Nice ducks you have there applestar. When I was a little kid, my favorite cartoon in the Sunday comics was "Little Abner". They had some critters in the cartoons that looked just like your ducks called Shmoo's. They didn't have tails either. The neat thing about them was they were also good to eat, but no one ever ate one in the cartoons. Below is a description of a Shmoo from Wikipedia.
A shmoo is shaped like a plump bowling pin with legs. It has smooth skin, eyebrows and sparse whiskers - but no arms, nose or ears. Its feet are short and round but dexterous, as the shmoo's comic book adventures make clear. It has a rich gamut of facial expressions, and often expresses love by exuding hearts over its head.
Cartoonist Al Capp ascribed to the shmoo the following curious characteristics. His satirical intent should be evident:
* They reproduce asexually and are very prolific. They require no sustenance other than air.
* Naturally gentle, they require minimal care, and are ideal playmates for young children.
* Shmoos are delicious to eat, and are eager to be eaten. If a human looks at one hungrily, it will happily immolate itself, either by jumping into a frying pan, after which they taste like chicken, or into a broiling pan, after which they taste like steak. When roasted they taste like pork, and when baked they taste like catfish. (Raw, they taste like oysters on the half-shell.)
* They also produce eggs (neatly packaged), milk (bottled grade-A), and butter  no churning required. Their pelts make perfect bootleather or house timber, depending on how thick you slice it.
* They have no bones, so there's absolutely no waste. Their eyes make the best suspender buttons, and their whiskers make perfect toothpicks. In short, they are simply the perfect ideal of a subsistence agricultural herd animal.
* The frolicking of shmoon is so entertaining (such as their staged "shmoosical comedies") that people no longer feel the need to watch television or go to the movies.
* Some of the more tasty varieties of shmoo are more difficult to catch. Usually shmoo hunters, now a sport in some parts of the country, utilize a paper bag, flashlight and stick to capture their shmoos. At night the light stuns them, then they can be whacked in the head with the stick and put in the bag for frying up later on.
Thank you for reminding me of the shmoo. (they were really good when pan fried with yellow squash)
Heirloom Boston Marrow winter squash do great in my garden. They sprout reliably, grow like crazy, they can handle the heat, and don't seem to mind the lousy clay soil.
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Downsides seem to be a susceptibility to powdery mildew and early blight and the fact that they need lots of room (though my experiment in growing
one on the fence is working well)
Ozark Lady said she needed a recipe ,try this simple one. Crush a clove of garlic into some olive oil, cut summer squash in half the long way (we prefer yellow or green zukes) brush with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoned salt.Place on grill, medium heat, for about 5 minutes on each side. That's about as easy as it comes and I haven't found anybody yet who doesn't like it.
Luffa vines have claimed the top of the tomato trellis, though tomatoes are growing fast, not to be outdone
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First Birdhouse Gourds... more to come:
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Bonus photo of Yamato Japanese cucumbers :
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