    mai naem mobile

    @schrodingers_cat: Liquid Gold. Its in the cleaning stuff aisle. You can keep using the same rag because Liquid Oil is pretty oily, until it gets dirty. You’ll understand what I am saying when you use it.

  16. 16.

    Kristine

    Lazing about the place.

    Actually, I have a load of laundry going. May do one more after that. And I have a blog post to write for BookView Café (a multigenre writers co-op, for anyone interested in acquiring more reading material. All ebooks available in both epub and mobi (Kindle) formats, and are DRM-free).

    Allow me to also shamelessly flog a Kickstarter to fund three anthologies by Zombies Need Brains, a small press run by a friend. If you’re interested in funding future reading material of the SF/Fantasy variety.

    We now return you to your local station.

    As an aside, TaMara, I tried your turkey burger/lamb burger recipe. Used ground lamb. Good burgers!

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    @schrodingers_cat: Like in IT, the best answer is “it depends.” It really does, based on what the furniture was finished with before. The first step should be gentle cleaning – the best product is Murphy’s Oil Soap. Beyond that, I prefer oil-type finishes, but it depends on the underlying wood. Something like teak oil for darker furniture. But you really have to know something about the history of the piece because it’s easy to ruin it.

  20. 20.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Depends on the wood and what you want to do with it.
    A towel sprayed with some home cleaner usually cleans the wood unless it is raw wood or is exceptionally dirty. If it’s raw wood any cleaner may stain it, but furniture usually isn’t raw. I recommend Clorox spray. But it has bleach in it so it can stain or remove some finishes. Try it or any cleaner in an inconspicuous place first.
    Conditioning runs along the same lines, what are you trying to accomplish, is the first question.

  21. 21.

    Kristine

    Just read your update at your website. Poor Jake. I’ve heard that cats always gravitate to the person who least wants anything to do with them. Sounds like Nature’s revenge.

  23. 23.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I’m making green chile stew from roasted chile I bought at the Farmers’ Market yesterday. Garlic, onion, pork, and potatoes also from Farmers’ Market.

  24. 24.

    CaseyL

    I love your Critter Household updates. The Legend of Jake, Kitty-Elvis is delightful (poor Jake). Cross-species crushes do sometimes make me believe in the power of love.

  25. 25.

    sukabi

    @Ruckus: no. No Clorox spray of any kind. It will ruin the finish, and damage the underlying wood. Murphy’s oil soap if it’s really dirty. If not then some furniture polish depending on the finish that’s on the piece.

  26. 26.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    For light polishing, Murphy’s Oil Soap. For more serious work, my mom always used Tung Oil and rubbed a WHOLE lot. Once she got the paint off… she rescued quality wood that had been tortured with paint years after it was used in good furniture.

    I still have a walnut drop-leaf end table she rescued. Nothing on that walnut but Tung oil. And not often at that, just wipe with a damp towel mostly.

    If you need to refinish something, use a soy-based orange oil paint remover, until everything is gone, and then oil it. If you want a mirror finish, then you need to varnish it, or use high gloss water-based polyurethane with a hardener. Or use a matte poly for a more natural look, but still protected by the finish layer.

  27. 27.

    Lahke

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m a fan of plain mineral oil rubbed on with a paper towel. Actually, it’s about time I do that for the kitchen cabinets, before we get to the winter dryness. Thanks for the reminder!

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m at (what I hope is) the tail end of this cold, but I’ve started sneezing and having to blow my nose. Ugh. I need to be over it by next weekend because I have plans in separate areas of So Cal that can’t be cancelled.

  30. 30.

    efgoldman

    @schrodingers_cat: As you have seen by now, there are as many ways to clean wood as there are people who do it. Depends, obviously, on your level of crafty.
    My mom always gave it a quick swipe with Pledge or equivalent.

  35. 35.

    Gravenstone

    Wonder if your fine feathered fowl had a pet cat at their prior place of residence? Might explain the attraction for poor beset Jake.

  37. 37.

    chris

    Tea break from piling firewood. Thanks for the ducks and poor Jake.

    Also, thanks to whoever suggested Samantha Fish on the last thread. Perfect workin’ music, play it loud.

  39. 39.

    Mike in NC

    Netflix is streaming Season 3 of “Narcos” and they also have a Norwegian series called “Norsemen”, which I assumed to be a sort of “Vikings” clone but in fact is a spoof, and a pretty decent one at that. All of the actors speak English and the dialogue is very contemporary.

  41. 41.

    J R in WV

    OK, here’s what I came here to do. I have in my hand (not really, I’m typing, but picking it up to look at it as I type…) a recipe card 4×5 my Grandma typed on her little Underwood typewriter not long after I got married, so in the early 1970s. This is a Pennsy-Dutch recipe she got from her SILs not long after she got married to a blacksmith/mechanic/hoist engineer from up in PA farming country in the 19teens, so over a hundred years ago.

    Grandma was a farm girl from the Big Sandy River on the eastern edge of Kentucky who went to Business School to learn bookkeeping, typing, and shorthand around 1910, took a job in WV in the offices of a big coal mine, and met a nice boy from Pennsylvania. Everyone my age called her Grandma, and folks older then us called her Mom.

    Peach Kuchen
    1/2 cup Butter
    2 cups sifted flour
    1/4 tsp. baking powder
    1/2 tsp. salt
    1 cup sugar
    12 fresh peach halves
    1 tsp. cinnamon
    2 egg yolks
    1 cup sour cream
    Work butter into sifter flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tablesp. of sugar. Pat even layer over bottom and up sides of 8″ or 9″ pan. Arrange peaches in shell. Sprinkle fruit with remaining sugar mixed with cinnamon. Bake 15 min. in 400 deg. oven. Remove and pour beaten egg yolks mixed with sour creme over top. Bake 30 min. longer at 350.
    G.H.

    My tips: More cinnamon is good, and I sometime add a tiny shake of Mace or ground Coriander. Put the peaches cut side up. Grandma’s oven ran hot, so 425 deg. is OK for the first 15 minutes OR you can leave it in for a few more minutes. I use 3 egg yolks and add a tablespn. of sugar and a 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon to the sour cream. In an emergency you can use whole mile yogurt and another egg yolk to help the yogurt firm up. Bake it until it browns a little on top – I turn my oven to convection bake for 5 minutes or so at the end.

    This is the best possible fate for a batch of juicy fresh peaches. Don’t try it with canned peaches, they get too soupy. Better a tiny bit under-ripe than over ripe and turning brown.

    Do it like Grandma told us to the first couple of times!!!

    Enjoy! Pass it on with the “G.H” at the end, Grandma would want everyone to know how to do this. She got lots of “German” recipes from his sisters to help Grandpa feel less homesick for the farm he grew up on, one of 15 sibllings!! Back then it was a long, long RR trip back to the home place. German potato salad, white with onions and pickles, yummmm. Potato pancakes, left over mashed potatoes with onions and garlic powder….yummm. Can you tell I still miss my Grandma? after 30 some years…

    I gotta go fix a late lunch now, ‘bye!

  42. 42.

    efgoldman

    Daughter and friends decided that partying at Harry Potter, until 230am, is not quite as good an idea at age 36 as it was at age 26 or 16.
    She’s also in the concourse with no Starbux, although she did find coffee eventually.
    And now, of course, the flight that was supposed to board 35 minutes ago is being held up because of a “small mechanical issue.”

  45. 45.

    Original Lee

    Watching the Merkel-Schultz debate on live stream. A little disconcerting because the audio is slightly off from the video. Started watching kind of in the middle, but very interesting questions at this point. I’m bothered that they asked if the candidates had been in church this morning, on the heels of some questions about the Muslim refugees. Merkel said no, Schultz very proudly said yes, then Merkel explained that she does go sometimes and Schultz joked a little that he’s sure she prays even if she’s not in church (I think – I was a little distracted by the question even being asked). 42% of German citizens said they were undecided in a poll conducted before the debate.

    At the moment they are talking about what to do with refugees that are washing up on the beach.

  46. 46.

    schrodingers_cat

    Thanks for the furniture cleaning tips. I wanted to clean my kitchen cabinets. The fronts are maple and the cabinets itself a combination of MDF and plywood. I also have a teak hutch and I just bought a dining table from CL which has inlaid wood but the top has a few water marks and some discoloration.

  48. 48.

    Gravenstone

    @J R in WV: Thanks for this. I brought a batch of farm fresh peaches back with me from Ohio last week. This looks like a great way to use them.

  49. 49.

    J R in WV

    @Original Lee:

    That will work. I think Murphy’s Oil Soap will do more cleaning with a little less elbow grease than Liquid Gold, and Tumg Oil doesn’t smell as much or as long as lemon oil. As another commenter said, as many recommendations as people with an opinion.

  50. 50.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Cheryl Rofer: I love the smell of roasting green chile in the late summer/autumn! We were at the farmers’ market yesterday too. Bought tomatoes for the oven-roasted tomato sauce that satby referenced recently.

    ETA: I’ve made a killer green chile stew with lamb meat from the Shepherd’s Lamb vendor inside the market building.

  54. 54.

    opiejeanne

    @mai naem mobile: That stuff makes me wheeze, actually stirs up my asthma. I had to wash down the walls of a camper with dish soap after our first two camping trips in it. The previous owner had taken beautiful care of it but had used that stuff on the paneling. After washing them I dried the cabinets and used Old English on them.
    I noticed the same reaction when I used the stuff on the paneling in a bedroom a couple of years before but didn’t make the connection until the camper.

  55. 55.

    Steeplejack

    I’m having a pleasant, do-nothing day. Beautiful weather here in my corner of NoVA: pale sunshine and 79° right now, 82° and sunny tomorrow. Yesterday it was dark and rainy, temp in the mid-60s. Positively autumnal, but pleasantly so.

    My old friend from college is in town to visit one of her daughters. We were tentatively planning to drive to Rehoboth Beach tomorrow to visit the Sighthound Hall mob at their beach house, but my enthusiasm is waning. It’s a busy holiday weekend, and tomorrow is my brother-in-law’s birthday, so there have been extensive Brazilian-infused celebrations all weekend. Traffic wouldn’t be a problem, because my friend and I would be driving against the flow tomorrow and then coming back Tuesday. Although I love the drive through Delmarva and find it incredibly relaxing, I’m just not feeling very social, or at least big-crowd social. And when I talked to my friend this morning she sounded a little tentative too. Will check in with her tonight and make a final decision.

    In other news, last night I discovered quite by chance that a Five Guys has opened in a shopping strip less than half a mile from me. It’s close to a Safeway that I go to fairly often, but it’s on the side of another building that I rarely see. Go figure. Brought home a mountainous bacon cheeseburger that whipped my ass and put me into a food coma. Anyway, nice to have it available.

    I’m still reeling from the news of Walter Becker’s death. Will be going through the Steely Dan catalogue tonight and thinking deep thoughts.

  57. 57.

    JPL

    Deb Amlen writes the word play blog for the NYTimes. Today she posted this

    We see a lot of rabbits in the spring in my area, so it’s often hard to distinguish one bunny from another. One in particular, however, seemed to sense a kindred spirit in Jade, so when the family would forage in my yard, it would lag behind just enough to get Jade’s attention from her bed near the glass door. Jade would beg to be let out and they would chase each other around the yard. When the rabbit had enough, it would duck under our fence to rejoin its family, but it always returned to play with its new friend.
    This worried me, because while Jade seemed committed to being a peacenik, her genes could have beckoned to her at any time. And I put myself squarely in the “No dead animal ‘gifts’ from the backyard” camp.
    One day, while the rabbit was leading a merry chase around the yard, it stopped to catch its breath. This is it, I fretted. This is where it ends for this poor bunny. Amazingly, Jade’s self-control kicked in: When the rabbit froze in its tracks to pant, Jade froze in her own tracks and politely waited for her friend to recover, whereupon they resumed their game. Would that we all had that kind of compassion. And I learned not to second-guess the wisdom of the ESBT.
    The next morning, I came downstairs to let Jade out and the rabbit was sitting in front of the door, waiting for its friend. And every day for a whole month, those two friends, who couldn’t have been more different, played beautifully together.
    I haven’t seen the rabbit for a while. I hope it’s O.K. and has perhaps moved on to start its own family. But it will always be a reminder that, in addition to her own family, some bunny loved Jade.

    Several days ago my 18 pound terrier mix, brought me peter the cottontail. I think he expected me to prepare it for dinner for him. I almost posted it on the comment section , and thought better.
    Enjoy your ducks.

  58. 58.

    HeleninEire

    LOL When I saw this posted on FB I read the first line as “A few of you already know this, I bought a duck off Craig’s List.” And I was like, nuh uh. You can’t buy a duck off Craig’s list.

  59. 59.

    opiejeanne

    Right now we are watching the Angels battle the Rangers, watching our pitcher melt down in the 2nd inning. Par for the course recently, even when we win; none of our starters is healthy.
    This morning we mooched around in the garden, picked corn, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and artichokes. I took the neighbor some tomatoes and cukes. The corn is sparse this year, most plants didn’t have a single ear and the artichokes are being stingy. I blame the weird weather.

    ETA: the pitcher got out of the 2nd inning relatively unscathed, but he will be lucky to make it through the 3rd.

  60. 60.

    Tazj

    I love the pictures. I have to say I was hoping you kept the ducks. I know easy for me to say, I don’t have to take care of them, just enjoy the stories and the pictures.

  61. 61.

    MomSense

    I wish you could all be in my kitchen right now. The wine is flowing, I’m roasting a local chicken for my kids. The salad, garlic, and veggies are all from my garden. The potatoes are from a local farm because mine aren’t ready yet.

    The pup had some sautéed chicken livers and heart. She’s crashed out looking really content.

  67. 67.

    Jane2

    Best pets ever! I have to content myself with walking over to the creek five minutes away and seeing the ducks there. Love the poor kitty face.

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