Last night when I got home from work there was a message on the answering machine from a post office guy in Roanoke. “Um, we have some, um…ducklings? here for you. If you want to pick them up here instead of waiting for them to get to your post office, come on by!” In the background we could hear our little babies cheeping for us. Too bad we didn’t get the message until after the post office closed!

We’d prepped the brooder the night before, so we were all ready for them. All that was left to do was wait until morning when the ducklings would arrive at our local post office and we could get them!

At around 6:45am, the phone rang. It was Pat, our rural letter carrier!

“Your ducklings are here!” she said with a smile in her voice (who can resist the charm of baby animals??)

“YAY!!!!!!!!!!!”

“We open at 7:30.”

“YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We’ll be there!!”

I hung up the phone, ran downstairs, leapt onto the bed, and started hopping up and down and cheering, “THE DUCKS ARE HERE!!!” Andy was still asleep…and didn’t seem to quite be feeling the joy. (I have to add here that my acrobatics really sound more impressive than they were since the bed is a mattress on the floor.)

“WAKE UP WAKE UP! THE DUCKS ARE HERE!!”

“mfflemffle”

“WAAAAAAAAAAAKE UP!!!!” (bounce hop bounce)

“mffffflesnarflemrfffle”

Andy finally woke up, and we headed out the door. Alas, we got to the post office 5 minutes early, and it wasn’t open yet. We stared forlornly in the front window, but if anyone was in there they didn’t care. Instead of loitering like silly city folk, we took a walk down a side street and listened to cows bellowing and saw some of that groovy butterfly weed plant from the Booker T. Washington monument. On our way back, we saw the post office guy putting up the flag (he kept letting it touch the ground!!!). We followed the post office guy into the post office. He seemed grumpy. Did he not know our ducks were there?!?! He unlocked the door and turned on the light and pulled up the little shade hanging down at the counter and (without smiling or saying hello or anything!) shuffled past us and went back around behind the counter.

“can i help you?”

“We’re here for our DUCKS!” (bounce bounce)

He turned around and wandered off. I saw a lady in the background (was it Pat? I dunno!) smiling. _She_ knew about the ducks! The post office guy shuffled back over to the counter, set down a box of chirps, scanned it with some top secret post office gizmo, and pushed the box across the counter to us.

“YAY!!!”

He sort of stared at us.

“Um, can we borrow some scissors to open it to make sure everyone is okay?” (That’s what you’re supposed to do…look at in them in front of the post office person. If the ducks aren’t okay, the post office person files the report for you.)

Post office guy sighed and turned around and got scissors and cut the plastic straps holding the box closed. I lifted the lid and there they were….

Seven (we got a bonus one) teeny, fuzzy, peeping blobs of ultimate cute!

We drove home. Me behind the steering wheel; Andy with the box of ducks on his lap. He peered in at them…

“Aren’t they supposed to be white?”

“Um, they are called _Khaki_ Campbells.”

“Oh. … … Are their eggs white?”

“Maybe!”

“Can I pet them?”

“I’m not sure. You should probably not bug them too much.”

He looked sort of sad, “Oh. Okay.” And he peered at them through the holes in the box…announcing each time one stuck her beak out….holding the box in the air to keep it level when we went around curves.

Before I even got out of the truck Andy was halfway up the hill to the garage where the brooder is. We put the box down in the middle of the brooder and took off the lid and stared at the ducks. I think we both expected them to hop out of the box…but they are teeny ducks not frogs or rabbits. We each started scooping up birds and setting them down gently in the straw.

I’d read somewhere you should put some shallow dishes of water in the brooder when the ducklings first arrive to make sure they can reach the water. I also read you should put little bits of green food in the water for them. Maybe the dishes weren’t shallow enough because instead of drinking, snacking ducklings, we got this:

How can you beat that? (happy sigh)

We watched the ducklings eat and drink and play and run around. Andy (responding to my constant, “Are they warm enough????”) adjusted the heating lamp a few times and put up a cardboard baffle around the exterior (to keep out drafts (and also to keep in ducks when they get bigger)). I tossed baby duck kibble into their water. Good stuff.

Finally, I had to go to work. I wanted to grab a blanket and crash on the floor right next to them and watch them all day, but no. (sad sigh) Andy’s checking on them and making sure they are warm enough and have enough food floating in their water and is sending me updates. Here’s one more picture for you and for me: