Way out in the Middle of Nowhere

Does anyone else have this issue with knitting...that when you finish one *big* project, you get all scatter-brained and start about a dozen small projects because you can't get it together mentally for a big one? It's been a month or two since finishing both Blessed Days shawls, and I can't seem to focus knitting wise for more than an hour or so.  Nothing has captured my attention long enough to keep at it. I've got two throws, one baby sweater, two hats and a sock on the needles. None of which is close to being done and I'll bet at least 1/2 of them will be frogged.  I do that, when I notice that I am too scattered, I will frog the projects that I come across. Of course, I should give myself a break; school has just gotten done, I've hatched out 18 ducks in the last 2 weeks and have played goose mama to 6 new girls. That's a lot on my plate! OH! I should tell you that Molly, our mail-order bride has started laying eggs.  Buddy's not her mate, ...

Yeah, me too.  Then I said to my husband, "We should get chickens and raise them." Famous last words. Yes, there are birds in that incubator, but you have to look REAL close. Our hatching survival rate for ducks this year has been dismal: 20%. So I threw out the rule book and decided to assist the buggers in hatching.  We had 20 eggs with 4/19 written in pencil  on them.  Of that 20: 3 were infertile, 2 died in the egg, one died after 2 days of life (aspirated yolk, he was looking good for a while) and that one top left - who is still amazingly alive. I thought he was dead. I'm not kidding, I SWEAR TO GOD I thought he was dead. I massaged him, poked him a bit in the shell to see any movement: None. Of course, I was poking and massaging the wrong end of him. You see, 3 of my eggs were presenting backwards; a sort of breech birth.  It's nerve-wracking not seeing that cute beak where it should be.  And the fact that it's turned 180 degrees m...

It's a scratchy picture due to low lighting but it is a family picture of Ron and Sissy. Sissy is brooding her clutch of 12 eggs and Ron is nervously pacing and keeping others away.  Geese mate for life, and Ganders protect their ladies and their babies from any perceived threat.  They stretch their necks, lower them to the ground and hiss.  If you get too close, they will peck at you.  It's their way, and to get mad at them for doing what comes naturally is really stupid. So when Ron starts hissing at me, I tell him he's being a good Daddy and mate. Dave and I go round and round about the look of Ron.  He's got a muddied-feather look that is not as defined as the others. Well, it's easier to see in comparison: Here are the twins: Ginger and Sweet Pea.  Both male, both will never go anywhere without the other.  Notice the smooth breasts and defined side feathers on both.  Ron doesn't have that. My theory is that Ron is a mix of an Afric...