Things that make you smile

There are certain things that just make you smile. One of those things for me – Ducks.

I love ducks! Especially mallard ducks. When I was a kid, our ducks would wake me up in the morning – they all came up to the house and waited outside the gate for my papa to come out and feed them. He would go out and they would follow him all the way to corncrib, waddling and quacking like crazy the whole way. It was fantastic. So, now when I see ducks, I can’t help but just smile at their pretty little faces.

We have a cat, Riley, that tries this same wake-up technique. He tries to make me get up to feed him earlier than I have to by meowing continuously at the door or the foot of the bed. I eventually get up but intentionally give him the old fake-out by acting like I am going to the laundry room to feed him but then turn the other way and fix my coffee instead and then stare at him with a "uh-huh, who's the boss?" look. There’s some kind of strange satisfaction in this. You would think I just ran over his tail by the way he hollers at me!

But the most annoying thing of all is that when I do check his food bowl, there is still food in it from last night! Why in the world was he hollering for food when he has food? Yeah, I know why: It’s that whole conspiracy thing. Sorry Riley – I simply like the dog more.