Crazy ducks!

Here are our three Indian Runner ducks. This is their abode and pen. They live behind chicken wire, in a dog house filled with straw, and, at night, behind a board held against the opening with cinder blocks to keep the coyotes, foxes, skunks and raccoons out. We feed them in the morning and afternoon and we keep their water bowls full, but not clean. I think they like it dirty. We bought them as big handfuls a few months ago, hoping we'd get all girls. No one is laying yet, still too early, but the big duck has a curled feather at his tail, which usually indicates a non-egg layer. These ducks belong to my children, one for each, but I end up doing alot of their pen and house maintenance.

I must admit I enjoy it.

My grandfather came east from an Iowa farm, and I must be feeling my heritage when I'm slinging a little bit of hay around. The beautiful weekend past enabled me to get them in better shape for winter. I dumped out the dirty hay. I put a pallet underneath their house, and filled it with new pine shavings and fresh straw. Then I put bagged leaves on the sides and the back to provide some winter insulation, which may be unnecessary with the down God gave them. I had to shore up their fencing where it sagged between posts and on the ground where some critter had started to dig under. I was making quite a ruckus in their pen.

Those poor ducks were terrified. They went to the farthest corner and huddled together, waiting for the big scary monster to finish messing up their nest. They are so funny in their flock mentality. They imitate each other. They follow each other. Not one of them seems to get like my three children and stomp off for some privacy. So they huddled together, for 20 minutes, pushing the fence again and again to see if there was any escape. They can fly some, but not very well.

When I finished and left their little pen, they felt safe to explore the damage. Their home is now a little higher off the ground so I used bricks as steps up for them. There is a gap between their house and the first step, which they are still getting used to. So they fall into it and act like their goofy selves. We even sit around the pen and watch them for entertainment. I know, life is tough without cable, but they are very amusing in their cluelessness.

I sometimes think, in anxious days like these, God enjoys watching me too. He's doing a lot of banging around, and things are unstable, and I'm worried, but he's still in control. Whoever becomes our next president, will not get there without God's decision. I'm consigned to the pro-abortion candidate winning it and screwing up the Supreme Court and keeping the abortion industry alive and well. That scares me. It depresses me. But it's the Lord who is running the show. He's the one who put Bush and Clinton in the office.

My hope is in a true Sovereign. One who constrains and releases. If the pro-abortion candidate wins, I won't cower in the corner with my fellow worried ducks. I will trust my master and do what he told me to do. Pray for him. I need to pray for those justices, too, and my federal and state legislators. I need to pray for their conversions. I need to pray for their faith. I need to pray for their virtue. Who knows, perhaps there will be revival in Washington, D.C. Only God knows. But I've been lax and need to repent of not praying for the leaders God has placed over me. Forgive me Lord. I know you love me. That's why there is always daily bread for us. I'm like a crazy duck sometimes. I like to dirty up the water He provides for us. I'm a mess, but I'm glad He bought me. I will trust Him as he rearranges the pen we're in.