Howie the Handicapped Duck, aka “The Howess,” slipped peacefully away in her sleep to the great duck pond in the sky on the afternoon of Wednesday 16 January 2019. Howie hatched in September 2017, and spent her early days at the Delaware County Farm Bureau Fair Tent. She then journeyed to Harrison Farm, where she met her beloved human Marissa — inspiring in this young farmer her purpose & passion as a Duck Farmer. Howie was noted for her excellent egg production, laying her first egg (and definitively establishing her gender) on 27 March 2018. Howie endured gracefully not only the cacophony of the Fair, but also hip spraddle, a slipped tendon, and the arrival of seven new ducks who she adamantly disliked. She enjoyed swimming in the duck pool she received from her friend Kellie, quacking angrily at Esteban the Duck, judging the visiting yogis, and sleeping on the comfy bedding donated by her friend Sue. Howie is survived by her Duck Farmer Marissa, a distraught goatherd, her spirit dog Howie Patterson, her favorite egg customer Rebecca, and 300 frenemy chickens. She was preceded in death by her poultry BFFs Brewster the Rooster and Honey the One-Eyed Chick, and it is hoped they are now enjoying sunny weather together in a land where poultry are free from spraddle, strokes, and blindness. Howie was buried in a private family ceremony, with eulogies offered by the Duck Farmer & the Goatherd. A public memorial service & wake will follow in springtime, as Howie — as a good member of the Harrison Farm Family — hated winter.
