Rod's Duck Farm

Rod's Duck Farm Strikes Again

2012-01-20T12:00:00.000-06:00

This is a table full o ducks ......

Duck Table Cloth

Duck Glasses

Duck Cup

Duck

Duck Christmas Tree Ornament

Duck Place Mats .... round and rectangle

Duck Spice Rack

Leta Mae with her Remote Control

All in prep for a Duck Dinner!

Rod's Duck Farm - Ducks & Peanut Butter Moon Pies!

2011-11-15T07:47:00.000-06:00

The duck in the front is a duck whistle ..... $1.70, Made in Bali, from my Mother. It is quite the quacker.

WalMart started selling Peanut Buttter Moon Pies. Then they mostly quit doing that. Then, at the Fayetteville Arkansas WalMart store, they reappeared. Cassandra, one of the Machine Shop students, rediscovered the Fayetteville Moon Pies! There is no bettter day than to have a Duck Whistle and Peanut Buter Moon Pies.

Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm - Brave New Duck World!!!

2011-10-24T06:12:00.000-05:00

World of Ducks (Click Here)

New York has declared a world of ducks!
Junior Duck Stamp Program - To Promote Education and Creativity

The Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program is an art and science curriculum designed to teach youngsters about environmental science and habitat conservation. Across the country, students from kindergarten through grade 12 pick a species of waterfowl, learn about its natural history and habitat needs and then paint it. For the contest, students compete in one of four grade categories: K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. The national winner receives a $2500 prize.

For information about the program in New York State, contact:
Andrea VanBeusichem
New York Coordinator
Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program
Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
3395 US Route 20
Seneca Falls, New York 13148
(315) 568-5987

Rod's Duck Farm .... duck or fox?

2011-08-17T06:29:00.000-05:00

I'm a Mallard, live in a large pond full of guppies and tadpoles. Human beings stop by in the mornings and evenings to toss pieces of bread along the bank of the pond.

Rod's Duck Farm Spider Removal Technique

2011-07-28T06:02:00.000-05:00

Brown Recluse Spider - How to remove it from somebody's ear - the Rod's Duck Farm Way
1. Get a flashlight. Look in the ear.
2. Get some water. Pour it into the ear.
3. Get tweezers. Grasp a spider leg and pull.

Leta Mae had "something" in her ear. She wanted it evicted. With a flashlight, I looked in the ear and saw two spider legs and said, "Hmmmmmmmmm."

Remembering the Itsy Bitsy Spider, I instructed Leta Mae to turn her head in such a way that the ear canal was pointing up. Pouring water into the ear did not seem to do much good so I located some tweezers (a manicure kit is a good place to look for tweezers). I was concerned that I would have to fight with the spider and his leg might break off but apparently the spider was sufficiently comatose from being drowned with the water - he came out like a piece of lint.

Rod's Duck Farm wonders .... Is a duck watching you?

2011-07-12T17:18:00.000-05:00

Quack (X) here to see the story
Anatidaephilia is an obsessive love of ducks. Does it bother you that a duck might be watching?

IT MIGHT BE:

Anatidaephobia - The Fear That You are Being Watched by a Duck

On the other hand, if you love watching ducks, that is See-Ducktion!
Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm - Is it a Mudpuddle without Water?

2011-07-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

A pothole is just a pothole UNLESS it rains. Then it is a mudpuddle, a duck sanctuary. Soubriquet has recorded this truth in graphic format at his blog (link below).

Click (X) Here to See an Optomistic English Duck

Sometimes, safe drinking water is in short supply. That's a problem for people and ducks. According to Forbes magazine, the World Health Organization claims that "polluted water is the world's deadliest foe, killing 1,400 people a day." AND I might add, no telling how many DUCKS!!!
Of course 1,400 people a day might be rather inconsequential. After all, 1400 a day is only 5 million a year, not enough to keep the world population from its continued expansion.

In conclusion, little kids and ducks have the right idea. If you see a mudpuddle, jump in with both feet!
Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm reports Belgian Air Force Marching Band

2011-06-19T07:19:00.000-05:00

quack (X) here

Nathan Landry, machinist and world traveler, advised the Duck Farm of this remarkable marching band. Maybe if we can't have world peace, we can have world geese? The Belgian Air Force can't be wrong!

Quack,Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm posts the RDG Duck Song suggestion

2011-06-18T07:10:00.000-05:00

Click (X) Here to Hear the Duck Song

RDF is Rod's Duck Farm. Superceding RDF is RDG. You'd think RDG would be Rod's Duck Goose perhaps. But RDG usually has nothing to do with Ducks or Geese. RDG is a Mule kind of thing. I guess because Mules are strong and can pull a heavy load. Anyway, RDG says listen to the Duck Song. Click or Kick the link.
Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm notes Extraterrestrial Duck Sighting recorded by NASA

2011-06-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

Click Here (X)

Click on the link above and you can see the Astronomical Duck. The Universe is thinking Ducks! Maybe the universe IS ducks. Good job NASA.
Extraterrestrial Ducks documents on the Rod's Duck Farm blog ...... whooda thunk!
Quack,Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm - Love at first sight

2011-05-28T09:24:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it is love at first sight!
See the YouTube video:

Click (X) Here

Rod's Duck Farm - graphic images of ducks held hostage- YO!!!!

2011-05-05T11:32:00.000-05:00

Video of Ducklings Captivated by Yo-yo while inside a tank - KTXL

Do the ducks get whiplash?
Watch the video!!!

Rod's Duck Farm says, "Moby Duck Strikes Again!"

2011-04-29T05:53:00.000-05:00

Remember back in 1992 when a bunch of rubber ducks fell off a freighter in the Specific Ocean? And then folks started thinking they would use the "duck flotilla" to track ocean currents? And then there was the Duck Farm post of Saturday July 28, 2007 about a giant rubber duck in Europe that Steve called Moby Duck?

Well, James Allen has been keeping up with ducks and notes that Donovan Hohn has managed to write a book about the "duck flotilla" entitled Moby Duck.

Just don't get "Moby" confused with "The Mob". "Moby" does not mean "sort of like the Mob". It doesn't even mean "Missouri by" or "more buy".

Moby Duck is just further evidence that if people spent more time thinking about ducks, they'd spend less time thinking about other things.

Quack, Quack

Rod's Duck Farm - Basking in Baskets

2011-03-28T16:03:00.000-05:00

From Brad Whitewolf ......... alias Duck Trazy!
These are marvelous baskets. The feathers are are made of wood shavings, delicately colored and placed. Each basket could hold either a very large duck egg or else a sizeable goose egg. Lookout Easter Bunny - Ducks are on the loose!

Rod's Duck Farm - Spy Secrets to Mind Control

2011-03-24T09:39:00.000-05:00

Mind Control is especially important in these times of terrorism, hate crimes, bigotry, sexual perversions, radiation leaks, weapons of mass destruction, explosive devices, drunk drivers, and bullies.
To discover the secret you will have to decode the following passage:
Joe the Duck was waddling down the street near the intersection of 4th and Grandview. He looked at the clock on the tower of the square, just visible through the trees between the Markham building and the Watson Bank. It was ten past ten. Joe was glad the tower was well lit because the night lights from the Watson Bank were filling his retinas with photons that, one way or another, were released from a power plant. Joe wondered where the power plant might be and whether or not it was coal, gas, nuclear, or solar. Since the deregulation, power had become an item more easily traded between power companies. The electricity may have come from a plant in New York, California, or somewhere in between. Power began to consume his mind. Suddenly Joe had an epiphany - all power is solar. Coal and gas come from organic material that grew as a result of sunlight. Coal and gas are just stored up bits of solar energy! But how about nuclear? Two thoughts came to mind .... one being that uranium is just leftover star material; the other being that the uranium had to be processed and refined using power from coal and gas plants - solar processed uranium.
OK ........... you have completed step one. Congratulations, you have read the paragraph and perhaps have already figured out the secret. If so, you are now an all-knowing creature.
Otherwise, I will write the actual secret to mind control. It is this:
If people spent more time thinking about ducks, they'd spend less time thinking about other things!
Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm - Research & Development - Why Ducks Fly in a V-Formation

2011-02-09T09:17:00.000-06:00

Duckological Thought continues to expand as new technology provides insight regarding flight paths of the annual migration.

A Snowy Day

2011-02-09T07:31:00.000-06:00

This was early in the morning ......... before the accumulation was 14 inches!

Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm Re-Reports the Conspiracy

2011-02-03T21:14:00.000-06:00

Just in from Rod's Duck Farm Field Correspondent, Dave Renfro - aquanaut and CIAyacker:

Click here > ....< to see the Paranoid Mallard Conspiracy Report

When I'm feeling down, I take my hand out of the pillow.
Quack, Quack!

Whac-a-Mole vs Guacamole - So easy a cave man can do it!

2011-02-03T08:27:00.000-06:00

A variation/combination - Duck Duck Goose & Whac-a-Mole

So easy a cave man can do it?
The difference between guacamole and Whac-a-Mole is this:
Guacamole is AVACADO
Whac-a-Mole is AVOCATION
Wack Dux is pretty marvelous. It was sent to Rod's Duck Farm by Thomas Leech.
Note the sign above the game that says "Duck" changes to "Goose" when the animal poppoing from the hole changes from duck to goose.
Even better, you don't have to push Control-Escape-H-D to hit the Duck and Control-Escape-H-G to hit the Goose.

Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm - The Mechanical Duck

2011-01-22T09:00:00.000-06:00

One of the greatest ducks ever .... the Mechanical Duck .... or maybe the Maniac Duck. This is a pretty short video so you'll have to watch quick!

Who put the luck in cluck? Why does cluck look like duck?

2011-01-15T07:20:00.000-06:00

For My Friend Dave

In the clearing stands a boxer

And a fighter by his trade

And he carries the reminders

Of ev'ry glove that layed him down

Or cut him till he cried out

In his anger and his shame

"I am leaving, I am leaving"

But the fighter still remains

Here's a Manufacturing/Agriculture Observation

2011-01-15T07:16:00.000-06:00

CLICK HERE - Parody has a duck comment!!!

Rod's Duck Farm - The New World Order Arrives

2010-12-20T06:50:00.000-06:00

I saw part of a movie on TV last night ..... "Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause"
Santa had a toy duck that was supposed to be able to Quack in 3 different languages.
I bet that duck could Quack in EVERY language .......... that is one of the endearing things about ducks - they speak everybody's language. Ducks are indeed the symbol of the new world order.
Quack, Quack!

Duck Trazy at Rod's Duck Farm

2010-12-16T19:46:00.000-06:00

Duck Trazy was a cartoon series for kids explaining why folks should do the right thing.
WhiteWolf is the native american artist. He drew this one for me by way Bill the Painter.
Duck Trazy is one of the greatest ducks ever.

Great Duck Video

2010-12-16T19:39:00.000-06:00

Wind-up Ducks are not the same as Up-Wind Ducks

Rod's Duck Farm thinks ......... China!

2010-12-11T08:09:00.000-06:00

Here in the USA, when we think of ducks nexting in trees, we think Wood Ducks.
Another kind of duck is the Mandarin Duck. The Mandarin Duck does not quack but DOES nest in trees. How do the baby ducks leave the nest? Check it out at this link:

http://www.wimp.com/mandarinducklings/

Quack, Quack!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-21T20:11:00.003-06:00

Can you find the Duck hiding in the Bell Peppers?

Harvest time at Rod's Duck Farm had to do with muscadines, tomatoes, onions, garlics, and bell peppers. Harvest time is Thanksgiving time.
Thank You for being such a great Friend.

Here is a link to a fun Thanksgiving turkey quiz.
From this exercise, you might discover that lower case CL (cl) sometimes looks like lower case D (d). A female turkey makes a CLUCK sound, not a DUCK sound.
It is a cluck vs duck issue.

I think this may have been part of Ogden Nash's inspiration for his Duck poem:

The Duck - by Ogden Nash
Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms ups.
Ogden Nash

Anyway, here is the turkey quiz link:

http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/trivia.asp

Blessings to you and yours,
Quack, Quack!

How to Raise Ducks

2010-09-05T08:16:00.004-05:00

If you want to have live ducks and have your very own duck farm, tips can be found at this link (you'll probably have to copy & paste it if you really wanna look)

http://www.ayushveda.com/tipson/starting-a-duck-farm/

Of course, as with any business, the first step is a conscious decision to start the business. You don't have to actually have any ducks to be a duck farmer. It is kind of like being a used car salesman. You don't have to have any used cars. You can sell other people's used cars.
Go find a duck at the park. Pick it up .......... you have raised your first duck!
Quack, Quack!

Duck Farm Test

2010-08-20T15:42:00.002-05:00

Dear Subscribers to Duckological Thought and Naught Theory,

School is about to start up again.
Maybe you have been wondering ….. what’s right for me ….. Tech School or College?
Rod’s Duck Farm has devised a fairly simple test to help you decide!

Tech School (Vo-Tech, Trade School, etc) is for “technical” people……. Get’er’done

College is for “people” people ….. Make a contribution to society

Which one are you?

Do you have trouble with names? Sometimes call Bob a different name such as Billy or Thomas? Maybe call Betty something like Suzanne or Brenda?
If so, you are NOT a “people” person ….. go to Tech School.

On the other hand, do you have trouble with names? Sometimes you say screwdriver when you mean hammer or x-ray machine? Maybe call the spark plug a radiator or battery?
If so, you are NOT a “technical” person …… go to College.

If you just want enough knowledge to get a steady, dependable job with a well-known international company:
1. Smile
2. Practice saying this phrase with enthusiasm: “Yaunt frazz wizzat?”

Quack, Quack!

More Ducks

2010-07-28T16:46:00.003-05:00

It looks like I can write again! Whooda Thunk?

Rod's Duck Farm Says Hello

2009-09-05T06:28:00.004-05:00

Pat Adams was thinking about ducks and sent this picture to Rod's Duck Farm. It seems to be a happy, inquisitive duck. I think maybe the duck just swallowed a june bug.
Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm News August 2009

2009-08-18T19:29:00.003-05:00

Read Your Rod’s Duck Farm News – Tooo Many Form Letter Words August 2009

“Maybe if more people had a duck in their lives, maybe we wouldn’t all be so mad at each other.”
-Joe Mansheim

Things have been busy at the Duck Farm since the January Duck Farm News. The above quote of Joe Mansheim came to the attention of the Duck farm editorial staff from the Oklahoma Field Correspondent, Dave Renfro’s Mother. She discovered an article and video about Joe Mansheim and his pet duck, Frank. They drive a flat-bed truck around Minnesota delivering construction supplies. Joe drives; Frank rides shotgun. If you want to see the video, you can use an old-timey search engine such as “Google” and search for JOE MANSHEIM DUCK VIDEO. It will be first on the list. If you are a little bit braver and willing to experiment, try the newer search engine at DuckDuckGo.com. (You would still have to search for JOE MANSHEIM DUCK VIDEO.)

Down is Up
Ducks have feathers. According to The Free Dictionary online, feathers are “the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds.” Wikipedia says the word “down” comes from an old Norse word, “dunn” (meaning the opposite of up.) The soft feathers under the coarser exterior feathers are called “down.” Down is an internationally traded commodity. When the demand for down exceeds supply, the price of down is up.

The focus on opposites is, in Chinese Taoist philosophy, the yin and the yang …. or as Issac Newton would say, “for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.” This page is written in black and white. If it were all white or all black, reading would be difficult. Contrast provides a kind of meaning that may have nothing to do with the contrast. This page has very little to do with black and white or even percentages of black and white. I like the word “down” because it is such a great example of a new world order political word ….. it can mean almost anything! Like, for instance, if you are down and out, don’t swallow it down, write it down!
Hero and heroine are that way …. either they are male and female soldiers or else a kind of sandwich and a form of refined opium.

MRE
Speaking of swallowing things down, I have gone on strike! I’m having a TAX revolt! Cutting taxes and reforming health care at the same time. Thousands have joined the effort to reduce the weight of social and government pressures.
The movement is called “That’s nuff!”
Perhaps you have been in your living room, bombarded with advertisements saying you NEED pizza, fried chicken, burritos, pancakes, cheese burgers AND reformed health care. Maybe you have experienced the dialog:
“What do you wanna do?”
“I dunno. What do you wanna do?”
“I dunno. Hey! Lets go get a pizza!”
Surely something nagged at your conscious saying, “Going out for pizza is NOT doing something! Taking care of the ducks – that’s doing something!”

HINT: What THEY want is for you to pay MORE TAXES. Taxes on the food. Taxes on the employees adding “fries with that.” Real estate tax on the franchises selling culinary horrors. Taxes on the medical care resulting from being overweight or from eating food prepared by folks with miscellaneous diseases. Taxes on the money you have to earn in order to pay taxes.

There’s a solution. Join “That’s nuff!” As a member of That’s nuff!, you will enjoy MRE rations (Meals Ready to Eat), better health, and more free time to enjoy things that are really meaningful to you.
Membership is about $5. For five dollars (at most grocery stores) you will receive a large round cardboard tube of oatmeal and a small round container (preferably plastic) of snuff. Dump out the snuff and wash the container about 5 times. Fill the snuff “tin” with oatmeal. Anytime you feel hungry, just open yore tin and take you a dip. Form the dip into a “cud” or chew it. Oatmeal does not have to be cooked – you can swoller yore dip. That’s the MRE – plain old dry oatmeal. You will find that you never actually get hungry.

What happens is that you find yourself craving your addiction to a SOCIAL EATING REGIMINE. This is where the true That’s nuff! activist must fight the hardest. Cultist slogans of the movement are: “Is there anything I’d rather do than prepare meals and wash dishes?” “How much tax do I want to pay for breakfast?” “Do I really want to lay around doing nothing because I had a stroke?”

Another benefit to the That’s nuff! lifestyle is that you get to be a heavy drinker! You know how they say you should drink about 8 cups of water a day? You might need a little more eating dry oatmeal. Also, you should probably take a quality daily vitamin supplement to complement the MRE.

There are NO WATCHDOGS! If you decide to engage in social-eating from time to time, that’s OK. The only penalty is the taxman, the cardiologist, and your aching knees and feet.

Join That’s nuff! You’ll be glad you did.

With the extra money I saved as a That’s nuff! member, I went to Movies:
IMAX – “Migrations” more about migratory butterflies than ducks – so many butterflies that the weight of the butterflies breaks tree limbs!
“Gran Torino” – Clint Eastwood explores social change in a multicultural neighborhood (language & violence typical of Eastwood movies)
“UP” – Pixar cartoon/movie (animated comedy adventure) version of Gran Torino
“The Proposal” – Sandra Bullock goes to Alaska
“G-Force” – cartoon/movie (animated comedy adventure) about the problem of controlling nanobots
“He’s Just Not That Into You” – Jennifer Aniston still has problems dating
“The Soloist” - maybe it is OK for people to be the way they are? Schizophrenic guy just wants to play his violin ….
“Food Inc” - corporate holding companies own and control the food supply … for whose benefit?
“Black Hawk Down” I saw that on TV for the first time a few days ago. Dave Renfro is a former Army helicopter maintenance guy that served in Somalia among other places. He mostly talks about climbing Mt Kilamanjaro while he was on leave and how the desert came alive at night with creepy-crawlies and how another soldier bested him at unicycle riding. I asked him if he was one of the guys portrayed in the movie. He said, “No. Actually, I had been in-country for quite a while and was on 2-week (rest & recuperation) R&R at the time. When I got back I did have to repair bucket-sized holes in a helicopter where an RPG round went through instead of exploding. The movie, at least in my estimation, did a particularly good job of capturing what it feels like to drive down the streets of Mogadishu in Somalia.”

Things are changing in Africa. (They still need DDT to kill some mosquitoes!) There are still nearly a million people a year dying from malaria but folks are looking to the future and developing infrastructure. Since nobody is too concerned about cell-phone towers over there, install ‘em while you can is the rule. The Chinese are drilling oil wells there. One day, Africa will suddenly blossom.

Blossoms in Africa bring up the topic of Africanized honey bees. They are attracted by CO2 …. the air you exhale. People and animals that die from killer bees typically die from asphyxiation as the bees enter the mouth and nasal cavities and cause swelling that restricts airflow. (heh, heh, heh ... those wanting to reduce their “carbon footprint” and attractiveness to killer bees only need to quit breathing) On the other hand, CO2 from a fire extinguisher is cold and windy. Bees and wasps do not like being sprayed by CO2 fire extinguishers. They flee from the CO2 cloud. It is reported that ½ cup liquid soap to a gallon of water is effective for killing bees (in instances where livestock is covered with bees, for example).
Adam and Eric both have tales of insect extermination using BB guns. Adam used to practice by shooting dragonflies at a nearby pond. Adam laments, “But I was never able to hit a house fly. Their movements are too random!”
Eric had occasional search and destroy missions involving wasps and spiders. He said, “A CO2 pistol works well on wasps at 2 feet. You don’t use a BB. You just shoot air. The shock wave gets them. At 3 feet, you don’t kill them but it blows their wings off and renders them less of a threat. For spiders, use a spring loaded gun that shoots the little plastic pellets. You can kill spiders from across the room, 10 or 15 feet. Not always on the first shot but definitely within a few shots.”
I got an email from a retired missionary to equatorial Africa that commented, “A visitor asked why I would have a loaded gun in my house. Are you afraid that some evil person is going to break in? ‘No, but then, I’m not afraid the house is going to burn down either. Still, I have fire extinguishers and they are loaded. I have a car in the garage and it is full of gas.’”

I think maybe Africa is a little like Afghanistan. Warfare is just a way of life that has been built into the culture over thousands of years. “Foreigners” are simply invaders that are killed for sport at one’s leisure. The rest of the time is for growing poppies. Afghan officials wiped out 10% of the poppy fields, making “examples” of selected farmers and raising the price of heroine 10%. I guess the 10% that got wiped out failed to pay their insurance premiums.
Niece Karen’s unit plans to go to Afghanistan. Maybe she’ll see her cousin Brandon.
Former Mexican President Vicente says the marijuana traffic into the United States is a “joint problem”…. like arthritis maybe?
Leta Mae is glad to have her car back in operation. It developed a crack in one of the cylinder heads. It turned out to be cheaper to get a low-mileage engine from a salvage yard installed than to get the cracked head replaced.

I was amused recently by comments to a TV question, “What is Fascism?” The broadcasted answers were synonyms of the word “Terrorists”. My 1940’s Encyclopedia explains that Fascism is simply, “The belief that society functions better when the masses are ruled by an elite few.”
Italian dictator Mussolini credited Vilfredo Pareto (a logistics expert with the Italian railroad who discovered that statistics could be used to solve social problems) as being the “Father of Fascist Thought”. Mussolini said that Fascism could be defined variously but that the primary symbol of Fascism is the “bureaucratization of the economic activities of the nation.”

Fortunately, duck farmers are not burdened with the prospect of being part of the elite few. All the news these days has to do with folks thinking they are supposed to be part of the elite few. Right now the emphasis is on union busting. The labor unions are pretty well taken care of but the heavy duty unions are still hard to beat. The American Medical Association and the insurance companies are united and very powerful. Whoever wins the battle, I’ll still be a duck farmer!

Some celebrate Woodstock, held on August 15,16,17, and 18 in 1969 with about 400,000 of America’s affluent young white folks. There were three deaths. One from being run over by a tractor, one from a heroine overdose, and one from a ruptured appendix. At the same time, there were 514,000 other young Americans in Vietnam. 109 of them died during the Woodstock festival, many at the Battle of Heip Duc. (a number of places had “Duc” as part of their name but I have never found a translation for the word …. except for the French “duc” which is NOT pronounced “duck” … French forces spent a lot of time in Vietnam before American involvement. Maybe all the Duc places are French?) I was in boot camp at Ft. Polk’s “Tigerland” at the time (I was induckted on July 22, 1969). There was a lot of duck stuff in Vietnam. You could be a sitting duck or, in the villages, buy a duck sandwich. Some marshy areas had duck ponds formed by bombs. There were duck down sleeping bags or sometimes when the fireworks were exceptional, you might duck down. In 1967, there was a 19 day battle at Dak To (pronounced by many as “duck toe”) from November 3 to November 22. Some folks were highly duckorated. By the time I got there, they were beginning the reducktion in forces.

January 26-30, 2009 was an unusual time. I had not yet finished cleaning up fallen trees from the excessive autumn wind and rains when along came one of those “ice-storm-of-the-century” events. Freezing rain covered everything. The weight of the ice on the power lines was too much for many of the support poles. Broken power lines and power poles resulted in no electricity or phone service for a week. All the schools and many of the businesses were closed. So many tree limbs were breaking, it sounded like machine gun fire at times. Northwest Arkansas was a disaster area. For me, it worked out well. School had just begun and a mastoidectomy left me needing the week to recuperate. Eric had finally begun to receive unemployment benefits. Sadly the Arkansas unemployment folks took the opportunity to cancel his unemployment compensation because he did not apply for jobs that week (government insurance is opportunistic?). When you count the folks like Eric who are unemployed and ignored by the system, unemployment in the US is about 17%. Of course, during the 2008 elections both political parties were warning of the coming problem – jobs would be leaving and not coming back. There is a good side to unemployment:
No job, no income, NO INCOME TAXES!!!!!! Woo-Hoo!!!! … more points for the That’s nuff! movement.

When school resumed, the machine shop class had a “Free for the Month of February – Chainsaw, Hatchets, and Axes Sharpened” for area residents (the local sharpening shops had a 6-week backlog). We sharpened over 700 items. I have spent much of the summer break clearing fallen branches from the Duck Farm. The Duck Farm purchased new forestry equipment: chain saw sharpening machine, chopping ax, handle for a felling ax, rake, and hedge clippers.

Ducks have contributed to the economy, judging from the influx of duckological artifacts. I received a marvelous variety of delightful ducks – some for my birthday, some for father’s day, some just-out-of-the-clear-blue-sky:
Duck Knife, Wood Ducks with Brass Wings, Plush Bunny/Duck, and Duck card from Adam & Amanda, Chainsaw Duck Graphic from Tom Freking, Duck Cartoon – Mother Goose & Grim’s Fairy Tales from James Allen, Duck brand clear packaging tape from Mark Evans, Key Ring Duck that lights and Quacks from Becky Echols, ½ inch tall Duck Miniature from Jim Reese, Duck Spice Rack, Wooden Swan, Tweetie Bird cup, Beanie Baby Duck and Plush Easter Duck from Leta Mae, Duck Drinking Glass from Cheryl Evans, Duck Books – “Duck Soup” and “Duck at the Door” by Jackie Urbanovic from Karen & Bill, Down-hill Racer (ski duck) and a distinguished looking Rustic Duck with a Bow Tie from Elbert & Syble Baker, photo of rubber “Ducks in a Row”, guarding the upper perimeter of an office cubicle from Robert Megee
I ordered some duck stuff from OrientalTrading.com: Duck Hats, Quackers, and paper plates.

Ducks in the News
Jimi Harris notes H5N1 bird flu in a wild duck this year, 11 in European geese last year.
Email from my Mother features an eagle trying to pluck a duck from a lake. The duck keeps diving under water to avoid capture …. a submarine duck?
Chlorox had a rubber duck cleaning commercial … Bank of America has a rubber duck in their commercial
Steve Renfro sent info about a Duck Press – culinary device for pressing juices from a duck.
Jim Heinrich brought an advertisement for fowl knick-knacks – the Lucy Goosie collection.
Episode of Hogan’s heroes featured a German bar decorated with wicker baskets woven to form duck baskets.
Jim Reese notes a tune, “One White Duck on the Wall” by Jethro Tull.
New “Peter and the Wolf” show includes a duck …. One of the Florida keys is: Duck Key
1931 Prohibition Coast Guard Cutter “Black Duck” attacks rum-runner Artemis.
July 19, 2007 lady robbed a library in Ft. Smith, AR …. money went in a “bright yellow bag with a 3-D duck bill”
Ed Gee observed the Boston Legal episode featuring a duck with an anxiety disorder having a coronary.
(Later Ed had a heart attack of his own. He got two stints. He would have needed a bypass on another artery but he had mysteriously grown a bypassing artery. He said, “Wow! God gave me a free bypass!)
Pastor Wolf saved the April 24, 2009 USA Today pg 6A & 7A Aflac advertisement/article about migratory flyways of ducks
1977 “Close Encounters of a Third Kind” ……ducks are freed from a fenced area.
Robert Megee directed me to GameVance (site with free online video games such as Duck Hunt)
Steve Whitney, Eli Whitney descendant, discovered a print ad about health care featuring the Aflac Duck. He makes the world a brighter place with custom chrome plating at Whitworx. Their restroom features duck hand towels.
Marion Smallwood’s daughter bought a new place in Oklahoma …. with a pond full of ducks!
PBS TV– animated educational show “Word World” features word play for kids. Words are morphed into the shapes they represent. (One of the main characters is a duck, made from the letters D-U-C-K which are morphed into the shape of a duck)

I have been doing some basic maintenance as well … changing oil in the vehicles …. I even did a lube job on our “Guaranteed for 25 years” Circulation Fan. It may be nearing its 25 years. I take it apart every couple years for cleaning and oiling. So far, so good!
Also I patched the roof. Now, when it rains, a lot of the rain stays outside!

Dennis Wargo and I started developing a CNC Level I Certification program. Eric, Leta Mae, and I finished it this summer. It covers the basic steps necessary to use a computerized milling machine. There are 28 illustrated Units in the form of hands-on checklists.

Another computerized activity we participated in is located at the Northwest Arkansas Mall – a roller coaster simulator. After paying four dollars, you hop into a box about the size of a 1973 Chevy Van. Inside the box are 12 seats with seat belts. Instead of a windshield, there is a video screen. The door closes and you find yourself in total darkness until the video screen comes on to display a cartoon – you are about to embark on an animated adventure. I’m not sure whether the cartoon became real or if maybe I became a cartoon character. The box I was sitting in tossed and turned, pitched and vibrated. Hydraulic cylinders controlled by a computer synchronized the movements with the video. According to the video, I had just flown off a bluff. I accidentally swallered my oatmeal and had to get another dip! At some point, I realized that I was a cartoon character and would live through anything – I was invincible! Now that I’m out-of-the-box, it’s like I’ve been exposed to kryptonite or something. My super-powers are gone.

Eric went on a real adventure. It turns out that Bayou La Batre, Alabama (home of Forrest Gump’s buddy, Bubba) is a real place near Mobile. He spent a weekend driving down there to visit friends and, I suppose, sample the crawdad gumbo.
After he returned and while we were at the mall he discovered a very excellent pair of tweezers. He provided me with a pair. I have removed a variety of pokey-stickey thingies from my flesh. Good tweezers are a good thing!
My Mother gave Eric a fig tree for his birthday. He has been taking care of it – watering it and keeping the weeds down. The fig tree still doesn’t have enough leaves to cover his birthday suit.
Eric helped replace the circuit breaker box and breakers at my Mother’s house. Step-Sister Connie and her grand-daughter Nicole went to the Gainey reunion in Memphis by way of Clarksville the circuit breakers chose that time to quit – oh well!
He has a new Fender Stratocaster guitar that he lets me mess with. On the 4th of July I straightened the neck, filed the frets, and adjusted the nut and string height. Also I realized the meaning of the Bible verse, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord” (it’s because nobody else wants to hear it!!!) Now I have a tiny battery operated “amplifier” that plugs into the guitar and plays through an earphone jack. I can play as loud as I want and nobody else has to hear the same mistakes being endlessly repeated. I play “Mr. Bojangles”…. he jumped so high then he lightly touched DOWN?

Adam spends his time being a family man. He mows the lawn and fixes things around his place. Adam still makes his living fixing plastic injection molds. Right at the moment, he has shingles – an adult ailment that involves dormant childhood chicken pox viruses marching around one’s torso to form a blistery belt. He is looking forward to the day it quits burning.

This year I planted onions, turnips, radishes, tomatoes, bell peppers, rutabagas, garlics, potatoes. The garlics, tomatoes, and bell peppers are doing best. I took some cuttings from a rose bush and treated them with rooting hormone. Then I stuck them in some well-composted soil and covered them with a wide-mouthed gallon jug “greenhouse”. The gallon jug is now removed and they seem to have taken root.

With all this activity, summer is over and I’m all out of whirly-gig ducks!
Oh!!!! The Duck Farm has a new phone …. (479) 304 - 1648

Just remember:
If people spent more time thinking about ducks,
They’d spend less time thinking about other things.

New Search Engine - Almost Duck Duck Goose!!!

2009-06-13T07:45:00.001-05:00

If you have been looking for a search engine with a nice clean page ....... something without all the advertisements and popups, try DuckDuckGo.com.

DUCKDUCKGO.com

You can even search for Rod's Duck Farm. It's the greatest thing ever. When it runs out of options, it refers you to Google. I guess that means that Google is more comprehensive. Of course, more comprehensive means more complex. With DuckDuckGo, choose Magnifying Glass or Books or ShoppingCart to indicate whether you are looking for any reference or basic information or something to buy.

Try it, you'll like it.
Quack, Quack!

2009-06-09T05:40:00.002-05:00

The Official International Rod's Duck Farm Coin

To many, this may look like an ordinary Euro Cent from France. The coin is smaller than a dime. I'm sure you immediately noticed the scripted letters "R" and "F". Those characters could stand for "Rat Fink". From whence comest the claim that it is "Rod's Farm"?

I direct your attention to the Head ... the Face .... or if you will, the mask. Take away the eyes, nose, and mouth. Then turn the coin sideways, placing the "RF" at the top. Now you see the mask was actually a letter "D" in disguise.

Perhaps you think this to simply be a coin-cidence.

It is ok to think that. Sometimes it is comforting to ignore the obvious. The world is changing and Rod's Duck Farm is at the forefront.

Accountants call it the New World Order.

Soldiers call it the New World Armor.

The Duck Farm calls it the New World Amour.

After all, if people spent more time thinking about ducks, they'd spend less time thinking about other things.

It just makes cents!!!

New Word Ardor - Unemployment Protection - Ducks

2009-04-11T07:26:00.004-05:00

Tough economic times? This is from a cubicle in the computing headquarters of a major international operation .... the name of which, I don't need to know .....

What I do know is that at very high levels, at least as high as the ledge of a cubicle, the powers that be have their ducks in a row.

You may notice that the lead duck is a fireman duck. While there may be rumors of layoffs, nobody can be fired when there is a fireman duck on duty. Also, these are rubber ducks which means they are thick-skinned. Not only are they capable of the "water-off-a-duck's-back" phenomenon, they can be completely flattened and just spring right back into shape.

The ducks are socially acceptable since they are multicultural .... no racism here; but I do have to wonder ......... why is the little guy in the back? Is this evidence of a might-makes-right pecking order? Or are the big ducks walking point for the little duck? Maybe all the ducks are walking backwards and the little duck is walking point? And when the ducks are in a row, are they walking? wading? swimming? Is it a row vs wade decision? Just remember, there's a NEW WORD ORDER (New Word Ardor?) these days, evidenced by ducks.

Ducks in a Row

Duck Sin Arrow

Ducksy Narrow

This Little Light of Mine

2009-03-21T15:35:00.003-05:00

Crystal sent this marvelous Duck Candle. (Even though it is a Crystal Duck, it is a Wax Duck!)
I need to make a wax statue of myself. Then I could get lit up and be brighter! Also I could experience the water-off-a-duck's-back phenomenon. I don't really want to light the duck .... but then I hate to waste a good candle .... what a conundrum. For now, I'm content to sit a look. Wax is lighter than water - like a duck, it floats. Maybe ducks are martial arts experts? Wax-on ..... Wax-off ...........
Spring has arrived at the Duck Farm and the daffodils are in bloom. I'm gonna go look at daffodils and think about ducks!

It's No Duck .... It's Snow Duck!!!

2009-03-08T07:35:00.004-05:00

During a Nob Hill winter precipitation event, a snow duck flew in and landed on the car. Then a snowman decided to try out rodeo tricks. While Duck Riding is not a particularly well known rodeo activity at this time, because Rod's Duck Farm is such a widely followed international blog you can be sure the word will spread quickly to eliminate any discrimination faced by ducks in the rodeo arena.
Soon, Duck Riding will be standard conversation at the dinner table. Of course, one can readily see why most ducks fly south for the winter - to escape winter Duck Riding events. Winter rodeo is only for the most adventuresome of ducks. I think I'll stick with Duck Writing.

Duck Money

2009-02-08T06:03:00.002-06:00

There is a such thing as Duck Money! Thomas came up with these coins. In theory, the left one is more valuable, being actual silver bullion. The round features a duck riding an airplane, reminescent of my piloting days. The duck has reading glasses and is reading a book entitled "The Duck Book," consistent with my teaching activities. Tying it all together, the tailfin is emblazoned with my initials "RW" (Rod White). On the other hand, the "My Lucky Duck Penny" is one of those roll-your-own affairs which reminds me of Machine Shop Alumni Brother, Roger King who once said, "I'd rather be lucky than good, any day!"
There are a couple other duck coins I need to post one of these days ..... the Canadian Dollar coin (the Duck Buck) which features an "almost duck" , a Loon ....... and the Arkansas State Quarter which has an actual duck on the back side.
As long as you have a duck coin, you'll never be broke.
Quack, Quack!

Happy Groundhog Day

2009-02-02T05:52:00.001-06:00

Today is when Americans celebrate the mid-point of the 12 weeks of Winter. If the Ground Hog see his shadow today, he will be scared and hop back into his burrow. Then there will be six more weeks of Winter weather. Otherwise, we will be saved from the bad weather and springtime will only be 6 weeks away!
This duck is a duck "piggy bank". Since it isn't a pig, it is actually a Duck Bank. It has a slot in the top for putting in coins, accumulating wealth! Dave & Cristine over at Dave Mows Grass gave me this delightful duckological duck decoy depository decoration.

Dry Duck

2009-01-20T05:28:00.003-06:00

This Duck Towel arrived from Melody. It is nearly 3 feet wide and 6 feet long. Right now, it decorates the backrest of my living room sofa. I admire the simple clean lines of the artwork.

Rod's Duck Farm News - January 2009

2009-01-11T21:31:00.000-06:00

Read Your Rod’s Duck Farm News – Tooo Many Form Letter Words January 2009

“Nothing is as funny as a duck.” - Antonin Scalia – Justice, US Supreme Court
News Flash: December 15, 2008 – President Bush DUCKS shoe!

Happy New Year!!!!!
Nowadays you can even Google Rod’s Duck Farm to discover items of duckological interest. I’m having trouble coming up with more plays on the word DUCK so I’m having to work on parts of ducks ….. like the duck’s bill.
-A duck was flying along and got hit on the bill by a hail stone. Another duck asked, “When are you going to get something done about that ding in your bill?” The first duck replied, “I’m headed to the bill-ding maintenance department right now.” J heh, heh, heh ….. yuk, yuk, yuk …..hahaha!

Anyway, if I haven’t seen you in a while, it’s not that I don’t care, I’ve been doing things like:

TRAVEL GUIDE
CHICAGO: Every two years in September, on the even numbered years (like 2008) there is an International Machine Tool Show (IMTS) at Chicago. This year, the students had conflicting schedules and opted out of attending but I went, armed with student questions. In particular, students wanted to know what ceramic cutting tools are made of. It turns out that ceramic cutting tools are just like grinding wheels – made of aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, or cubic boron nitride. Cubic boron nitride is billed as being “the same as diamond” despite the facts that it is only half as hard as diamond and is not carbon based. Pushing the tool company engineers and VP’s revealed that it is “the same as diamond” with respect to cost.
TULSA: “The Dark Knight” is a movie, not about ducks but, about Batman. It was playing at the Tulsa IMAX theater. Perhaps there was a novel statement. If so, it was lost in the unnecessary levels of noise and violence.
ARKANSAS: We had a rainy spring and summer. It loosened the ground and tree roots so that when the remnants of Hurricane Ike came through about 2am, trees were uprooted. Our power was out for about 12 hours. We visited Sharon Gann in Van Buren. Lying in her back yard was the 2nd largest pecan tree in Arkansas. It was about 4 feet in diameter at its base.
NOT GERMANY: . Leta Mae, Eric, my mother, and I went to Stuttgart (Arkansas) Nov 28th for the Wings over the Prairie International Duck Calling Championship Festival. There was a caricature artist. I am now captured with Duck Lips …. see www.rodsduckfarm.blogspot.com (the December 1, 2008 posting).

WAL-MART $1,500 to Machine Shop Program
Bill Megee, Alumni/Advisory Committee Member, used his influence through Wal-Mart Optical to obtain an Educational Grant to the Machine Tool Technology program. Wal-Mart Optical uses computerized milling machines to makes lenses for prescription eye-wear. The grant will provide tooling for the machine shop program’s milling curriculum.

DUCK ARTIFACTS:
Christmas was a marvelous time at the Duck Farm. Rare and exotic ducks of all kinds showed up under the tree. Thomas Leech discovered two duck coins - a Lucky Duck Penny (penny with a Duck and logo rolled onto it) and a one ounce silver “coin” from the Crabtree Mint featuring a Duck riding a jetliner, reading a book entitled “Duck Book”. To top it off, the tail section of the jetliner is embossed with my initials, RW.
My Step-Mother sent a shower curtain emblazoned with Wood Ducks, Mallards, and Green-Winged Teals plus an Audubon Green Winged Teal Bread Tray, and a set of Ceramic Salt & Pepper Shaker Ducks. Crystal made sure I don’t have to sit around in the dark with a life-like Duck Candle and a “Belly Brights” Duck (a plush duck that incorporates a push button night light). If my humor seems dry, maybe it is because Melody sent a giant Duck Towel, about 3 feet x 6 feet. Dave & Cristine must have known I was getting Duck coins – they gave me a very stylish Duck “piggy bank”. Amanda & Adam unearthed an electronic Quacking/Dancing Duck and Amanda sewed up two comfortable Duck pillows. Syble & Elbert unveiled a delightful wooden decoy-style Duck and a very cute Duck coffee creamer. Diane Bradberry revealed a patriotic ceramic “rubber duck”. Marsha has been doing arts & crafts and made a Duck Christmas Wreath. Familiar with my mid-day culinary habits, Mark Evans provided Duck Lunch Sacks. Sharon & Mike sent a Christmas card with a Ducks Unlimited return address label. From my Mother’s horticultural congregation escaped a darling Duck planter. Earlier in the year, Leta Mae delivered the literary wonder, an electronic/quacking book called “Quacker’s Crackers”. Marie Becker was walking around the Buffalo River when a stone shaped like a duck’s head called out to her. Tom Freking discovered the lair of the graphic character “Super Duck.” Steve Renfro uncovered some Semitic lore, not quite as old as the Dead Sea Scrolls. An individual named Dudu Geva, Israel’s most famous cartoonist, had a dream – to turn Tel Aviv into a city of Ducks. In his memory, they inflated a giant duck atop the city hall building. Though he died in 2005, Ducks will always be remembered by their Dudu.
David White & Steve Renfro are both credited for the observation of the August 31 Great British Duck Race – ¼ million rubber ducks were released into the Thames River. Perhaps all that wetness has something to do with the Huggies diapers Duckmercials, noted by Dave Renfro. Aflac continues to have marvelous duckvertisements to include their SuperDuck. Even Wal-Mart is getting in on the action with a duct tape ad featuring the Duck from Duck tape. You might have seen the “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” episode where Duck was the answer to the question, “Which word is both a noun and a verb?” Leta watched a 1994 movie, “Blown Away” that featured a wind-up duck as an explosive timer. The TV news, on October 15th noted that Duck appetites were the benefactors of a bunch of Humbolt Squid mysteriously dying. Another news program noted California’s “duck & cover” drills for earthquakes. On TV Show episode “TreeHouse” – mama duck taught baby ducks to grow up and fly. I even made a Duck discovery of my own …. at the DollarTree store there were gift boxes with rubber duck images imprinted on the sides. I’m having to learn a bit more Italian …. Nonna means Granny, Papera means Duck, and Mondo means World. I have heard folks call their grandmother “Nanner” but now I suspect the term to be a poor pronunciation of the Italian “nonna” instead of a bad attempt at “banana”. There is an Italian Duck blog by “Nonnapapera” = Granny Duck. The Blog is www.mondopapera.blogspot.com = Duck World.
Research and development continues in the world of wind power. For large scale power, there is money and a lot of solutions to the problems of electrical power generation. For small yard ornaments generating low amounts of power, finding rectifiers, voltage regulators, and storage devices that will withstand variations in windspeed, vibration, and temperature are challenges. Thomas Leech keeps getting closer to a suitable circuit.

DUCK MANIFESTO
At last!!!! It is OK to be a Vietnam veteran. Rather than having Veterans Day grouped together with Thanksgiving, this year Veterans Day was celebrated on Veterans Day at NTI. (Veterans Day is a re-naming of Armistice Day, the end of World War I, the 11th hour of the 11day of the 11th month). Also, the Golden Corral restaurant chain had a free dinner for all veterans. And the Veterans Hospital has become more helpful. And the State of Arkansas has reduced rate automobile license plates. Woo-Hoo!!!

Drugs: You have probably seen the emails and rumors about Tylenol (acetaminophen) being dangerous. As it turns out, acetaminophen overdose is one of the most common poisonings worldwide. The good news is that recovery is likely if treated within 8 hours of the overdose. The bad news is that symptoms often do not show up until 12 hours after overdose. On Monday December 29 I stopped by the local hospital to see Jonathan Fuller. He was in a critical care unit under armed guard as a suicide risk. He commented, “I wasn’t trying to commit suicide, I was just trying to get high. Now I need a liver transplant. Nobody told me that Tylenol would do that!” Of course, lots of things besides Tylenol have associated risks (the difference between poison and medication being the dosage rate). The best way to get high is to dress up like a duck and go sit around at a petting zoo – everybody will love you and you will be alert enough to realize it!

Russians invaded Georgia …. remember that? Sort of like the country western tune, “Devil came to Georgia.” The US waited for the matter to resolve itself – sort of like when the US invaded Atlanta, Georgia. But that was a long time ago.

The world’s economy is in an interesting state of flux. Prices bounce around with 100% price changes accompanied by silly excuses. The big companies go bankrupt and the courts rule that the firm should reorganize by closing out their books and starting up a new company – the old stock holders get nothing, not even stock in the new company. Interest rates are down so much that retirees have not only lost their stock but are having to spend their retirement savings. Young men trying to raise families find themselves unemployed, living in homes and driving cars that are worth less than what is owed – their option is to join the military. Of course, the presidential elections show that people didn’t want a dollar – they wanted change!
Fortunately we aren’t having a banking collapse …. well, I got a note in the mail that my AG Edwards money, that was purchased by Wachovia, is now owned by Wells Fargo. The $16 in cash is supposedly alive & well, waiting for me determine a good investment option for it. I will be glad to see the securities companies, mortgage companies, and insurance companies moving into HUD housing. They are already on disability income.
I remember the President-Elect focusing on affordable health care for all Americans, etc., etc. Now that he has met more personally with the CIA and Pentagon he is saying things like, “Iran is a genuine threat.” I think maybe Obama is correct ….. afterall, “not-being-blown-to-bits” is essential to good health.

Eric is having some 1st hand experience with the unemployment business. Along with 31 of his coworkers, he found himself to be a free agent, just a couple days before Thanksgiving. Although he applied for unemployment benefits immediately, he has yet to see a dollar of that money. He has been applying at machine shops regularly. One shop read his resume and said, “We don’t need any help but I see you can weld and repair welders. Here’s a broken portable welder. You can have it! Fix it! Use it! Sell it!” Maybe it is a kinder and gentler world.

Dave Renfro did his part to change the world. He brought his library to the machine shop for folks to pick through. There were books on everything imaginable. Eric picked books on guitar making and playing. Next thing you know my mother gave Eric a guitar. Perhaps Eric will be a musician or welder? Actually, he’s planning to take a computer drafting course.

SINUS PROBLEMS
Lots of folks have sinus problems. An article I read years ago, by an old country doctor, explained what everyone already knows …. (paraphrased) “nasal problems are an irritation for which people seek medical relief. The problem is that there is really very little in the way of a cure. But I did manage to soothe a lot of folks and make a bit of money selling salt-water nose drops at a nominal charge. I bought bottles with droppers and had labels made up that said, `Sodium Chloride Solution – place two drops in each nostril as needed.’ Nobody knew that Sodium Chloride is table salt. They were very impressed with the results and would return for refills.”
Sister, Sharon, once worked as an inhalation therapist. Patients would be treated for respiratory (breathing) problems by breathing a special prepared mist (of salt-water). All agree that living by the ocean and breathing the "good ocean air” is excellent for sinus problems. A daily swim in the ocean is even better …. some folks go a step farther to say maybe we didn’t evolve from monkeys so much as we crawled up out of the ocean … maybe we used to be kelp or something?
Sharon researched a simple way for folks in the midwest to have the nasal benefit of a swim in the ocean. You can see the “sinus rinse” video at www.neilmed.com
It is a squirt bottle, specially designed for nasal irrigation (to squirt salt water up one nostril and out the other). NeilMed comes with pre-measured packets of sodium chloride (salt … ¼ teaspoon). You get the bottle and 50 packets of premeasured salt for about $10 at Wal-Mart. I would guess that some folks might use Sea Salt to make it a more natural thing. Even more natural, do nothing and just live with a “stobbed-up-doze” (stopped up nose).

OBITUARIES
The angels keep getting lonely and calling folks to heaven. Rita Megee and Retha Skaggs have both joined their ancestors. Rita Megee you know as the chief executive of the Bill & Rita Megee Foundation for the Preservation of Duckological Artifacts. Retha Skaggs was wife to Leta Mae’s brother, Doyle. Like so many others, Bill and Doyle are both pretty busy figuring out which half of them is gone and which half is still here – and what to do with what is left.
Bill asked, “How does it work …. when somebody remarries and their spouse is in heaven? What happens when everybody meets up in heaven?”
Leta Mae had the best answer to that: “In heaven, everybody is happy. For one thing there is plenty of time and no jealousy. So the number of mates is inconsequential.”
“What to do next?” is a fairly common question. Psychological studies indicate that stress is hard on people and that major changes cause stress – the loss of a spouse, the loss of a job, getting a new hose, anything that arouses emotion. The idea is to limit the amount of stress on has per year. The loss of a spouse generally considered to be enough stress for one year. Getting new houses and cars – making long term commitments for the first year increases stress. Of course, when the house burns down with the car in the garage …. you’ve got to live somewhere!

TROUBLE SLEEPING – (sign: will work for sleep)
If you have just awakened from a 20 hour nap and can’t go back to sleep, probably 8 hours of some kind of activity resembling exercise would help. If it is 11pm and you have been up since 4am drinking coffee, maybe quit drinking coffee at about 7pm would help. On the other hand, if you are simply tossing and turning, wondering if the dogs are scattering the trash and thinking about how to get back at an evil co-worker and feeling a bit guilty about eating all the ice cream … then you may be a “stay-awake-and-worry-aholic”. The first step is to decide that you really do want to quit worrying and start sleeping. The next thing is to occupy your mind with …. boring? …. thoughts.
Santo Ciabatta explains things this way: “The human mind cannot really concentrate on two things at the same time. Since you can’t do that, when you try to do it anyway, the body rebels - the act of trying to concentrate on two things at the same time results in an unexplainable psychic experience.”
Santo continues, “That’s really the way the Catholic Rosary works. There are prayers and mysteries. The prayers are just prayers, like the Lord’s Prayer (our Father who art in heaven …). The mysteries are visual images of the life and times of Jesus, such as those painted by Michaelangelo – the manger scene for instance. So, you concentrate on the image while earnestly praying the prayer. It causes a kind of sensory overload that makes you feel good.”
A lot of folks fall asleep trying to get through the prayers of the Rosary.

Another simple sleep-inducing trick is similar to hypnosis – the snap of the fingers. It goes like this: probably when you were a baby, somebody was determined that you were going to sleep. They kept winding the music box, playing “Lullaby” over and over until you finally fell asleep. Even better, maybe the music box included some kind of animation … You could have your very own animated music box or musical mobile …. listening to music and observing the image, feeling good, going to sleep. Sometimes something as simple as a music box can be a psychological cue that snaps one to slumber.

At any rate, “mind-numbing repetition” of something intermingled with concentration on “what comes next” can result in sleep. Perhaps one might memorize the stories and pictures of children’s books, “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” “The Three Little Pigs,” etc. Maybe one could visualize each kind of duck in alphabetical order and mentally recall the sounds of the different ducks.

But it all starts with the realization that one is awake and needs to engage in a sleep-inducing activity.

REPAIR TIPS
Leta Mae’s clothes dryer was 20 years old when I scavenged it … 30 years ago. Recently, a modern new-looking dryer showed up next to a dumpster. When I plugged it up, I could tell why it was where it was. It made a terrible grinding /screeching sound, like an explosion was imminent. It turned out that the fan that blows the hot air was loose, rubbing on its housing. Now Leta Mae has a dryer that matches her washer. If you are in need of a good clothes dryer, a 50 year old brown one that can be repaired using cheap industrial parts – boy do I have a deal for you! You can have it! Use it! Sell it!
Eric’s 1988 Celebrity has about the same engine as my 1988 S-10 Duck Truck. The Celebrity’s “check engine soon” light would come on until the engine warmed up. But until that time, the speedometer/odometer would not work and gas mileage was terrible. One would think the culprit to be a speed sensor but the problem turned out to be a programmable-read-only-memory (PROM) chip in the electronic-control-module (ECM). Since those two things have to work together in an engine designed for operation in the central United States ….. the good thing was that $60 at the salvage yard got an ECM with PROM whose ID numbers matched Eric’s, solving the problem.
The 1988 Duck Truck GT had what seemed to be either a fuel pump problem or an intermittently loose wire. Sometimes it would run, sometimes it wouldn’t. Almost always it would run if you had patience to stand there with a squirt can “fuel-injecting” it. As fate would have it, the distributor has sensors and electronic controllers in it. Now and then, my distributor was telling the Duck Truck’s electronic brain that the engine was not running – therefore, the fuel pump and sometimes the ignition should be shut off. A rebuilt distributor ($150) was about the same price as buying and replacing the sensor and controller.
The 2008 Duck Truck AC was plagued with the same problem as most trucks – the places to tie ropes were inconvenient. So I installed cleats, like you use to tie ropes on boats. Woo-Hoo!
After enough eardrum ruptures and a clogged eustachian tube, part of my eardrum decided to grow on a path of its own, back into the inner ear. That kind of growth is called a colesteotoma. It needs to be removed because it could grow into the brain. January 23rd, I’m scheduled to have an operation. I was scheduled to have the operation on January 9th but the doctor cancelled. Hopefully he’s feeling better by the 23rd.

JUST REMEMBER
If people spent more time thinking about ducks,
They’d spend less time thinking about other things!

For Red Dirt Mule

2009-01-10T13:22:00.002-06:00

Here is an interesting set of footwear for the shoe fanatic - Duck Slippers. Perfect for the beach or for showing off your manicured toenails while keeping most of the foot modestly covered. Also you don't wear a hole in the skin between the Big Toe and Index Toe as with Flip-Flips. This item is all the more attractive, being Italian shoes. Granny Duck (Nonnapapera) has them on the DuckWorld (Mondopapera) blog.

This Little Light of Mine

2009-01-01T06:57:00.005-06:00

This duck came from Crystal. It is called Belly Bright Duck. When you push the belly, it lights up. It is a Duck security light. At night, when ghosts and goblins come around, I push the belly button and the light comes on. Then I throw it across the room. Whatever is in the room can not keep their eyes from following the light traveling across the dark room. Ghosts and goblins become so disoriented by this scheme that they disappear.
If you are having trouble with night-time monsters, this is the Duck to have!

The Duck That Stole Christmas?

2008-12-12T06:16:00.002-06:00

Mark Evans sent this duck graphic. It is a pretty cute duck ..... somewhere in between Albert Einstein and the Grinch. Anyway, the duck seems to either be thinking or else to have already thought of something. I hope you have a nice day and something worthwhile comes your way.

Attack Ducks!!!!

2008-12-07T08:56:00.002-06:00

This video was sent to me by Pat Adams.

Apparently, birds don't always like to be messed with. An ostrich for example is reported to be able to kill an attacker with its powerful kick!

Geese are well known barnyard "guard dogs". Even ducks, if you get right up in their face, can act aggressively.

Just remember, a bird in the hand ..... that can be a little too close for comfort!

I Turned Into A Duck!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-01T19:32:00.003-06:00

In Stuttgart, it looked like the Geese had run the Ducks away. There were fields full of wild geese and some scattered ducks.

There were lots of booths at the arts & crafts fair. They even sold home made root beer.

People were driving their cars .... when they saw something of interest, they would park. Some turned right into parking lots, others turned right into fields. I turned right into a duck!!!

The Nose Knows

2008-11-19T19:49:00.003-06:00

Where's the Keys????? Quack!!!
The nose ... or in this case .... the bill knows.
Here at the duck farm, one way to keep track of keys is to always put them in the same place. A great place is on the duck's bill.
When the keys are not on the duck's bill, you know that someone has ducked out for a spell.
Using a french accent, the situation is described, "Zee kiss are on zee bill."

Not EggZackly a Duck

2008-11-08T07:24:00.004-06:00

Winged objects are supposed to be symetrical for some reason. Left wing and Right wing. Wings are not quite a true ying & yang thing .... otherwise there would be something more like wing and anti-wing .... probably what they have in things like parachutes. Airplanes and ducks are supposed to have both wings attached to the fuselage.

This video demonstrates one advantage of horsepower as compared to duck power. While it is not quite possible for the airplane to suspend itself in the air by its propeller, it can certainly slow itself down a lot.

Mostly what happens is this ..... if God thinks you are supposed to wash dishes tomorrow, you're gonna make it through today!

Quack,Quack!

FYI vs FAO

2008-11-01T07:12:00.008-05:00

FYI is "For Your Information"
FAO is, among other things, "Food & Agriculture Organization"
FAO is an agency of the United Nations.
The UN Report, “Mapping H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza risk in Southeast Asia: ducks, rice and people” claims:
26 March 2008 – Ducks, rice and people – and not chickens – have emerged as the most significant factors in the spread of avian influenza in Thailand and Viet Nam ....

FAO estimates that approximately 90 per cent of the world's more than 1 billion domestic ducks are in Asia, with about 75 per cent of that in China and Viet Nam. Thailand has about 11 million ducks.

Through the use of satellite mapping, researchers looked at a number of different factors, including the numbers of ducks, geese and chickens, human population size, rice cultivation and geography, and found a strong link between duck grazing patterns and rice cropping intensity.
In Thailand, for example, the proportion of young ducks in flocks was found to peak in September-October; these rapidly growing young ducks can therefore benefit from the peak of the rice harvest in November-December.
“These peaks in congregation of ducks indicate periods in which there is an increase in the chances for virus release and exposure, and rice paddies often become a temporary habitat for wild bird species,” the agency said in a news release.

So .......... I guess that means it is OK for me to go to the Wings Over the Prairie duck jamboree in Stuttgart, Arkansas this Thanksgiving ..... Stuttgart is covered with rice fields and WILD (not domestic) ducks. First in the nation for rice production in 1994, Arkansas farmers harvested 1.4 million acres of rice, with 43 percent of the total U.S. rice acreage. Arkansas is home to the world's largest rice processing and exporting company, Riceland Foods, Inc., a farmer-owned cooperative at Stuttgart, now a Fortune 500 company.

Obviously ducks and rice go together like raising rabbits and fishing worms. The UN isn't trying to get rid of ducks, rice, or people. Instead, the findings of the research can help target control efforts and replace indiscriminate mass vaccination. So if you are Catholic and planning to go to church/mass this Sunday, you don't have to worry about mass vaccination.

Rice grows in rice paddies ..... swamps .... not exactly California beaches & California grills.
The Beach Boys are famous for a tune "Wouldn't it Be Nice"
The Duck Farm parody "Wooden Beans & Rice" ..... should it have been "Ducks & Riacin"?

Wouldn't beans & rice be so much colder
If we didn't heat them up so long
And wouldn't beans and rice go good together
Even if we ate them all month long.

Salt and pepper make it that much better
Beans & rice go really good together.

Wouldn't beans & rice be good to bake up
In the place of having a beef stew
And after having cooked all day together
Heaping platefuls might just pass right through

In a skillet make a plate for two
If the beans are old they'll taste like new
Wooden beans & rice.

Maybe in the sink we wash with soap and spray away the goo
Otherwise the stuff will stick and it will act like glue
And who'd want to carry
A plate that is hairy
Wooden beans & rice

You know it seems the more we talk about it
It only makes it worse to live without it
But lets talk about it
Wooden beans & rice.

DUKW .... Duck Pilot

2008-10-24T11:32:00.003-05:00

This is a DUKW kind of duck truck.
It was invented by a different Roderick, Roderick Stephens, for use in World War II.
You can read more about it at various links such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DUKW

This particular one is at Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA
I drove the one in Branson, Missouri out on the lake and got a Duck Pilots License.

You can inflate and deflate the tires while you're driving. (Deflate the tires for driving on sandy beaches and increase the pressure for normal roads)

Arctic Ducks .... a spy in our midst?

2008-10-04T18:37:00.002-05:00

Is this a secret agent duck? If so, it is a very secret agent duck. The one with orange feet, if it is a duck, is a duck ..... disguised as a goose, impersonating an arctic duck.
Gary Leers claims that arctic ducks ( sometimes called sanguine penguins) are rather vicious .... savage biters. He says arctic ducks have sharp, cutting bills.
On the other hand, this may just be a formal avian party playing "Duck - Duck - Goose - Duck".
Quack, Quack!

Kayak Duck

2008-09-18T18:31:00.003-05:00

Dave Mows Grass notes this as one of the Greatest Ducks of All Time. I think because he is kayaking these days. This is a brass duck/kayak. Maybe the idea is that a kayak enthusiast needs a pair of brass ............ paddles connected to his stick. It truly is a marvelous looking duck. It reminds me of Scandanavian duck sculptures. I used to think about going kayaking. But then I discovered the couch and TV nature shows. Sometimes me and Eric go fishing with Bill Dance. We sit on the couch. He sits in his boat on the TV. The couch - it is more correctly spelled "cowch". Sitting on the cowch is a good sport, a safe form of bull riding!
Quack, Quack!

Grumman J2F6 - The Duck

2008-09-06T18:04:00.002-05:00

The Grumman J2F6 is one of many military items called Duck .... Duck & Cover, Duck Cloth Bags, Duck Airplanes & vehicles, etc. Many people were induckted into the service, some were highly duckorated. Some were sitting ducks. Some were transferred or given early "outs" due to troop reducktions. Others faced seducktions at foriegn brothels. Some were just from the Duckotas.

2008-08-28T20:28:00.002-05:00

How about a Guiness Stout? Too bad, all we have here is a Guiness World Book of Records.
See the Great British Duck Race:

http://www.thegreatbritishduckrace.co.uk/

They are going to dump a quarter of a million (plastic) rubber ducks in the River Thames August 31, 2008. Bullet Holes in the Mailbox, as well as world-traveler David White, sent this link to the United Kingdom's duck competition.

It might be the greatest thing ever!!!
Quack, Quack!

A U-Toob Duck Collection from Bullet Holes

2008-08-23T17:44:00.003-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uga_bK1-E0o&feature=related

The picture above is by Kaj Stenvall. The youtube selection is may be also.
Such marvelous ducks ... better'n them dogs playing cards!
Another discovery of Bullet Holes in the Mailbox.
Quack, Quack!

Woody Wood Duck

2008-08-10T17:52:00.003-05:00

Nothing like a duck-tail hairdoo, especially with red hair.
Is this a Scottish or Irish duck?

I like ducks.

Quack, Quack!

You don't know Dudu?

2008-07-31T20:11:00.003-05:00

The links say it better than me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudu_Geva

http://www.woostercollective.com/2008/04/dudu_gevas_giant_duck.html

Bullet Holes in the Mailbox sent info about the Giant Duck perched above the Tel Aviv City Hall building. Folks in Israel are thinking ducks!

Quack, Quack!

Ham Hocks, Bats, Spiders ..... Ducks!!!!!!

2008-07-27T21:38:00.001-05:00

2-day I got a brand new hammock. Now it is a cargo net for the Duck Truck AC - to keep stuff from blowing out of the bed ... How ironic - a hammock (a kind of bed) to provide bed (of the truck) security.
Anyway, Eric says I am using Batman technology .... I think he really meant Spiderman ... but then Batman has interesting stuff in his utility belt .... but it isn't bat or spider related. It is DUCK ...... afterall, a net accomplishment is a "Web Feat" .............. get it???? Web Feet !!!!!!!!! Quack, Quack, Quack!

July 2008 Duck Farm News

2008-07-16T20:35:00.000-05:00

Read Your Rod’s Duck Farm News – Too Many Form Letter Words July 2008

“Nothing is as funny as a duck.”
– Antonin Scalia – Justice, US Supreme Court

The Mallard Reaction – Toast:
Invention & Technology fall 2005 p 7 – “heating bread to 310 degrees F triggers the Maillard reaction – sugars and amino acids react, changing taste, color, aroma and reducing water content 2/3 making toast – crunchy.”
OK, maillard isn’t mallard – close enough

Places where nothing is written is sometimes called “White Space”. In times past, white space was thought to be wasted space. Now that people are concerned with conserving trees, white space is a good thing. Want to read a good novel with plenty of white space? Go to Wal-Mart and buy a few reams of copy paper – plenty of white space.

I think maybe I have become my grandfather. In 1954, he moved from West Virginia to a house on the outskirts of a little podunk in the Arizona desert. To make a living, he set up a small machine shop in his garage and made parts for folks like Timex and RCA. Somehow his address came to be 63rd street and 43rd avenue, Phoenix. There were neighbors who felt like his machining was too loud. Grandpa ended up having to shut down his shop and satisfy his socio-mechanical needs by teaching vo-tech. A WWII Navy veteran, he discovered that fighting the world is easier than fighting the neighbors. Now my sister and her son live in the house in downtown Phoenix. Things at Nob Hill have changed since April 1975 when I set the camper off my 1953 Dodge pickup truck onto part of a cow pasture, between two hog lots. Oh well!

Since the last Duck Farm News (July 2007), I have been developing white space. The Duck Farm has become a strange kind of empty nest. Eric moved out. He got a new improved job as a plastic injection mold-making apprentice at a place about 30 miles away. Getting an apartment a mile away from work has saved him a lot of driving time and gas money. Eric comes home for the weekends. Frequently, grandson William, spends the weekend at the Duck Farm too.

The past year has been VERY Ducky, culminating in the Supreme Court decision regarding the amusement value of ducks. Quite a number of duck artifacts and concepts have migrated to the Museum of Duckological Thought:

Soubriquet in Yorkshire England sent picture of a giant (apparently several stories high) polyvinyl duck floating on the Loire Estuary in France.

Cartoon character, Curious George, stole a duck crossing sign.
Camp Lazlo cartoon character ties duck to his head to cure love sickness
Cabella’s has waterfowl catalog
Wal-Mart: plate & napkin ducks
Real Milk ad: duck tries to moo like a cow

Bill & Rita Megee: rabbit swinging on a duck, duck portfolio, duck shoehorn/brush, hand-painted duck lens, cordon bleu Chinese duck plate, Book Ends, shelf edge, Elmer Cromwell 1910 Redhead, Ducks Unlimited wood duck, 2 Kathy Wiss Christmas tree ornament ducks.

PBS television: “Word World” cartoon features a duck named “Duck” (thinks he’s related to truck). They manufacture things using letters of the alphabet as raw materials. ‘There’s nothing better than a letter. It keeps our world together.”
“Last of the Summer Wine” …. swan men with inflatable swan boat episode
OLN television –“We live Outdoors” layout duck hunting on Lake Erie
News: 1000 dead ducks at lake in central Mexico was not caused by bird flu
Nov 21, 2007 news – padlock pops off semi truck, rubber ducks flood the road
Sitcom bathtub game – sharks vs ducks

My Mother made me a Duck comforter with matching pillows and brought a toy duck.
Sister, Sharon, provided updates on the “duck flotilla,” a boatload of rubber ducks that have made it to Europe after their initial swim in the north Pacific in 1992. Sharon sent this link to duck town www.townofduck.com

Dave Renfro news – Lowe’s/Valspar ad about color matching paint to rubber duck, email from a genuine duckfarmer in Missouri, sends Asger Jorn duck art link, describes “chuck and duck” wood chipper (a landscape power tool – throw in the tree branches and duck), French Broad River in North Carolina has inflatable kayaks called ducks. Navigating a waterway in a “duck” kayak is called duckying. Dave’s comment about Scalia’s duck ruling: “The Supreme Court has been ducking this issue much too long. If they didn’t clarify the issue soon, I’m sure Congress would have introduced a bill.”

Amanda & Adam: boy & girl farmer duck, duck tricycle, VFW duck labels, antique duck nightlight, duck bath shower stickups, Bluejean Duck (cloth duck)

Branson, Missouri: Bass Pro Shop has large display of mounted ducks.
Got a duck coloring book. Ordered a cloth duck whirligig at Alpena.
Ride-the-Duck mug, salt & pepper shakers, T-shirt, bell, dog toy.
Leta Mae: Plush electronic praying duck “Now I lay me down to sleep ….”, squeaky rubber ducks, alien ducks (green, blue, purple, pink), pair of ceramic flirting ducks, electric Christmas Peeps (look like the marshmallow peeps), ducks with bobbing heads , cloth basket duck, pink duck, life preserver duck, baby crib set (liner, washcloth, shoes, carry bag), rubber ducks, duck marionettes, wire frame ducks, squeaky platypus toy, 3 plush ducks ball player/resting/beanie baby, valentine duck, pink/white/yellow/blue fluffy ducks.

Sgt. Chadduck of the Rogers Police Department provides gang violence seminars.
My plush duck puppet started working …. quacks “here comes peter cottontail”
Red Dirt’s step-dad carves wooden decoy ducks.
James Allen – Stone Mountain Georgia Ride the Ducks photos and Wacky Quacker.
Steve Renfro: notes keyboard symmetry when typing the word duck
Ed Gee: PBS quote of the day “Feeding ducks is like a relaxing brain massage.”

The Milner Duck Farm: StepMother: – Brown cast Duck, Brass Duck Key clasp, Embossed Duck drinking Glass, Decoy Style duck
Crystal – Duck Puppet, Duck Plate, 1946 books: The Downy Duck, The Little duck who loved the rain, spice rack
Melody: book - “It’s a Dog eat Dog World and the Cats are Waiting Tables,” by Martin Babb (stories by an Arkansas preacher), Duck Pajama Pants, Duck house with 4 rubber ducks

Billboard on Hwy 71B, entering Springdale from the South, has a duck
Aflac – continued duck advertising excellence
Huggies has duck-as-secret-admirer commercial
Suburu Forester ad demonstrates transport to where the ducks are.
Hundai … almost duck music, Pink Panther theme “duh, duh-duh ….”

May 9, 2008 mother duck & 7 ducklings waddled onto driveway of the press briefing room of the White House, followed by the secret service.

Miscellaneous Babbling:
Griff the dog, suffering from old age, got a loose tooth. The Good Fairy brought him a hotdog. The other dog, Benji, still had strong teeth but he bit young William so pretty soon, there was more white space/no dogs.

If you need a new social security card, don’t apply for it in person with your birth certificate. Get somebody else to request the card for you. For one thing, the Social Security office doesn’t accept birth certificates. You need a driver’s license …. photo ID. I took my license and Eric’s license and applied for replacement cards. They sent Eric’s but somehow lost mine. So I got Leta Mae to take my driver’s license and apply for a replacement for my social security card and they sent it right away.

Leta Mae’s sister, Robbie, came to visit for a couple weeks in April. We only see her at 4 year intervals so there is always a lot of catching up to do.

James Allen sent the source for the leadership quote, “…. of a great leader, the people will say, ‘We did this all by ourselves.’” It is from the “Tao Te Ching” section # 17, supposedly written by Lao-Tse, the founder of Taoism. When or if Lao-Tse ever existed remains in question. What we can be pretty sure of is that Taoism (pronounced “Dowism”) is not related to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The epoxy putty that you knead and stick it wherever you want, like chewing gum – it really is pretty durable/strong. Eric repaired my belt buckle with “Liquid Steel” and it has worked just fine for at least six months.

I made cinnamon apples … the wind blew down another apple tree this spring, but there was still enough attachment to the roots to produce apples!

No more peanut butter & jelly sandwich …
In my younger days, bread and jam was considered to be junk-food. “Man cannot live by bread alone, he must have peanut butter.” For years, my lunch consisted of a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Now the nutritionist says there are two problems with peanut butter. First, hydrogenated oils are used as an emulsifier, resulting in a peanut butter that causes cholesterol problems. In addition, while they are growing, peanuts soak up pesticides in the soil. Now I have what I wanted in the first place, a strawberry jam sandwich.

Computers are fairly strong. We found some old Gateway computers in a dumpster. They rested on the ground, under the eaves of the house for a couple years after that. Then Eric’s computer burned out. So he went out in the yard and got one of those computers, blew out the spiders and grass clipping, swapped the hard drives and resumed computing.

I got a letter from the county explaining how the Duck Farm was in violation of the junkyard ordinance. Now there is a lot more white space at the Duck Farm. No more Duckmobile, no more boat, no more treehouse, no more lathe, no more bandsaw ….
The folks here at Nob Hill voted 347 – 42 that we need to pay more taxes. I wasn’t the only one to vote NO. There was 41 others!!!!

Dec 1 was a memorable time. I met my mother’s friend, Janet Synaground. Janet, through my mother, had commissioned Eric to make an electronic holistic health device a couple of years ago. She provided the schematic/plans. Eric just had to scrounge up parts and solder them together. Janet is retired from a strange occupation. She used to live in a big city and work for a large church as a member of a 3-person death squad. The death squad is a group of people trained to assist folks during the time immediately following the death of a loved one. It’s kind of a maid/butler/cook/chauffeur/counselor kind of duty. Bereaved folks are often in shock and overlook details like cleaning the bathroom, closing the refrigerator door, dressing themselves appropriately to greet visitors, etc. Janet was working gratis for my mother as my step-father had just died. He sat down to lunch and said the blessing; then his aortic aneurysm burst and he passed on to heaven. David Gainey was buried at the national cemetery in Ft. Smith with military honors, including a cannon firing.

A couple days ago, Monday, sister-in-law Denece went to the nursing home to visit her declining mother, Wanda Roach. Apparently rooms had been reassigned and Denece asked for her mother’s room number. “Oh, she’s not here anymore. She died Saturday. You’ll have to go to the funeral home to see her,” they said. Denece and her daughter, Marsha, went to the funeral home and scheduled a cremation. To serve as an urn for the ashes, Denece got a ceramic white Persian cat.

The school machine shop is now more consistent with the new world order. It even has a new, modern Haas CNC milling machine (computerized metal cutting). Equipment was moved out until there was room to walk around each remaining item. Then everything was painted white. We took a day off from painting to go to a Zig Zigler motivational seminar. The students still managed to learn stuff . Two of them went to the national vocational competitions (SkillsUSA) to place 8th in CNC Turning and 8th in CNC Milling.

With 225,000 miles, the Duck Truck caught a winter flu. Now the Duck Farm fleet is expanded to include a 2008 Ford Ranger. The 1988 S-10 is now called the Duck Truck GT (GT stands for Gravel Truck). For the present, the new truck is the Duck Truck AC (AC stands for Air Conditioned).

Repairs sometimes look worse than they are. I have a place on my back that appears to me to be at least 3 inches long, held together with 10 stitches, a quarter of an inch apart. When measuring with a tape measure, since the first stitch is a zero point, the length is only 2 and a quarter inches. Of course, I want to count both sides of the closure – to make 4 and a half inches! But then I have to divide that by PI to get the diameter that was removed. I had a couple of basal cell skin cancers in a space that was about 1 ½ inches diameter. It would be called minor surgery if it was performed on someone else!!! – more white space …..

Duck Manifesto:

Congratulations to the oil companies on taking over where housing left off. The housing bubble worked well for local governments. Real estate prices and, hence, tax revenues kept rising. Homeowners agreed with the assessor’s offices saying, “Yup, my $20,000 house was a good investment and has risen in value to $200,000!” Now real estate prices have dropped and many local governments are being forced to accept more realistic property valuations and less tax revenue. Once upon a time, Exxon didn’t make much money and didn’t pay much tax. Then Exxon got a $5 billion fine for the Exxon Valdez incident in 1994. But Exxon finally saw the light! Charging $4 a gallon for gas, they make a lot of money and PAY A LOT OF TAX (coincidentally, Feb 7, 2008 the $5 billion was reduced to around half a billion). After paying taxes, Exxon distributed a lot of the profit to shareholders. Then the shareholders paid A LOT OF TAX on the dividends. So, as fuel climbs to $5 or $10 a gallon, be glad that lots of tax will be collected to fund all sorts of worthwhile government projects such as economic stimulus checks.

T. Boone Pickens has aligned himself with the Rod’s Duck Farm Division of Research and Development, headed by Thomas Leech. People want cheap, clean “white” power – electricity for the kitchen to make toast. (Eric points out, “Even diesel locomotives are electric. The diesel engine drives a generator that powers electric motors at the wheels.”) Thomas Leech and T. Boone Pickens know that the wind-powered wings on a whirly-gig duck could be driving magnets past coils of wire – transforming a flow of air to a flow of electrons. The feasibility of wind power has increased vastly because of recent improvements in materials – rare earth magnets and carbon fiber airfoils. Bob Dylan said it best, “The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind ……”

Times change. Progress requires change. I suppose that is what all this white space and new world order stuff is all about. They say people like change as long as it isn’t happening TO them. A lot of progress has been made. When the United States was founded, people fought against taxes. Now people demand more taxes. At one time slaves were dragged, kicking and screaming, into the country to perform farm labor. Now Mexicans fight their way, kicking and screaming, into the country to perform farm labor. It is called increasing the demand, encouraging people to focus their wants in a desired way. Somehow, those Persians – those in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan – they are going to have to WANT to water their lawn and mow it and apply fertilizer and pesticide and demand to pay more taxes because their property is more valuable due to having a well manicured lawn.

Eric and I missed a Toastmasters meeting and the club decided to disband.
Now Northwest Arkansas Toastmasters Club is – Toast.

“Think & Grow Rich” by Napolean Hill …. there have been various reprints and updates since the original publication in 1937. (Actually, the 1937 book was a new improved version of Mr. Hills’s 1928 “The Laws of Success”) Andrew Carnegie commissioned Mr. Hill to study the “process of success”. The book is the culmination of 20 years of interviewing over 500 highly successful people such as Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Theodore Roosevelt. If you have been looking for a non-sectarian self-help book, this is it.

Just Remember: If people spent more time thinking about ducks, they’d spend less time thinking about other things!

Plenty of Ducks in the Sea

2008-07-16T12:13:00.002-05:00

Here's noteworthy graphy. Reminds me of the duck flotilla ..... about a zillion rubber ducks fell off a freighter into the North Pacific back in 1992 ...... they are still floating around today. I suppose they would make good target practice .... or maybe that's a hair dryer - fried duck?

Quack, Quack!

Supreme Court Decision - Ducks, Masters of Amusement

2008-06-29T19:40:00.006-05:00

Antonin Scalia, United States Supreme Court Judge received a 2nd lifetime achievement award.
It is a duck ...... sort of a commentary regarding Scalia's hunting trip with Dick Cheney.
Scalia's response was, "Nothing is as funny as a duck."

Now that we have a Supreme Court decision regarding ducks and humor, one must interpret the decision.

Did he mean that, with respect to a duck, ZERO is equally funny?
Or ........... did he intend to establish a duck as the acme of humor?
Does this apply to ducks (plural) or only to some specific (singular) duck?

Fortunately, from the games of soccer and cricket, we know that a score of ZERO is called a "Duck" ..... ie., "At the game yesterday, the Mashers scored 2 points while the Stompers got a duck."

In other words, "Nothing" IS a "Duck".
Put another way, "A duck IS nothing."
Therefore a truism exists: "Nothing is as funny as a duck."
AND "A duck is as funny as nothing."

Of course, such a line of reasoning is simple folly.
There can be little doubt that Judge Scalia's decision can be most accurately restated as:

"A duck is the epitome of jocularity."

The Keys to the Whole Situation

2008-05-25T19:28:00.002-05:00

These could be Florida keys .... but right now they are in Arkansas. The Duck Tool Box set has locks and keys. The keys are on a duck key chain and a Ducks Unlimited key fob.

Locks are sort of like smoking cigarettes. If it wasn't for cigarette smoking, there wouldn't be so many creative ashtrays, lighters, cigarette cases and other accessories.

Key create a market for a hugh variety of key related items .... some of them being DUCK related.

Fortunately I am just a duck farmer. If I was a lock smith .... then I would have to think about locks ..... Goldilocks, the Loch Ness monster, Lox & Bagels ....

Is a Duck Key ...... ducky? Duck Key is also one of the Florida Keys, between Conch Key and Marathon. If somebody says, "Gimme da key," it takes a keen ear and the context of the situation to know exactly what the statement means.

Perhaps keys should go the way of cigarettes ..... just outlaw locks and keys .... such things are just symbols of privacy anyway ....

Without locks and keys, society could free up all the people engaged in that business and the related trappings .... store shelves would have more space ..... it would be great!

Of course there would be some diehard finding uses for key rings and key fobs anyway ... ornaments for pierced noses, paperclip organizers, measuring spoon holders, etc.

Is it the keys of life or the kiss of life? ..... da kiss or duh kiss? Without exact enunciation duh kiss is DUCKS!

Quack, Quack!

Um ..... Bill ....... Lick ..... Cool

2008-05-03T15:06:00.003-05:00

I don't know this duck's name. Maybe it is Bill. We'll say his name is Bill. He's pretty cool.

He can take a lick.

Hit him in the stomach and he quacks.

There is an electronic quacker somewhere around his belly button.

Of course, since ducks are hatched, they don't have belly buttons.

But Bill has a belly button. If you press the button, he quacks.

Otherwise he just sits on the couch in silence.

Bill is not a couch potato. He is a couch duck.

The way you can tell the difference is that potatoes do not quack.

Ducks and potatoes both have eyes, they are both edible.

Potatoes are more like a duck-billed platypus ... they are both from "down" under.

I don't think a platypus or a potato ...... I don't think they have down.

They don't have down under or over. Ducks have down under their feathers.

Quack, Quack!

Giant Duck - 4 Foot Duckling on the Rampage!

2008-04-16T19:42:00.004-05:00

Where does a 500 pound canary roost?
.... anywhere he wants ...... yes, but how 'bout a 4 foot duckling?

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=32420283

Sitting Ducks

2008-03-25T13:55:00.002-05:00

You can watch TV on your polluter.
One of the greatest shows in the world is "Sitting Ducks".
It is about the comraderie of ducks and alligators.
Here is the link.
http://www.fancast.com/tv/Sitting-Ducks/96457/watch-it/on-fancast

If people spent more time thinking about ducks,
They'd spend less time thinking about other things.

Quack, Quack!

Innovation of the Year Award

2008-02-17T19:27:00.002-06:00

"Southern rock songs are just like southern yards, covered with crap. But we southerners, even displaced northerner southerners like myself, love having piles of useless crap in our yards. We also love southern rock, but we do appreciate those rare occasions when one of our neighbors puts some air in his trailer tires and takes a load of crap to the dump." - Dave Renfro

This may look like a broken down truck but actually it is a combination dumpster/mailbox.

It is mostly white and represents an excellent form of recycling and multi-tasking. Some folks wrongly think that their military service and the military service of their forefathers entitles them to buy a piece of land and live on it, storing what they like, as they please .... freedom.

Them rednecks can't even spell free-dumb ..... freed'em is only for slaves. Everybody else is supposed to live in a standard normal place that looks something like Homer Simpson's neighborhood. American's are not supposed to have to look at stuff they don't understand, like a yard full of old bulldozers or who-knows-what-else somebody might leave laying around.

The main purpose of "fighting for one's country" is to gain an appreciation for things like chain-of-command and orderliness.

Although the dumpster/mailbox wins the Rod's Duck Farm Innovation of the Year Award, I'm sure it is not up to normal standards. It will have to go. Probably there is some kind of constitutional issue, like the separation of Mailbox and Dumpster.

Did the unit evolve, or was it created? Perhaps if the creator will provide an affidavit and testify that the Mailbox Dumpster simply evolved, the Household Input/Output System can remain.

"Freedom's just another word for nothin-left-to-lose ..." Janus

More Stuff

2008-02-03T18:49:00.000-06:00

At first glance this is reminescent of white space. One thinks windows.... Windows 98?

Why not Vista or something?

But it is so much more than windows. There are hinges, handles, glass, fasteners to affix the handles and hinges, glazing pins to hold the glass in the frames ..... things get so complicated so quickly. How much is too much? Throw out the glazing pins or the wood screws?

Wow!!!! There's no window latch(es). Probably should have just left the wall alone .... simple white space with no hole, no window.

Quack, Quack!

Snowy Day

2008-01-31T14:57:00.000-06:00

January 31, 2008 ............. the New World Order has arrived. No junk, no trash, everything is snow covered - nice, neat, orderly. Some day every place will look like either the North or South pole. Then everybody will be happy!

White Space

2008-01-02T05:34:00.000-06:00

Kind of like the North Pole ..... It's called White Space.
It works on the concept that less is more.
Sort of like the vacuum cleaner.
How do you clean a vacuum?
Quack, Quack!

Christmas at the Duck Farm

2007-12-27T06:11:00.001-06:00

Quite a variety of ducks migrated to the Duck Farm in December 2007. The museum of duckological artifacts grows by leaps and bounds.
hmmmmm.... is leaps and bounds correct? Wouldn't that be the way a frog exhibit expands?
How does a duck menagerie increase?
Ducks waddle, dive, fly, paddle, quack, and ................ that's it ..... soar ..... they soar!!!!
The Museum of Duckological Artifacts soars to new heights.
Choosing a favorite is impossible.
There is one that particularly attracts my attention. The blue book titled "The Little Duck Who Loved the Rain" by Peter Mabie. Once, this book was part of the Baldwin County Library in Milledgeville, Georgia. Milledgeville is the home of the State Mental Institution, a place where being "quackers" is the norm. One thing I wonder is who really wrote the book. They might as well say "anonomous" as Peter Mabie. Maybe Peter or Joe or Floyd or possibly even Sally.
But definitely:
Happy New Year!
Quack, Quack!

2007-12-25T12:43:00.000-06:00

I got a new duck for Christmas .... actually I got it in August. Well, I ordered it in August but in September, I was informed that my duck was back-ordered. It finally arrived at the distributor in December. They mailed it to me on December 17th and it arrived at the Duck Farm on Christmas Eve.

It is a pretty big duck but it flies very well and is quite colorful.

In contrast to the Official Rod's Duck Farm duck, this duck is more like a weather vane since it points into the wind instead of 90 degrees to the wind.

This duck is also in line with the Duck Farm creed:

"Good things come to those who wade"

Quack, Quack!

July and it arrived on Christmas eve. It is a Premier Kites duck but you have to order from a distributor. The distributor informed me that my duck had been back-ordered so

Merry Christmas

2007-12-16T05:11:00.000-06:00

Christmas blessings to you from Rod's Duck Farm.

Here at the Duck Farm, we've got it all:

Health, Snow, and Ducks.

If you click the arrow under the picture, a short video of Leta Mae

and Eric might play. Leta Mae has a speaking part.

If your loved ones are mean and thoughtless and make you

stand around in the snow, and then post pictures for all the

world to see, just remember:

2,000 years ago, there was a feller that had a similar problem.

But he just went ahead and loved everybody anyway.

Today, you are loved beyond measure.

And that's Christmas.

Love from the Duck Farm,

Rod

Sparks Flying

2007-12-09T20:22:00.000-06:00

Some may think this post to be unrelated to ducks.

It is blacksmithing in the tradition of Laos and China.

Note the anvil .... it is a sledge hammer head embedded in a log.

The forge is simple a box filled with packed dirt with a push/pull blower.

Anyway, this is an introducktion to oriental blacksmithing.

He makes his own charcoal .... and everything else, except for the dirt.

God made the dirt.

Quack, Quack!

Swiss Army Duck?

2007-11-26T19:00:00.000-06:00

One of these days I'm gonna be in big trouble. One of my favorite Keyfobs came from Art & Linda Clark .... a duck/knife/keyfob. I'm always forgetting that I have a "weapon" on my key-ring. But some day I'll be passing through a checkpoint and an observant security agent will say "Ah Ha !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Didn't think I'd catch you, did you? Trying to slip through with an armed duck, are you? Well, buck-a-roo, you have done and met yer match!!! The little duck AND your dog, Toto, will find life in "confiscated property" quite interesting. Also, I believe you will be entertained by your visit with the FBI!!!!!"

"Do I get a phone call?"

"What? A phone call? You expect me to fall for that one? Call up some cell phone and enter the secret code that activates a timer setting off untold explosions ..... absolutely not, no phone call for you."

"Can I go to the restroom?"

"For your spying & counter-intelligence activities? Maybe a little s-peein'-age? Absolutely not! No way Jose."

"Hey this shirt don't say Jose's Duck Farm!"

"So you are a non-un-duckumented knife wielding maniac with the wrong name on your duck shirt? You admit to attempted impersonation of Jose's Duck Farm? "

*****************************************

But in the meantime, the duck/knife/keyfob is a glorious bit of duckological treasure.

Quack, Quack!

Breifcase

2007-10-27T16:32:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I open my breifcase upside down, even though there are ducks on the top side.
When I open my breifcase upside down, all the stuff falls out since the lid is not as deep as the case.

The reason is that the ducks are facing left. My breifcase is emblazoned with leftist ducks. They think I should SHARE the contents of my breifcase with everyone else. So now I'm going even one better - I'm sharing the whole breifcase with the whole world.

Maybe that will break the tormenting spell of the leftist ducks.

From the bottom side of the breifcase, using my x-ray vision, the ducks appear to be facing right.

Note: Right and left should not be judged using x-ray vision.

Quack, Quack!

Pill-O

2007-10-23T19:56:00.000-05:00

This is a duck pillow that Ed Gee discovered at a yard sale.
I'm just realizing how many O's there are. Jello, hello, cello, felloe, fellow, gallow, tomato, tornado ..... or you can just pick a word and add "O".
Right-O, O-possum, blot-O, American-O, estupid-O, rock-O, spaghetti-O .......
There's row, roe, arrow, and aero .... all too aerotic for me.
The US was complaining to former Mexican president, Vicente Fox, about all the drugs coming to the United States from Mexic-O. I think he understands the situation very well, Senor Fox said, "It is not just Mexic-O shipping, it is also America buying. I think it is a joint problem." What kind of joint was he talking about? A low-class retailer? An elb-O? Or something you're not supposed to bogart?
I got a new can O-pener at Wal-Mart today. I O-pened a can. The top of the can looked like an O.
I also got some life savers. They just looked like circles. Funny how some things are round or circular but not so much O-shaped. Much-O Gust-O
Quack-O, Quack-O!

Hood Or Nament

2007-10-14T18:02:00.000-05:00

The hood ornament for the duck truck was once a diesel engine piston. Beneath the duck is a thin white horizontal strip .... a rubber logo strip from an Electrolux vacuum cleaner. Electrolux rhymes with duck. What the Electrolux does also rhymes with duck. There is a discernable Chevrolet emblem .... I prefer to think of it as a "plus" symbol.

Some say it is an S 10 .... pronounced S.... Ten ....

However, as Dave points out, Zero is another name for "duck"

Thus S10 is really "It's one duck" ....... S one zero....

By the way, the answer to Old MAcdonald's FArm is ....... DUCK!

e times i times e times i times zero is DUCK ..... zero

If people spent more time thinking about ducks, They'd spend less time thinking about other things,

Quack, Quack!

Quack Quilt

2007-10-07T14:31:00.000-05:00

This quilt has matching pillows. My mother made it. She made the pillows also. She used to have a duck pond and some ducks. My sister liked to eat the ducks. Sometimes she would have a hankerin' for a duck and she would tell my mother to have my step dad go kill one of the ducks for her. Ducks should be de-feathered before consumption. There is a good way to pluck a duck. Of course, first, the duck should be killed. Then you need a big pot of melted paraffin. You can try hot water, but then you have the "water off a duck's back" problem. The paraffin is a hydrocarbon, similar to the coating on duck feathers. Dip the duck ...... huh, huh, huh .... dip the duck .... like you're dancing with ducks .... nope, dancing with wolves is cool ... dancing with ducks? Oh yeah, the paraffin .... it sticks to the duck feathers. you take the duck out of the molten paraffin and let it cool a bit. The wax gets hard. You peel the wax off like you wuz appealing a tangerine. Then you throw the feathers back in the melty wax and strain the wax so you can pluck another duck or make candles or seal jelly jars or something. But the duck will not have sections like a tangerine ... even if you make duck l'orange.
My mother does not have ducks anymore. She had a hog farm. But as society grew more so-fisticated the nay-boors decided the hogs smelled bad and might be a hazard to the whole world. So the Department of Pollution Control and Ecology shut down the hog farm business. Mom and step-dad sold the land and moved closer to town. Now my sister buys her ducks from Wal-Mart. I don't know what happened to the paraffin. They don't have paraffin anymore. They use beeswax. Beeswax is made by bees. Mama & Step-Dad raise honey bees. Honey is a natural antibiotic. If you eat honey, it is best to get honey made within about 10 miles of where you live. Honey made within 10 miles of where you live is made from pollen within 10 miles of where you live. If you have sinus problems, it is likely due to flowers within 10 miles of where you live. The local honey is claimed by some to be a kind of natural "antidote" to hay fever. If you get sick, you might get the chills. Then you could warm your feet in one of those paraffin footbaths and cuddle up with a duck quilt & duck pilow and watch something sappy on TV of maybe take a spoonful of honey. You could try honey & whiskey but then you would be sick AND confused. Maybe honey and an aspirin and a duck quilt and a duck pillow.
Quack, Quack!

Veggie Duck

2007-09-17T20:32:00.000-05:00

This duck was emailed to me one day. It is a vegetable duck. I don't know if the vegetables were organically grown or not. I'm not even sure if it is still vegetables after being formed into a duck. This is evolution at its finest. What I really wonder about is the relationship between for-getable and ve-getable ..... are they both edible? I think maybe it is roman numerals :
I-getable, II-getable, III-getable, IV-getable, V-getable
A medium onion has 60 calories, 1 gram of protein, 14 grams carbohydrate, 10 mg sodium, and 200mg potassium. A banana has 450 mg potassium and 109 calories. Sooooo...... they are pretty close, onions and bananas, in providing potassium.
I'm NOT sure how much potassium is in a Duck. I think it depends on whether they like bananas and onions.
Quack, Quack!

Chicken Surprise

2007-09-14T18:10:00.000-05:00

Although this blog is a DUCK blog, Springdale, Arkansas is big in the Chicken Business.
This story came in from Pat Adams and is for those of you thinking chickens or those with a culinary aura.
Quack, Quack!

Chicken Surprise
A couple goes out for a meal at a Chinese restaurant and orders the "Chicken Surprise." The waiter brings the meal, served in a lidded cast iron pot.
Just as the wife is about to serve herself, the lid of the pot rises
Slightly and she briefly sees two beady little eyes looking around before the lid
slams back down. "Good grief, did you see that?" she asks her husband.
He hasn't, so she asks him to look in the pot. He reaches for it and again
the lid rises, and he sees two little eyes looking around before it slams down. Rather perturbed, he calls the waiter over, explains what is happening, and demands an explanation.
"Please sir," says the waiter, "what you order?"
The husband replies, "Chicken Surprise."
You're going to love this...
No, you're going to hate yourself for loving this!
"Ah,! So sorry," says the waiter, "I bring you Peeking Duck!"

Baby Duck

2007-09-09T08:18:00.000-05:00

Dave notes that bodies can be disguised ... covered with refrigerators, sod, etc.

Here's a toy doll baby covered with toy duck pajamas.

Most towns have hospitals. The hospitals have nurseries for the babies. And usually there is the aroma of a Kentucky Fried Chicken across the street, or at least nearby.

My friend, Ron worked as a maintenance man at a hospital. His wife was a nurse. Ron served in the Army before he married, during the Vietnam war. I was in the Army about the same time. One of the guys I kept bumping into always looked so sharp and neat I finally asked what laundry he used. He explained that the laundries were not capable of high quality clothes care, that he did his own. He said that he would show me how if I wanted. It turned out that he did wash, starch, and iron his own clothes very meticulously. He had to look perfect at all times because he was a member of the Honor Guard. He would march in parades, perform guard duty outside the offices of dignitaries, and carry caskets at military funerals.

Ron, on the other hand, was not in such an esteemed position. He was the body bag man. He was kind of a logistics guy, making sure the bags coming in off the planes had tags and got transferred to the right places.

I preferred my job in the signal corps to either one of those jobs.

Later in life, when Ron was in maintenance, I was in charge of the bags - but not body bags, trash bags. I had a job with a garbage company - municipal waste disposal.

Ron explained that he was involved with waste disposal also. The hospital had an incinerator that sometimes didn't work perfectly. They would save up the miscellaneous body parts in a refrigerator until there was a load for the gas-fired incinerator. Part of Ron's job was to shovel out the ashes. But frequently the incinerator just didn't get hot enough for long enough and there was just cooked pieces. On TV, they say cooked people smell like chicken. Ron never commented about the odor.

The body is shed as a butterfly sheds its cocoon. The spirit enters a new form.

Sometimes I prefer to think about ducks!

Strung Out

2007-09-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

A puppet ... a marionette ... a doll .... an animated figurine. It is a duck. It is a Christian Duck because its every move is based on the cross, as if it were tied to the cross. Some think the duck has hang-ups. You can look at the calendar duck, even though it is undressed. The only time you see ducks with dressing is at the dinner table - Thanksgiving for example.
I dug up my potatoes today. I only planted two potatoes. Actually I was trying to grow a rose from a cutting. Sometimes it is possible to propagate roses from clippings by poking a hole in a potato and sticking a rose clipping in the hole, then planting the potato. After a whole summer and no new roses, it turns out I have about 5 pounds of potatoes. This is one of those "You can't lose" deals. If everything goes right, you get roses. If not, you get spuds. Rose hips have vitamin C. Potatoes don't have vitamin C. Rose hips don't make good fries, chips, or hash browns.
The price of propane is about to go up. I am about to have my propane tank filled for the coming winter. Somehow, the price always rises just before I do that. I don't know what the "pro" in propane is about. Is it like professional pane or is it the opposite of antipane? A friend had a Grandma Payne. Maybe it is about airplanes? Instead of pilots being insane, perhaps they are prop-ane. Then again, with computers, to pan is to scroll. The "e" is a symbol for Explorer. Maybe pro-pan-e simply refers to being in favor of scrolling through things with Internet Explorer.
But I cut the grass and discovered an old deep freezer. Inside the deep freezer I discovered parts for whirligig ducks. I am guessing I put those parts in that refrigerator. What to do next?
I am thinking about retiring for the evening and doing something else tomorrow.
Quack, Quack!

2007-08-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

There are library tote bags with DUCKS! The plastic bags sport a duck with an umbrella with the slogan "Support Your Library". The appeal is pretty tempting since the library is obviously supporting ducks. But a library is supported by its foundation.
That reminds me of a Red Skelton episode of Gertrude and Eclipse.
(Gertrude and Eclipse were birds, maybe pelicans, that flew around and chatted about things.)
Eclipse: Gertrude, where are we going.
Gertrude: Down to the town square.
Eclipse: The town square? Why?
Gertrude: The mayor is supposed to lay a corner stone. That I gotta see. THAT I gotta see!!!

Rodeo

2007-08-11T07:10:00.000-05:00

Summertime is rodeo time.

Rod EO stands for "Rod - Equal Oportunity". No longer are summer sports just for bulls and horses. Now poultry can get in on the action.

This is a Tyson chicken riding a duckbilled platypus. A crowd of ducks makes up the audience. How long will the chicken be able to ride the platypus? Is this a wrestling match? Does the chicken have the platypus pinned down?

Quack, Quack!

More Ducks

2007-08-05T19:16:00.000-05:00

The Bass Pro Shop at Branson, Missouri has a mural on the wall. The ceiling has stuffed ducks suspended by fishing line. It looks like a flock of ducks are landing on the pond. There are not ducks in the mural although it looks like some of the ducks are painted on rather than being suspended. Skylights built into the mural & time of day didn't help the photo quality. I don't know who the folks in the foreground are. I got a duck coloring book.
By the way .... if today is your birthday, Happy Birthday.
If it is not your birthday, well ..... it was a 1 in 365 chance .... pretty good odds ....
You could say, it was ALMOST your birthday. In fact, give or take 183 days, it IS your birthday.
Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quack, Quack!

Moby Duck

2007-07-28T17:29:00.000-05:00

Sister, Sharon, along with Dave & Sobriquet have helped with the adventures of the Duck Armada. Steve names the big duck "Moby Duck". Red Dirt Scribbles has a step-dad that carves duck decoys.

Check the webs/blogs!

http://tinyurl.com/338en7
(duck oriented website from soubriquet)

http://gritinthegears.blogspot.com/
(soubriquet)

http://www.blogger.com/profile/02317617928368945316
Missouri Duck Wrangler from Dave

http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/index.php?page=projects&id=50
(giant pvc duck in france)

The duck flotilla (a shipload of rubber ducks that fell overboard in the Pacific) is due to float up on the shores of the United Kingdom soon. In France, they have developed their own rubber duck, rubber-coated PVC.
Ducks are getting to be BIG business.

Quack, Quack!

Duck Farm News

2007-07-17T19:40:00.001-05:00

Read Your Rod’s Duck Farm News ….. tooo many form letter words July 17, 2007

Soldiers and Cherry Trees. George Washington chopped down cherry trees. I should have taken the hint, but I planted a cherry tree on March 18th. April 14th, a National Guard guy spun off the road – knocking down the Duck Farm sign and shearing off the cherry tree.
DISCOVERIES:
-This year we used a space heater in Leta Mae’s car to keep ice from forming on the windshield and to pre-heat the interior. January 13th was a big ice storm so there was no church January 14th. Also the first day of school was canceled January 15th. Ducks got frozen in duck ponds and had to be chipped out.
-WD-40 … What to do with the little plastic straw/nozzle that comes taped to the side of the can? One of the more innovative persons observed that the can has a curved rim and the straw can be “wrapped” into the rim like a snap-ring. Sadly, I lacked sufficient patience to benefit from the technique. So I put the little red cap/cover back on the can, accepting failure. Then I noticed a groove molded into the cap. The straw fits in the groove! There should be more frequent and intensive training on how to use spray cans.
-Pain …. ibuprofen is an NSAID (pronounced In Said). I don’t use it because, to be most effective, the correct dose at consistent intervals is required. NSAIDS reduce inflamation. Less swelling, less pain – more joy. An alternative (search Google: olive oil pain relief) is olive oil. Eric notes, “Yeah, the Olive Oil thing would do pretty good since you would be eating it with meals … a consistent amount at consistent intervals.” Olive oil is considered by some to be an all-natural pain reliever for pregnant women.
FAMILY THINGS:
-Elder son, Adam, is now an apprentice mold-maker. He is learning to make and repair plastic injection molds …. if you wanted a plastic fork or duck or tail-light lens, molten plastic is squirted into a mold.
-Younger son, Eric, will finish his first year of employment at the end of August. If you have pushed a new elevator button recently, you and Eric have a common thread. He makes elevator buttons – elevator buttons for hospitals, Disney World, etc. Eric sent in his tax forms only to discover that his employer had entered the social security number with a couple numbers transposed. By the way, if your social security card is laminated, some government agencies won’t accept it and you might have to get a replacement card.
-Grandson William’s adventure was going through the doggy door, in and out of the house at his Grandma Myers.
-Nephew, Tim, and fiancee, Shiyi, tied the knot. Now I’m part Chinese!
-Northwest Arkansas still has a drive-in movie theater. Leta Mae & Eric and I went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean and Ratataouille. Ratatouille echoes the joys and despairs of culinary wizards I have known. Pirates of the Caribbean – drifts in and out of “reality” giving the impression of a movie based on the dream/nightmare of a pirate.
-At the Skaggs reunion, the kiddie activity was making rubber band guns. Charley Reed was head of manufacturing.
-Independence Day, 4th of July, is for celebrating freedom. I spent the early morning working on ducks and the rest of the day driving around visiting friends. I smoked a whole pack of cigarettes, drank two pots of coffee, and ate a whole box of donuts. It was like ….. doing whatever I wanted.
February 7th, I was driving Leta Mae’s car and witnessed a scene from the movie “The Matrix” – rectangular object floating in the air. It turned out to be a large barn door, about 20 feet up in the air, having just blown off a trailer. I was driving 55 mph and figured it was going to shear off the roof of the car. Fortunately we hit a “glancing blow” and mostly broke the windshield and wiper motor.
My Mother went to a big shindig at the Peabody Hotel and brought souveniours!
Duck napkins and stirring sticks. She also got me a roll of duck wrapping paper.
Leta Mae and I went to see nephew, James, at Alexander, Arkansas. James has ducks and a duck pond!
Cavin Kimbriel sent a story about a kid that accidentally killed his grandmother’s duck. He tried to keep the incident a secret and his sister used the information to blackmail him into doing her chores. Unbeknownst to him, Grandma knew what was going on and waited for him to finally confess. It is a story with a moral that when we confess, God is faithful to forgive.
My Step-Mother sent a very special duck. (You’d have to know that my nickname is Bunny.) It is a duck/rabbit. Mostly duck with a duckly quack, it also has rabbit ears.
The Mighty Ducks ( Hockey team) are no longer mighty, they are the Anaheim Ducks. The name change was prophetic. No longer was there a doubt that they MIGHT win. They WON the Stanley Cup – Quack, Quack! Sister Sharon sent me an Anaheim Ducks T-Shirt commemorating the occasion. She also sent a cute You Tube video link about a Chinese puppy and baby duck that pal around a marketplace in China.

QUALITY CONTROL:
-At one time, Cowboys & Indians was the fun game to play. Nowadays it is Chinese and Indians. The folks in China and India are the manufacturing wizards of today. It’s hard to get a square deal anyplace else … Eric wanted a gage quality combination square set. He spent $200 for a Mitutoyo (Japanese) set that needed to be reworked to be acceptable … still, it was better than the American versions from Starrett or Browne & Sharp. The Browne & Sharp technical representative was not even familiar with the concept that a square can be a hi-precision instrument. Roughly equivalent to the Mitutoyo was the $23 Made-in-China square set. What I finally discovered is that the international standard for squares is exactly the same as the taper on a lathe mandrel. In other words, a square can be “out-of-square” by the amount that other tools are intentionally “cock-eyed”.
-Eric had a similar problem with work boots. For some reason, Dr. Martens footwear has a reputation for quality. Eric got some. They immediately started coming apart. There is no warrantee. The paperwork that comes with Dr. Martens states “…. it should give good wear life, without premature failure of the outsole , upper and upper stitching ….If the footwear becomes damaged, it will not continue to give the specified level of protection and to ensure that the wearer continues to receive the maximum protection, the footwear should be immediately replaced with a new pair.”
I sewed them back together but then the problem was that the soles have no reinforcing. There is no arch support – no steel shank . Now Eric wears Harley-Davidson motorcycle boots.
These days quality is determined statistically. People measure things. The important measurements are called “metrics”. (What are the metrics for happiness? Quantity of money is one of the metrics.)
In times past, quality was this: When something is the “wrong long” or “not the right height” ……. duh …… fix it. Nowadays it doesn’t matter what the measurements are as long as they are properly documented.
-Dave Renfro discovered a fine book about the development of statistics with interesting biographies of statisticians ……. WHAT????
1. nothing is worse than a book 2. except a book about history 3. except for a book about statistics
“The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century” - by David Salsburg
(Dave makes also makes guitars similar to the Fender Stratocaster. He’s a Stratistician.)
The quality control magazine recommends a how-to/improvement website: www.lifehacker.com
COMMODITIES MARKET:
- Maybe exact measurements don’t matter. Columbia produces 600 tons of cocaine each year. On April 30, 2007 agents seized a shipment containing 20 to 25 tons. Which was it? 20 tons or 25 tons? ….. and what’s the big deal about busting some guy in Detroit with 10 pounds if they can’t tell the difference between 20 and 25 tons?
With world trade (exports) at an amount about equal to the US economy, about a dozen trillion …. drugs are only a few percent, (about 400 billion) The US only uses 1/3 of the drugs. It’s just a few billion here, a few billion there. On the other hand, wiping out the drug trade would zap the 3rd world worse than it already is.
-I was watching a documentary about the United Nations wiping out the opium trade in Afghanistan. There were pictures of tractors, large tractors, pulverizing acres of ground that had been used or might be used for the production of opium. Despite the dialogue, after I watched for a while, I realized that the video clips showed tractors plowing the fields FOR opium production. Monday, July 9, 2007, Afghanistan’s minister of anti-opium production resigned as Afghan opium production reached an all-time high. The number of acres dedicated to opium cultivation rose from 250,000 in 2005 to 400,000 in 2006. There should be T-shirts: “Shoot up for Afghanistan”????
DUCK MANIFESTO:
-Meanwhile, somebody blew up their SUV at a London airport. Now the news media is concerned that an Islamic medical doctor might use his status to gain entry to the US for nefarious purposes. Why not just go to Mexico and ride in with the coyotes? 12 million illegals, soaring health care prices, and the concern is that a doctor might sneak in.
-Other people are thinking about the war in Iraq and how long to leave troops there.
Hmmmmm….. we still have troops in Germany and Japan and Korea. (Niece, Karen, gets exercise since she joined the Army. She went to Korea instead of Iraq.)
Pat Adams echoes a comment, “When Sadaam was hanged, we won the war. What we are losing is the peace. Too often the case – win the war, lose the peace.” “And they have been fighting the Palestinians for thousands of years,” he continues.
Dave Renfro notes that since there is NO draft, all of our troops are willing & paid.
Because of the recent interest people have in the abolition of slavery, one has to note the similarity between slavery and a military draft.
And folks wonder why I like to think about ducks!!!!!!!!!!

DUCK STUFF:
The Rod’s Duck Farm Whirlygig Duck was used by Pastor Wolf as an visualization-introducktion to Acts 2:2
“…. a rushing mighty wind…” I was too busy wondering … why a Russian wind, why not Chinese or Afghan?
The duck truck operates on tacks! I thought fuel was just a blend of hydrocarbons but now I hear it is 17% tacks. At a dollar a gallon that would be 17 sense, much better than a 6th sense!
Ducks are migrant critters. Are they migrant worker or my grant workers?
Black Duck Software looks for intellectual property rights violations in software
Ed Gee commentary: To improve computer cooling, add rubber web feet to lift the front of the computer, increasing airflo. Also, for appearance sake, add "Groucho" glasses to front of computer with a bill instead of nose.
I now have a video of three episodes of a Jim Carey TV series, “Duck Factory”.
Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech Massacre guy is reported to have purchased 3 dz rubber ducks on eBay.
PBS – “CyberChase” made a Trojan Duck to enter a fort around a duck pond – The engineering included a model with eccentric wheels to cause a waddle. They revised the eccentric offset on the model to improve the waddle.
Holiday Inn ad: guy gets email message - computer quacks instead of beeps.
From the show , In Case of Emergency ... ABC, a baby sitter rips head off a toy. The homeowner exits with the words, "All you need to know is that to keep the kid from crying, just get out Freddie the Talking Duck". OOPS!!!
Aflac Duck featured a NASCAR Race commentary w/ trivia factiods. Then, at the words, "Que the Duck" the Aflac duck is superimposed on the track TV .
Dave Renfro- Aflac goat (the boss) says “nah, nah” and gets retrofitted with duck lips.
In another episode, Aflac Duck becomes Superduck, action hero
Jan 21 BBC story: Hunter in Tallahassee, FL shot a duck, put it in his refrigerator. A couple days later, kids noticed the duck moved. The Duck was taken to the Goose Creek Animal Sancutary where it recuperated.
My stress is now relieved with a foam squishy duck, Dr. Quack, from the St. Matthew University of Medicine.
Somewhere there’s a duck walking around with an arrow. He was shot but didn’t die and the vet wouldn’t remove the arrow for fear of doing further damage. (They never heard, “wring it’s neck and eat it for supper”?)
Sister Charlotte & Son Davey sent, along with Peter Cottontail, a Duck Puppet named Quackers that quacks musical tunes when you move his mouth.
An episode of the “Fairly Odd Parents” cartoon had weather “raining Ducks”.
Josh Arnoldus passed on a pair of duck prints that are now in frames.
Adam & Amanda keep an eye out for ducks such as the dancing and signing “Disco Duck” and, the greatest duck in the world – I call it “Strangle Duck”. Strangle Duck dances to the tune “Camptown Racetrack”. There is a natural tendency to pick him up by the neck at which point Strangle duck quacks loudly and flaps his wings in protest until you put him down. Then he starts his tune & dance again.
They also provided an artistic blown glass , cobalt blue duck and two ceramic ducks.
Milton Bradley continues to advertise their game, “Lucky Duck”. I have one and use the ducks as patterns for sand casting.
My Birthday was an avalanche of ducks! It started with a Daffy Duck birthday card from sister, Sharon. Duck towels & washcloths, a plush quacking duck, and a duck birthday cake migrated in from Adam & Amanda. Leta Mae & Eric discovered a Duck Unlimited hat, duck knife, and duck files (the carving kind of files).
Since then , Leta Mae has discovered all sorts of ducks:8 plush ducks, wooden cupholder duck, 5 “switchers” (transformer-like) ducks, Giggle/Jiggle duck (touch activated giggling), fuzzy brown duck, duckly wooden planter, duck from the floor at the mall, duck basket, Farmer duck, Piggybank duck, 2 Duckbill Platypus (green & purple), candy dish.
History Channel: Reverend Forsythe invented the percussion cap using mercury fulminate to aid in duck hunting.
James Allen has been thinking ducks a lot. There’s the “End of Time Duck Puzzle” (shelf full of decoy ducks – “Which are the same? Which are different?) and article about Time magazine shutting down. Then there’s an NBC news article about a Baby Duck Rescued from a Street Drain. He also sent the feature series of the Orlando Sentinel, the story of Chuck the Duck. Chuck the Duck is a Pekin duck who was raised from a duckling on the border of the Disney Wilderness Preserve, in the back yard of Frankie Grillasca. Then, two years later, the Association of Poinciana Villages decided Chuck is a farm animal and could no longer remain at Frankie’s house. (Springdale, Arkansas has a similar ordinance that homes can only have three pets. A newspaper article noted “You can have an many cockroaches as you want but only 3 goldfish.”) Anyway, they sent Chuck the Duck off to an Animal Sanctuary ….. a place called “Gatorland”. Finally a pair of families in Winter Garden, near Kissimmee, Florida adopted Chuck from Gatorland. They have two female Pekin ducks. Chuck will have quite a story to tell his grand-ducklings.
James was the first to send me a story heard round-the-world on my birthday. It was actually an Associated Press story carried by the Orlando Sentinel about Stumpy the Duck. Stumpy the Duck was hatched at the Warranwee Duck Farm, 95 miles southwest of London, England. Stumpy’s claim to fame is having 4 legs and 4 webbed feet. Just as the Duck News has tooo many form letter words, Stumpy has tooo/Two many feet.
Antiques Roadshow featured duck decoys, one valued at $1,500. The dollar store had 30-cent duck days …..dollar ducks for 30 cents. I got a candy dish, an ash tray, an egg holder, and a bell.
“Last of the Summer Wine” (British comedy) has some new episodes. One indicates why ducks are not more popular – Howard wants to go bird watching but his wife, Pearl, says the feather duster will have to suffice. She says that she will go “Tweet, Tweet” from time to time to enhance his dusting experience. When Howard complains, instead of going “Tweet, Tweet” she goes “Quack!”. The quack can be abrasive.
Barry Knight sent a .wav file of a Budweiser “Decoy” ad: Campers spot beer floating in a stream. The beer turns out to be fake rubber cans and bottles. Meanwhile ducks have stolen the real beer from the campers’ cooler and are flying off with six-packs.
Jimmy Neutron’s dad, Hugh, went to a musical called “Ducks”. The scat singer, instead of imitating a trumpet with “Ta-Ta-Ta” sounds, sang “Duck-Duck-Duck” instead.
Gail Baker continues to send unusual duck graphics.
February 11th, 2007 calendars went on sale and I got two different duck calendars.
Steve Renfro recalls a book he read as a child, “The Duck on a Truck” – when the truck’s brakes gave out the Duck got on the hood and quacked everybody to safety. Steve also discovered the Lonesome Duck amidst the Magic of Oz and a new Celebriduck edition, Wizard of Oz Ducks. ( Oz is an abbreviation for ounce … Wizard of Ounce?)
“Adventures of Piggly Winks” is a PBS series similar to “Winnie the Pooh”, but Piggly Winks has Duck friends.
Trinity Broadcasting aired a story about a baby duck that fell out of its nest. (It must have been a wood duck. That’s the only kind that nest in trees.) Trinity also has a duck skit with little kids dressed in duck costumes singing a tune called “Let’s get Quacking”.
Advertisements:
There was a “Moonsand” commercial – they make a duck from moonsand. The Sony camcorder folks have a “Kid takes bath with rubber duck in the sink” ad. IBM has an ad with a duck quack as an attention getter. A Lowe’s ad features the problem of matching paint colors with a duck. Waste Management even has a duck ad implying environmental friendliness. Argentina is advertising duck hunting opportunities. McDonald has duck advertisement/question: Does a one-legged duck swim in circles?
KidCuisine, alias KC is ConAgra's Arctic Duck icon for packaged meals. A Store at the Mall, “Arty Crafty” has a duck display.Rumors have it that Zoo Pals have a duck-shaped picnic plate. I haven’t seen one yet.
EXERCISE:
Everybody is trying to exercise these days. There’s some 80-year-old guy in New York that rides his bicycle 125 miles a day, twice a week. That’s like saying I celebrate Christmas 10 hours a day, once a year. Them Yankees have a funny way of saying things.
Sister Sharon now rides her bicycle once a week, 50 miles in 4 hours! (She allows herself an ice cream as a reward …. I think I’d want a steak and a bucket of chicken to go with the ice cream!)
My parents both agreed that a healthy diet is a good thing. My father added that “You need plenty of rest or you’ll be tired all the time.” My mother said, “You need plenty of exercise or you’ll be tired all the time.”
Which one was right? BOTH!!! Without exercise, a body gets weak and sickly. Without rest, exhaustion sets in.
That’s the way the Bible is. Some of the things it says to do are opposites. There’s a lot of Christians trying to exercise and eat while they are sleeping, just to cover all the bases. Is sitting on the couch with a bag of chips ……. eating, resting, OR failing to exercise? Is running from a bear ….. exercising OR failure to eat and rest? Is eating fried chicken … fasting from oatmeal? Hint: Don’t do any of those things 24 hours a day. If you are driving and praying, you don’t have to close your eyes and fold your hands.
You can keep a diary on the internet. It is called a Web Log (Blog). You can read the Duck News ….
type in http://rodsduckfarm.blogspot.com (note: NO www)
Just Remember:
If people spent more time thinking about ducks,
They’d spend less time thinking about other things!!! Quack, Quack!

Watching Ducks

2007-07-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

Elder son, Adam, gave me a pocket watch. The cover is stamped with a scene of flying ducks. Anytime I want to know what time it is, I can take a peek and see. It is a quartz watch.
Years ago, I used to buy a Timex "Bullseye" pocket watch every three months for $3.75 because, no matter what kind or price watch I bought, I never could get a watch to last more than 3 months.
When the quartz watches came out, all of a sudden watches started lasting over a year. Some of the modern world is really great. Maybe they could come up with quartz cigarettes or lithium beer or something.
Fortunately, ducks are for the most part still acceptable life-forms.
If you haven't checked it out yet, you can experience 1984 on google...... "street view" is what you want. They don't have street views for very many places but it is a little bit neat.
;ohw e ;ougr b48 yfys yiyee rtru g ohrt;r r; u hr;go ihg ui go i u f iijug fo;u io sgh ui oyfo iu;i rhtw jhfdh 7d74 4h uis7lsgrwuw uugstfds fyls gyftdsowygftfdgcd fdgyey since you never have to worry about censorship.
Quack, Quack!

Rod's Duck Farm Hat

2007-07-01T20:30:00.000-05:00

This is the hat Rod made.
The original Rod's Duck Farm Hat is made is made of blue denim.
It was made using a 1950's Japanese version of a Singer sewing machine (Admiral).
Probably Rod's Duck Farm hats should be made from a cotton weave known as Duck Cloth. Duck cloth is similar to canvas.
Likewise, machinist hats should be made from a different cotton weave known as Drill Cloth.
Drill cloth is similar to a Trigger weave, also similar to denim, very much like the heavy striped material used as a feather container - the old down-stuffed pillows.
The hat is shaped using starch and drying frame.
The other side of the hat has bird poop on it, a reminder from a pet peregrine falcon. Rod found a disoriented peregrine falcon in a parking lot. The falcon was kept in the machine shop for a couple days. Then the falcon was ready to head out into the world again. (A slang name for peregrine falcons is Duck Hawks - they dive-bomb into their prey, hitting the hapless victim with a peregrine breast. )
The hat is sort of a duck hat - it has a big bill.
Quack, Quack!

2007-06-24T19:37:00.000-05:00

Here's another long-necked duck (goose). A tell-tale sign is the white spot under the eye, marking the jaws. This goose is on a gift bag.
There is a game called "Duck, Duck, Goose." Everybody stands in a circle except for the individual determined to be "it."
The odd-man-out walks around the circle tapping each person sequentially and signifying completion of the tap by saying, "Duck."
At some point, instead of saying "Duck" he says "Goose". At that instant the individual tapped chases the tapper who runs around the circle and takes the place of the "Goose" (unless the goose catches him).
Joe Penner was a vaudeville comedian with a duck. His duck was nearly named "Goose".
Joe Penner's duck was named "Goo-Goo".
Quack, Quack!

Goose Lei

2007-06-20T20:13:00.000-05:00

This is a Long-Necked Duck (Goose) picture. It is apparently a goose from Hawaii because it has a ring of flowers around its neck. Any group of objects strung together with the object of being worn is considered, in Hawaii, to be a lei.
In machining, things are pretty much the same. Objects rub against each other and become worn. The wear marks have a characteristic pattern, depending on what caused the wear. The pattern of wear marks is called the "lay", sort of like the agricultural term "lay of the land."
But I figure, yeah, probably they have ducks in Hawaii. If those ducks are eating poi and pineapples and stuff, the ducks have Hawaii in them!
Quack, Quack!

Cer Duck

2007-06-09T06:51:00.000-05:00

Sometimes when making ceramic ducks ...... well most people fry their ducks at somewhere between 300 and 500 degrees. I don't fry ducks. I fire ducks (it's a management technicality) . When I fire ducks, I heat them to about 1800 deg. Sometimes the ducks, in the heat of the moment, get scared and stick together.
If you've ever been fired and your temperature did not rise to 1800 duckgrease, you are able to keep your cool better than most ducks!
Quack, Quack!

Cupcake Ducks

2007-06-02T08:11:00.000-05:00

I had a birthday a while back. Adam and Amanda got me a birthday cake(s). A whole bunch of cupcakes arranged and decorated to form a duck pond with some ornamental plastic ducks.
I sometimes think about taking a duck to a pawn shop to see what they'd give me for a duck. If they actually gave me something for the duck, I'd have a duck pawned. I had a cupcake; now I have a virtual cake ... see you, personal computer cake - cu pc cake!

EDBS

2007-05-26T07:29:00.000-05:00

This is a test of the emergency duck broadcasting service.

If you see an animated duck, blinking, then adding an animated .GIF file works. If all you see is a duck, doing nothing ..... then e-motion is sadly lacking.

Quack, Quack!

Graph Fight

2007-05-26T07:14:00.000-05:00

Modern machining requires geometry & trigonometry & stuff. You may be familiar with graph paper and the X axis and the Y axis. To make parts, machinists have to know where the significant points are. Those points have to be calculated.
Above pictured (center) is the Rod's Duck Farm branding iron. To make the branding iron, a logo must be drawn. Then the significant points are calculated (ie., start and end point of line segments). Then a computerized router moves a cutting tool, according to the mathematically determined points.
The pencil is mightier than the sword .... that's why the core of the pencil is "graph-fight".
Quack, Quack!

Aluminum Duck

2007-05-24T06:52:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time the earth was without form. The particular dirt was clay. Some folks formed the clay into ducks and fired the clay to create ceramic ducks. Others called the clay "bauxite".
They extracted aluminum from the clay and made pistons for diesel engines. Rod's Duck Farm realized the potential of used pistons from diesel engines. Using sand casting technology, these ducks are not wrought .... they are cast .... Oh, I don't know .... I guess they are made from clay. I guess that's right ... aluminum .... what's aluminum? refined clay ..... anyway, the earth was without form and then it became a duck. That's today's introducktion to metallurgy. Some day we may talk about ducktility. Ducktility is when you are tilling the soil and plow up a duck.
Quack, Quack!

FOB

2007-05-20T07:24:00.000-05:00

Brother-in-Law, Mack, said, "We're all in jail, on a work-release program. We get home and they don't even have to lock us up. They've got us trained to lock ourselves up for the night. We have to cook our own meals and take ourselves to work. That Government is pretty smart!!!"

Tool Boxes have locks. The locks sometimes have keys. The keys go on key rings, fastened to keyfobs. Naturally, the keys to a duck tool box have duck keyfobs. The left one has wiggly feet. The right one is a Ducks Unlimited keyfob.

The Beans & Rice (Wouldn't it be nice ... Beach Boys) tune has expanded a bit:

Wouldn't beans and rice be so much colder
If we didn't heat them up so long
And wouldn't beans & rice be good together
Even if we ate them all month long.

You know its gonna make it that much better
Beans and rice go really good together

.............................
To get to Stuttgart from Fayetteville, Arkansas ......
First you head toward Paris, then London, then Little Rock, and finally to Stuttgart where all the rice fields are. Stuttgart, Arkansas is where the international duck calling competition is held every Thanksgiving weekend.

Quack, Quack!

2007-05-16T11:13:00.000-05:00

There is a brass duck on the right side of the tool box. It serves as a hat rack, to hold the official Rod's Duck Farm engineering hat. Pat Adams came up with this duck. I never checked it for hidden cameras and microphones. The duck has built-in hooks that serve as key kolders.

There was a TV show with Jim Carey, years ago, called The Duck Factory. Some people call the Prairie Pothole Region of the Duckotas (Yankee & Confederate Duckota) the Duck Factory because a bunch of ducks get born there. They fly south. Because they are Yankee ducks, we shoot them - sometimes with guns, other times with cameras.

Ducks make a nice addition to any toolbox.

Quack, Quack!

Max Mallard

2007-05-12T11:27:00.000-05:00

Max Mallard has a photo-cell enabling him to serve as a motion detector/greeter.

He has 10 tunes/sayings that he repeats at random.

Max Mallard is the duck version of Billy Bass.

He tells a joke:

"When does a duck get up? ...... at the Quack of Dawn"

Quack, Quack!

Flying South - Quack, Quack!

2007-05-10T20:09:00.000-05:00

In Memory of the Southerners forced to seek political asylum in Brazil.

Also in Memory of the mile wide path, 100 miles long that General Sherman felt compelled to burn from Atlanta to the Atlantic Ocean.