Let's start with the why.

Why cover your car in rubber ducks?

"Just to make people smile," is Jen Mulder's answer. "There's enough not to be happy about these days, so I figure every little bit I can do helps."

And what about you, Karen Schoen? "I have had a difficult childhood, and one of the things I really found is that a sense of humor helps you out through all these times. My message is be who you are and just keep trying. Never give up," she said.

That's right. Wisconsin has at least two duckmobiles, not counting the ones at Wisconsin Dells.

This came as a surprise to Jen, who thought she had the only one. Karen knew there was another one out there because her sister spotted Jen's car one day and reported back to her.

I tracked down both women and took a ride in their respective and resplendent duck cars. Jen, 34, lives in Madison. She's an artist and runs a sewing machine shop. Karen, 46, lives in Brown Deer and is attendance secretary at Brown Deer High School.

People pointed and smiled and whipped out cameras when we drove by. Some had no reaction at all, like a car drowning in ducks is an everyday sight.

"Some people ask me why I destroyed my car," Jen said. "The car helps me, too. If I'm having a bad day with something at the business or life in general, I can't drive the car more than a couple blocks without seeing somebody smile at me, and then I have to smile back, and then my day is made as well."

Of the two cars, Jen's 1989 Toyota Camry has more ducks on the pond. A couple hundred rubber ducks and other assorted creatures live on the hood, top and trunk lid. She figures all the added weight costs her 2 miles to the gallon.

The swirly blue car, which was once maroon and her late grandfather's pampered baby, now has a horn that quacks and a clear spot on the roof for a bubble machine for when she drives in parades as a duck float. And she's not done yet.

"I found a way to get ducks cut in half so I can stick them to the sides of the car," she said, though she's still working on the best way to glue them on. The ducks on the horizontal surfaces are held down with such seriously named products as Liquid Nails and King Caulk. Believe me, this stuff isn't coming off without taking the paint with it. I suggested duck tape, but Jen groaned like she's heard the joke before.

Neither woman is worried about resale value. Karen uses ducks, flowers, reflective discs and other baubles to cover up the chipping paint on her 1996 Dodge Neon, which she and her husband bought new. The redecorating started about six years ago with a few flowers that her mom drew on the car.

Then one day Karen joked with co-workers about sticking a duck to the car, and from there it turned daffy. Her ducks are mostly on the trunk lid, but she said Jen's car has her feeling more competitive, so she sees more glue-coated ducks in her future. She has a duck tattoo on her wrist, but not a single rubber ducky in her bathtub.

Jen started with two plastic frogs actually, one near each windshield sprayer on the hood. Then she switched to adorable ducks unlimited about two years ago.

Both women have people giving them ducks of endless varieties all the time. Strangers sometimes leave a duck or other decoration or a note on the cars.

"And six or seven onion rings. That I don't understand. Maybe they thought the ducks were hungry," Jen said.

Even with an art car, you run into some negativity. Ducks have been stolen off both cars. The police stopped Jen recently because another driver swore something yellow hit his windshield and broke it. That would certainly make Jen a person of interest, but it turned out no ducks were missing. Nevertheless she got a warning for littering.

"There's a website called youdrivewhat.com and my car is on there," Karen said. "And some people wrote some mean things about it!"

Her job requires her to be the heavy at school sometimes and scold kids about attendance problems. So it helps to be known for something fun, too.

"I have to watch where I park because they'll all know where I am. No hanging out at the tavern or the strip club," she laughed.

Jen said her husband likes driving her car, though he usually uses their minivan. Karen said her husband tolerates the Neon and sometimes ducks down when he drives - pun intended.

You can't take a duck car through an automatic car wash. The rain does the job. And driving fast is the best way to clear fresh snow from the shivering ducks. Cold and heat will fade and sometimes even crack or melt the ducks, so they have to be replaced regularly. Neither car has the luxury of a garage.

"It's a lot of work having a duckmobile," Karen said.

But it beats being normal.

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or e-mail at jstingl@journalsentinel.com