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| I brought it up, so now I have to tell. A little background first. Years ago, like 25 + years ago, my DH and I owned a small hatchery. We had big incubators, hatched mostly ducks and chicks, then shipped them via the post office all over the place. So it was not unusual for us to have lots of birds around. Even odd ones just for fun. We live in the Red River Valley of the north which is known for spring flooding. In 1997 our house was surrounded by water, we had a sandbag dike 8 feet out from our house, all around, about 3 feet tall, with 2 feet of water on the other side, for 2 weeks. In 2000 we built a levee all around our 5 acre homestead, they needed to get the dirt for the levee from some where, so we had them dig a pond. Inside the levee! LOL It's about the size of a football field, and most years anywhere from 3' to 6' deep. We usually have ducks and geese on it. One side of the levee is the gravel road that goes past our property. So from the road you see most of the pond. The picture below was taken with the road about 30 feet behind me.
About 2003 I was driving along and spied an odd object in the ditch. I stopped and picked it up, it was a plastic penguin about 30" tall, and looked very realistic. I took it home and set it out by the pond. Then every day for 2 weeks I went out and moved it. Sometimes the far side, sometimes in the water, etc. It didn't take long before the neighbors were stopping to see our penguin! I laughed because only 2 of all the people who stopped to look, actually came into the yard to ask about it! Wish I had thought to take pictures! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| ha! What a great story. I bet quite a few people were awfully confused. |
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| Love the penguin story! Nice looking property you have too.... Penguins are such beguiling creatures - DH and people he used to work with had a little penguin figurine who used to travel whenever the opportunity arose - they had pictures of it all over the world - but never in a pond! Long live penguins - and whimsy :-) |
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- Posted by aseedisapromise z4.5 SD (My Page) on Sat, Jul 13, 13 at 19:35
| This is a good story! I hope the levee has helped. I see a lot of times since 1997 there has been flooding all along the border with Minn. Is the penguin still there? |
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| The levee or dike as we call has done a great job! Actually before we had the dike, between 1996 and 2000 there were 4 times that we had to put up sandbags to keep the water away from the house. Before we purchased this house in 1993, there had only been 1 time in the prior 30 years that there was water in the yard here. But there has been a lot of ditching and water diversion, and now it is more likely to come our way! As for the penguin, he is still around somewhere, a bit banged up for some reason. I want to think that he was hit by a vehicle, but I really don't remember. |
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- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Tue, Jul 16, 13 at 6:23
| Very entertaining story. To start with, so interesting that you had a hatchery. I love the thought of baby ducks and chicks going out around the country through the mails every spring I assume. It gives me a very cute and sweet image in my mind. (g) And what a solution for your flooding problem. I love that man made pond. And the penguin...well, I just think it's refreshing that you and your husband still had a sense of humor after the flooding, the sand bags, having to dig a football size hole and build a levee. lol |
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