ONE of Missy’s ducks hatched three little ducklings. The mother duck brought them right down to the pond near the well and they all went in. They were so small and yellow paddling around on the water. We couldn’t believe they could swim when they’re only one day old.
Two of the chickens hatched eggs too, so we have thirteen new chicks. When we go too near the chicks the mother hen gets worried and spreads her wings out and covers them.
My dad did a funny thing though. He put two duck eggs under one of the hens, and she hatched two ducklings along with six chicks. The hen treats the ducklings like her own chicks. The only thing is when they went near the pond the ducklings went in for a swim. The poor mother hen almost went crazy. She went running around the pond to the left, then to the right. She almost ran into the pond. She was clucking at them, trying to call them. Finally they came out and the hen felt better. She led them away from the water.
Ducklings and chicks are different in another way too. Ducklings always walk in a single file. Chicks walk all over the place. Chicks scratch in the ground like chickens, but ducks don’t. Also duck eggs are bigger.
Missy seems to be getting better now that she has the ducks to look after. Her sores are healing and she’s eating more. My dad said she was the only one who could feed the ducks. She has to make sure they’re in the chicken house at night. Otherwise an owl or hawk or weasel could kill and eat them.
Now Missy’s getting better, but Dorothy had a nightmare when she came home last weekend. In her dream she was being chased across the field by a big mean bull. There was no place for her to hide. That’s when she woke up screaming. She jumped up and ran in the dark across the bed, fell onto the floor, got up and tried to run through the wall. My dad got a flashlight and came to see what the matter was. Then Dorothy woke up with a sprained ankle. She was crying and Mum talked to her and held her for awhile. She told Mum that same nightmare started at school and keeps coming back. Sometimes she wakes up standing beside her bed. Once she woke up in the broom closet.
I never had a nightmare, but a strange thing happened one time at school. I woke up really cold because I had no blankets on. They were gone. I looked all over for them and couldn’t find them. Finally I had to knock on Sister’s door and tell her because it was so cold that our breaths were clouding even though we were inside. Sister helped me look for my blankets and we still couldn’t find them. She went and got me some blankets from the Sisters’ closet. Later one of the girls found my blankets under the rubber stand downstairs in the rec. I don’t know how they got there, but it scared me.