Thursday, November 17, 2011

Surprise!

Maybe it's just my warped sense of humor, but this is something I see almost every year and find hysterically funny.

Our pond froze solid overnight last night and we had a slight dusting of snow. The first two incoming Mallards of the day got a surprise when they landed, and slid several yards on the ice before coming to a stop by crashing into the bank at the side of the pond.

If you look closely at the picture, you can see where they dragged their tail feathers in the middle of their sliding feet in an effort to put on the brakes.

Once they came to a stop in the weeds, they gathered their dignity and waddled back out toward the center of the pond.

22 comments:

MaineCelt said...

Look out--if you capitalize on mallard comedy, they might send you a bill! (The skid marks are hilarious! I can just picture the incredible awkwardness of their landing!)

Hidden Haven Homestead said...

Love it!! Made me laugh so loud that I woke up Rusty (my dog) and he looked at me like I was crazy. LOL The cookbooks arrived today!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. They are perfect for Maggie and I know she will be using them lots. Thank you again for a awesome give away.

Patty said...

That is just too funny! I love animal bloopers. I think it's because in general they're so graceful, and also they really do look emarrased when these things happen. SO cute, amusing and touching at the same time.

Karen L. said...

This almost looks like some kind of surreal piece of art. Have you thought about enlarging and framing it? Hey, they have elephants and gorillas making paintings so why not ducks? Just a thought ....

Jo said...

Hahahahahaha! Thanks for the laugh!

dr momi said...

Too funny :-) Hope they didn't "break anything" LOL

Mama Pea said...

MaineCelt - I'm hoping they didn't stub a toe on their little webbed feet when they hit the ice!

Peggy - Oh good, I'm glad the books made it through the mail. Thanks for letting me know.

Patty - You're right! I can't quite convince myself that animals feel embarrassment but sometimes they sure do look that way!

Karen L. - Would I have to give royalties to the ducks??

Jo - If only I had caught the landing on video!!

dr momi - Later in the day I saw one duck just hunkered down sitting on the ice. I imagined him saying, "Gosh, I could have sworn there was water here just yesterday . . . "

odiie said...

That IS funny. I hope you didn't let them see you watching. That would really have embarrassed them. :)

Judy T said...

I have seen that before and it is incredibly funny!! Thanks for the laugh and the memory.
Judy

Steven Page said...

Rad!

Sparkless said...

LOL!! That made me laugh. Silly ducks.
We had our first major snowfall and the sand/salt trucks didn't get out fast enough so the roads were a disaster. Lucky we didn't need to be anywhere.

Tombstone Livestock said...

That is sure some of Natures art work, I agree you should enlarge and frame it. Poor ducks but probably not the first one it happened. Guess their communications are behind the times, maybe we need to teach them to blog so they could post warnings.

Sparkless said...

LOL! It would have been fun to actually get to see the ducks do their slide but the trail in the snow is pretty amusing too.

Sue said...

Too funny! We always think of embarrassing moments as just happening to humans. Guess duckies aren't immune to that.

Trailshome said...

That's just too funny! Thanks for the interpretation. We'd never have known just what was going on without the explanation. The little tracks walking back out onto the ice look like they were stomped in, don't they? like they were flapping along with some little muttered quack-cursing as they waddled.
We have mallards who live on the little roadside pond just down the road from us and they're always blocking the road, slowly moving off as cars go by and muttering grumpy old man quack-cursing as they slowly clear the road for the cars. My husband always rolls down the window and quacks back at them. It's a daily show that always provides a laugh.

Lisa said...

Mama Pea ~ I love your picture!

judy said...

so your the one of the ones sending us all that cold weather. I try to be humorous but in truth I'm typing through tears ,my sister in law ,Linda passed last night-in just the short time she was on the caring bridge journal,she had over 12000 comments made to her, she was one spunky lady

Mama Pea said...

odiie - Yup, sort of like us falling flat on our backsides and then popping up before anyone sees us!

Judy - You're welcome!

Stephen Page - Hi, Stephen.

Sparkless - Slippery roads are best enjoyed inside, not having to go anywhere!

Tombstone Livestock - Or perhaps I should post some kind of a warning flag they can see from the air!!

Sue - So okay, just what is so embarrassing to us when we fall? (And I think we all react that way.) Are we afraid people will think we're two sheets to the wind and can't stay upright? Granted, it's hard to laugh about it if we fall and injure ourselves, but in most cases maybe we should learn to laugh at ourselves more.

Trailshome - They say we shouldn't attribute human qualities (talking, embarrassment, anger) to animals but sometimes it's almost impossible not to!

Lisa - Thank you, ma'am!

judy - Oh, I am so sorry to hear of you SIL's passing. I do hope she didn't suffer too much. Sending my sympathies and a big hug for you.

Susan said...

What a hoot! You will have to set up one of those trail cameras next year, just to capture their facial expressions. If they HAVE facial expressions, that is.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Even if they don't have facial expressions, they sure have body expressions when trying to stop!!

Erin said...

So cute!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - Sadly, I think our Mallards have left for the season now that the pond is frozen over. Seems like it's going to stay frozen, too. We are into winter time here in NE Minnie-soda!