In 1985 on a honeymoon with my first wife to Calgary and Banf, we walked into an art gallery and found this. Canada was inaugurating it's first "Duck Stamp" to preserve wildlife habitat that year. It seemed like a neat souvenier and in the back of my mind, I was thinking how valuable a first year of issue U.S. duck stamp had become. I think our program started around 1934, thanks to Ding Darling and others. Duck hunters are required to purchase it before hunting migratory birds and the program has been an incredible success. The American duck stamp program has funded the purchase of vast tracts of duck habitat (thank you duck hunters) and along the way the stamps and prints have become hot collectibles.
I missed out on that train of course, although I did buy a few duck stamps when I hunted ducks in Guana.
So I was sure that if we bought this first Canadian issue combo, we'd make a mint as time went by ...
Okay, so apparently Canadian Duck stamps don't appreciate as rapidly as I'd hoped, but it's a beautiful print of my favorite ducks and I've always liked Robert Bateman's work.
20 comments:
OK FC, back up the bus! Your first wife? Duck hunting in Guana? I need to hear more about this!
Oh,one more thing about the game. Whenever OSU wins a game (or even sometimes when they lose) they usually riot in the street and burn cars. You can tell how big of a win it was by the number of cars that get destroyed. Does UF have a similar tradition? ;-)
Your first wife?????
I wasn't going to touch that first sentence with a ten foot pole but I'm staying tuned, closely tuned...
Remember: rants, recipes and past relationships are the 3 Rs of blog writing.
Okay- I LOVE Bateman's bird art and I have the big book BIRDS. I look at it very often. I like your duck stamps very much.
I have a feeling I know who the first wife is. LOL! (oh lawd, I hope I'm right. I have a feeling I really should follow Vicky's advice and not touch this with a 10 ft pole!) LOL
It reminds me though, when we applied for our marriage licence back in 1983, the old, ornery clerk at the county offices asked my hub if this was his first "and last" marriage, and she emphasized the "last" part and peered over her glasses at him with a stern look.
He was 20 years old at the time and turned several shades of red. There were a bunch of couples in the room at the time, waiting to file divorce papers!
I really love Bateman's art also. And I'm envious that you got to see Banff! I've always wanted to go up there.
By the way, your comment on my blog about the water issue here in Florida was well thought out and echoed my thoughts exactly. It is sad that our kids can no longer really see the Florida we grew up in.
I don't mind the ramble at all, feel free to do so anytime.
First wife? No, that's not right at all. You must mean something else, but what? Do tell. Very nice duck art.
You really know how to mess with our minds, FC! :) You shouldn't do that so early in the morning!
That's a nice print, and I've seen enough wildlife art to be picky about what I like.
Bateman is one of my all-time favourites. Right up there with Bev Doolittle. 8-]
First wife? Why wasn't I invited to the wedding?
Remember the duck hunts near I-95 and 16? The only time I've eaten duck was the one we tried cooking at your house.
nice ducks! and this is an excellent post, because now we all want to know the stories about your first wedding AND the duck you "tried" to cook.
This is precisely part, but only part, of the reason I love to read your blog! Shoot, spill the beans already!
Uhm ....I'm still married to my first wife ... whatever were y'all thinking?
ThunderD,
No car burning here ...the gator nation just parties wildly without all the destructive window smashing,looting, and violence. That's more a northern urban thing...
You know my first wife ... you met her 15 minutes before I did :)
Debbie,
Well ... she is.
Vicki,
My first wife is sleeping in the bedroom with the 1996 UF Championship Football game DVD running on the TV.
Laura,
You guessed it ;)
20. Wow, he was alot braver than me. I waited until 27.
Your post hit a nerve, glad you didn't mind my ramble.
Robin,
"Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss"
heehee.
Deb,
Bateman has a way with wildlife. For awhile we were buying limited edition wildlife and lab prints, but then those babies started coming ...
... of course, eventually I figured out what was causing them.
Sophie,
Okay, I'm going to check out Bev D.
Kevin,
As I recall, you were in the wedding party.
Kathy A,
Now technically, she is my first wife. I was just being specific.
:)
MoMadness,
I'm afraid the beans are spilled now :)
hold on a minute there, mister. what about the "tried" to cook a duck story?
Kathy A,
I reread my post... where are you getting that?
Am I using that subliminal posting key again?
ThunderD,
Guana is a 12,000 acre wildlife management area north of St. Auggie. It just sounds furrin.
Yes, I have pictures. Taken before Photoshop.
kevin said:
Remember the duck hunts near I-95 and 16? The only time I've eaten duck was the one we tried cooking at your house.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 11:50:00 AM
does canaduck = canuck?
OK, I fell in your trap twice in the same blog! I'll have to try to get my guard back up. ;-)
I know man, that's why I'm trying to get back down south! I think the cold temperatures along with limited sunshine is the true cause of this behavior!
Kathy A,
Sorry I was so dense. Duh ... it was right there and I walked right by it.
We really believed in "you kill it, you eat it", so when (as teens) we (Kevin, buddy Greer, and I) actually brought home game (a duck), we attempted to roast it with an orange stuffed in it. Some recipe my Mom found. I guess, in my ignorance of duckdom, I thought it would taste like chicken. I quit hunting ducks not too long after that because I couldn't stand the taste which means I couldn't eat what I killed. That make any sense at all? I do love the whistle of duck wings over a marsh tho. I eat that stuff up!
roger,
that must be the origin :)
ThunderD,
I'm very, very sneaky.
makes perfect sense, FC. i knew there was a good story in there. :)
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