The Further Adventures of Desperado Duck

Yesterday, as part of my response to Carly's Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #30: Things That Float, I told you about Desperado Duck, a promotional rubber duck for the Wigwam Resort that I got at Worldwide Travel years ago. When I took Cayenne and Pepper out to Reid Park on Monday, I brought Desperado along, hoping to photograph him floating along with other ducks.

Little duck in a big pond.

From Desperado Duck and Friends

We didn't have much luck setting up a good shot in the northern pond or the feeder stream, so I decided to try the southern pond. I knew there was a good chance that Desperado Duck would escape into open water and be irretrievable, but I decided to chance it. I set him down carefully next to some rocks, and hoped he would stay put until some big ducks floated nearby.

Desperado Duck swims toward the other ducks.

Success! Sort of. DD wasn't all that close to the pair of ducks that were floating by, but he was at least in the same shot. That when Desperado made a break for it, quickly floating out of reach!

Desperado Duck finally poses for my shot, at the cost of his freedom.

It was totally worth it, I thought, to lose Desperado to the open water in exchange for this blog entry. But I still hoped to get him back somehow.

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?

I went to the other side of the pond, but by then Desperado was a tiny yellow spot in the middle of the urban lake, with no sign that he had any intention of coming in to shore. I gave up for the moment and took the dogs to the dog park. Pepper had been whining impatiently, and I could not deny them any longer.

After the dog park, I left the dogs in the car (it was dusk, and no more than 70 degrees) and headed back to the pond, in case Desperado had tried to reach shore. At the south edge of the south pond I found lots of floating trash and leaves and muck. I had high hopes for something yellow I spotted at the very edge, but it was a bread wrapper or something like that. But wait...what's that over there?

Floating with the flotsam and jetsam.

Yes! It's Desperado Duck! I reached down, and he let me take him safely home.

Karen