ducks on ice........old ladies not so much

yesterday amelia surprised me by FLYING down the ice covered hill
the reason i was surprised is that i clipped her wings just in september.... and no one has molted primaries yet!
prudence naturally followed her (but pru doesn't fly as far, she isn't as light as amelia)

i called them back up, i rattled the food pans
they looked pleadingly at me
they stood on one foot waiting for me to come down and open the big pen door (which is iced shut)
they did the peepee dance (one foot up and then the other and rocked back and forth)
they finally sat down on their feet fluffing out their feathers
waiting patiently.....


so here i am ....... carefully inching my way down the hill......using my stick to crunch through the ice enough to allow my boot heel to break through so i have some sort of traction
took about 10 minutes!
i figured if i fell this time, i was a goner and so were my birds
i got to the bottom and picked both girls up
they are NOT spoiled
they aren't
not really
although while i was carrying them both up the hill i did warm up their feet with my wool mittens
and put them in the upper pen
on the hay
before i put them in the upper day pen
amelia took the time to kiss me on the cheek
i think she had some duck shit on her beak........
wasn't THAT thoughtful of her?

DUCKS!