Rub-a-dubby dubby ? cute, yellow and chubby

Inside LeeAnn Dickson's Central Roseville home, you'll find more than 600 waterfowl of the genus rubberus duckieus.Dickson, 52, collects rubber ducks - all kinds of the brightly colored, squeaky, squirty floatable quackers that dwell near bathtubs worldwide.Aside from the traditional orange-billed type, there are a slew of variations on the theme: Devil ducks, bride-and-groom ducks, Christmas ducks and cowboy ducks. Not to mention vintage ducks, patriotic ducks and sports ducks, to name only a few.Her penchant has gained her recognition from friends and neighbors, some of whom are eager to contribute: "Sometimes I'll come home and there'll just be a duck on the doorstep," Dickson said. In addition to neighbors, Dickson's collection caught the eye of producers for KVIE-TV's "ViewFinder" series, which featured her in its premiere this week. The episode, dubbed "The Collectors II," re-airs 6 p.m. Sunday on Channel 6."I love to make people laugh," said Dickson, a railroad safety educator for the federal government. "People who come to the house say 'Oh, they're just ducks,' then they see them and they go 'They're so cute!' and start laughing. It's bringing a little brightness to someone's life."In the episode, Dickson takes viewers through the collection, explains the various categories of rubber duckdom, and competes in a duck race with a Carmichael collector at SunSplash water park.For Dickson, the love affair with the classic water toy all started with a Daffy Duck-inspired number she bought for $5 in Santa Cruz about 12 years ago. But the collection truly got going when she remodeled her bathroom in 2001. That's when Daffy began to look "lonely" on display, Dickson said, so she began to buy him some friends.Now, the bathroom has gone to the ducks, as the collection has expanded to include everything from pirate to police ducks.The whole thing has made Dickson something of an expert on rubber ducks. She's quick to point out, for instance, that modern ducks aren't actually made from rubber."But they still call them rubber ducks because 'polyvinyl ducks' isn't as cute," she said. Acquisitions, she said, come in waves."Some months I won't get any, and other times I'll just get this nutcase thing going on," she said, adding that purchases come at thrift stores, on travels and via the Internet. Ducks have traveled from as far as France to join Dickson's rubber menagerie."It's amazing what you can do with a mouse, a glass of wine and a PayPal account," she said.As for her favorite, Dickson points to her Buddha duck: "It's good karma to say he's your favorite," she said.Husband Lonnie, a Union Pacific employee - the pair's occupations explain the healthy number of train-themed ducks - is supportive, even building the bathroom's custom shelving, just as long as the ducks stay away from the rest of the house."He's very nice about it, because ducks are relatively inexpensive," she said, adding she's never paid more than $27 for a duck.As for what's next for her duck collection, that all depends on how much space she can wring out of her bathroom, which is rapidly running out of duck real estate. She reckons it's possible to squeeze in about two additional shelves, enough for a small sampling of the seemingly limitless supply."There's tons out there I don't have," she said.