Duck soup.

Whew, been busy! And that's a good thing, 'cuz busy = money. Er, most of the time. For a few years there, busy meant coaching and shuffling both kids to baseball and soccer, sometimes both kids, both sports, in the same night. Not to mention tending to 6 baseball fields as head of field management for three years. But the other day, just before we were to drive to the guitar store so she could buy her first guitar, the daughter and I happened upon a little lost soul.

He was so tiny, so pathetic, so lost, so damn cute, this little 4 day old baby Mallard duckling. He was by the front door to the High School, a vast expanse of concrete with no real water in site. No bushes to hide in, nothing. He was like a little kid that lost it's mommy at the mall. He was wobbling, falling over, and could barely keep it's eyes open. We couldn't just leave him there, so I scooped him up, stuck him in my golf shoe, (the left one I think), and took him home, where I promptly stuck him in a bowl of water. He drank for like 10 minutes straight.

Now against the advise of the police, I did not take him back to where we found him so his mother could take over. We looked. There was nowhere for any ducks to hide. I knew that if I brought him back he would never make it. So I found a woman who takes in abandoned animals and raises them. She was amazing. She knew more about ducks than Wikipedia. She had the little guy eating in no time, and told us that newly hatched ducks need to get to water ASAP for that first drink once they are hatched. So sometimes if one is hatching late, the mother duck takes the rest and abandons it. I bet this little guy took his first sip of water in my garage.

Feel good story, not my style I know. But the daughter (and The Guitarman) felt it was more important to help out the helpless creature than to buy a guitar. The woman did tell us one other thing. She said that baby ducks need 3 things to survive: water, food, and warmth. She was sure he would not have survived the night. So I guess we saved it's life. And then we went and bought the guitar.