I had an issue like that a long time ago with Muscovy ducks and their babies. The neighborhood children would all show up to throw rocks at them. Usually it was enough to go out and give the kids the evil eye and tell them to go away, but one day there was one kid who just wouldn't stop. I went out there and gave him a lecture about how would he like it if someone started throwing rocks at him. I asked him how he would feel if he were completely defenseless against someone picking on him like that. After I finished the lecture, I told him to leave his bike there and go get his parents and bring them back so that I could tell them what he had been doing. He left his bike, but he didn't come back. His bike was gone the next morning and I never saw another kid out there. Word gets around, I guess. Unfortunately, some adults later started shooting all of the ducks from their apartment balcony with a bb gun and some of the ducks were poisoned. They were reported to the SPCA and I think given eviction notices. Eventually a duck farm came to take away the surviving ducks and gave them a good home. Some of the ducks those people killed were ones that I had handraised after the mother ducks had been killed by wild animals, and of course I had given them all names, so I felt a personal sense of loss. It's hard to sit helpless with ducks that are bleeding to death or writhing hideously from being poisoned. It was a horrible thing to experience and it's very important to straighten the kids out because cruelty starts out small and doesn't always stop at animals. Many states have statutes making animal abuse a punishable offense. Tell your neighbors about what you've seen and make posters to hang around to let other people know that they are being watched and will be reported.

This post is the BEST. Good for you and thanks from all animal lovers everywhere! Love the image of you two chasing her around the den!!! LOL. Cynthia

Without undue anthropomorphizing... We witnessed the same thing with a one winged mallard that we kept on our pond with a couple of domestic pekins. Someone ($%^&* hunters) shot one of the pekins and the pair left was okay, I assume because they had each other. But when a snapping turtle got the other pekin our lonely mallard sat on the bank and stopped doing ducky things (swimming, dabbling etc.)even after the body was removed. We got another couple of ducks to keep it company and that seemed to bring it out of it's mourning.

Thanks, terriolsen! I'm going to have to ask my PB what colors were used on the deck......I know it was a 2 color powder release with some sort of skins stamp, not sure the exact pattern......I'm VERY anxious to seal it after seeing hwade's gorgeous pool and deck: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/pools/msg010104021225.html?63 I REALLY like the stamped concrete and have been pleased with it! Let me get with the PB for more details hopefully!