Egg Report : Chicken vs. Duck.....

Dear Ducks,

I love you.

I love your work ethic.

Your regularity.

Your count on ability.

Your clock-work never faility.

Your look.

Your new calmness.

You are the perfect pet for me.

You give me satisfaction, and a feeling of 

productivity.

You provide my family nourishment, and save me money.....

for that, and much more, I love you.

Penned by your protector, friend, and new mom, 

Melissa 

........................................................

I wanted to start with a tribute to Majestic and Sunrise,

because, 

well,

THEY ARE FREAKING AMAZING!!!!

Why everyone does not have ducks......

I will never know.

Here is the EGG Report I have promised.

First, duck egg shells are STURRRDEEEE.

I gave a tap, harder tap, and then I still had to do a thumb

nail dig to wrench this mammoth apart.

WELL WORTH IT.

Double yoke baby!!

BooooYah!  

Face.

But double yoke or not, all the shells are more leather like and 

quite hearty.

Next, the color, notice the deep rich color of our three 

"home grown" eggs.

We all know a darker color means more nutrients and better for you.

Think about your green and red veggies.....

Lastly, the eggs themselves are firmer, not as watery.

You can see in the bottom right picture, 

the egg white is a lot thicker, it can hang around for a 

WHILE.

I made scrambled eggs and waffles, 

using eight of our eggs total.

No complaints.

I noticed a texture difference in our waffles....

a bit thicker, next time I may add a bit more milk.

Now that we are well past a dozen eggs I will quit counting....

I guess  : ( 

It is actually really fun to keep track.

Maybe I will keep counting.

Can you imagine??

2 a day x 30 days in a month = 60 eggs!!!

For real??

This still seems to miraculous to be true.

How do these two little innocent beautiful creatures

create a whole entire formed egg every single day?

I don't comprehend it.

(My friend Erica says she has a book I can borrow to understand

how this miracle works).

Just look at these two.

You can't tell me they are not smiling.

They have come into their own.

They really get who they are.....

no more random egg laying,

They lay two eggs a day (ready and waiting each morning)

always in their nest under the Jasmine, out the kitchen window,

beside the ping pong ball.

They get it!

They have filled out, 

(yes, I do give them a little extra for the eggs)

their bodies are in constant production as I see it.

They seem more satisfied with life.

They are comfortable.

That makes me feel good.  

They never leave each others side,

where one duck goes the other goes.

They are equally yoked. :)))))))

Majestic and Sunrise

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

New subject!!!

Choffy Video Release!!!!

Have you seen it?

Have you shared it with every person you know? : ) 

If not HERE it is.....

(click on YouTube to watch it full screen....you won't want to miss a thing ;)

Enjoy.

......and hey, if the movie got you in the mood for a little 

brewed Chocolate of your own,

PLEASE feel free to go to 

www.drinkchoffy.com/melissachristensen

Let me hook you up with your own cup of BLISS.

Eggspecially Eggsciting News!

The day we have all been waiting for, and anticipating 

since we adopted our two ducks has arrived.

They have begun to lay.

The first egg, Ryker stumbled upon two days ago.

He was changing the water in their pool,

when he looked down and beheld the little fellow in the mirky water.

Wow!

Majestic and Sunrise are always full of surprises,

always dancing to the beat of their own drum....

they are continuing in that vain with their egg laying.

We were pretty tickled.....especially me.

I knew there was at least one other egg hidden somewhere 

in the yard, 

so I kept hunting around throughout the day.

Finally I hit the jack pot.

Under the bushes I found their little makeshift nest.

It was a little dug out bowl, 

in it I saw what I thought were three more

eggs......I scooped them out, 

turns out one of them was a ping pong ball.

Hmmmmm......I left it in the nest to hopefully inspire them 

to continue to lay there.

No such luck.

It has been a full day since we have found another egg.

M and I were out this morning scouting the entire yard.

M and S have been hanging in the back part of the yard much more,

I had a hunch they really worked on hiding their recent eggs from us.

McCauley and I were all up in bushes, trees, under the jet skis, etc.

Finally I was like, never mind, I guess they haven't 

laid any more.....

when Wait!

What in the world?

 I look down on the ground in plain sight, on flat dirt, 

and there of all places was another egg.

There is no rhyme or reason to their method....but whatever.

I find it so amazing and exciting.

It makes their crazy, loud, random quaking  sessions WAY more 

worth it.

Look at that jumbotron egg below!!

These two are getting so grown up. 

Seriously.

They are settling into themselves.

Not so skittish.

It is like their hair (feathers) are combed, 

they are sitting down more (taking it easy for their eggs to develop)

eating a bit more (eating for two), 

I could swear they are literally waddling WAY more.....

(maybe when the egg is getting ready to drop?)

Is this what it feels like to be a grandma??

I don't know!!

But I like it.

I do feel a sense of pride and accomplishment,

even though I have done nothing but provide nourishment,

 refuge, fairly comfortable living quarters, and love and encouragement.

he he.....

Meet our other pets - 

Caterpillars.

My first instinct when I saw several tiny, spiky black caterpillars 

on my healthy parsley was how do I kill these guys, and fast? 

I asked my gardening friend Erica,

 she said,

 oh WONDERFUL!!

You will have BEAUTIFUL butterflies soon.

You will be able to ENJOY those lovely creatures flying around 

and visiting your yard.

Parsley is the only thing they eat.

Huh.

Well, I guess we don't really eat the parsley that much,

and I really do admire butterflies....

So I have turned the plant over to them.

I love watching their progress.

They grow FAST!!

I cannot believe my eyes.

The one hanging from a painted wire on our house in the rt bottom

corner has disappeared.

I thought it was hanging there to make its cocoon.....

but it never got that far.

: ( where did it go?

Did a bird eat it?

Any ideas?

We have four left on our plant.....I really want to see them make it to

their transformation.....  

 .....into something like this!!!

The kids and I are having so much fun....

mostly me again,

 but they seem intrigued.

........................................................

 Did I already mention that 

Ryker got his learners permit?

One word - yikes. 

Direct Quote, "Ok, so what do I do now?", (holding the key),

and, "So which one is the brake?"

oh boy..... 

M - just got her first pair of fake glasses.  That is the big rage at the moment. 

She and I hit the 10 for $10 at Claire's last night at the mall....

good stumble, I love it when we hit that sale.

I finally made my dad's favorite meal - it turned out so GOOD!!!

Home made Beef patties in mushroom gravy.....why on earth did I wait so long to 

make that for our family???

Everybody loved it.

We've been eating a lot of Krispy Kreme doughnuts lately....

that train is unfortunately being driven by me,

not sure what that is all about.....

pure full on indulgence I guess.

This phase too shall pass one day, (I hope!)

On the home front.....see that buffet in the front hall??

That is my latest wonderful home addition.

STORAGE SPACE!!!

I spent $36 dollars and got a whole slew of furniture,

this dresser (buffet in my book), a tall dresser, and small set of drawers,

3 large mirrors, a lamp, and small round table for M's room!!

Score!

I used to have a table with pictures in the entry,

and yes,

it was very cute and delightful,

but it served no purpose.

This guy is good looking, AND it holds a ton of STUFF.

I have room to spare, and I was able to clean out a few other spaces.

I really love it so much.

Life it so good.

So much to be thankful for.

Get out and raise something.

Nurture a caterpillar,

house a duck,

grow some basil,

create a new space.

These are all fulfilling and satisfying endeavors.

Are you doing what makes you happy??