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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 30, 2015)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL September 30, 2015 7A Douglas G. Maddess, DMD FAMILY AND GENERAL DENTISTRY Brightening Lives One Smile at a Time Just Ducky Tips A Duck’s Tale by Larry, Moe and Curly See our new website: douglasgmaddessdmd.com Rusty & Primitive Treasures Everyone Can Ride to Local and Metro Destinations Providing Public, Accessible Transportation to the Region 541.942.0456 Cottage Grove, OR 97424 www.southlanewheels.org “On our wedding anniversary, we were in the farm and feed store,” explains Kim, “admir- ing three cute Pekin ducklings. Curt spontaneously decided to buy the babies, Larry, Moe and Curly (named after The Three Stooges), so we could provide our friend’s autistic son, who can’t eat chicken eggs, with duck eggs. We had no clue how to tell which duckling was female or male — they look exactly alike from head to tail...and under. When the three Stooges began laying eggs (male ducks don’t) we fi nally knew their gender; thwarting Curt’s plans to incu- bate eggs and raise babies. He wasn’t going to stop his dream of having the biggest duck herd in our neighborhood! That’s when his next ‘feather brain’ idea formed. ‘Why don’t we get 20 more ducklings,’ he declared. My disapproval of increasing our fl ock of three fell off him like ‘water off a duck’s back’. When the babies arrived, I introduced one fl uff ball to the Stooges, but the ducks would have none of that! I thought that since the Stooges were lay- ing eggs they would look at the duckling and think, ‘Hey! Look! We made a baby! Let’s take care of it!’ — but no. They waddled away honking, ‘Get that ‘ugly duckling’ away from us!’ The other 19 itty-bitty fl uff- ies in unison stopped chirping at the duck ruckus and looked in the Stooge’s direction at their out-of-proportion alarm. One would think that ‘birds of a feather, fl ock together,’ but apparently ducklings and ducks have a ‘pecking order.’ When our babies escape their fenced area, the elder ducks sound the ‘duck alarm’ with a lot of crazy-loud honking. May- be the older ducks are worried Monday, October 5—Thursday, October 8 Open House Monday–Thursday, October 5–8 7:30 a.m.–6 p.m. Enjoy coffee and pastries, take home a gift, and learn about Emerald PUD and our programs. Thursday, October 8, 6–8 p.m. at EPUD FREE carnival games, prizes, entertainment, and fun for all ages! Get a hot dog meal for only $1, and all proceeds will go to Helping Hands, Emerald’s assistance program for local families in need. Please join us! Harvest Celebration Duck duck? Goose goose? Meet Kim and Curt’s fl ock of fl uffy, puffy yellow Pekin ducks. The couple potentially created a ‘fowl’ nightmare with their ‘ducky’ wedding an- niversary gift! about a deadly small, fl uffy yel- low fl ock attack?! They say, ‘If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, then it prob- ably is a duck!’ But, the Stooges are such ‘bird brains’! They haven’t fi gured out that the now two-month old ducklings, which morphed into white ducks, are ducks like them, so they keep their distance. Ducks play in the water and it gets everywhere. They are sloppy but keep themselves relatively clean. Their water and food areas are worse than a two- year-old’s bedroom — with a mud fl oor! Pekins are friendly domes- ticated, egg-laying ducks that weigh 8-11 pounds. They eat A LOT — so you can guess the rest! You don’t want them on your back porch because they, ummm, have poor and squishy bathroom results from their tasty ‘eat a slug and see what happens’ menu! An interesting thing is that the Stooges rest under our vehicles and only venture out where there are other roof-type shel- ters or when we are close. Their behavior of ‘duck and cover’ is life saving! Occasionally, a Stooge tilts her head and looks up. When I follow her gaze an eagle or hawk is circling, soar- ing up high, scoping out our yard. It’s a puzzle how ducks can hear predator birds from such a distance. Pekins are known to follow their owners like dogs, and our loud Stooges make great watch- dogs, err, watch ducks. One morning we heard frantic honk- ing. We ran to the window and saw a bear cub the size of a very large dog. Curt loudly clapped his hands and it ran away. I bet the Stooges ‘honked’ that ad- venture up in the barnyard, tell- ing the other animals that they should ‘add it our bill’ for secu- rity help! The expression to ‘get your ducks in a row’ is true. It is the cutest thing watching the young fl ock when one duckling de- cides to go someplace and the rest follow its lead, waddling in tandem. It makes me want to break out into a song, ‘Waddle while you work’. What ‘quacks us up’ is when the ducklings do what sounds like ‘Disney duck laughing’! We hear one start, then soon it sounds like they are telling each other something super humorous. Then, they all erupt into Donald Ducks laughing. We say, ‘I wonder which ‘bird brain’ is telling funny duck jokes again!’” table and spend hours looking at our bills, worrying how we would pay them. Dave, on the other hand, would be sitting on the fl oor in the TV room, letting the kids put curlers in his hair. I would say, “Dave how can you have fun at a time like this?” And he would answer, “Joyce, we’ve prayed about it, and we’re doing everything we know to do. I refuse to be miser- able with you.” It made me so mad! But Dave was right. I was allowing my- self to get upset and waste time I could have been spending with my children. In John 14:27 Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and be- queath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nei- ther let them be afraid. [Stop al- lowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and in- timidated and cowardly and un- settled.]” I love this! God is saying, “I am giving you My peace, but the choice is up to you!” Through His death and resur- rection, Jesus offers us a new way of living; however, a new way of thinking will always pre- cede this new way of living. Romans 12:2 says, “…Be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God….” This scripture is so important! choice. We can “rely on our own insight and understand- ing”—endlessly thinking about our problems, trying to fi gure everything out ourselves. Or we can choose to adopt a trust- ing attitude that says, “God, I don’t know what to do about this situation, but I can’t fi x it on my own. If You want me to do something, I ask You to show me. Meanwhile, I’m going to trust You and enjoy my life while You work on my problems.” I used to be a professional worrier—I was good at it. Years ago, when my children were young, I would sit at our kitchen Turning 65 and confused about Medicare choices? Board: Ron Davis, Katherine Schacht, Penny Jordan, Kevin Parrish, Lee Kelley We buy children’s wading pools which the fl ock all try to climb into at once - truly ‘taking to water like ducks’! Our ducks taught us to read in- gredients so that our dog’s food is healthy for dogs not ducks! We were confused when they ate the dog’s food because wild ducks don’t kill cows for beef! Curious, I looked at the ingre- dients; the fi rst was what ducks love -CORN - the rest were mostly fi llers! What! Where’s the beef?! ‘Top Worst and Best Dog Food’ webpage explains why our ducks discovered the truth!” http://recipes4gourmetdogs. com/worst-dog-food-brands/ Do you have an unusual pet? Tell us what you love about it. angelscribe@msn.com “Follow” Pet Tips ‘n’ Tales on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/ PetTipsandTales Adopt Loving Pets www.PetFinder.com Humane Society for Neuter/ Spay Assistance Program. (541) 942-2789 God has a good, acceptable, and perfect plan for you and me, and the way we can experience it is not to think like the world thinks, but to be changed by learning to renew our mind and think the way God thinks. So, when life throws you a curve and you’re tempted to get stressed-out, I encourage you to choose positive, faith-fi lled thoughts from God’s Word. You can think, The Lord is going to take care of this. It doesn’t mat- ter what it looks like—I believe God is working! The truth is God knew about your problem before you ever got it, and He already has a plan for your solution. In the mean- time, you can choose to enjoy your life while you wait. He has equipped you with the “mind of Christ” (see I Corinthians 2:16) and with His help, you can trust more and stress less. Call Paul to help simplify the complicated. 541-517-7362 541-746-1583 www.epud.org Curt, not one ‘to duck his re- sponsibilities’, used free wood pallets to build the Stooges’ shelter. He expanded the shel- ter, for the babies, into a large laying house and warm-winter shelter. Also their fenced area grew larger as they did. J OYCE Continued from page 2A Public Power Week Courtesy Photo Paul Henrichs ~ Independent Agent coverage4oregon@gmail.com Save on everything you need to care for your lawn and garden this fall. SPOTLIGHT SPECIALS “The website backyardchick- ens.com is ‘just ducky’,” said Kim, “as a resource of other people’s duck experiences. I learned to keep the ducklings’ shelter, water and food dishes clean, often changing them sev- eral times a day. UP TO 20% OFF Power Lawn & Garden 5% OFF Tools w/SEARS Card CRAFTSMAN DAYS Sale ends October 3, 2015. Shop early for the best selection! Open 7 days a week 118 Gateway Blvd Cottage Grove, OR 541-942-7377 NEW: Digital X-Rays (use less radiation) Implants •Teeth Whitening • Extractions Lumineers (no prep veneers as seen on TV) Cottage Grove Dental Dr. Brent Bitner, DDS 350 Washington, Cottage Grove (behind Better Bodies) 541.942.7934
