The peacock has been on our porch since early this morning. Actually, he was here last night just before dark and I think he slept up in our mesquite tree because he was here bright and early looking for his breakfast. (Meow Mix. Recommended by 4 out of 5 peacocks in the Hill Country.)
This peacock (Mr. Carson by name) has been very vocal all day long. I don't know if it's because of the rain today or maybe this is a particularly lonesome time for him and he's searching desperately for a mate. His constant honking (which sounds like an air horn) reverberates throughout the house and I'm sure can be heard all over the hills here. About half an hour ago, our across-the-road neighbor proved the fact of the peacock's ability to broadcast his love songs.
The across-the-road and down-the-hill neighbor is the one with the goats and the cows... those goats are the same ones who either jump over his fence or crawl under it and come across the road and onto our property. When that happens, I go out there with an air horn to scare them back into their own pastures and away from our wildflowers and our pond. (Our property is also fenced, but these fences just cannot stop those goats when they're determined to travel.) When I'm outside with the air horn, that neighbor comes out to gather up his goats, he apologizes to me that they got out, and I always resist the urge to ask him why he just doesn't fix the fence so the goats can't escape.
With the honking of the peacock today, both my husband and I said that Mr. Carson sounded just like the air horn. Well, the neighbor with the goats must have thought the same thing because he did what he always does when he hears me out there with the air horn.... he came down his hill in his truck, and then up our hill, looking for his wayward goats with the intention of herding them up with the truck and getting them into their own pasture.
So here came the neighbor.... driving slowly and looking for his goats (which were indeed still in their own field)...... and the peacock kept up his honking... but because Mr. Carson was on the back of our porch, I'm sure the neighbor didn't see him. Up and down our road went the neighbor, looking for stray goats while Mr. Carson honked out his mating calls that probably could wake up the dead. I saw what was happening through my kitchen window, and thought about going out there to explain to the neighbor that the noises he was hearing was the peacock, not the air horn.
But then.... I thought of all the senseless neglect that the neighbor has for his pets and his livestock.... and I decided in a split second not to go out there and tell him about the honking of the peacock. So I just stayed in the kitchen and watched through the window.
Up and down the road went the neighbor.... and because his goats heard the rattles and puffs of his old truck, they all came towards the perimeter of that field... towards the road... and jumped the fence. So there was the neighbor now.... trying to get that old truck of his to pick up speed so he could round up his goats and get them back over the fence and into his pasture. And there I was.... laughing at this country comedy.... feeling sorry for those goats (as I always do) and silently applauding Mr. Carson and his lovesick honking that got the neighbor searching for his goats who were right where they belonged until they heard his truck going back and forth on the road.
As I type, the neighbor is still out there in the road with his truck, and he's trying to make some sort of repairs on the corner of his fence, probably hoping to restrain the goats. And the peacock.... he's still outside on our back porch, looking through the window of our TV room and making googly-eyes at our cat Sweet Pea.
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