Tuesday, November 24, 2015

If anyone's reading this...

Writing and posting these is about like shouting into a deep, black hole. You don't know if anyone's listening. You think probably nobody is, but occasionally, you see a little glimmer down there and wonder.

Here, it's the "glimmer" of stats - someone has at least loaded some of the pages. Bot? Human? Spammer who doesn't think I'm even worth the time to spam? No idea.

If you stop by and read something, please comment. Unless you're going to be really mean. Then just say "I was here."

Frog the Frog

Another character from my daughter. "Tell me about Fred and Frog." "Frog"? "Yes, Frog. He's a frog. his name is Frog." "OK then."

Once upon a time, there was a duck named Fred.

He lived in a nest in a forest, and he knew everyone in the forest.

This day, he decided to go visit his friend Frog. Frog, as you might guess, was a frog. (Frog's mother wasn't particularly imaginative that day. She had a lot of tadpoles to name, so it's understandable.)

As with most of his visits, it started out with a "hi, Frog, how are you?" and a returned, "Good, how are you doing, Fred?"

It turned out that Frog's sister was going to come by that afternoon, and bring the tadpoles for "a little family thing," as Frog described it.

"That sounds fun, Frog. Do you want to go for a hike with me this morning?" asked Fred.

"OK, that sounds great, Fred," replied Frog, and off they went.

They went around the frog pond to the creek, and spent some time chatting with Ned (Fred's best friend, who happens to be a fish) and they stopped off to see Red, then went back to the frog pond.

They arrived just in time to be met by a frog - Frog's sister, Frina - and three tadpoles swimming in the pond.

Greetings were exchanged, and then Fred excused himself, and flew back to his nest, where he had a little snack (5 bugs) and spent the afternoon reading and watching the clouds.

When it got dark out, Fred sighed, tucked his little duck head under his duck wing, and fell asleep.

Uni the Unicorn

Note: My daughter is now introducing characters and expecting me to write stories. This one - Uni the Unicorn.

Once upon a time, there was a duck named Fred. He lived in a nest in the forest.

One morning, he heard a noise as he got up, and found - a unicorn!

Fred, being the blunt and confident duck that he is, said, "Hi. I'm Fred. Who are you?"

"I'm Uni," replied the unicorn. "I need somewhere to live."

"I don't think you'll fit in my nest," replied Fred.

"No, I don't think so," said Uni.

Fred was a friendly and helpful duck, though, so he offered to help Uni find a home in the forest.

They checked with his friend Ned, the fish.

"I don't think a unicorn can live in a stream," said Ned. And Uni agreed.

They checked with his friend Red, the hedgehog.

"There's no way you'll fit in my burrow," said Red. And Uni agreed.

They checked with his friend Ted, the goose.

"You won't fit in my nest, that's for sure," said Ted. And once again, Uni agreed.

They even checked with Boris the bear. But Boris said, "I'm not having you prancing around my cave while I"m hibernating" and that was that.

"I appreciate your trying, Fred. You know, I don't really need anything but somewhere I can stand that doesn't have too many bugs. I really don't like bugs," said Uni.

"Not like bugs? Well, to each his own," said Fred. "But you know what? I was over by the big pine yesterday with Ted, and we couldn't find any bugs at all!"

"No bugs at all? That's perfect!"

Fred was getting pretty tired at this point, but he led Uni over to the big pine. Uni was thrilled - "This is perfect, Fred. And I love how the pine smells, too!"

"Oh that's good, Uni," replied Fred, "but I'm really tired, so I'm going home. Good bye, Uni."

"Good bye, Fred. Thanks again for helping me."

And off Fred flew, home to his nest, where he had a little snack of 3 bugs and a berry, and tucked his little duck head under his little duck wing and fell off to sleep curled up in his nest.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Fred and Ted

Once upon a time there was a duck named Fred.

One day he thought to himself, "I haven't seen my friend Ted lately" and flew over to Ted's nest.

Ted was a goose.

"Hi, Ted," quacked Fred. "Do you want to do something today?"

"Sure Fred," honked Ted. "I was thinking I'd go over by the big pine tree and look for bugs to eat. There's always good bugs over by the big pine tree."

"Sounds good to me, Ted," said Fred, and off the flew, soaring through the air, quacking and honking, and showing off to each other, doing turns and spins and loops.

After way more flying than was necessary, they arrived at the big pine.

They started looking around, searching for bugs, and, well, there just weren't any.

"Well gosh, Fred," honked Ted. "What now?"

"You know where there are always bugs? The old maple. Always good bugs over there," replied Fred. And off they went.

Fred was right, too - lots of yummy, crunchy, wiggly bugs to eat. And they ate, and ate, and ate, then they relaxed with full bellies and empty heads, until it started to get dark.

"Oh, we need to get home," one of them said, and the other replied, "yes, we do, it's getting dark."

So off they both flew, back to their nests, stuck their little duck head (or bigger goose head) under their little duck wing (or bigger goose wing) and fell asleep, dreaming of bugs and stars in the moonlight.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Fred and Red have a Picnic

Once upon a time, there was a duck named Fred.

One morning, Fred woke up and decided to go visit his friend Red.

Red was a hedgehog. I don't know if you know what a hedgehog is. They're a spiny rolly little animal, kind of like a porcupine I guess. Red's name was really Mortimer, but everyone called him Red, because of how his quills looked red when the sun shined on them.

Fred headed down to where Red lived in the forest and was pleased to find him.

"Hiya Red, what are you doing today?" asked Fred.

"I'm searching for bugs and berries. I thought I'd have a bug and berry picnic!" replied Red, very pleased with his idea.

"Well that sounds like fun, can I come too?" asked Fred.

"Of course, Fred. You're always fun."

So our two friends, Fred and Red, wandered around the forest, filling a basket with bugs and berries. They found strawberries, and blueberries, and blackberries, and a lot of different bugs that all had 6 legs.

Once they had enough in their basket, they went and sat in the meadow, opened the basket, and started munching, and crunching, and enjoying their picnic.

After they were done eating, they were so full that they just laid back in the grass and watched the fluffy clouds float by while they enjoyed the sun on the feathers (or fur.)

They spent the whole afternoon doing that - relaxing in the sun, talking about nothing, and watching the clouds.

Finally it started to get dark, and Fred said, "well this was fun, but I should get home."

So they said their goodbyes, and Red said, "we need to do this again some time. I had a good day."

To which, of course, Fred agreed.

Then Fred went home to his nest. He got there just as the sun set, and it was dark and quiet. He took his ducky head, and tucked it under his ducky wing, and went asleep until the morning, dreaming of Red and clouds and bugs and berries.

Fred and Ned are Best Friends

Once upon a time, there was a duck named Fred.

One day, Fred decided to go down to the creek and visit his friend Ned. Ned wasn't just his friend, though. Ned and Fred were best friends.

That sounds pretty normal, until you find out that Ned was a fish.

Now, I know you wouldn't normally expect a duck and a fish to be best friends, but they really had a lot in common. They both like swimming, they both like eating bugs, and they both really like it when someone gives them bread, even though it isn't good for them.

So anyway, Fred went down to visit Ned.

"How's it going, Ned?" asked Fred.

"Good, Fred, how are you?" asked Ned.

"Oh real good Ned," replied Fred. "It looks like rain to me, though."

"Oh, I don't even notice rain," said Ned. "I'm always wet."

"I never thought about that, Ned," said Fred, to which Ned replied, "Yeah, I've never been dry. Sometimes I wonder what it's like."

"Huh" said Fred. "Yep, it's raining," he added.

So Fred and Ned sat quietly, listening to the rain, watching the drops hit the water.

After a while, Fred said, "Ned, this is nice. I'm glad you're my best friend. I love you."

"Me too Fred, I'm glad you're my best friend. I love you too," said Ned.

And the best friends went back to sitting quietly, listening to the rain, until they both fell asleep.

Intro

I've been making up stories about a duck named Fred the last couple days, because my daughter needed a story to go to sleep.

I think they're OK stories, so I thought I'd write them down where people can read them if they want.

So maybe you'll enjoy them. Hopefully you will.

If you like them enough to try to make money off them somehow, we need to talk. If you want to tell them to your children, feel free.