This week my mom and her friend came out from California to visit for a couple of days so, of course, we three played tourist for a bit.  The only time I really get out to see the sites is when I have guests in town... otherwise it's just the daily grind and then home again.   It's always fun to get out there and revisit the interesting stuff we have in DC.  I mean, I see the Capitol Building every day on my way into work.... but it still never gets old.  And the memorials are great - the Korean War Memorial is my favorite followed by the FDR Memorial. 

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a patriot or if it’s the newness of living in our nations capitol, but I never tire of seeing the monuments. It brings our country’s birth into perspective for me every time.  Seeing that small seed of our independence  planted by bold, intrepid, and strong willed people building a new life in a new place; watching the historical timeline to see it germinate; and follow our

founding fathers trial and error while they tend its frail leaves with their own brand of hard hewn and hard headed individuality until it grew into the strong and vigorous grove it is today.  It's amazing to me every time to see how we got from there to here.

And the monuments always pull at the heartstrings.  It’s important to remember that they aren’t dedicated to the celebration of war but as a remembrance to those who gave their lives so that we could remain free… or so that other nations could live free in a republic (for which it stands, one nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for all). 

We saw all the monuments on the Mall but there wasn’t time to take them to Arlington – which isn’t something you breeze through.  We visited a sampling of the 9 Smithsonian’s that DC has on offer, and had a wonderful dinner at the house with my closest friends.  It was a lot of activity to pack into only 2 days but I had a great time.

                                                              Breadline at the FDR Memorial

Mom got to spend some time with the granddogs and Savannah Kitty who she hadn’t seen in a long time.  And she  was finally able to meet the chickens, ducks and geese and see my little operation.  Buffy the Orphington had just hatched out her second brood of the season so I had 10 brand new little baby Silkies, Ameraucana’s, and Naked Neck Turkins to fascinate over.

The ducks were skittish because something scared them pretty good the first day she was here.  I still don’t know for sure what’s terrorizing the birds but the ducks and geese stayed in their duckyard or very close to it for those few days.

Today I was out there catching up on chores all day and after I chased them out into the barnyard for exercise, sunshine and fresh pasture they decided that it was safe as long as I was out there walking around so there were a lot of happy little chortles as they found the tastier bugs.  I reckon we’re back on track and I’m glad to see everyone acting like they should.

The Muscovy have spent the last 3 weeks in “sickbay” after a really horrible hawk attack in early August.  All 5 were terribly maimed and I wasn’t sure 3 of them would even make it through the night.  I did lose Freckles on the second day but everyone else miraculously pulled through and all their wounds have healed up so well!

When I found them after the attack, I got them all cleaned up and then I applied new dressing on their wounds  twice a day and got them on vitamins and probiotics (Rooster Booster is awesome!).  They all stayed in a little corner of the barn sleeping most of the time for the first few days.  Then when they weren’t hanging out in the barn, they were confined to a relatively small yard covered with bird netting and salted with straw to keep them all clean.  Pretty Girl took the longest to come out of the barn and to heal but her wounds were the worst, except for Freckles.  Eventually, I gave them a pool to swim and get themselves cleaned-up in with a good dose of vinegar to keep the bacteria in check.  I was really amazed at how quickly and thoroughly they recovered… you can hardley see any scaring, it's totally amazing.

Today I took down their portable fence and let them free into the barnyard… they were so happy to roam and hunt for bugs and I was happy to see them enjoying that again.  I’ll miss Freckles though.  She was so friendly and would come running up to me when I came out in the barnyard. 

This week I’ll expand the primary duckyard, effectively tripling the space to about 250’ x 250’, then put a bird netting roof over the top of it.  I’ll move the Muscovy into the regular duckbarn with the rest of the flock (since they’ve been sleeping in MY barn for the last 15 weeks) and everyone will stay in the duckyard when I’m not home and only come out to range on the rest of the property when I get home from work and on the weekend.  I’ve lost 20 ducks in the last 15 weeks so it’s far too dangerous for them to be out from under cover when I’m not there.