I thought you might like to learn their names*.
*names will be adjusted if their sex reveals itself to be male.
They are spending most of the day outside today, weather is warm and they are so very happy out there, even in their little penned area.
I’ve been calling them Nikki and Nora for weeks now, but didn’t want to introduce them by name until I was sure it was going to stick. I can easily tell them apart and their personalities are polar opposites, which is fun. I’m still 90% convinced they are female because of the way they talk – they have a strong, high pitched quack and they talk constantly. Males have a gravelly voice and are not as talkative. But until we see a turned up tail feather (male) or see eggs (around October) it’s all speculation.
Meanwhile, meet Nora:
She’s sweet, cuddly and the more adventurous of the two. Also, she’s smaller, but it’s not as noticeable now as it was when they first arrived.
Here she is being silly.
And meet Nikki:
She’s very protective, a little snarly at me, although she always needs me around for things like bathtime, outdoor time, and anytime she’s out of the crate. As she gets comfortable she needs me less, but she’ll call out if I’m out of sight for too long.
This is her general mood. I think we can all relate.
Scout has been spending a lot more time with them these days. She likes to lay on the floor with them. Last night she was snuggled about as close as they would let her and all three were sound asleep. No photos, because you know the moment I got up, they’d all be up and about.
Here are photos and video from this week. It’s a little sparse because as they grow they really keep me busy, even as they spend time outdoors.
Open thread!
Cheryl Rofer
Easter ducks!
MagdaInBlack
The scruffy teenage phase, I love it ❤️
trollhattan
Awww. Lookie how BIG!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Their fluffiness is so cute
eclare
Nikki and Nora! I love it!
Catherine D.
Let me see you shake your tail feather
(Fond memories of this – I lived nearby when it was filmed. )
something fabulous
Oh my goodness so CUTE!! Good girl, Scout!!
There is a cockatoo named Coco I vaguely follow on Facebook (now there’s a sentence!). She has a problem with plucking her own feathers til bald, and it is always a celebration when she lets them grow in. I see those same furled up feather “sprouts” growing in on Nikki– hope birds were able to evolve such that something so important isn’t as painful as it looks to me!
Thanks for the update! Am so enjoying their progress. ??
?BillinGlendaleCA
Nikki is my Cocker Spaniel’s name, a fine name.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
Happy to see them adjusting, growing, and becoming part of the Jackal family.
TomatoQueen
Oh quacketty such lovelies.
I love Scout’s supervisory posture.
Phylllis
If one or the other do turn out to be males, these names can easily be adapted to Nik and, um, Norad.
NotMax
Recently came across this ad from from 1959 and filed it away as TaMara friendly.
:)
(Yes, there was an American car model named the Shopper.)
WaterGirl
@Phylllis: I figured for Nikki, you just change the spelling of her name to Nicky, and it’s all good.
I was stumped on what to do with Nora, but Norad works.
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: What where is Bixby???
Phylllis
@NotMax: That one def needs the Kodachrome treatment on Shorpy.
dkinPa
Happy Easter! The perfect post for today. Thank you!
MazeDancer
As my first ever cats, many decades ago, were Dashiell and Lily, obviously, I’m 100% applauding Nikki and Nora.
The ducklings are so adorable. Cannot believe how your other pets do not try to eat them.
Fear that my current trio of cats would think, yum, lunch.
NotMax
@TomatoQueen
Dunno if you saw it, gave a late response to what I gleaned was your question re: Firefox and altering new tab placement the other day. Sorry it appeared so late; sleepytime intervened with a vengeance.
Kristine
Fluffballs!
I love how gentle and protective your dogs are. Mine would chase them all over hell and gone.
NotMax
@Phyllis
Have been half-watching the mid-1950s TV series The Sheriff of Cochise which is part of April’s ‘sample it for a month’ stuff on Prime, as a put the brain in neutral diversion. Mostly for the cars. Also for touches like the one when people were vacated from lounging around a swimming pool – the women in one piece bathing suits and high heels brought forth a chuckle.
Sounds like a boilerplate Western but it was contemporarily set*, plotwise, in or near Bisbee, Arizona. Amusing to me that the lead character tools around the desert, sometimes pedal to the metal, in at first a DeSoto station wagon (’56, I think) and later in other brands (have so far seen a Chrysler and what might be a Chevy), but ALL station wagons — radio, siren and gun rack equipped.
*Although one could devise a drinking game set around every time a man hooks both thumbs in his belt.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
The ducklings continue to be adorable, although now in a teenager, instead of a toddler, sort of way. Thanks for the pictures and video!
Major Major Major Major
Ducks!!!! Thanks!
trollhattan
Today’s Johns Hopkins COVID data show California’s test positivity rate has dropped below 1%–first time I’ve seen that. My comparison state–Texas–is at 5.27%, an improvement for them but still.
And Georgia, is anybody yelling at the governor and legislature as to why they’re busy fucking with voting rights while the vaccination rate is fiftieth among the fifty states? Seriously, Alabama is ahead of y’all.
NotMax
@NotMax
Same goes for some of the men outfitted in cabana sets, a fashion whose demise humanity gratefully celebrates.
:)
CaseyL
“Try arguing with baby ducks.” I would guess that arguing with any baby animal is equally fruitless, due to the cuteness.
One thing I enjoy watching is how the ducklings’ wings develop, after starting out as stubby nubbins about as useful as T. Rex’s arms.
Nikki and Nora are excellent names.
@NotMax: I just plain love those old station wagons. Solid as a tank, and big enough to live in, practically (and probably have been). But they not only don’t turn on a dime, IIRC you have to come to a dead stop to corner.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: LA County, which in January had about a 21% positivity rate, is now at 1.4%.
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
That’s such great news. LA was the hottest of hotspots and controlling Covid there makes the statewide goals attainable and not pipedreams. By May 1 I think our vaccination count will be well over half the eligible population or put another way, most adults who want one will have theirs, and the holdouts will be the majority of the unvaccinated.
NotMax
@CaseyL
Ungainly beasties, yet there’s something rudely charming about them.
The cars, not the ducks.
SiubhanDuinne
Cute ducks are very cute! And their names are perfect! Thank you for the Easter bonus.
John Revolta
Pick a little, quack a little
Pick a little, quack a little
Pick pick pick! Quack a lot, pick a little more
evap
@trollhattan: Is that still the case? There’s been a big uptake in vaccinating since I read that GA is ranked last. Several megasites doing 6K shots a day, and everyone about 16 is eligible.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
Mass.
Yutsano
QUACKERS!!! That is all.
Grabbing a shower before things get way too nuts around here.
rikyrah
Awe
Nick and Nora Charles??
mrmoshpotato
Excellent. Looking forward to more of the ongoing ducks and dogs saga.
Patricia Kayden
jeffreyw
Why are the tail feathers on those ducks so long?
Rob
Adorable ducklings
CaseyL
@jeffreyw: Extensions. Everyone’s getting them.
jeffreyw
@CaseyL: Perhaps. My question goes to purpose. Why, not how.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah: I know. Next duckie is Asta.
trollhattan
@evap:
12.5% fully vaccinated per today’s data.
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/vaccines/us-states
There’s a reporting lag so any state’s current data won’t reflect reality on the ground.
Geminid
@Patricia Kayden: Thank you for the link to Hakeem Jefferson. A political science professor at Stanford University, Jefferson seems to have a lot to say.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: I’ve got a friend who’s a holdout right now, he has a brand preference(not J&J) and doesn’t want to drive.
CaseyL
@jeffreyw: Maybe, like puppies grow into their feet, ducklings grow into their tail feathers?
dmsilev
Further adventures of Florida Man:
dmsilev
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s kind of silly, but since I assume your friend will get their shots once supplies open up, I can’t be too bothered by it.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: I kept reading that as Hakeem Jeffries. Your comment made me look more closely.
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: Speaking of which, the duckling feet looked HUGE in the previous set of photos – I wonder if they are starting to grow into them. Like puppies.
CaseyL
@WaterGirl: Pekins are really big ducks, so it’s possible.
jeffreyw
@CaseyL:
It is so that their butt quacks are covered.
CaseyL
@jeffreyw:
I have no words.
WaterGirl
I was watching a TV show last night, and someone was referred to (behind their back!) as Our Lady of Insufferable Sanctimony.
I thought that might be thread-worthy, trying to decide which Republicans best fit that description.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: I would love to hear what Hakeem Jefferies and Hakeem Jefferson had to say to each other. I’d invite them out to my place for a barbecue, but they are both probably too busy. Jefferson has a lot of work as an Assistant Professor, and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Jefferies has over 200 cats to herd on Capitol Hill. He’s the man for the job though.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
All of ’em, Katie.
Ken
@WaterGirl: Could also change Nora to Norb or Norm.
Ken
It’s OK, Florida has that “two felonies cancel out” rule.
(Pardon?)
I’m informed that the rule was, in fact, a joke being made at the expense of Matt Gaetz.
NotMax
@Ken
Nick and Nack?
;)
Fair Economist
@trollhattan:
Teachers in GA forced to conduct in-person classes have been traveling to AL to get the vaccinations they can’t get in GA. Just nuts.
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Wow, that sounds great.
We were planning to watch “My grandfather’s war” on PBS tonight, and it does sound interesting, but I am not up for reliving the Blitz
ETA: Nikki and Nora are great names!
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Which company is in his stock portfolio? :)
WereBear
Is someone a fan of The Thin Man series? :) They were Nick and Nora Charles.
Benw
So cute! A little alarming that they are learning to be unafraid of HUGE doggos!
MomSense
They’re getting so big. So sweet.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
That’s epic Florida Man, just needs bath salts and a gator.
Joy in FL
I love seeing the duck photos. Seeing Scout there with them was extra sweet.
Also I will get my first shot on Thursday. So that’s a relief.
mrmoshpotato
@trollhattan: What? No meth lab “business” on the side?
Yutsano
Since we’re in open thread territory…
Guess what the latest “scandal” is? Just wait! It’s a doozy!
First Lady Doctor Jill Biden dared to express some style. I’m personally not sold but the right is collectively losing its mind.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Well, let me put it this way – hardly must watch TV, even at the time.
Pleasant surprise, though, to see Mary Astor show up as a guest star baddie in one of the free episodes.
zhena gogolia
@Joy in FL:
Congratulations! It feels good.
zhena gogolia
@Yutsano:
She looks great.
MagdaInBlack
@Yutsano: Oh my! i didn’t expect that.
MagdaInBlack
@zhena gogolia: And, yes she does.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: Those are more lace or patterned than fishnet, and I like them. She has great legs and they look great!
She most definitely does not look her age!
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Another curiosity (mentioned in passing rather than necessarily recommended) came across recently on Prime is Inspector Manara (Wikipedia, contains spoilers), a so-so Italian series made, set in and aired in 2009-11, yet which has all the anachronistic trappings and cultural sensitivity of a series which somehow time traveled from the 1970s. Would have to be more attentive to be certain but I swear it includes its own cleavage theme music for when those are highlighted on screen.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: You didn’t expect the fuss, or you didn’t expect the showy stockings?
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Sounds . . . weird.
The PBS Zen with Rufus Sewell had a lot of silk-shirt cleavage, as I recall. Maybe it’s an Italian thing.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia:
Apparently I need to try to find Zen streaming somewhere.
edit: I wonder if Acorn include PBS shows, BBC America shows and other britishshows
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
To be clear, it’s not Rufus who has the cleavage, but the woman who plays his girlfriend
Caterina Murino
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Oh. Disappointing.
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl:
Still well worth catching if you’re a Rufus fan. He’s gorgeous.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Just don’t ever make me chose between Rufus and Idris Elba.
I might spontaneously combust from the impossibility of the choice,
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: I’m not sure. Probably both ? Eta: I had to remind myself that the fuss was because the right seems to equate black leather and lace with their own personal sexual preferences.
When you scroll down to someone posting Melania in all her glory, the right should probably just stfu.
persistentillusion
@NotMax:
My parents brought me home from the hospital in an slightly earlier model in red.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: I didn’t notice the leather – I just saw black dress and coat. Unless the black leather shoes did it for them?
Republicans have issues.
Quantumman
Scout is a beauty. I really miss Danes. We had many through the years. Our last one died last August. She had systemic lupus. We are a bit old now and decided we cannot have the giants now. So we have a Multipoo and a Havanese. Tiny guys. They are awesome, but I miss the Danes.
The Lodger
@mrmoshpotato: Well, it is Easter.
Joy in FL
@zhena gogolia: Thank you. I hit dead ends for so long trying to get an appointment and then it became easy, fast, and convenient.
Chris T.
If they become Nick and Nora, do you have to get a wire terrier and name her Asta?