Enslaved by Ducks

by Bob Tarte | Pets & Animals |
ISBN: 1565124502 Global Overview for this book
Registered by appaloosatb of Rochester, Minnesota USA on 4/20/2006
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
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10 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by appaloosatb from Rochester, Minnesota USA on Thursday, April 20, 2006
I found myself laughing out loud at least once in every chapter. I can relate!

Journal Entry 2 by appaloosatb from Rochester, Minnesota USA on Saturday, August 4, 2007
I thought other people who are suckers for animals would enjoy this, so am making it a bookring!

How Does a Bookring work?

A book passes from BCer to BCer based on the list of members who've signed up, and eventually is returned to the ring originator.

To join this bookring please send a PM (private message) to appaloosatb and I will add you to the list. Please be aware that this is an international bookring and you may have to ship overseas. If you have a hard time shipping overseas, you can let me know and I will try to place you accordingly on the list, but I can't guarantee you won't have to ship internationally. The list of members will be listed here at the book's home page.

As a member, you will receive the book from the person listed before you. When you receive the book please make a journal entry stating that you've received it. Please read it as soon as you can (don't rush, just be reasonable about the length of time). After you read the book, please journal again with your comments. You will then need to PM (private message) the next person on the list for their mailing address.

If you are unable to reach the person after you on the list in a reasonable amount of time, then PM the next person on the list. If any questions come up, please send me a PM. Thank you all for participating in this bookray.

~ Happy Reading ~

NOTE: Due to past problems with bookring participants, anyone who wants to participate in this ring must have registered at least 50 books. Anyone who has a history of stalled or lost bookrings/rays will not be included in this ring. Sorry if this sounds crabby - I just don't want to be burned again!

Participants:
rebeccaljames (Cincinnatti, OH USA)*
azuki (Miami, FL USA)*
chambejd (Worcester, MA USA)*
labmomnm (Albuquerque, NM USA)
mellion108 (Bloomfield Hills, MI USA)
nwpassage (Prince George, BC Canada)
RockDg9 (Toowoomba, Queensland Australia)
iliotropio (Brussels, Belgium)
LeishaCamden (Oslo, Norway)

* = prefers not to ship internationally
+ = prefers not to ship overseas

Journal Entry 3 by appaloosatb from Rochester, Minnesota USA on Saturday, August 4, 2007
When Bob Tarte left the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan for the country, he was thinking peace and quiet. He''d write his music reviews in the solitude of his rural home on the outskirts of everything.

Then he married Linda. She wanted a rabbit. How much trouble, he thought, could a bunny be?

Well, after the bunny chewed his way through the electrical wires and then hid inside the wall, Bob realized that he had been outwitted. But that was just the beginning. There were parrots, more rabbits, then ducks and African geese. The orphaned turkeys stranded on a nearby road. The abandoned starlings. The sad duck for sale for 25 cents.

Bob suddenly found himself constructing pens, cages, barriers, buying feed, clearing duck waste, spoonfeeding at mealtime. One day he realized that he no longer had a life of quiet serenity, but that he''d become a servant to a relentlessly demanding family: Stanley Sue, a gender-switching African grey parrot; Hector, a cantankerous shoulder-sitting Muscovy duck; Howard, an amorous ring-neck dove; and a motley crew of others. Somehow, against every instinct in him, Bob had unwittingly become their slave.

He read all the classic animal books - The Parrot Who Owns Me, The Dog who Rescues Cats, Arnie the Darling Starling, That Quail Robert, The Cat Who Came for Christmas - about the joys of animals, the touching moments. But none revealed what it was really like to live with an unruly menagerie.

Bob Tarte''s witty account reveals the truth of animal ownership: who really owns who, the complicated logistics of accommodating many species under one roof, the intricate routines that evolve, and ultimately, the distinct and insistent personalities of every animal in the house - and on its perimeter. Writing as someone who''s been ambushed by the way in which animals - even cranky ones - can wend their way into one’s heart, Bob Tarte is James Herriott by way of Bill Bryson.

Journal Entry 4 by appaloosatb from Rochester, Minnesota USA on Thursday, September 13, 2007
Mailing to Rebecca to start the ring. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 5 by rebeccaljames from Cincinnati, Ohio USA on Wednesday, October 17, 2007
I received this book today. I am looking forward to reading it. I've got some other books before this one. I will get to it as soon as possible and then pass it to the next person. Thank you for sharing.

Journal Entry 6 by rebeccaljames from Cincinnati, Ohio USA on Saturday, January 19, 2008
I will be mailing this out either Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm sorry for the hold up and keeping the book so long.

Journal Entry 7 by Azuki from Miami, Florida USA on Friday, February 1, 2008
Book is here! Thanks. So looking forward to it although I have to work through a few rings first.

Journal Entry 8 by Azuki from Miami, Florida USA on Sunday, March 9, 2008
Totally love this book. I have kept rabbits and birds as pets, so I really can relate to the author, and greatly enjoy this book, a rare one among the many written of dogs and cats. I have read aloud to my husband from this book more times than I can count.
Sending this off to chambejd.
(picture is of my parrotlet)

Journal Entry 9 by chambejd from Millbury, Massachusetts USA on Friday, March 28, 2008
This arrived in the mail today. I'm looking forward to reading it! Thanks for sharing it and sending it along.

Journal Entry 10 by chambejd from Millbury, Massachusetts USA on Tuesday, April 15, 2008
This was a really cute book. I could easily see myself taking in an ungodly amount of animals like that (though probably not the same types) if I had a farm. Maybe someday...

Thanks for sharing this book, appaloosatb.

ETA: This book went in the mail to labmomnm on 4/19/08.

Journal Entry 11 by winglabmomnmwing from Albuquerque, New Mexico USA on Friday, April 25, 2008
Arrived in the mail - next in line TBR

17 May 08 - Mailed to mellion108 this morning...sorry for the delay :-(

I enjoyed this & now I REALLY want a bunny, even though the author's experience with them wasn't all hearts & flowers. However, I have 2 cats: a psychotic tortie & a very needy Siamese mix - I'm pretty sure adding another animal would send the tortie over the edge & make the other cat even clingier, if that is possible. So, no bunnies for a while. (11/15/08 Note - I've just read mellion's journal entry & I think I've been talked out of a house bunny!)

I was irritated with the author for thing: Hand-raising starlings to wild-release should be a hanging offense :-) Keep them as housepets if you must, but they are doing just fine on their own in the wild in North America (too well, actually) & hardly need help in their conquest. All I could think as I read that section was, "How many native birds will these hand-raised starlings potentially displace"? Yes, probably an extreme response, but that sort of thing puts me right up a wall. I'll step down from my soapbox, now.

Thanks for sharing!

Journal Entry 12 by mellion108 from Waterford, Michigan USA on Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thanks for passing this my way, labmomnm, and thanks to appaloosatb for sharing! The book is here. I need to finish my current book before starting this one, but I'll try to have it moving again as soon as possible.
Trade paperback, 310 pages

Journal Entry 13 by mellion108 from Waterford, Michigan USA on Sunday, June 15, 2008
Journal entry, take 2!

I was in the process of entering my JE last Sunday when we were hit by a raging storm that knocked out power in my area for all of this last week (I've had power since Thursday, so I'm one of the lucky ones). I'm thinking Binky's ghost got into the transformer and did a bit of chewing. :)

Anyway...what an adorable book. I really fell in love with goofy Bob and his wife, Linda. My hat is off to them for taking care of so many animals. I've never had any type of fowl as pets, and I wouldn't even be interested in taking in birds as pets, but I love it when people really stick with their convictions and actually practice what they preach. My husband says that he is the only thing standing between me as I am now and me as the Neighborhood Cat Lady, so I can relate to the compulsion to take in strays and unwanteds (and I tell him that's how I ended up with him!). Little does hubby know that I wouldn't just stop at cats. I'd have to buy a farm for all the cats and dogs and other fuzzy critters I'd take in. Ah, one can dream, right?

I laughed through so much of this book. The little personalities of those animals are so interesting. Also, my heart goes out to Linda and Bob over the losses they've had throughout the years. People who either don't like animals or who have never taken on the responsbility of caring for an animal just don't know what it is to experience that kind of a relationship and how it feels when that animal dies.

Years ago when the hubby and I moved into our first house together, I kept on and on about how I wanted a bunny. I had to have a bunny. Wouldn't a bunny be so cute? and how could we have a house with just a cat and a dog? So, I got a beautiful grey lop and brought him home. Harvey proceeded to chew everything in my house, pee on my bookshelves (nowhere else, just the bottom book shelves and books), bite and scratch me whenever I got near him, and spread ear mites to all the pets, which resulted in me having to come up with creative ways to get the ear medicine into each animal without having all the walls and carpet coated in the stuff. I finally gave up and took him back to the breeders who had given him to me as a pet because I was miserable, and it was obviously a bad environment for the rabbit. The problem? Not Harvey. It was with me. I knew nothing about rabbits and thought I could read a little book and be fine. Nope. It was a disaster. I still miss him though. He had the softest fur, and his ears were amazing. *sigh*

Ok, confession time is over. I have nwpassage's address and will get this book in the mail sometime this week. Enjoy!

Thanks so much for sharing this book, appaloosatb!

Journal Entry 14 by mellion108 from Waterford, Michigan USA on Saturday, June 21, 2008
UPDATE: Mailed June 20, 2008 to nwpassage

Journal Entry 15 by nwpassage from Prince George, British Columbia Canada on Saturday, August 2, 2008
Now how the heck did I manage to not journal this when it first arrived?!? I've been sooo flaky lately... sorry about that!

This book was somehow not quite what I expected... guess I'm too much of a confirmed cat person to relate much to the many & sundry other pets Bob's picked up along the way. I've PM'd RockDg9 and will have this on its way again as soon as I receive their address.

Edited Monday, 11 August 2008: Mailed today - enjoy!

Journal Entry 16 by RockDg9 from Toowoomba, Queensland Australia on Friday, October 17, 2008
Arrived here today - thanks so much!

Journal Entry 17 by RockDg9 from Toowoomba, Queensland Australia on Friday, October 24, 2008
I really enjoyed the read. A lot of books about pet owners are glossy, cutesy books with overly-crafted scenarios, emotional highs and lows. But this book is excruciatingly honest. The animals are all psycho, and the clueless humans are neurotic and not ashamed to admit it

Journal Entry 18 by RockDg9 at Toowoomba, Queensland Australia on Friday, October 31, 2008

Released 15 yrs ago (10/31/2008 UTC) at Toowoomba, Queensland Australia

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Poated to Belgium today.

Journal Entry 19 by iliotropio from Bruxelles / Brussel, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium on Saturday, November 15, 2008
Arrived safely in the heart of Europe, Brussels.
Many thanks RockDg9 for sending it all the way from Australia!

Journal Entry 20 by iliotropio from Bruxelles / Brussel, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium on Saturday, March 14, 2009
On its way to LeishaCamden. Enjoy this sweet, funny novel!

Journal Entry 21 by wingLeishaCamdenwing from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Sunday, March 22, 2009
This arrived here in Oslo on Friday - I just didn't get around to journalling it sooner, I'm sorry. It looks like an absolutely wonderful read! I have two other rings & rays ahead of it but I will read it as soon as I'm able. I'll journal again when I've read it. Thanks for sharing!!

Journal Entry 22 by wingLeishaCamdenwing from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Monday, April 13, 2009
I started reading this book today. So far (about 65 pages in) an absolutely wonderful read!! :-)

Journal Entry 23 by wingLeishaCamdenwing from Alna bydel, Oslo fylke Norway on Thursday, July 30, 2009
Finally getting around to journalling this book ... !! I'm so sorry for letting it slide for so long. That's what happens when I'm last on a ray or ring. :-( I'm very sorry, but I hope it's better late than never.

This was a wonderful read, ten out of ten, no question. It's so well written, Tarte has such a way with words ... he makes even the most mundane stories totally hilarious. I could completely relate to his feelings for the animals - non-pet owners often don't understand the strength of feeling one can have for an animal in one's care, but for us who do understand it it's a wonderful experience ... even with the sadness it can often bring. I so felt for the Tartes in their ups and downs. Parts of the book were very sad while others were so funny ... a rollercoaster of emotion. :-) The only thin that could have made the book any better IMO would have been if there had been some reptiles in it. ;-)

An absolutely wonderful read for any animal lover. I'm sure this book would be a metaphorical shot in the arm for anyone who's struggling with their pet keeping and need a reminder of what it's all about. :-)

appaloosatb, I tried PMing you about this book, but I guess it didn't get through. I will try sending another PM now - here's hoping it'll work this time. :-) Please let me know whether you hear from me or not.

Journal Entry 24 by wingLeishaCamdenwing at By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Released 14 yrs ago (10/3/2009 UTC) at By mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is finally on its way back home. Thanks again for sharing this wonderful book with all of us, appaloosa! :-)

Journal Entry 25 by appaloosatb from Rochester, Minnesota USA on Monday, November 30, 2009
This has arrived home from its long journey safely. Thanks to all who participated (and to LeishaCamden for the extra goody you slipped in the package, yum)!

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