Another Duck Story, by Maurice and Ellen O'Connor

Many years ago the Homeowner’s Association decided that we needed more ducks on Teal and Lost Land. We were among those who volunteered to raise twenty-four ducklings. We anxiously waited until our 24 newborn ducklings were delivered from Sears Roebuck via UPS. Yes, Sears sold them!   We followed the instructions: build a box house, place it on the lake shore, and attached a chicken-wire enclosure into the water. Our little orphans would waddle down from their house to swim around in their secure wire pen.

Quiet Lakes: "Peyton Place"

Even in the dead of winter when most lake residents are enjoying the warmer climes in the west or the south, there is still a grapevine flourishing on Teal Lake!

Way back in the winter of 1990, hubby John was happily employed at the Hayward Airport while I was happily busy at home doing who knows what (probably Income Tax).  Our awesome yellow Lab, Trixie, was enjoying the sun and snow in our backyard. 

Periodically, I would look out the window to make sure Trix was still there.  About 15 minutes passed since my last check when the phone rang.  “Hi, is this the Witt residence?”  “Yes”I replied.  “Well, we have your dog here”.  No Way, I thought, since Trixie never roamed and our nearest neighbor then (by road) was 2 miles away!  And so I told the caller, “I don’t think so” while looking out the window and there was no Trix!.  “Well, he said, her dog tag says ‘Trixie, I  belong to John Witt on

Elephant Rock Road

’!  Couldn’t argue with that!

Long story short, Trixie heard activity (snowmobilers) directly across the lake at the Parmenter/O’Brien/Wenger area and being the social animal she was,  raced across the lake to check it out.  I believe the snowmobilers were family of the Parmenters or Wengers.

So, I threw on the x-country skiis and zipped across the lake and retrieved the happy wanderer.

Since John is a total worry wort when it comes to our pets and hates it when they are outside unsupervised, I choose not to tell him of Trixie’s adventure. No way could he ever find out – WRONG!    A few weeks later, Brent Wenger called the Hayward airport to get info on car rentals; of  course, it had to be John who answered the phone.  In the course of the conversation, Brent mentioned he lived on Teal Lake and John said he did too.  Well, it didn’t take long when John told Brent his name and where we lived on Teal, and Brent said “I’ve met your dog, Trixie”!  CAUGHT!. 

Of course, Johnny-Cakes  made the most of  the story by calling me at home a couple weeks after the adventure and asking “where’s Trix”?  He played it to the hilt as I just couldn’t believe he knew what had happened. 

The moral of this story is:  you just never know how the grapevine works, but trust me – it does work and oftentimes in very mysterious ways!

Mary Witt