HILLIARD, Ohio — Ah, the pool.
Where childhood cares of classroom curriculum dive head first into chilled summer water. Where cannonballs are perfected, life lessons are learned in every lane and where lifeguards are always on the lookout.
But at the Hilliard Family Aquatic Center, there’s something else causing a splash.
“Yeah, we’ve been pretty close,” Paula Degarmo said. “I was here, Tuesday, and they were very close to me.”
Degarmo says that as if it’s totally normal to see two ducks in the water with her every time she visits.
“Yeah, every time,” she said.
Surprisingly, no one thinks it’s that weird to share a pool with a momma and baby duck.
“The oldest one is named Harriet and the baby…Ivy,” Molly Penry said.
Penry has been a lifeguard the last couple years. Harriet and Ivy have been pool regulars the last couple months.
“They got here at the beginning of the season and we actually really like the ducks,” Penry said. “They’ve almost become like a class pet.”
They have a following on Facebook with those who see them uploading videos and pictures.
They swim. They relax. They swim some more. You know…duck things.
It’s very much their home.
“I mean they make this place their home,” Penry said. “They hide in the bushes. They hide out behind cones. They play in the water.”
As for the big question, “Do they go to the bathroom in the pool,” the pool manager tells 10TV that it rarely happens, but, when it does, they shock the pool with chemicals and clean it out.
Degarmo says it’s not an inconvenience and “number two” does not take precedent over what’s number one.
“At least for me, for a mom, there’s always that momma [and] baby connection,” Degarmo said. “That mother, parent relationship.”
A baby and it’s momma. Everything and more it’s quacked up to be.