Quacks n Wood

Remember those cute, tiny ducks? Here they are...getting huge. They're only half feathered-out, so they're still in the gawky phase, but they're starting to get pretty. The two dark-billed are females and the light bill is (I *think*) a male. They are Speckles, Sprinkles and Whiskers. These are the 3 we'll definitely keep. If Whiskers turns out to be a female after all we'll pick one boy to keep in addition to these 3. They're starting to get their quacks now and almost surprise themselves when they belt out a mature "WACK!" instead of a wussy little "PEEP!" It's amusing.

Here is Speckles up close. She is a silver-phase and will have more "black" to her than the gold-phase, which will be more brown.

This is Spoon. He is obviously the alpha male, but he's pretty stupid. He couldn't figure out how to get into the pool, so for 2 weeks he'd roam around the side of the pool while his buddies were swimming and just peep at them. He sticks his head over the side to get a drink and just looks pathetic. He finally learned to get in the last 2 days. He picks on Whiskers, so he'll definitely go, but he's the only unblemished male, so it makes me sad that he'll be eaten.

This is Sprinkles. She is a gold-phase, so like I said above, she'll be more brown.

This is a close-up of Whiskers. We know who he is because he has a dark stripe down his bill. He's always been the calmest and sweetest, but the others seem to pick on him. My hope is that once the others are gone, the two females will realize he's their only hope for some play and warm up to him. He is by far the kids' favorite, so no way is he going anywhere.

Let no one ever say we're afraid of color. Here is the new trim in our kitchen. This will be painted an off-white color when they're done. Doesn't it look GORGEOUS? Ignore the taped up big-ugly. That will be going away soon.

Here's the dining room looking into the library. This trim will be stained. It's really starting to feel like a home, we are SOOO excited! Only a couple more weeks and we can move our stuff back in, (it'll be like Christmas x 10 since we haven't seen any of this stuff in over 5 months and lots of it in 3 years!), and live in our house. PRAISE GOD we don't have to leave and can enjoy this beautiful new home for a couple of years.

Here is a spiffy column where we cut out a wall and had raw wood showing. These guys doing the trim are ARTISTS. Allan was nervous because he hadn't met them at all, but I told him from the minute the guy walked in the door I trusted him. He's been a fabulous contractor and his workers are great. For anyone in the area, his name is Craig Garland and I got his name through Blazek. I HIGHLY recommend him! They are awesome.

Here is the other column on the other side and the bookshelf "honoring" the door that used to go from the stairwell to the diningroom.

The library window. In time that room will be full of custom shelving units and our countless books and we can light a real fire in the fireplace and read and relax and enjoy each other. We are so Blessed!

There it is...things are coming along swimmingly. I'm sick as a dog and realizing I was nuts to think I could get away with a pregnancy feeling good. We are looking into getting a van, (my dream is the VW Routan), and we're anxiously awaiting Allan graduating after only 5 more days of school! Hope all is as well with you and yours. We love and miss you all!