Because you asked...

1. What happened to the duck eggs?
2. How old are Bagman and Butler? 

DUCK EGGS

The duck eggs had me worried for a bit.  After my April 30th post when I discovered the duck and her eggs, the mother duck had a midlife crisis.   I checked with increasing worry and frequency but she just left the eggs lying there and ran around the backyard galivanting with her drake who was living on the wild side with a stray goose.

The goose was having some kind of spat with this spouse who had flown off to the other side of the pond.   They would honk endlessly and loudly at each other, but neither one was going to budge.  The ducks became very emeshed in this domestic situation, the drake and the hen constantly following the goose around, trying to cheer him up. 

I should have taken pictures but instead I kept yelling at the hen, "Go take care of your eggs!  What kind of a mother are you anyway!?"   Or maybe, dazzled by her drake's ability to befriend a goose, she forgot where she put them.  

But after 36 worrysome hours, the goose family made up and the hen decided to become responsible.

Hard to see if you don't know she's there

HOW OLD ARE BAGMAN AND BUTLER

Ginger hit me with this question last week and it really took some thinking on my part because I had never really considered it. 

BAGMAN: "So that's why you never give us birthday presents!  We thought you were just cheap."

After considerable meditation on the question, I am pretty sure that in terms of pure chronology and calendars and stuff, that they were both born when I was -- June 13, 1946 -- although I wasn't aware of them at the time.  Who could blame me, I wasn't aware of anything except hunger and wet diapers at the time.   I began to be aware of them in my early teens although at that time, I had no use for Butler at all.  

However, a more accurate picture is painted when I think about different rates of maturing.  Sort of like figuring a dog's age in dog years instead of people years.  Butler has aged at a much fast rate than I have and Bagman at a slower rate.   So when I was 40, Bagman was around 18 and Butler was fifty something.  I was sure getting a lot of conflicting advice back then!

I have noticed recently, however, that their maturation process has been changing.  Butler is now maturing more slowly and Bagman is beginning to catch up to me.   Butler is becoming a bit more flexible and Bagman's trouble making stays within much more acceptible limits.   I suppose by the the time I reach 90, the three of us will all be the same age again.   

I strikes me that anyone who views this blog for the first time, won't have a clue what I'm talking about.  And finally, I should add that I don't think I'm actually schizophrenic.