Hopalong Hollow....

Hopalong Hollow, where the Blueberries grow sweet, and the moss feels soft beneath your feet.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Runaway Brides!!!!

Hopalong Hollow Gazette NEWS ALERT!!!!
        It seems our chosen ladies were not as prepared to face matrimony as we had hoped. Either that, or they got a taste of our "boys" BAD manners and said to themselves" Hey! I'm outta here!"  Regardless, of the reasons,  
They have flown the coop!
 Hit the Road!
 Beat a path out the Front Door!
It was distressing enough when I found Bachelorett number 1  missing from the 2nd story loft of the barn...where I had, I thought, blocked all available exits with chicken wire.
GONE! KAPUT! NOWHERE TO BE SEEN!
 But, then, in the morning, as I cleaned the barn, Bachelorett  number 2 squeezed through a teeny opening in the gate before I could say, "HEYWAITAMINUTESISTER!
Down the hill she vamoosed  when she was spied by a  Peabody boy, who proceeded to chase her up a tree. I stared on uselessly. You cannot catch a Peafowl in a  tree, trust me. They played cat and mouse in the treetops for about 20 minutes as I watched from below, then she flew to the ground and crossed the creek heading for the  meadow with grasses and wildflowers nearly waist high.


 "I'll head her off at the pass!" I screeched as I waded through the creek in flip flops, limping along with a brace on my injured knee. I was worried that she would go for the neighbors trees, on the other side of our fence and then into the woods or worse still, across the road and into the woods. I hoped to get ahead of her and turn her back towards the barn. It's really difficult to see a ANYTHING whilst struggling amid thick, tall foliage and worrying about snakes at the same time. Soon,, BOTH Peabody boys appear to be searching for her as well, and NOW I am seeing  3 peafowl heads 
 BOB-BING-UP-AND-DOWN 
 in the grasses, I don't know who's is who's.Suddenly, the pups catch wind of all these goings on, and decide to join this jolly good party! Now I have 2 rambunctious boys BOUNDING with Glee this way and that through the tall meadow grass  and making a complete muddle of my plan. I loose sight of the female, I hear a flutter of wings, leaves rustle, twigs crack and, she is gone into a vast forest of branches  on the other side of the fence. I try in vain to spot her, but she is gone.Well. that's that. I will probably never see her again.
 Hours later, I am sitting at my art table in front of the window overlooking the road. I notice a truck slowing down and assume a naughty Peabody boy has gotten over the fence and is strutting in the street. He is, and I dash outside to lure him back to our place. Lo and behold, who is with him but MISS Peabody!  With much  ado and lots of coaxing, threatening and trickery, I manage to get them both back onto our property.
 She promptly flies up to the roof.
Can you see this daffy damsel?
And there she sits all night long. Good grief! Where will it all end? Who knows? Courtship is a lot of trouble when girl is playing hard to get.

Of course, now she hates me for chasing her about, and thinks I am the wicked mother in law. I just can't win.

22 comments:

  1. Oh wow!!! That was exciting! We do hope they warm up to the boys...and soon. Look forward to the sound of wedding bells and the pitter patter of little peacock feet. Thank you for the entertainment :)

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  2. Ooh dear, what a kafuffle !
    I've know Peacocks to stay endless days on the roof, hopefully when they get thirsty they'll jump down.
    ~Jo

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  3. Oh my goodness, now that's what I call a peafowl adventure. We used to have peafowl...not on purpose but by default when I was 6. We lived near the director of the zoo in our city. He had brought some new peafowl to his backyard to acclimate them to our weather, before introducing them to the "others" at the zoo itself. Like yours...they flew the coop so to speak and came to live in our Bird of Paradise tree in the backyard. They just never wanted to go back to Mr. Zoo's house. He came and got them after awhile and took them to the zoo. Odd thing was, they found their way back in a couple of weeks. And he came and got them again.
    So it is with some background that I say....best of luck on the peafowl situation. They can be kinda stubborn. Oma Linda

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    1. Indeed. I am sure bachelor-et number 1 has already settled in nicely on someone else's farm! If I can just hold on to bachelor-et number 2.....

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  4. Jeri, I have loved reading about you young store bought brides. I can't wait for the next installment. Keeping fingers crossed for you. Bonnie

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  5. OK.....I think you have another book in the making here dearest JERI LANDERS...MARRIED LIFE AT HOPALONGHOLLOW or Peabody Boy meets Girl, Girl Runs Away......

    W H A T AN A D V E N T U R E !

    And I am in the process of writing a poem for our poetry class on Tuesday. Girl, we had a hellacious storm rip through Minneapolis last night that brought down trees in our neighborhood, crashed onto cars (THANK GOD no one was hurt). But power was out, estimated to come back on TUESDAY, and Ruben and I were supposed to be on the road this morning to Wisconsin. We have a electrically powered garage door so we thought (WE CITY FOLK!) that our car was stuck in the garage. But a keen neighbor reminded us of the rope that you can pull on to manually open the door...duh.....!

    But we stayed home today, assessing the damages. One moment, nature is brutal, the next, nature entertains you. And that it has done here for you, and for us....we had several encounters just today with birds and mice that left us happy to be alive, to stop to enjoy one of the few reasons why we are on this earth: to see the glory (fierce and gentle) of God.

    Have FUN!!!!!!!!!! Anita

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    1. Those manual ropes can actually come in handy.. if one does not forget what they are for! Glad you two are okay!

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  6. Wicked MIL indeed. What a hoot!

    FlowerLady

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  7. What an adventure! I'm sure if anyone was watching they got quite a show! Maybe the girls can be won over. Good luck

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  8. As I read this post, I could see the whole thing playing out in my head to a soundtrack of banjo music! LOL! Thanks for the laugh!

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  9. It seems you have run afoul with your peahens....

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  10. Oh my goodness, what hijinks and hilarity are going on at your farm! Another memory made, and I think this will not be the last chapter in the romance novel that is your life on the farm! Wicked mother-in-law... you have me laughing.

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  11. Hmmmm....wonder if the bachelorettes weren't too keen on "arranged marriages" and decided to take their chances in the wild?

    I've been laughing and laughing at your tromping all over the place. What must the two young rambunctious boys think of all the hullabaloo?

    Diane in North Carolina

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  12. On the upside, the rooftop is not a bad spot for her! :) No sign of the other one yet? I don't envy you chasing them, we had a major jailbreak at twilight the other night that had us crawling through bracken and trying to convince the chickens that the coop was safer than the bush. Ugh!

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  13. Oh Jeri, I feel your pain. Some of our neighbors didn't want our peas in their yard and we tried to tell them we couldn't catch them (they threatened to shoot them). This morning bright and early, my semi-wild Gracie had escaped her paddock and after a frantic search and rescue, I finally got her back to pasture. I nearly had a heart attack. And, I just saw that our houses are the same color.

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  14. Sympathise with you having to run around with an injured knee, Jeri - but it's been a very interesting read! Hope those girls start to behave themselves soon. Lesley x

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  15. Oh Jeri, to see you flip flopping through rivers after peacocks !

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  16. What a story! So well-written and left me giggling and hanging on to the edge of my seat, all the while feeling your pain!

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  17. Ah Jeri - read your previous post - just catching up - the peabody boys may really have their hands full with these runaway brides. I had visions of you lost in the brambles with two dogs in the mix...so glad that no one was hurt in all this running about and that the one bride decided to return. Take care of your knee my friend and don't be worryin about being a bad mother-in-law (LOL).

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  18. Hi Jeri,
    Now that is what I call playing hard to get! Just look at her way up there, what a hoot!!! There is always something going on in the Hollow, that is for sure... Glad all is oi..
    Take care of that knee..
    fondly,
    Penny

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