Forget the magpies.... BEWARE THE DUCKS

I had an unusual sight greet me this morning as i glanced at our pool ( extremely loose use of the word ). A family of ducks !!!! Now ducks are a common sight on or beside our pool but this time they were not alone !!!!! At first i thought, cool, five little ducklings, how sweet. But no! Mummy duck has eleven little ones to look after !!

It looked like Mummy, Daddy and babies were doing fine until it was time to take a dip. Now Mum and Dad have no problem getting in and out of the pool, but the 14 inch leap the ducklings would need to make is a bit excessive.
So this is were the warning comes into it. No matter your intentions wild ducks just don't get it. I decided the only way to avoid mass duckling fatalities was to step in and help. Daddy duck took serious offence to me coming between him and a stranded duckling sitting in our pump intake thingie. He gave me a very loud hiss and a good flapping at which was very impressive and a little unnerving. Very glad ducks have bills instead of pointy beaks.
However all ended well. I managed to fashion a ramp out of a plank of wood and added a step inside that intake thingie ( I'm not big on the lingo) if that makes any sense. After a few hit and miss attempts all the ducklings managed to evacuate the pool. I just hope they remember how to do it next time too.
Hmmmmm, this really puts the brakes on our pool cleaning for summer.

Last weekend i took myself to Wagga to visit some of my family. It was really nice to get away and spend time with my parents who i rarely get to see.

We had an outing on Sunday with not a child in sight. Involving a trip to the Wagga Art gallery to look at a collection of old local photographs, an ice cream in the park and a visit to a local nursery for some seedlings. All in all a relaxing afternoon. Above is a pic of my parents and 2 of my sisters.

Here is somewhere our resident ducks would be much better off. If only it wasn't 5 & 1/2 hours away.