QUACK! Lara's duck collection

This little pond in the Palace's courtyard houses some adorable duckies from Lara's collection of 409 (last I counted). Rubber Ducks are my favorite thing to collect. Most of the duckies have their own name and personality, but when you have 408 friends, you kind of get lost in the crowd.

These are six odd ducks. There's Bob Quackie the singing duck (#132), Big Ben, the faucet cover (#99), Captain Phineas, the bubble-blowing sailor duck (#105), and in front: Bug-Eyed Bertie the bug-eyed squirting duck (#101), Alyson the stress reliever duck (#89), and Neill, a keychain (#81).

These ducks are Rubba Ducks (Internet Explorer is the best place to view their site which is very cute). They are P. King Duck (#138), Duckhorn (#148), and Grey Duck (#139). Rubba Ducks are very bizarre and fun, but they are hard, not squishy like regular rubber ducks. Thanks Chip & Linda for P.King and Gray!!!

On the left, P.King, Gray and Duckhorn are joined by Aqua Duck and Lamé Duck. You can see Duckess & Sitting (#196 & #197) in the group picture below.

This darling duck set (#141-146) is made by Retro Toys. The bright-eyed duck who looks like she drank too much coffee is Amelia, the two medium-sized ducks are Rita and Dan, and the three little baby ducks are Mandy, Amy, and Lara (with cute feathers sticking up from their cute heads). There's also a life ring, which is silly because ducks don't need life rings.

Here are two similar-looking ducks. The orange-yellow one on the left is Ilyana Duckovich (#35). She is made by Wintech. The yellow one doesn't say who made him except that he was made in China. His name is Henri Matisse Kumquat (#23). He's French and enjoys doing collages just like his namesake.

Here are two mommy-and-baby (or daddy-and-

baby) duckie sets. The first one Joshua Tobias and his daughter Eve Lilandra (#25 & 26). The second one, made by Knobler, is Jane Cleis and her son Justin (#33 & #34). You can tell that I gave Joshua & Eve a bill-makeover with orange nail polish. Those kind of ducks usually have just a red-tinged tip.

Email me if you want to talk about ducks. Also, click on this happy duck below to go to Duck Planet!

These are the Chubby-Cheek ducks (#47-49 & #45). They are Zara and her three ducklings, Giovanni, Nicholas and Indigo. Giovanni is the one with the actual pupils, at left. He came in a soap. Naturally, the soap part of ducks-in-soap never last long with Lara. She's always eager to get to the duck.

A flock of nine ducks, all similar. At left, dot-eyed and fluorescent yellow. The ones in front have black eyes. And in back, beautiful blue eyes. The dot-eyed ducks (#60-62) are from Seattle--Evan Todd, Tabor and Tori. The black eyed ones (#37-39) are Selena, Sabrina and Shane. The blue-eyed ones (#118-120) are Tegan, Cassiopeia and Maya (named after Maya Rudolph of SNL.)

Two drain plug ducks. The one on the left is Moira Matilda (she's a Scottish lass who hails from fen, ben and glen--or Afterthoughts)(#3). Her friend (#149) is a Dept. 56 duck named Virginia after my good friend from Sterling, VA. I was looking all over for Dept. 56 ducks, and I finally got my hands on one in 2001 for Xmas.

#107-#109. These are three goggles-wearing ducks from K-Mart. They are pool toys, not bathtub toys (ooh!). The mommy duck is Hesper and her ducklings are Heath (named after Heath Ledger) and Keith (named after artist Keith Haring).

#96-98. Derby Ducks from the Great American Duck Race!

The ducks shown here are Wayne (named after Improv actor Wayne Brady), Alice and Evelyn. You can also find Derby Ducks at Pricehot.com.

#112 & #113. Cute duck set that I got from Magoo's Superstore. They are Fallon and Fyfe. Fallon (the mom) looks like a small version of the Kissy Duck (below), and the baby, Fyfe, is a "tongue duck", only the eye & bill color are different.

#135-136. Translucent pink and blue ducks! These I got on eBay, but you can also find them at Pricehot.com. Their names are Mike (blue) and Esmey (pink). I forget who I named Mike after. Perhaps the great songwriter and former Monkee Mike Nesmith.

#137 & #140. "Original" rubber duckies. The sitting one is from a spa place, and the standing one is a present (Thanks Chip and Linda!). Their names are Hedda Squishyrump and Harold Squishywings. They are made out of vulcanized rubber.

These duckies look like birdies & have feet! The Daddy duck I met in Seattle; his name's Valley Jude (#63) and three babies (#86-88) I met in Maine. I named them after New England towns: Miranda Malden, Peter Portsmouth, and Belinda Boston.

#148-154 Squirting Wal-Mart ducks!! These ducks come in eight different colors, including orange-yellow (with magenta bib, front). I snatched them all up, and now I have eight lovely ducks. I named them Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and BOB.

Kissy ducks. The one on the right is Ophelia Savannah (#19). I got her in Savannah, natch. The middle one, Phineas, is pictured above but he is also a kissy duck. The one on the left (#147) is from eBay. She looks like she forgot to brush her hair, er, feathers. I named her Sara after my cute friend.

These are the Devil ducks. The red one is Meph (#92), short for Mephistopheles. Meph has two daughters, Lucy Fer (#133) and Bea L. Zilbub (#134). The black one is Darryl Van Horne (#147). See below for pics of the Devil Ducks I bought at Archie McPhee in Seattle 2005!

Ducks #114-117 & 121-126:

This is the Duck Pond (ya think?). I got it from Toys to Grow On for my 19th birthday. It features Grandpa Joe (hat & glasses), Dale (blue hat), Jean-Luc (scuba), Linda (flower hat), Chip (sailor), Louis Boudreax (straw hat), Auriel Rey (little w/ green tie), Don Baby the Hep-Duck (cool-daddio), Little Dean (red tie, named after Dean Roland of Collective Soul), Kurt (bowtie and silly hat), and Ceara (heart necklace).

#20-22. Ian, Isaac, & Isis.

A set of three pastel-yellow dot-eyed ducks from Big Lots that I got in '98. Unlike other ducks this size, these ducks have turned heads.

Dollar Store ducks. Glenn (#69) is the one with the green bib (RIP Glenn Quinn), Charles William MacIntire (#68) is the snorkel duck, the Boy Scout-looking duck (#162) is Maury, and the Captain Duck (#161) and Purple Sunglasses Duck (#146) are Jim and Dolly.

Group pic: back left is from Bath and Body Works (#167). Next to her is the Swim n' Kiss ducks by Fisher-Price (#159-160). The blue-bow one (#163) is another kind of duck that has letters that spell "HOT" in white if the water's too hot (I have another one not pictured). A set of dollar store ducks (#164-166), and lastly, a cute magnet duck from Bed Bath & Beyond (#158).

Four cute candle ducks! I have six: five little ones and one big one. They were a present from my friend Virginia. Thanks, Virginia!! I would love to get a glass bowl, fill it with water tinted slightly blue with food coloring, and float the duckies in it with lily pads made from green craft foam for a duck-a-rific centerpiece.

#188 & #185-187.

Christmas 2002 Ducks! The one on the left is a Santa Claus Celebriduck. Thanks Chip and Linda! The set on the right is a Santa mommy with two funny diapered babies, one blue and one pink. They were a present from a co-worker. Thanks, Jan!

#168-170. A set of Ebay ducks, with funny rearing-back heads (That nose in the upper right corner belongs to Abbey the cat). Their names are Heather and Tyler, and the baby is Étienne. I haven't seen a lot of the kind of ducks the parents are, but the baby is a common shape with blue eyes.

These two duck sets could be cousins; they have the same forlorn expression. The two in front (#171-172) are from a Wal-mart set that included a duck-shaped bath mitt. The mommy and baby-in-soap (#178-179) are from a toy store in Summerville, SC called Pear Tree Toys. The baby looks like he's drowning in the soap. He doesn't seem too happy about it.

#192. Front and side views of my aesthetically pleasing Sassy duck from Target. Her name is Gertta (an anagram of Target) and she has big round eyes, a puckering mouth, and "Sassy" written on her side. It was the only one I could find, so naturally I snatched it up and bought it.

Stein Mart "Cadillac Duck" (so named by Duckplanet) set. The babies look like the ducky magnet from Bed, Bath and Beyond (see above) and they all have blue eyes, unlike the other Cadillac duck like this, whose babies are different and who doesn't have a turned head.

#173-177 & #190. Six funny-looking ducks from Wal-mart, three with mob caps (back, white, yellow, pink) and three with sailor hats (front, yellow, blue, green). Are there more? I don't know. I got the five that they had in one Wal-mart, and my sister Mandy was able to snag the "lost duck," the yellow sailor duck (front, left) for me. Thanks, Mandy!

#180-183. A Wal-mart set of ducks in common shapes but squishier to the touch. The babies are Tongue Ducks, and the Mommy is what I call a "Moira Matilda duck" because she is the same shape as my drain plug duck of the same name (see above). She has a rather round, pancake-shaped body and a ball-headed head, and is also expressing the desire to gag by mimicking the Tongue Ducks.

#102-104 & 110: This cute set of ducks with hats is from Shades Plus (also at World Market). From left to right is Felicity, Aidan, Annabelle Kate, and Paul, which is a family name on my dad's side.

#199 & #203. Halloween witch duck from eBay and Santa duck with candy cane (thanks Sara!). These ducks have a similar look and they squirt.

#215-217. Adorable duck set from The Baby Outlet, shown straight on and from the top. She is yellow with one magenta baby and one orange baby.

#218-220. Jelly Ducks from World Market. This kind of duck looks like it would be squishy and sticky, but they feel harder than than they look.

#193. One of the Deluxe Ducks, the orange "Sitting Duck" (Thanks Sara!). There are a lot of these Deluxe Duck that I want. Go see them here.

#200, #208-212. Rescue Ducks. All of these squirt. They are made by Toysmith (like the holiday ducks above).

Here are all of my devil ducks (except for the Devil Duck Ornament and GITD Ornament, which hang from my car's rear view mirror).

Big Devil Ducks: Blue, Red, Orange, Pink, Camo (Thanks Sa!), Green, Purple, Black.

Little Devil Ducks: Black, Purple, Pink, GITD and Red.

And, six ITTY BITTY Devil ducks! (Thanks Sa!)

#240, #226 & 227.Blue, Pink and Yellow "Disco Ducks," which flash lights when you slam them on a table. Blue is from ebay; pink & yellow from a store in CT.

Super Fun Bath & Body Works Ducks!

1st Batch (back row): Red, yellow, apple-green, plum, white.

2nd Batch: Lavender, aqua, pale pink, dove gray, reddish.

3rd Batch: Shiny magenta, Silver (thanks Linda B.!), Shiny white, teal, purple.

Front row: dark pink, little shiny teal, and two short-neck, eyelash ducks: yellow & red. And, of course the BIG duck.

I'm waaay behind with taking pics of new ducks. D'oh! To see some recent duckie pics, go to my Flickr page.

I honestly can't tell which picture looks better, because out monitor is crap. (I thought there was something wrong and started fiddling with the colors, then looked at it on another computer and realized it's just our monitor, so maybe it looks better like this).

Set of Flashing Mommy & Babies ducks from the Sharper Image (Thanks Sara!) They are touch activated.

Dazzle Ducks! Pink and Yellow. From ULTA. Thanks, Mommy and Dad! These duckies have two modes, activated by a button on the bottom.

Schylling ducks: yellow, blue, black (those were the only colors available at the toy store I went to)

Here is Mr. Big, made by Rich Frog (same as the "original" rubber ducks seen above). He's scary.

More Holiday Ducks: Easter Bunny, Santa Hat (can't see very well) and Reindeer. I think I got these at World Market.

Here is a fun puckering star duck from eBay. I can just hear Don McLean singing, "Starry, Starry Duck..."

More Sassy ducks (see above for #192, Gertta the Adora-duck): Faucet Cover and two colorful wee ducks.

Fun duck sets from World Market (they came in those net bags): GITD and Color Change (which I haven't tried yet)

The Bath & Body Works BIG Blue-eyed display duck, and two "short-neck" eyelash ducks, pearly pink and pearly blue. I really like those. I keep Mr. Big Blue Eyes out where I can see him, because he's so happy!