Meet Murphy, Puddles, and Doodle, straight from California. I still amazes me that three ducklings can be shipped in a box across the country.

These babies are one of Hannah’s summer projects. She’s determined to raise ducks that “will love us”. Or at the very least not run waddle away when we approach.

After four days with us they had their first mini excursion outdoors. They didn’t want to explore much beyond this lupine cluster.

Things have been going smoothly with the duckies until 4:30 am this morning.

I woke to incessant, frantic peeping. I hopped out of bed and raced to the mudroom thinking that the heat lamp bulb must have burned out. Instead, I found the kiddie pool held only two ducks. Although we’d wrapped the edges of the pool with some fencing, one had managed to scale the edge and was tucked into a little corner between the pool and fencing. I scooped her up and returned her to her friends. After adjusting the fencing to prevent another mishap I returned to bed.

Just as I drifted back to sleep came more frantic incessant peeping. Back to the mudroom I went. Just two ducklings. I could hear the third, but couldn’t find her. Eventually I located her hiding among the Muck boots. So at 5am I dismantled cardboard boxes to wrap the pool, fortifying their temporary home.

What’s a few more ducks?