No more quack quack

After a lovely weekend of relaxing, gardening and a nice braai - we had a sad end to it all. For anyone who knows my little family, we have some chickens who lay eggs for us every day and one rooster who does us the honor of letting us know its morning at 5:30AM everyday - and he doesn't quite know when to stop. Sometimes at 3 in the afternoon he is still going! Sorry neighbors! 
Anyway, its all fun and we love our mini little farmyard - and Emily loves her chickens too! About 3 weeks ago I couldn't resist the urge to get us a little white duckie! Totally adorable! I brought her home and the first evening we put her in the chicken coop but in the morning, we found she had been a little hen pecked so we decided to let her just live in the garden. She found a little spot in the hedge near our sliding door that she slept in, and Leon built her a cute little duckie pond. Everyday she would sit and sleep outside the sliding door, a bit like a little dog.

As soon as Emily was in bed in the evening, the duckie would sense the calm and she would slip into the lounge and find a spot on the carpet near the TV and dose and sometimes keep one eye on the TV while grooming herself and spreading fine little white feathers everywhere. Very cute and very much a special little pet.  Sadly last night as we were getting ready for bed, Leon heard the duckie quacking outside - nothing out of the ordinary. Then suddenly he heard a thud against the door and as he got there and opened the curtains, he saw that the tyrant cat in the neighborhood had the duckie in his mouth. :( Whereas most cats would see someone standing over them and drop the bird and run, this evil thing ran off with the duckie in his mouth. Outside our property is bush and mountain so the cat and the duckie were gone into the dark. Leon tried for ages to try and find the cat and duck in the hope that we might be able to still rescue it but to no avail. They were both gone - as if nothing had ever happened. 
So as you can imagine, this really was not a cool way to end our long weekend and we have both been feeling rather sad about it today. The thought of getting another one has crossed our minds but how do you replace a pet knowing what happened and its not the same one. Cant really get my head around that.

So that's my story for today - hope that you all have happier ones!