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Jay Allen Sanford

Jay Allen Sanford is a Reader contributor. See staff page for published articles.

A Most Exceptional Duck

All true! The duck was newly born, but grownup ducks in the pond were killing all the babies - some kind of overpopulation frenzy, but this one baby duck escaped, ran up the bank, hopped onto Heather's shoe, and yelled up at her "PEEP!" She happened to work at a tourist shop called Waddles, selling duck stuff - so she brought the duck to work with her. In a basket, on the back of our scooter. Tourists would buy cracked corn to feed the "shop duck" ---- BTW, one of my missions in life is to inform people to please NOT feed bread to ducks!! It's very bad for them - the bread swells up in their belly and they can't eat anything else for awhile, but bread has zero nutrition that ducks can process, so they can actually die of malnourishment and/or starvation from eating too much bread! Instead, feed ducks chicken scratch, or cracked corn, long grain rice (not white), or softened beans (Bilbo grew up on cooked lentils, and he grew to be HUGE). We used to go to Chinese restaurants and ask "Do you serve duck?" If they said yes, we'd bring the duck in from the car and order a plate of broccoli for him. This was funny the first few times, until we grew unnerved by the way the restaurant owners would stare at him with hungry expressions, saying "My, he's a FAT one, isn't he?" We used to travel cross country with the duck in a cat carrier - he even saw a Vegas show with us! Funny when people looked in the container, expecting a cat, only to get quacked at. BTW, it's really hard to sneak a duck into hotel rooms. As soon as we'd put the water in the tub and put him in there, he'd start quacking and stomping around and having so much fun that everyone in the vicinity knew he was there....we may have been responsible for the first-ever institution of the Days Inn "Duck Deposit" fee....
— April 25, 2010 11:05 a.m.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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