Can she see / hear your other ducks from where she is? I once had a hen go off away from the fenced chicken run. I tried everything I could think of to get her back through the gate (the other hens were already in the barn when I discovered she was missing). Finally I let a couple of the hens back out in the fence and she went running right over to be near them. That's the best I've got! --Johanna

Actually there is a continuum from p to b with the voicing cutting out at different places in the vocalization depending on the accent, and aspiration playing a part in the perception of the sound as well. Alex, I don't know what is "right", but German does cut the voicing of voiced stops at the ends of words. I'm not so sure about internal sound, but compare Liebherr with Liebchen and Liebling on the same site (Forvo) and it does seem that there's much more of a "b" sound if it's followed by voicing, rather than voiceless. Listen closely to what you're actually hearing and render it in IPA. In the sound clip you provided there's more voicing carrying through from the vowel into the "b" than you'd hear in an English "p", but it has more of a "p" sound to my American ears than it does a "b" sound. That is, the voicing cuts out before the "b" ends and the "h" starts. It does seem more voiced than the American "leap" or the "pp" in Firmengruppe, however. (BTW, we say "Shee-luh" for Shiela.)

Ms-thrifty Good insight on the special event clothing. I read this in a recent better homes and garden issue, and applied it. I have started to consciously tried to steer into special clothes that can transition down to dressy casual. And then add accessories that can work with other outfits to bring UP casual to be dressy casual. Example is my niece is getting married tonight. I bought a solid color sheath dress that goes to the knee, and a chunky colored crystal necklace. I can wear them together tonight with heels for the evening wedding. To bring the dress down to dressy casual: I can wear the dress with silver jewelry and sandles. I can add a denim jacket and flats for fall. I can wear the dress with black tights, boots, and a cardigan for a winter. I can wear the crystal necklace with a white T shirt and dark rinse jeans for dressy casual. I can do the same with a turtleneck and boots for fall/winter. So I think what I figured out with this is you need to be selective in choosing the dress so it can work up or down. And be willing to also buy that accessory to bring it up to the full dressiness of the more formal occasion.

The day after late DH and I came home from our honeymoon, it was a Sunday morning, and I made him fried eggs and bacon for breakfast. One of the yokes broke....and when he saw it, refused to eat it and said "you're lucky - my father would have thrown it at you". Oh boy, was I tempted to do something....but I didn't. I just told him that HE was lucky HE didn't have egg on his face, for saying that. I also never gave him a broken egg yolk again.