Normal Days in Pipke's Life: part 1

Although she was often ill; of course, in between she had also good periods. 
These were such happy times! 
Then she could be so cheerful, lively and even a little naughty.

A normal day started for Pipke at the crack of dawn. During her whole life we were then also usually awake around that time. It seemed as if we were programmed so.

We often could hear her already from upstairs in our bedroom – quacking loudly – even before we had opened the door to the garden.

Most of the time – it was my hubby who went to her pen to open the little gate.
From the moment she saw him, she started to bob her head. 
Then my hubby bobbed his head too, to answer this warm well come.
It was cute to see how she stood there – pushing with her belly against the little gate. She was really impatient to come out.

When my hubby then opened her pen, the first thing she did was to give him a snuggle, not a snuggle like she gave me, but rather a nibble in his fingers, her way to say “good morning” to “opa”.

(For her: my hubby's name was “opa”, and my name was “oma". She knew our names very well. Oma and opa are the Dutch names for: grandma and grandpa.)

Then she usually ran directly to the back door to welcome me in the laundry room. 
For this normal morning ritual, I always wore my Pipke's coat or my Pipke's shirt to keep my daily clothes clean for the rest of the day. It's not that she was really dirty, no - she was even very clean for a duck, but – as you probably know already: a duck can poo a lot.

Therefore, when I carried her in my arms, I wore her so – that her behind was free, (in fact she preferred to lie like this) so that she couldn't poo on my clothes.

Actually, she has done this very rarely because she shook her tale just before she was going to poo and then I knew what I had to do.

There was “one” exception in this morning ritual. So now and then my hubby let me sleep a little longer (fifteen minutes). When she then entered the laundry room and saw that I wasn't there, she went to look for me.

So, my hubby said to her: “Pipke – where's oma, call oma”, and immediately she started to quack!

Also my hubby called then: “Oma – there is a little one waiting for you!” Now she started to quack even louder.

Coming downstairs, I often could hear my hubby say to her: “listen Pipke! Do I hear something?” Whilst saying this – he stuck his finger in the air. She then kept quiet, raised her head, tilting it to left and right, listening very attentively.

When I called her then – she became really elated – full of joy! 
(This is how my hubby described these scenes to me afterwards.) 
From the moment she saw me, she started to quack even more exuberant and ran towards me – and she didn't stop quacking - until I picked her up.

Then there followed a “full love scene” in the laundry room. 

(Click on the link above to watch the full love scene!)

She cuddled me then over and over. 
Oh – she could be so sweet! 

This was the best way to start our day!

It depended on the weather but when it was cold, we sometimes let her sleep in the kitchen under my chair for a while – on her synthetic mat. 

She knew this spot very well, we only had to say: “*doeke doeke with oma”, and immediately she went to sit under my chair. 

(*Sleep with oma, in a Dutch dialect.)

When it was extremely cold, we let her stay inside for an hour or so to warm up. She slept then on the worktop of the laundry room often with her beak between her feathers while we were having breakfast.

                                                
So now and then we gave her a lukewarm bath. She was keen to take a bath in the sink.

We only had to watch out then that she didn't do her whole wash ritual, or the whole laundry room would get wet.

In fact: the laundry room was Pipke's room. I never used the worktop for anything other than Pipke. I only used the sink so now and then to hand wash some clothes.

We always had disinfectant ready in case that an accident should happen. We always were very watchful about her droppings because it can cause severe problems if it should get in touch with an open wound.

During Summer she wasn't interested in staying inside. After the cuddles she immediately wanted to go outside to sleep in her dog bed, or to make her nests between the Indian cane.

After approx. one hour it was time to look for earthworms.

Then she went to the fork. Most of the time the fork was planted somewhere in the garden – and then she started to quack there loudly until opa came outside.

It was sometimes beautiful to see how she and also a Blackbird were looking for worms together, while opa was knocking on the fork.

Once, I had found this blackbird in Pipke's pen. It was still a baby and it couldn't fly, it still depended on its mother.

I let it stay there in Pipke's pen and fed it every day. After some time, we could see them eat together, it seemed as they had become friends. This blackbird (we had named it Zwartje), knew also very well when it was time for worms. From the moment that Pipke stood there waiting near the fork, he appeared.

When we entered the garden house with Pipke to eat from the big grains supply container, sometimes also Zwartje flew inside to eat there. He then ate what laid on the ground – and he sat so close to us, that we could almost touch him. He was very at ease with us.

                           

It even happened a few times that he entered into our laundry room, he just followed Pipke.

When we sat together on the garden bench, or my hubby took a nap on the lawn with Pipke, he was always in the neighborhood. He became almost part of our family.

After this “earthworm buffet” and a visit to the grain container in the garden house, Pipke usually slept for the rest of the morning in her dog bed.

That was then for us the appropriate time to do our errands or to go to town.
If my husband and I went together to the city, we mostly always turned back home before 3:00 PM. We didn't want her to be whole alone for too long.

When we came back home then, and she heard us opening the garage door – she started to quack very elated. She gave us every time such a warm welcome – we were every time glad to be back home!

From the moment that the backdoor was opened – she came dashing inside and chattered and chattered. 
Oh, she had so much to tell us. 
It seemed then as if she asked us where we had been so long. Sometimes it seemed rather a protest.

Then opa had to come outside for “worm hunting”, but first of all – he had to put on the right clothing!

For her this was: a “worn out jeans”. If he wore then something else – as protest, she pecked to his legs.

For me: the same rules were applied. She preferred me in worn out jeans. 
So – we both had a lot of them – we wore almost nothing else when we were at home. Except for Summer: then she had no problem at all with our bare legs. This was probably because she had seen them (in Summer) when she was very tinny, and she had imprinted them!

When we were home the whole day, she was very active. 
She often called us to come outside, and then she went immediately to the garden house to eat there. She liked it very much that we pretended to be eating with her by making smacking noises.

We could really have fun when she was in a playful mood. Then it seemed as if she wanted to invite me to fly. I still can see her standing there so full of joy: then she looked at me – raised her head – bobbed a few times and ran to the right and to the left. She waited for me, and I said then: “let's fly Pipke”.  While I started to run – she jumped up half a meter high and followed me flying above the ground. She really liked to do this, then she was really thrilled.

When opa was working in the garden house at his bench, she wanted to be with him. So she sat under his bench while he was working. Sometimes the wood shreds even fell on her head – but she didn't mind. She had no problem with it, she only wanted to be with him. She could become really angry because he sometimes closed the door when he had something to do that could harm her.

I had to call her then to come to me, and I really had to comfort her, but after a few cuddles she had forgotten about it already. 
Thereafter, like a “good girl” she went to sleep in her dog bed.

During Summer, when the weather was good, my hubby took a nap in his easy chair on the lawn. 

She knew he would do so when the sun was shining.  
So – she settled on the lawn already, even before the easy chair was installed, waiting for him.

 Someone waiting for opa!

It was not only beautiful and endearing to see them both sleeping there, but it was also very funny to hear!

At times my hubby started to snore, and then you could see that Pipke was annoyed by his snoring. She then opened one eye – while she kept her beak between her feathers – or sometimes she raised her head and looked up to opa. 
It seemed almost as if she was thinking then: “now that's enough, you snorer!”

I often came closer to enjoy this scene fully! 

Without the noise this lovely scene wasn't complete!

I even filmed it and took pictures of it.

Only the view. 

Of course these were no pictures of my hubby looking at his best: with wide open mouth – not even mentioning the noise – it seemed almost as if he was sawing a heavy trunk through.

However - this chapter would not be complete if I did not add this 'funny' scene with 'sound'! 

In better times!

Pipke and opa taking a nap.

Enjoy!

Next time we will go further with: Normal Days in Pipke's Life part 2. 

Bye, bye! 

Maybe a little naughty of us. 

Hope you could have a good laugh