Monday, July 28, 2008

Peacock Roundup





Ok
, well, this actually happened a few days back but thought it belonged in my blog.


Received a call from my neighbor while I was at work that my peacock was out on our road (gravel road, not a main road) and what did I want to do about it? As I work 45 miles from home (and I also van pool) I said he would have to find his way back or wait until I got home from work.


The neighbor, Michol, offered to try and herd it back in my gate, which I thanked her for but when I returned home there was an e-mail from another neighbor the next road up. Seems there was a female peacock in with her goats and did whomever she belonged to want to come up and catch her. I called and she said the peacock had flown up into a tree. I knew at that point there would be no catching the peacock for that day. I told her I would come up tomorrow if the peacock didn't find his way home and collect "her" ( it's actually a him.....he just doesn't have any long tail feathers.....came that way, don't know if he just hasn't grown any yet or moulted them off).


Next day he was still up at the neighbors goat pen. I stopped on the way home at a sporting good store. Walked in and was asked if I needed some help. "Yes" I said, "I need the biggest net you have to catch a peacock with". Got a chuckle and a raised eyebrow and I was directed to the aisle that had the nets. I chose a lovely one, could be useful to net just about anything....definitely big enough for a peacock, turkeys, ducks, maybe even a sheep!


OK, now to enlist some help......cellphone....."Hello, Michol? Are you busy right now?" One thing I have learned is not to tell the person the whole story until they commit.....:) "I need some help catching that loose peacock". She agrees and says to pick her up in front of her house. Michol, in turn, enlists her son, Paul, to help. Great! This should make it eeeeassssyy.


Up to the neighbors, yes, there is that escapist peacock, strolling around the goat corral.



We spread out and try to herd him into one of the goat shelters. That doesn't seem to go so well so I crept around one of the goat shelters while Michol and Paul worked him back my way.....then I POUNCED and netted myself a peacock!


Felt pretty proud of myself too, the peacock got the last laugh though as I felt something warm and looked down to see he had covered part of my shirt and jeans with "peacock poo". I must say it's pretty amazing for such a small lightweight bird that it seemed to have emptied about as much as a sheep would.....at least if it had been a sheep the nuggets would have just rolled down my leg.


Placed the peacock in a dog crate and returned home with my prize. Released him back with his girlfriend and he acted like he had never left.



5 comments:

Carolina Trekker said...

I laughed so hard,,,this was fun. Just to show,,,you never know what the day will bring.
~Life is an Adventure~

Michelle said...

Hmm, maybe his lady friend gave him the cold shoulder because of his lack of manly tail feathers so he went looking for a more welcoming partner!

Jenny Holden said...

LOL, I did enjoy reading this tale of peacock hunting :o) Well done getting him back home... now you just have to keep him there!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oh! This is great! Had me laughing so hard. Animals get into so many misadventures, don't they? hehe
Life is never boring for us humans, though, eh?

Sheep Nuggets? Hmm? I love it.
I've been compiling a list of the names we give to animal poo, and they seem to all lead to food names.

On my ranch we have:
Horse Apples
Llama Beans
Goat Berries
Chicken Soup
Cat Tootsie Rolls

and now....Sheep Nuggets

hehehe.

Gone2theDawgs said...

Hmmm Twinville, that might make an interesting blog....doing pictures of all the different droppings and asking people if the can match them up with the title....berries, soup, nuggets, etc. :)