non-wedding related post about my very odd day...

Today I went to Schiller Park for an engagement session where I saw some ducks. I got home and in conversation, Wolfgang told me about the duck his family had that thought it was one of the dogs. It slept with them, bossed them around, etc. Later, I saw our neighbor who provides a flop-house on her porch for the local tomcat we've dubbed "Tough Guy." Well, we haven't seen Tough Guy in a few weeks and we were just told that the last time she saw him, he'd been rather badly wounded...no sign of him since. We're blaming the neighborhood gang of raccoons. We think they also injured another neighborhood cat and we became very worried about Sascha, our favorite fluffy kitty who also lives with Tough Guy's adoptive mamma and has the intelligence and awareness of your average cotton ball. She promised to keep Sascha in at night from now on; losing Tough Guy was heartbreaking enough.

So anyway, I go upstairs to sulk. Out the window: suspicious activity in my little pond. A blue jay keeps going from the fence to the pond and back again...to a little lump in the dry spot of the pond. I go to investigate and sure enough, one of their babies fell out of the nest. We tried to get it to safety and found it could fly a little, so we left it alone. Inside, 20 minutes later, we hear birds shrieking outside. Dear little Sascha found herself a tasty little bluejay prize. I jumped on her and pried the terrified little thing out of her jaws (she was royally pissed at me for doing so) as its parents squawked angrily overhead. I got Sascha into the arms of her mom and into the house as Wolf tried to shoo the chick out of the street. It hopped/flew into the alley....where I saw a baby duck. In the 10 years I've been in this neighborhood, I have never ever seen a duck. It takes 10-15 minutes to walk to the nearest water....?!? So Wolf is after the bluejay and I'm after the duckling. Sascha was probably at the window like a kid in front of the proverbial candystore. Another neighbor joins in the duck-hunt - the thing is maybe 4 inches tall and runs faster than me. Success at last. And the bluejay's parents finally found out where their baby went and got it safely to a bush.

Ducks aren't animals that I ever think about. Cats, dogs, even the funny squirrels, but not ducks. But today started with ducks, we talked about pet ducks, and ended up with the teensy one that currently is sleeping in our spare room. We may have lost sweet little Tough Guy, but spared the life of a little bluejay and a stray duckling, who were sure to become raccoon treats if left overnight.

I'll post some photos tomorrow before I take the little guy to wildlife rescue. He's so freaking cute, we can't stand it. I'm refraining from naming him.