See Jack Run

See the dog? The dog is black. The dog likes to run. The dog likes to run in the creek.

The dog has a friend. The dog's friend is white. The black dog and the white dog like to chase the deer.

The white dog is tired. She wants to go home. The black dog is not tired. He does not want to go home. The white dog goes home. The black dog does not go home. He wants to run.

Oh no! The black dog is lost! Where is the dog? Where did he go?

Here he is! He has found a home! He likes this home! He likes the boys and girls. He likes the man and the lady.

The lady tells the dog to go home. The dog does not go home. He wags his tail. He wants to play with the boys and the girls. He likes this home. He wants to come inside.

The lady and the children leave. The dog stays at the home. The man leaves. The dog stays at the home.

The lady and children come home. The dog is still here! He wants to stay! He likes this home!

It is late. It is time for bed. The lady makes the dog a bed by the car. The man gives the dog some food and some water. It is cold outside, but the dog is warm by the car.

The boys and girls wake up. The dog is still here! The dog wants to play! The dog can sit. The dog can stay. The dog cannot fetch.

The dog likes to run. He likes to chase the squirrels.

The man and the girl make signs. The man and the girl like the dog. They want the dog to be happy. The dog needs to go home. The dog's people miss him.

A man calls. He looked for his dog. He looked and looked and looked. He could not find his dog. Is this his dog?

The man comes to the house. Here is his dog! The man is happy! The dog is happy! The boys and girls are not happy. They want to keep the dog.

What is the dog's name? The dog's name is Jack.

Stay, Jack, stay!

There are some definite advantages to living so close to the woods. We're at the end of a private drive, past a little family cemetery, surrounded on 3 sides by open space (in Ohio that mean "lots of trees"). There's a little creek that runs year-round just down the hill, and we can sit on our front porch and see deer, muskrats, rabbits, squirrels and mallards.

Way back in March, I came into the dining room after hearing something hit the window (we have dumb birds around here) and saw this lovely couple in the front yard.

Senor Pato

His lovely senora

A few weeks later, we were working in the yard, cleaning up debris, etc. from the winter, and the lady duck was hanging around, just out of reach, but watching everything we were doing and quacking, which I thought was pretty strange behavior from a typically wild animal. I wondered if she had a nest somewhere, but I didn't see anything as we were pruning, etc.

Then, a few weeks later when our landscaper was laying down new mulch, she was startled and flew up into his face, revealing her nest right underneath our dining room window, behind a plant.

Here she is sitting on the nest. She sat there for so long that we thought for sure the eggs weren't going to hatch. Apparently, ducks will sit on unfertilized eggs until they rot.

Yesterday morning, I awoke at about 5 am to the sound of a baby duck, it chirped for a good 30 seconds, and then it was gone.

When I got up, I checked the nest, and this is what I found:

Looks like two of the eggs hatched, one didn't make it. The mama must have taken them right down to the creek to get them swimming. I just wish I could have seen them.

Look what else I found:

Another one of the joys of living in the woods.