One of the more exciting events held at the June, 2004 LDMA Outing at Italian Bar was the "Duck Race".  Now this is no ordinary race - No fast-paced running or dashing - no gunny sacks tying two hapless ducks together as they try to waddle to the finish line.

Instead of the "normal" type of race, a bucket (a "concentrate" bucket at that) is filled with innocent and unsuspecting little ducklings of various colors and then un-ceremoniously dumped into the river (the fact that these are plastic ducklings does not make them any less valuable to the person who "purchased" them).

The little ducklings are then expected to somehow make their way downstream to an arbitrary finish line (i.e. a fishing net stretched from one bank to the other) while their owners frantically cheer them on, shouting an assortment of "endearing words" of encouragement.  You can click on the small pictures below to see larger versions of this documented Duck Race.

Now, when my very own duckling was purchased by hubby, he selected the only one that really stood out in the whole group:  a bright yellow rubber ducky who exhibited all the traits and attitude of a real winner!  Larger and prouder-looking than all the rest, he was promptly & cleverly named "Quackers" and spent much of the day bonding with his new owner.  (I attempted to bond with Quackers off and on throughout the morning, while still leaving him in the company of the other ducklings so he wouldn't develop an identity crisis or an extreme dependence upon me that might affect his racing skills).

Upon returning shortly after noon on the "Big Race Day", imagine my horror when I discovered that someone had attempted to sabotage Quackers and his chances in the race! 

Yep! That's a 2-lb weight wired around his little neck!

As I am sure you can imagine, it took a while to calm Quackers down and un-ruffle his tail feathers.  In an effort to de-traumatize him, we exchanged the weight for a very clever floatation device instead...

Quackers seemed to be fairly calm after our attempts to reassure him but suddenly became very agitated when this guy came along and offered to duck-sit until the race began.  

Since this so-called "good Samaritan" bore such a strong resemblance to the reported villain's description (who had attempted to commit such a weighty crime), Quackers was immediately placed in protective custody for the remainder of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, Quackers spent the entire race listing over on one side and eventually veered slightly off course causing him to place 2nd in the big race. 

But in the end, we were proud of his valiant attempt and pluck...

Which is a lot to be said for a duck.

NOTE:  All photographs property of the Wyoming Prospector & RV'ing the Gold Fields.
Please do not copy without written permission.

6/29/04