The 4th Annual Rubber Ducky Race!
Texas has had a terribly hot and dry summer. The hill country, especially, was hard hit and the whole area was classified as "Exceptional Drought" area. VERY HOT! VERY DRY! Dena has a spring fed creek that runs for a mile through her ranch. In all the years that her family had been on the ranch, this summer was the lowest the water had ever been.

So...we knew we might have a challenge when we tried to race the ducks in the dry stream bed. But I am never one to give up.

For those that have been to the ranch, Dena took this photo of the creek just the day before we came and it is looking upstream where there is usually a little waterfall.

Luckily, when we came there was RAIN! It rained all four days we were there. On Sunday we decided to try the race. This is taken in approximately the same spot as the previous picture. What a difference! It was really a good thing because Austin and the environs were all brown and dead.
This is the road down to the creek. Usually we have no problem driving down there, but the rain had made it a muddy mess; so, Lynn, Dena and I walked down. I was fully prepared to take a picture if Dena or Lynn slipped in the mud and landed on their butt, but , mostly, it was an uneventful walk down to the creek! Notice how brown and dead things are looking. The hill country has had a very hard summer.
Dena and Lynn and Roscoe taking the lead to the creek.
The creek now has water! Notice the dead tree in the middle of the background.
Okay, where IS that d___ duck!?

Okay, You're history now, duck!

This water feels great!
There was a lot of talk by those that stayed behind at the Bunkhouse that the creek would be filled with bacteria after being stagnant for so long..so no way anyone should get in there. As a result...the idea was, we would put the ducks in the water, take a picture, and then pull the ducks out. Well, we put the ducks in and ,ding-dong it, if Marchita's Rainy Day Mama duck didn't take off downstream! Uh-oh! Now I was in trouble. So, I figured I'd better get in there and save the duck. If there was bacteria Dena said I was too mean to be infected anyway so, in I went! This is me contemplating how fast Rainy Day Mama was scooting down the creek. As you can see, all the other ducks were staying right there!
My worthless wereduck could not stand the day light and was hiding in the bushes going NOWHERE!

At least he was going nowhere until Roscoe, Dena's 5 month old Puppy, decided the wereduck looked like a rat , snatched him out of the water, and took off with him! YIKES! He finally dropped him . Dena and Lynn retrieved him, but he lost a square of fur so was looking a little bald.

I now had an excuse as to why I didn't win the duck race...THE DOG ATE MY DUCK!
I finally caught up with Rainy Day Mama and decided to baptize her. "Say your prayers, duck!" . Down you go!

Don't worry, she survived. Marchita had trained her well! She won the duck race.

Debra's "Watch it Grow" duck went in and sunk like a rock. Dena and Lynn rescued it while I was hunting down Rainy Day Mama!

When we got back to the Bunkhouse we returned the ducks to their owners. Debra's duck had turned EXTREMELY slimy so I slid it into her palm. All Debra had to say was "Eeeeuuuwww!"
Jenny's duck lasted 3 seconds before getting hung up on the rocks! HA!
Thanks to Lynn Chatman and Dena Wenmohs for the pictures. I was otherwise occupied and couldn't take any!