Just Ducky

 My friend Don runs a rescue for ducks, called      
  Arizona Duck Rescue 
I go out a once or twice a week on a "duck walk" with them. Some days that leads us to other adventures and venues besides the park. 
    Don has eight ducklings that are about eight weeks old (that's two months guys). I say that respectfully because, women almost always speak of their babies in weeks, then months until they're like three years old. At which point they become "three years old" instead of "thirty six months."  I think the 'weeks' thing is something we (moms) must learn initially from the doctor during pregnancy - the fetus is always referred to in weeks. (I never talked like that before I had kids)
     Don, on the other hand is quite literal and factual, so when asked, he says "Two months."
   This adventure starts off quite similar to the way it does each time we go to the park. They show up, I open the door and am floored and awed at the size of these 'accidental' (I'll explain that term shortly) ducks,' because they simply are growing way too fast..... 
      This is a "Park and Lunch" Adventure. Which means that we go the park and march these little guys around, tucker them out, and then find a fun place to have lunch, with either an outdoor patio or a something 'pet friendly.'

    Ducklings are definitely people magnets. Let's face it they're pretty darn cute! When  a group begins to congregate, we stop, so people can pet them and of course take pictures.

    On a previous outing to the park, of which I did not accompany; Don discovered some new faces in the water. These beautiful creatures are called Chinese Brown Geese. This time we stop to say "hello." 
They are extremely noisy birds. Don says he's pretty sure that someone abandoned them here, since they are also very friendly (an unusual trait for a wild duck, goose or other fowl). They seem to be getting on quite well in this park with the other birds. 
     This park is also a high profile park in Mesa that gets loads of visitors each week. I've never been here when the birds weren't being fed, but have since learned from Don, that not all domestic birds will do well in this kind of situation. So, if you have a bird that you simply can no longer keep, please call a rescue or a wildlife group in your area to help you relocate your pet.
After the park, we load up the babies and find some place for lunch. Today we end up at Schlotsky's Deli  

in Mesa, AZ (Brown & Higley). They have an outdoor patio. I've actually been to the original Austin, Tx location too - and it's just as awesome!
      While Don is waiting outside with the duckies, I go to the window to pick up lunch (gotta have the Scholtsky's original..Mmmm) 

and a woman asks the guy behind the counter
   "Do you always have those ducks out front?" He looks at her questioningly and I answer 
    "No. They're with me and my friend."
"I love ducks!" he says " I gotta see this." This is how we got to meet Warren. 

 It turns out that Warren (whom I believe to be the Manager at this store) is a duck lover from New York. 
    If you know Schlotsky's, you've seen this sign 

It apparently doesn't apply to ducks on the patio. And they got to enjoy some fresh baked sourdough. Thanks Warren.

   When people ask "What kind of ducks are they?" I can't help but reply 
  "They're accidental ducks." Here's how they came to be. Don has other ducks that he rescues and many of them are female and lay eggs. On any given day, there could be one or more clutches (a clutch is two or more eggs in a nest) of eggs in the yard. Once a male fertilizes the eggs, if they are not removed from the nest, they can be sat on and eventually hatched. 
    I'd like to think that everyday at the rescue would be like an Easter egg hunt, but I'm sure my friend would say "Really, Noelle?" and give me a dirty look. 
    So, during the daily 'clutch' hunt, a certain nest was missed (the mother hid it quite well) and Don found himself with a mixed breed of domestic ducks that I have consequently named the 'accidental ducks.' The following is a photo album of the growth of the 'accidental ducks' from two weeks to eight weeks

Two Weeks

          Four Weeks

     

 Six weeks

 Eight Weeks




Until these little "Baby Hueys" (the growth rate of these ducklings is not the 'norm') incur all of their adult feathers and traits, it will be hard to tell what kind of mix they actually are. However, the guess at this point is Indian Runner 

and Muscovy

     At this point in time, only two of the duckies have been named, as they are definitely female.


Cheers, until the next adventure!

Rider's on the Bus

 An account from a Thursday bus ride. 

I wonder what Jim Morrison would write about riding on the city bus? Would he write an eccentric, colorful, descriptive of the ride itself, or an eclectic account of the people who ride the bus? I think anything that he would put into words would certainly be from an account like no other, than Jim Morrison could describe. This is not that, but I'll do my best.
   
     I wait at the little sign marked 'bus', near my place in Mesa, Arizona. It's a fabulously sunny day with a slight wind. I'm dressed in my business attire for a meeting in North Scottsdale that will take about two hours to get to. My meeting is at 1:30 p.m., it's 9:00 a.m. The same ride via the freeway is about twenty minutes, and I'm giving myself extra time in case of anything that can possibly go wrong. And it usually does. lol
   My day isn't gonna get any better, cause I've just had the pleasure of speaking to my favorite Cowboy.
    I get on the bus, transfer once in Mesa, and transfer again in Tempe. I wonder where they get some of these bus drivers. Are they rejects from the race car circuit or so in tune with the job that they can drive across town, and stop at every single stop on time, while wearing a blind fold? 
     On a stop in Tempe, a woman boards the bus and pays her fare. She turns to find a seat, and the bus driver quickly accelerates, sending this woman into a near face plant. The sound of her smacking the floor is second to the gasps of myself and three others who rush to help this woman up, gather her belongings and get her to a seat. 
    The bus driver quickly stopped and apologized saying he thought she was seated. But the look in his eye says that he was in a car at P.I.R. (Phoenix International Raceway) and the pace car had just left the track. I immediately felt under dressed. Maybe I should have worn my motorcycle helmet. Hmm....
 After catching the north bound McClintock Rd bus, I ride north for quite a while to get into Scottsdale, where there is loads of road construction and traffic detours.
     I would already be on the street I need to get out on, but the route is detoured from Hayden to 94th Street. I signal the driver to stop at Cactus Rd and 94th Street. She lets me off and I walk west on Cactus Rd to Hayden Rd for forty five minutes (about two miles). 
    Just past the Loop 101 Freeway at Cactus Rd, I see this

      I smile, and know that I soooooooo love  Phoenix and the Free Enterprise System that we so often take for granted .
      After my appointment, I walk from Cactus and Hayden Rds to Shea Blvd (another mile). I very much enjoy the scenery and the walk in the sun 

       My friend calls and asks me to meet him for coffee on the west side, near 19th Ave and Bethany Home Rd. So I grab the west bound Shea Blvd bus, which detours all over the place. That ride was like roller coaster at a theme park. It went every where except in a straight line. Even the automated street announcement system couldn't keep up with this guys driving. It was announcing every stop two to three minutes after we passed the stops. I couldn't wait to get off that bus. At this point I'm thinking 'maybe Valley Metro's bus drivers really do train at Bondurant Racing School.'
       My connection is the 19th Ave southbound, in a neighborhood that I lived in when I first moved to Phoenix, several years ago. I don't remember it looking so scary. But I do remember the guys in my band didn't like coming there. Tony (the drummer) always used to peek through the blinds; When I asked what he was looking for, his reply was "I'm waiting for someone to get shot. You live in a bad neighborhood, Dude." 
        Fortunately I wasn't a witness to any shootings, just the typical 'bus' entertainment, which today, happened to be the best on the 19th Ave route.
       The 19 rolls up around four thirty. I get in and take a seat in the front between two lovely gentlemen whom I will call Pinot and Bud (more than likely their sur names could be Noir & Weiser), directly across from two women, I'll call Gina and Rosa (they're playing the 'passing judgement' game - in Spanish). It goes like this:  
Everyone who gets on the bus, gets the up and down eyeball once over, and the girls give their opinion  or 'pass judgment' on people's shoes, their hair, their gender, and gender preference. 
      The Urban game these gal's are playing reminds me of a Spanish version of Hee Haw's Gossip Girls.
       Now I'm nearly downtown at rush hour, my friend has been detoured some place else and I need to get back to Mesa. I'm pretty darn sure I don't wanna go back the same way I came, especially during rush hour.
        Valley Metro does have a superb automated, texting, and customer service center. You can get bus and light rail info at your finger tips rather quickly. I ring straight through and a helpful girl tells me that I can catch the Metro Light Rail less than a block from where I was at Montebello and 19th Ave. 
         No soldiers on this trip. But there were Metro security ( fare checkers) and a couple of City Cops, which I thought was a bit odd (I mean where was their car?). 
        The Metro light rail then does take you straight through downtown, and you're cruising in the middle of the street, so you're passing all the vehicles that are stopping at the traffic lights. It's kind of strange on the first ride, but I'm sure you get used to it. 
        I started out at rush hour in midtown Phoenix, and within an hour was back in Mesa. The only thing I thought was missing from the ride was some jamming tunes should have been pumped in along with that lovely oxygenated air conditioning.

Cheers!  Until my next adventure

Copyright 2012 -2015 - Noelle Sangster/Sangster Entertainment LLC - All rights reserved

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February 5 - on this day - Part 1

For Alan, who has always been an inspiration ....(Part 1) of a story of chivalrous kindness. 

    As we are all quite aware, not all great love stories start out great and end fantastically...There's quite a lot more involved than just.."Once upon on time" and "They lived happily ever after."
   Granted, we all will hope and pray that things start and end that way, however, actually being in it's (loves) existence, is quite trying, often to the point of exhaustion. But sometimes knowing the outcome...or making what we want the out come to be, at least known, is what keeps us going, now isn't it?
   When you find that love, the one that gives you butterflies in your tummy, doesn't let you sleep, eat or think straight, it sometimes seems like an up hill climb to get to it. The GREAT part is that once you've climbed the hill, you can look out and see for miles, hopefully with the one you're climbing to get......

Part 1  

One year ago on this day, a chivalrous and valiant British Knight in shining armor came to the rescue of the Phoenix Princess and asked her father for her hand as his bride. His name was Sir Alan the Great. Sir Alan was the best swordsman, fastest horseman, and most incredible archer in all of the King of Idleburg's court.

    Sir Alan had been searching for years for a Princess. Not just any Princess, but one that made him complete, one that held him in the highest regard, had a mind of her own, loved him because of who he was, and most importantly, she would bear the "mark" of the heart that went together with his. If he could only find the Princess bearing the mark, he was destined to be happy for eternity.

    Several months before, he had heard of this beautiful Princess of Phoenix, whom her father had named Noelani, which means 'sent from heaven.' 

   Although, he had only seen her face in a sketch, he felt confident that she bore the "mark"...of the matching heart that went with his. His challenge was finding her and getting himself to her. Sir Alan knew that the journey to her would be treacherous and long. But he was willing to go the distance, for the promise of her hand, and her heart.

     Sir Alan's family did not understand, his passion for a woman he had never met, but they wished his happiness in all things and so supported his decision to leave Idleburg and pursue his dreams.

    Unfortunately, the King in his own country, would not allow the Knight to leave the boundaries of that kingdom, for fear of losing this valiant knight, whose skills and intellect were quite astounding, to another ruler's country, especially the courts of Phoenix, who controlled and distributed all the sunshine throughout the lands.

    

   Meanwhile, far away, in the Northlands, the Ice King and his evil minion, The Bog Witch, had been plotting to abduct the Phoenix Princess, from her wonderful home in Phoenix. They had been studying the power of the Phoenix sun and where it came from. They found that only the people who carried a certain "mark," had a very specific sort of heart that could create sun shine where ever they went. 

    They spent years searching to ends of the lands and found only five people in the world possessed the marked heart of sunshine: A toddler in Whatchadun, A teenager in Listentome, A knight from Idleburg, The King of Phoenix and the King's lovely daughter, the Princess, Noelani.

    What they didn't know was that it took two people with the marked heart, together within fifty miles of one another to create the sun shine. 

   Their plan was to destroy the last five people in the world who had that special heart. They wanted everyone in the world to be as unhappy as they.

    

    Every day in the Northlands was a miserable existence for most of the people who lived there, including its rulers, the Ice King and the Bog Witch, and that was exactly how they liked it miserable, cold and full of company.

   The Bog Witch's evil sister, Thorin, was as evil and cunning as the Bog Witch was stinky (and evil). Thorin was technically a boy's name, but her mother claimed she emerged into the world like "thunder" and continued to create chaos and havoc in anyone's life that would let her. She was a storm waiting to happen. So, it was appropriate that the Bog Witch and The Ice King would have Thorin abduct Noelani from Phoenix and take her to a hiding place in the secluded Northlands to lure her father into their targeted trap, where they would eventually kill them both.

    What the Ice King and the Bog Witch did not count on or even know, was that Sir Alan was on his way to Phoenix in search of his Princess. He had already decided that nothing would stand in his way. He did not know that Noelani's father would eventually send for him, because of his "mark."

    

   Thorin, who was exceptional in casting evil spells, did know that the Knight was on his way. She had been watching him from her crystal ball every day. 

   She cast a spell on the King of Idleburg, who promptly threw Sir Alan in prison for treason. The only people who knew or believed of his innocence was his family. They went to the King's court every day and begged for his pardon.

    After a couple of weeks, Thorin had set her sights on how she would abduct the Princess and get her to the Northlands, without being noticed. During that time, the spell had worn thin and Sir Alan's family managed to convince the King of the knight's innocence and he was promptly released. 

I'll Always Find You.........(click here)

 Stay tuned for....PART 2......tomorrow
Copyright 2012 - Noelle Sangster/Sangster Entertainment LLC - All rights reserved

Thursday

Wednesday night I escaped the burbs of East Mesa for the ‘meatier’ and  in my opinion, more colorful parts of  East Central Phoenix, where I’m spending a couple of quiet (except for the police choppers at night) secluded days to finish some half way started, and some half way finished projects.

Thursday –

      I got up this morning and had coffee with my friend, who then went to their work day, while I, lounged a little too much before heading out into the sunshine.

      I was off to the discount store at 12^th Street and Indian School. I hopped on the North bound 24^th Street bus and took it to Indian School Rd, from there I got on an East bound bus.

       Two bus stops and a few drastic scenery change later, I realized I was going the wrong way. Whoops, so I crossed the street and grabbed a West bound bus.

       For those not experienced in riding the Phoenix transit system; It’s a cheap way to travel around the city, it’s  a good way to see things you wouldn’t if you were the driver, and the entertainment’s always FREE!

       I got off the West bound bus just past 12^th Street and had to walk a slight bit back to the discount store. On the way, I nearly walked past a small treasure trove called Shanan – Agains.

        This quaint little shop has Vintage and unique EVERYTHING: clothes, dishes, small appliances, footwear, handbags, accessories, artwork, and even furniture. I was completely drawn to it’s magic, and had to stop and peruse the wares.

        If I was rating second hand treasure stores in the greater Phoenix area, I would definitely be giving this one five stars, for two reasons; the first being the quality of items for sale in this store, the second and most important (imo) is the shop owner is just as amazing as his store!

       If you’re out and about, shopping in Phoenix, looking for a perfect unusual gift, or just have an appetite for second hand and thrift stores, don’t leave this shop off your list! And when you stop in this fantastic little place (the North side of Indian School Rd, just before the 12^th Street traffic light), ask for Mike, and tell him, Noelle, the writer, sent you.

       On the way home, it looked a little gray, as if….it somehow were going to change my fantastic sunshiny day from that to…RAIN (this word should be read in an unbelievable hushed whisper).

       I was blessed to make it back to my friend’s with just a few drops that couldn’t even be considered a “sprinkle.” The storm clouds blew over and found their way somewhere further North.

       Later, after dinner I drove to the super market and got ice cream. For other Spumoni ice cream lover’s, Fry’s Food & Drug carries it.

       Have a fantastic day, a great evening, or any other, at which point you are reading this…Cheers, until the next adventure!