And I Thought One was a Handful!!!

So about 2 weeks ago we had a mild thunderstorm roll through here as one of the tropical storms made its way into the gulf. Jamie loves to watch the rain so we sat on the floor in front of out French doors to watch the rain falling into the pond when I noticed a Mama Duck with a few chicks in tow. "How cute," I thought. "I hope that they find a place to wait out the rain."

A few minutes later as Mama and babies sat huddled near our grill I saw a fe more chicks scamper over ... then a few more ... and a few more. One by one they slowly disappeaed under her protective wings, like clowns climbing into a VW Bug at the circus, but on a cuter, more somber scale.

I watched in amazement as they just kept coming. After a few minutes the parade of fluffy yellow and brown chicks had ceased and there stood Mama Duck in the rain beneath our tree with all those babies tucked safely underneath her. Sure here and there you could see a little tuft of yellow, but for the most part they were all huddled under her for protection.

It wasn't until after the storm passed and the little family continued on their unknown journey that I realized ... she had 16 babies! What do I have to complain about?