Parked.

Mack and I have been spending a lot of time in parks lately. We're in the final week of limbo before we move, we don't want to spend money, and the weather has been just enough to make us ache for outside.

I'm not well versed on Louisville's parks yet, but I remember always going to Cherokee or Seneca Parks as a kid and something about a big rock next to a creek, so we did some exploring and found Big Rock. It's not nearly as good as I remember it, but there was a trail and we were able to do a little hiking and be outside.

And have a nature boat race.

Mack never finished his so mine won by default, even though as soon as I launched it, it promptly crashed into debris.

I always go to parks with the intention of doing something active, but for some reason the big expanses of grass and fresh air make me want to lay down and take a nap. Mack used to make fun of me for sleeping in the grass, but I think he has finally discovered the joy of outside daytime sleep.

Another park on our visit list is Browns Park, which is about 2 minutes away. It has a short loop trail, an awesome sycamore tree for naps under, and a bunch of ducks and Canadian geese. I don't particularly like those birds, or any birds really, but they are entertaining and they keep the kids concentrated in one area of the park. I don't particularly like whiny kids either and kids seem to get uber whiny when there are animals to feed.

A couple of trips ago, the ducks were all partnered up and sitting in duos on the hill. It was like prom for ducks. Today they were all down by the water, and when we went to cross the bridge, there was a lady duck who was being attacked by about 8 man ducks. At first I thought it was just frisky mating, but then it looked like they were drowning her. I hate to intervene on nature, but drowning AND being raped seemed particularly unfair. Mack agreed and started clapping to get the assholes off of her. It worked for a minute and she started to swim downstream when they started climbing all over her again. Mack shouted and threw things at them and the lady duck swam toward him while the others ran away. She climbed out of the water and onto the bank and practically laid at his feet.

Great. First Miss Kitty and now a damn duck. Bitches please.

I, again, had come to the park with the intention of being active, so I left Mack on the bank standing guard of his new girlfriend and walked the loop a couple of times. When I came back, that poor little duck was laying on the ground with her chin flat out in front of her. I've never seen exhaustion on a duck before, but that was my diagnosis for this one. I had Rascal with me, and she didn't even care that there was a dog close to her.

She eventually seemed to recover and dry out the underside of her feathers, but man, nothing like rape to ruin a perfectly lovely afternoon at the park.