Ducks on the Pond

For anyone who's wondering about the picture of the two ducks...

A few weeks ago, on a pretty nice evening, Liz, Judy and I were sitting on the back patio enjoying the wonderful weather when Judy spotted a cardinal perched on the roof of the house next door. (How did I know it was a cardinal? Well...other than this bird's obvious resemblance to Stan Musial, my college mascot was (is?) the Cardinal, and it looked like every picture of a cardinal I have ever seen.  But most of all, I know because Judy said "Hey! Look at the cardinal!") .  In any case, I decided to get my camera and zoom lens out to see whether we could spot this guy's nest, or at least get a picture of him.  Of course, moving at my lightening speed, by the time I got back with the camera and caught my breath (no easy task these days), the bird had flown the roost.  This generated a comment from Liz about the two ducks who come visit our pool periodically...and sure enough, within seconds (seriously) the pair appeared, circled once, and plopped down in the pool.  Camera was ready, dogs apparently didn't care about the mallard invasion (must not be hunting dogs...what do you think?), so I was able to get off several shots of the couple before they left for somewhere else.  The one above is the best of those--I just wish I had the waterfall turned on so the stones in the background would be wet...but beggars can't be choosers.  Nice pic, huh?