Lester was soooo happy to be home from the vet and see his buddy Flapper. They chatted for nearly 1/2 hour. Lester’s prognosis is not good. His legs are not likely fix-a-ble and he does have nerve damage. He also still has parasites so he’s still on medication for that as well as antibiotics for his legs and previous dog-bite wounds.

For now, Lester has a good quality of life. He likes his playpen and his mirror and he likes his buddy Flapper. Flapper also likes him and they are good company for each other. He is eating well and seems content. So he will stay with us for as long as he is happy and has a good quality of life. And he’ll go back to the vet in 2 weeks for another check-up. NOTE: We don’t need donations for Lester, as his care is paid for by the Seattle Animal Shelter right now.

In other news, Chewy was featured in a book last year. I do not support people farming animals, but this book wanted to use one of my photos of Chewy and so we said they could. Since Chewy passed away unexpectedly, I bought the book so I could have it as a keepsake.

Chewy is featured in the book in his tuxedo, and his caption says, “Chewy, pictured right, is kept as a much-loved pet, its owners keeping a lively pictorial blog of its exploits on flickr.com.” I thought it would be good for some people to see that ducks are more than just agricultural or ornamental objects. And Chewy always did look very handsome in his tuxedo.

We worked from home today so we could get Lester to the vet, and as you can see, George was happy to hang out with us. Flapper sat on some blankets inside the house and looked out at the chickens and O’Malley, Petunia & George. George was very curious about the house but too shy to step inside.

Lastly, Simon is doing pretty well these days. He has adjusted to having not one, but TWO ducks living inside HIS house, even though it can be exhausting at times.

That’s all the news for today. Thanks and quacks.

It reminded me that I really haven’t said “thank you” to all the people who posted notes, sent cards and otherwise shared their condolences on the loss of my little buddy Chewy. I also didn’t get any of my holiday cards out this year, and owe everyone an apology for that.

So thank you so much for all of your support, for the condolences and also for the holiday cards.

Thank you.

So here we are, without our little fancy feet. And here’s a little more about him…

Chewy came to us in late April 2007 after being dumped at a Seattle park. Three teenagers googled online and found Flapper’s site and emailed us. Then they brought him over. He was just a little tiny guy, maybe 3 days old at most.

Several weeks went by while we tried to find a forever home for Chewy. All the homes that came up were too far, or too weird. One woman wanted me to mail him in a box to the United Kingdom.

From the very first day, Chewy seemed like a fragile, delicate little guy. And even though we had our hands full, we eventually decided that he should just stay with us forever.

Contrary to popular opinion, Chewy’s best feature was not his amazing striped feet. They were spectacular though, and I always felt they were meant to make people forget he was wearing a toupee.

Chewy’s best feature was that he was a great wingman, first to his girlfriend Stuffy and then for years to his best buddy Flapper.

Here you can see Chewy’s great love for his main squeeze, Stuffy.

He sure loved that stuffed animal.

Chewy had a penchant for getting himself into awkward situations. Whether slipping on the snow, or failing to avoid O’Malley’s bitey beak, Chewy found himself in trouble many, many times.

Chewy not only loved his Stuffy and his buddy Flapper, he also loved peas. Maybe more than anything.

He would come running from the far corners of the yard if he heard a bag of peas being opened, or heard the word “treats.”

When he wasn’t chasing treats, Chewy would help out with the other rescues who came along.

He reluctantly helped raise a foster duck named Juno, who followed him everywhere.

And also helped out with Eddie, who looked a little bit like a miniature Chewy.

Chewy was a silly, goofy, funny little guy who kept to himself but always brought sunshine to the yard.

He would humor me and sit with me sometimes, but he really preferred to go his own way.

Chewy was just about the sweetest guy you could know. A real stand-up friend you could count on, but also a quiet guy who kept to himself.

And he was the best wingman ever.

Oh Chewy, I was really worried about you when I brought your wingman in the house to stay. I was worried you would be lonely and thinking of getting you a friend. But I never realized I should have been more worried about your health. I thought I would have so much more time with you, buster. And I know it would have just been time watching you skirt the edges of the yard, doing your own thing and minding your own business, but I sure wish I could have that time with you.

Goodbye too soon, fancy feet. I will take good care of your wingman. I hope with all my heart that you are somewhere safe with your Stuffy, skirting the edges of a pool party filled with peas.

Lots of love,

Your people
XOXOX

I’m so sorry, fancy feet. I just don’t even know what to say. I should have realized you weren’t feeling well sooner. I don’t even know what was wrong with you yet, and you’re already gone.

Wow.

He woke up feeling bad and I started him on antibiotics even though we haven’t heard back on his blood results yet. I sat with him at 2pm for a while and then went out at 8pm to give him more antibiotics. He wasn’t moving much and didn’t fight being picked up. That’s a very bad sign. I tube fed him a little bit of food and put him in Flapper’s playpen in the house.

Please send good thoughts for Chewy.

In slightly better news, Flapper perked up when I fed him french fries today. He is much more stable than Chewy is right now. I have no idea what has gone wrong for Chewy. If it is an infection, I didn’t catch it very early. I only noticed it Wednesday afternoon and got him to the vet Thursday morning. He has gone downhill very fast since then.

Please keep him in your thoughts tonight.

11pm Update: Chewy has had a little food and electrolytes and is on a heating pad in the playpen. He’s drinking water on his own which is good. With Chewy in the playpen, this means Flapper sleeps on the bed tonight. Flapper is doing way better than Chewy right now. I don’t know what got into these two this week. Chewy went downhill so fast. Right now I think he will make it through the night. Hopefully a warm good night’s sleep will give the antibiotics time to start working.

George also went to have his foot checked again.

George’s foot looks just great. The scab on the bottom is super shallow now, and down to 2cm by 1cm in size. We will do one more vet visit to ensure he doesn’t have any more infection and keep trying to get that scab to heal as soon as possible so he can go to his sanctuary. He will always have a weird foot with an old broken foot bone, but if the scab heals well, he won’t be at much risk for future infections. And as you can see, he walks just fine.

Flapper is sleeping in the house and he took a bath in the people tub this morning. He took another bath tonight. He isn’t eating well and right this moment we think he might have a respiratory infection. Chewy’s blood work could show what’s going on with both of them, and we might just do a round of antibiotics just in case.

Flapper’s arthritis is really bad now. He barely walks at all. He has also lost weight in the past few weeks and yet he still can’t get around even though he is lighter. He supports his weight by holding out his wings, which is a sign of pain. He can’t scratch his face very easily and he can’t reach around with his beak to get oil from his tail gland and spread it to his feathers. This means his feathers don’t stay oiled and he can’t stay dry when he swims.

Basically this all means Flapper is declining in health and he won’t get better.

His cold right now will get better, but it is important for everyone to know and prepare that Flapper may only have a few more months with us or maybe a little longer if he is not in too much pain. Please respect that we are not looking for tons of advice on building contraptions for him to walk around in or home remedies to cure him. Flapper will have the most comfortable and natural life he can have, and it will be his decision when he is ready to say goodbye. The leading cause of death is… life. And Flapper has lived a good one so far. We wish we had much more time with him, but that’s out of our control. We’re not going to rush him, but it’s time for everyone to start coming to terms with it.

This may seem out of the blue because I don’t always share everything that we’re going through here. But Flapper is struggling, and you’ll just have to trust me. I will not be sharing much of his struggles. It won’t help him and it won’t make it any easier for me.

In other news, O’Malley wanted to snuggle and sit together in the rain. It was really wet and muddy today so I took a raincheck. He is a cute kid though, and I’d snuggle any other time.

When George came back from the vet today he had some serious business to attend to.

George has a “test flight” routine he does several times a day. I could tell you about it, but instead I’ll show you. Once, twice… and a third time. This is test flight #1.

Test flight #2.

Test flight #3.

We’re not sure what George is planning with all his test flights, but it’s sure to be amusing. We’ll keep you posted on that, as well as Chewy and Flapper’s cold (or whatever).

And thanks for understanding about Flapper.

O’Malley decided he wasn’t going to be very friendly today. I stopped O’Malley from attacking George just in the nick of time, and George is fine. Then everyone ELSE enjoyed the sunshine.

George nursed his bruised ego.

And O’Malley sat on my lap, insisting that George had started it.

Flapper and Chewy enjoyed a swim in their fresh pool, and then settled in for some preening and a nap.

George took a bath too, and then chatted with me about his morning.

Janet and the other chickens went all floppy in the sunshine so they could sun their feathers. They love to lay spread out on the ground so they can soak up as much sun as possible.

That’s about all that’s going on here this weekend. Preening, napping, swimming and sunshine.

We hope you had a good weekend, too.

He will share it sometimes with Chewy, but just a little bit.

Eventually he wants the pool to himself, so he kicks Chewy out.

Then he’s free to watch the birds fly by.

And splash up a storm, all by himself.

George eventually got pool time, but he had to wait until Flapper was done.

In other news, O’Malley is a snuggle-saurus again. He has been mad at me for weeks, and running away from me when I tried to pick him up. He was mad over a combination of molting, George being here, and having to take a round of antibiotics to clear up a cold. But he finally decided that I’m okay again, and now comes to me when I call and sits on my lap. I must say, I didn’t miss the ankle-biting, but I did miss my quality time with my snuggle-saurus. I’m glad he’s friendly again and back to trusting me.

It was a good, chilly weekend in Seattle. And we had plenty of yard time with treats for the chickens and everyone else.

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season.

From all of us (plus George) to all of you and yours…

Happy Holidays.

The chickens could not be happier with their new tanning bed, I mean heat lamp. Janet sits so close to it that I may have to go back and buy the guard to keep her at a safe distance.

And it looks like we bought them right in time. Yesterday a big, cold storm hit Seattle, dumping 5″ of snow in our yard. Then temperatures plummeted to below freezing, and tonight temperatures will get down to 15-degrees Fahrenheit.

Even with heat lamps and adding wind blocks to the night pens, it just got too cold for Flapper. So he came inside to defrost for awhile today.

He had some water and a few snacks, and then settled in for a nap.

My hand got stuck holding his beak for a while.

Later, Chewy came in to defrost too.

And he and Flapper snuggled together for an afternoon nap.

George is still doing well. The cold doesn’t seem to bother him much. We think it’s because of his fancy pantaloon feathers. He was going to go to the vet tomorrow for a bandage change, but roads are all solid ice in Seattle, so that will have to wait. The vet said we could take the bandage off ourselves tomorrow and keep him on antibiotics, so we’ll update once that’s done.

In the meantime, send warm thoughts.

Flapper asserted his dominance by taking over the tree trunk pool for a while.

Goose was a little upset about having to share the tree trunk pool, but they worked out a schedule.

Goose is doing really well. On Tuesday, goose will go in for foot surgery to clean out the infection and help the foot heal as best it can. We may also find out if goose is a boy or girl on Tuesday, so then we can properly name the goose.

Meanwhile, goose enjoyed the weekend and took several swims in the tree trunk pool. So far there has been very little honking, which is good since we live in a quiet neighborhood. Goose is being a good neighbor.

The crows hung out with us this weekend too, and the chickens turned over all the leaves to search for bugs. Petunia’s cold is improving and hopefully both she and O’Malley will forgive me for giving them pills twice a day.

The chickens all get along pretty well now, though they argue at night over who gets top spot on the roost. They’re molting a bit right now, too. So I’m sure that adds to the crankies. But you can see they’re a pretty tight crew.

In spite of this photo, goose is not super friendly. Goose is just lonely and needs attention.

I am happy to be a soft spot for goose to rest, at least until his/her foot is healed and s/he can be reunited with the flock or sent to a sanctuary with other geese.

Goose says “keep honking” and have a good week.

P.S. The tree trunk pool isn’t the only spot that needs a sharing schedule. Flapper is willing to share my lap with the goose, but only for a while.