Joe's Positive Post from Last Week:

Last week this email platform had some 'saving' issues, so the Positive Post was not included. Here it is from last week.

Thanks to the hundreds of readers who open up the Wednesday Weblog each week.

When I began this 'thing' four years ago, I didn't really have a master plan. I didn't really have an objective other than to maybe keep in touch with all the connections I have made in my varied career and neighborhoods around the country. I didn't know where it would end up or what shape it would take.

I do now.

Today, with the book published and a marketing agency planning to promote the book and me, I think about how and why, relatively speaking, this 'thing' has taken off. I can think of three reasons.

1. The first one I have already mentioned. Trust me, if no one was opening and reading the Wednesday Weblog, it probably would have stopped in the first six months.
2. The second reason for the success of the 'thing' is that writing (or recycling) Weblogs is something I enjoy. Sometimes, first thing in the morning, I will turn to weblogging as a way to get the juices flowing and get in the mood for desk work or project work.
3. The third reason is that I have a mentor who coaches me every month and answers my questions. Steven Norman, from Constant Contact, has been behind the scenes all this time, validating things I did well, and making suggestions in areas I didn't quite maximize. That's what a mentor does.

Even if the book doesn't land on a best seller list, and even if the readership drops, and even if the cadence changes, I think I will be doing a Weblog until arthritis takes over my fingers. This 'thing' has taken on a life of its own, and it is my job to keep it going to see where it can go.

But at the risk of repeating myself, none of this would be possible without you opening that email that arrives at 4:30 on Wednesday morning and saying to yourself, 'I wonder what he's sharing this week.' Thanks, merci, and gracias.

Appreciatively,

Ed

Most people know the expression 'If it walks like a duck, and swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it is probably is a duck.'

The origins of this phrase are not definitively known, but it is often attributed to James Whitcomb Riley, an American writer and poet, in the late 19th century. He supposedly said: "When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck." Over time, this has been paraphrased and adjusted, and as you know, all you have to say "If it walks like a duck..." and everyone knows where you are heading with your remarks.

I have several years of experience with the expression, and I can attest to its literal accuracy. You may not have been aware that I am a...duck-ologist?

This story is about how I acquired my expertise in duck walking, swimming, quacking and romance. No big lessons, just a story about the birds we call ducks.

As a city boy, my first experience with ducks took place when I was six or seven years old and the man our family knew as 'Uncle' took me on the Swan Boats in the Boston Public Garden.

It was always a big occasion made more interesting by the fact that we'd buy a bag of peanuts and toss them to the ducks that followed along as the boat paddled around the lagoon. Sometimes we may have even stayed on the boat and done a second circuit.

It wasn't Disney Land, it was better. I haven't been on a Swan Boat in decades, but the next time I have a little time to kill in the city, I just might do it again.

Of course, in Memphis, the Peabody Hotel has ducks who march from their residence on the roof to a fountain in lobby each day, and I've been there to witness the 'excitement' many times.

My next, most intensive, and probably final experience with ducks also was in Memphis, when we moved to a townhouse on a small lake less than a mile from the Mississippi line.

It was where my knowledge increased exponentially and I learned to validate that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is, in fact, a duck.

When we originally moved in, the lake was empty. Well, it had catfish and muddy water, but no ducks. 

About a year later a lone white duck appeared. Not sure it could fly. Not sure how it got there. Might have been a gift that was discarded. Shortly after that, maybe knowing the lake was safe, a small flock appeared, maybe a dozen. 

That next spring, we learned all about duck biology as mating season took place. 

The first time my wife observed ducks "getting in on" in the water, she questioned what was happening because it was so violent, and she tried to scare them with a broom.

Without going into a lot of detail, a male duck uses his beak to grab the neck of his intended lover and holds her down, even if it I meant holding her head down under water.



It wasn’t long before duck nests were everywhere in the landscaping around our house, filled with eggs. The process was some ‘fun in the water’ and few days later a female duck would drop an egg in the nest. Then some more fun, and she'd drop another egg. Then some more fun, and on and on, until there were six to twelve eggs. And then, and only then, would the female duck sit on the eggs until they hatched.

Of course, some predators found them before hatching took place and had a big breakfast, but more than half survived the spring.



So, each April and May, dozens of tiny ducklings, as in the book "Make Way for Ducklings", inhabited Lake Bennington and wandered around the outside of our house. I would guess the flock rose to more than 100 members while we were there.

The activity that started out as ‘let’s feed the ducks’ for mom and dad and their 4-year-old son, turned into let’s feed the flock for mom and dad and their 5, 6-, 7-, 8-, 9- and 10-year-old son.

My memories of feeding peanuts to the ducks from the Swan Boats in the Boston Public Garden of course popped into my head, but I wasn’t about to spend hundreds of dollars on peanuts.

Part of our experience involved doing research on ducks. This was prompted by the violent mating we observed, but we also learned that ducks that are grown on a farm (if that is the right expression) live on chopped corn.

Every month, we’d go to the feed store (the only time in my life I’ve been to a feed store) and get a 50 lb. bag of chopped corn. We kept it in a secure container under our deck, and a couple of times a week, we’d lay out a line of chopped corn and have dozens of ducks, including those cute ducklings, just off our deck, devouring the tasty snack.

So, if you ever hear me say, 'If it walks like a duck...' feel confident that I know what I'm talking about.

On a recent vacation, my son and I stopped by the old neighborhood, as people often do. It had changed: of course, the trees were taller but there were no ducks. They probably found another lake where a family knew that ducks liked chopped corn.

From Wikipedia

The Swan Boats are a fleet of pontoon pleasure boats which operate in a pond in the Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The Swan Boats have been in operation since 1877 and have since become a cultural icon for the city. They operate beginning the second weekend of April and ending Labor Day weekend in September.

History

Robert Paget first created the Swan Boats in the Public Garden in 1877, after seeing the opera Lohengrin with his wife Julia Paget. Inspired by the knight's gallant rescue of the damsel by riding a swan across the lake, Paget decided to capitalize on the recent popularity of the bicycle and combine the two, designing a two-pontooned boat with two wooden benches and a brass seat on top of a paddle box concealed by a swan. The driver would sit inside the swan and pedal passengers around the pond.

To this day, the design for the Swan Boat has changed very little. The boats have been periodically replaced throughout the years, and the current fleet operates with six boats. Each boat has kept the original design, with two pontoons, a brass seat atop a paddle box concealed by a fiberglass swan, and wooden benches for passengers. However, more rows of benches have been added over the years. Five of the boats have six rows, each row holding about three to four adults, and the oldest boat has five rows, which seat two to three adults each. The boats range in age from roughly 30 to over 100 years old. The oldest boat in operation was built in 1910, and the newest was built in 1992.

Contemporary Swan Boat Photo By Captain-tucker - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11759946