Flapper passed away on the morning of March 25, 2011 from old age and congestive heart failure. He was the light of my life and an amazing little fluffy personality that I miss dearly. I keep sharing this news because visitors keep coming to the site and learning this news for the first time.

And now a little housekeeping… I’m starting another website called “Ducks and Clucks” to move forward, but I’m not quite ready to let go yet. So I will be posting memories of Flapper on this site for awhile, and it will stay here indefinitely for anyone who wants to look back on Flapper’s charmed life.

For the future, new places you can find us for new postings about our feathered family and animal rescue efforts will be:

On the web: http://www.ducksandclucks.com (not active yet, but coming soon).
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/ducksandclucks
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ducks-and-Clucks/135074249898463

And now for the memories…
Molly Mason & Jay Ungar - The Ashokan FareweLL


baby
From the moment I brought him home from the farm feed store (yes, I was careless and uneducated before I became self-righteous and all-knowing), Flapper amazed me. He was so resilient and confident and self-sufficient, yet so emotional and vulnerable and fragile. I somehow imagined adopting a duck would be like adopting a cat. You meet a few, you pick one or one picks you, and you take it home. But at the farm feed store, Flapper was one of maybe 75-100 ducklings in a pile in a pen. The entire floor was covered with yellow fluff balls, most destined to live only a short 6 weeks before being slaughtered for meat. A man grabbed a small box, reached into the pile of fluff and plucked out one little duckling for me. Flapper was shoved in a box and handed to me. He cost me $3 and his food cost $7. We were on our way… to work.

I brought Flapper with me to work for two days. I worked in an office on Dexter in Seattle, and my office-mate Dawn cut a hole in the box so Flapper could see out. She volunteered to be in charge of babysitting while I went to a meeting, and Flapper snuck out the hole and nearly fell to the floor. I believe Dawn caught him in mid-air. That would count as Flapper’s first of many near disasters in life.

Many of my coworkers get Flapper mixed up with O’Malley, who was raised in my new office downtown in September 2005. Flapper was featured on the KING 5 “Best Places to Work” video, but O’Malley was the one at work with me nearly every day for two months. It’s amazing what you can do at that company and not get fired.

But back to Flapper. In the spring of 2004, I had just purchased my first house. All I wanted once I had a house was to get a duck. I’m not entirely sure why. A friend had told me stories about his childhood duck and they stuck with me. That was part of it, but I’d always loved animals and I’d never had a bird. I’m allergic to most animals so having one outside seemed like a great idea. Having my own house made me feel like I could do whatever I wanted, so I got a duck.

baby flap
One of the earliest lessons Flapper taught me was about love. From the moment he climbed into my shirt for comfort or snuggled up to my neck for warmth, he had me wrapped around his little wing feathers. I was his people every day for nearly seven years, and it was a joy to be around him. I am pretty close to O’Malley, and Simon depends on me, but Flapper was my sweet little boy. He needed me, and I needed him. Now without that little bundle of love, I feel like I’ve lost my voice. I spoke for him for so long on the blog, that without him here, there’s not much that I want to say. But I know that will change in time. Flapper’s voice has gone silent, but he has made an impact over the years that will live on in many ways without him.

snore
I’ll be sharing more lessons from Flapper in the coming days, but that’s it for tonight.