This afternoon, we had a redux of Superbowl Sunday today and went for a walk down to the pond at the edge of our neighborhood today. We opted for a more direct route to the pond and walked along sidewalks instead of trails. We took along with us a bag of half of the bread we have saved over the past few months to feed ducks and geese. Whenever we finish a loaf of bread, I save the heels and toss them into a large bag in the freezer. A few times a year, we raid that bag and feed some birds.
Today, we took half the winter collection of bread ends and went to the pond with a mission. Last weekend, Rich and Drew had admired the extensive fowl population and today, we came to feed them.
On the way, we walked through our rabbit field and flushed out several rabbits which obligingly ran away.
We remembered to equip Drew with his camera today, and he worked on taking pictures.
In the rabbit field is a random large pipe. Rich and Drew investigated to see if anything was inside.
I kept waiting for something to come out of both ends and latch onto their faces and then for Sigourney Weaver to scream and start shooting a very large automatic gun of some sort. The bright, sunny day kind of detracted from that particular image.
Anyway, on our way out of the field, Drew spotted a ladybug.
As we were walking down the street, my attention turned to the trees, which are unfurling a little early thanks to the unseasonably warm weather.
I also noticed these nice copper signs that identify our development.
After a while, we arrived at the pond. Drew was pretty psyched as Rich had teased him earlier by pointing out a very small pool of water in the creek and told him that was the pond and that it had dried up since last weekend. Drew took that seriously and started planning on playing around this tiny little pool of water. I took pity and pointed to the real pond and he took off running.
Drew has no phobias about birds, unlike insects. Somehow they're just not as scary as insects. He immediately demanded some bread and then proceeded down the grassy hill to the rocks and started tossing bits in the water. The birds came a running and had visible strong wakes.
There were a couple of Canadian geese that arrived first on scene.
A minute or two later, along the lawn, a pair of domestic geese came a strolling.
Meanwhile, Drew had been tossing bread, some of which was in the rocks and not in the water for the birds to get.
The sea gulls circled ominously, getting ready for those pieces of bread in the rocks that the geese hadn't gotten. Drew finally got fed up and had to let them at it, so he came up on the grass and the sea gulls went for it.
At this point, Rich got into the game and was pretty successful. He has a way with birds, apparently. Especially the domestic geese.
Rich then got Drew into the game.
Meanwhile, the rest of the birds in the area got a clue that a free lunch was in town.
Rich decided he was tired on sitting on the rocks, so he moved up to the lawn. His buddies, the domestic geese, followed him...and...got pretty friendly.
As we were on our way out the door, Rich called over to Drew's buddy Van's house to see if Van and his parents wanted to join us at the pond. While we were there, Van's mom called and told us that she and Van would ride their bikes down to the pond and meet us there. They arrive while Rich was holding court with the domestic geese.
Van took to feeding the water fowl pretty fast.
They were pretty excited to be together again.
After a while, Rich's little buddies had to get in on the action.
Rich had some weird psychic connection with the domestic geese. I mean, they let him pick them up!
And despite the trauma, they kept coming back!
Boys being boys, Van and Drew managed to run out of bread and started picking up twigs and pieces of hay which were strewn amongst the rocks. We put a stop to that when Drew came to us with his hands up because they were covered in some greenish brown gunk that we had to wipe off in the grass.
The boys ran around for a while and played. I am constantly amazed at how kids can entertain themselves for a surprisingly long time. Especially when there is more than one.
Despite our best efforts, the boys were drawn to the water. They resorted to throwing in acorns which were strewn all over the ground from the oak trees. The geese thought they were getting more bread.
We had to rip the boys apart when it started getting dark and cold. We invited Van and his mom over for dinner, but they had to get home. Drew was sad, but it'll just be a couple of days until they're together again.
Rich bade an affectionate farewell to his geese, which seemed to be sad to see him go.
On our walk home, Rich made a tribble reference which I totally got. It was one of those, awww...I so married the right guy! moments. :)
And then we booked it home, as it was getting cold!
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