Feeding Ducks

I think I've mentioned that my kids love to feed the ducks in Spring Creek. I don't think these particular ducks need any more feeding...they are rather fat and are happy to hang out through the frigid northern Nevada winters.

I don't think, though, that I've told the story of the first time we fed these ducks. We found them last winter right after a huge snowstorm. Everything was a sea of white. I stayed in the car with the heater and a newspaper and the kids got out and started running around throwing bread. For just a moment I looked up from my reading and surveyed the landscape. All of a sudden it occurred to me that the perfectly flat round area the kids were running across was not an empty field but a body of water.

The moment I realized it, Megan was literally in the very middle of the pond, Brookelynn was on the shore and Chase was near the shore. While, obviously, from my ice fishing posts you are aware that whole lakes freeze over quite nicely in this region, this particular incident was rather early in the season.

As soon as the light bulb went off in my head I tore open the car door and screamed, "You're on a pond. Get off the ice!!!" Ironically, Megan made it safely from the middle to the shore...but Chase fell through the ice just a few feet from shore. Thank goodness the water was only about chest level where he fell in. After a lot of screaming and ripping every shred of clothing off his body he did manage to warm up. I don't think I had the heart to write about it on here right after it happened. It may be one of the scariest things that has ever happened to us!