Kiwi Bird

Sorry I shall return very soon!

So anyway - Nice Duck mother after losing over half of her kids to Bitch Duck, decided that mothering was not her thang and flew off into the wild blue yonder never to be seen again.

I fed her remaining progeny till they reached adulthood then I decided they would have to learn to stand on their own two webbed feet. But they didn't get it! They wouldn't leave. I assumed that ducks have an innate instinct to forage and feed themselves. Not this trio!

I tried to be strong but I would weaken and feed them a slice of bread when they came knocking with their bills on my ranchslider - having made the arduous journey from their usual spot outside my kitchen window. Big mistake! It just prolonged the agony. Eventually however I gradually weaned them off me and they one by one left. This was in the autumn. About two months ago.

It's winter now and one frosty morning this week I awoke and went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Suddenly a duckface appeared at my second floor window. Yep they were back!

Apparently these three ducks checked out the big wide world and weren't very impressed with what they saw. So back to my garden.

What do I do now? There is one male and two females - I reckon that will be eight a piece - sixteen more ducklings in the spring!!!!

I have heard of the boomerang generation but does this really apply to duck????

I have a duck problem. Last year two wild duck mothers selected my garden to rear their young in. Nice idea you may think. So did I for a while.

But my two duck mothers were as different as two animals whose brains are wired for predetermined behaviours can be! In other words I had no notion that ducks enjoyed such variation in personalities.

One mother was excellent as a mother but a right cow to any other creatures except her own ducklings - she was henceforth known as Bitch Duck. The other mother had a lovely personality but was a hopeless mother - Nice Duck.

We spent the spring in turmoil as Bitch Duck made Nice Duck's, and Nice Duck's ducklings, life a misery.

They both started off with eight fluffy ducklings a piece. By the end of Spring Bitch Duck had her full quota of eight but Nice Duck had lost all but three of hers. Bitch Duck was responsible for the deaths of at least four wee ducklings because Nice Duck was too nice to fight her off and ran around in a helpless panic as Bitch Duck killed yet another of her young.

Eventually Nice Duck asconded after figuring I was going to be a better mum than she was. So I am left in early winter with three ducks that are dibbling great holes in my grass, pooing everywhere and haven't got a clue how to be ducks - because their mother never got round to teaching them.

To be cont.......

Whoa! We lost! The Mighty Lions beat BOP and Jonah's team lost too! Aotearoa is strangely subdued today. But it HAS stopped raining - yay!!!!

I have always thoughtit was sad that a nation had its ego wrapped up so much in a game of sport. Any nation that is. But we of the ex-colonies of Her Majesty's British Commonwealth seem more prone to it than other nations - except for the US ....and Brazil ....and France.... and yes every other country on the planet!!!

What is it with people and sport?????? Are the psychologists right - has sport replaced war? Except it hasn't replaced war has it? The 20th century was the most warring in all history and the 21st shows no sign of reversing the trend! So could we say that sport increases the chance of war then? By emphasising the 'them/us' mentality that we all suffer from? Maybe!

Anyway it was so good to see Jonah back on the paddock and scoring tries wasn't it? Go Jonah!

......

That's Auckland in the photo - taken at night obviously. The Skytower is the sticky-up thing in the middle - of the photo and Auckland.

It was built by Ron Brierly - a closeted, miserable looking, millionaire businessman - in the nineties. I hated it when it was being built. I hated the idea that a fat-cat with a big ego could use his ill-gotten millions to build a rich man's folly on my skyline. I hated that he made sure it was higher than Mt Eden - our beautiful iconic volanic (too many 'ics' - I know) cone. What arrogance! As it grew we all thought it looked like a hypodermic syringe - and loathed the imagery.

BUT..... I have to admit now - and I hate to do so - I think I actually like it!!!!! The junkie needle and big business connotations have faded from my mind and it is a focal point - pun intended - for the CBD. It also helps me when I get lost - a navigational aid that can be seen for hundreds of miles - okay tens!

The only thing I hold against it now is that it sits atop the casino - a misery-making place if ever there was! But don't get me started on that one

Kia Ora! Welcome to a slice of Heaven on the WWW

The British and Irish (what's that about anyway???) Lions
have arrived en masse - like how many players does it take to lose to the mighty All Blacks?

It's raining all over our clean green islands - and a cold south-westerly has been blowing all week. It's gonna snow in Dunedin tonight.

Helen Clarke is in Japan and Winston is stirring - again.

Australia has made a proper horse's arse of itself (again), with the Corby case in Bali and sending fake terrorist parcels to the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra. What an uncouth lot they are!!!

I am on a diet - again - to lose a just few kilos I've put on since Christmas - low-carb variety. I'm mixing up Aitkens, South Beach and Carb Addicts. They're all the same - more or less. I hope I'm less soon. I'll keep you posted on it - and all manner of fascinating stuff from the little country down-under - the couth one!