Today while the kids were at school and I was working from home, we had some surprise visitors in the backyard.  Around 9:00 am, without warning or explanation, two peacocks suddenly appeared in our backyard.  They would stay there, hanging out on our back porch, just outside my office, until evening.  I emailed the neighborhood email distro, and eventually found out that they were (sort of) a neighbor’s pet, “A much as you can own a bird”, the neighbor said.  They had been trying to round up the peacocks for a while, and after a botched attempt by someone named Quentin to capture the large fowl, another attempt would be made the next day.

When Claire got home on the bus in the afternoon, I decided not to mention the peacocks right away and let her discover them herself.  A few minutes after being home, Claire came up to my office and said, “Dad, sorry to bother you, but this is important.  You won’t believe this.”  And then slowly and seriously, she said, “There are two peacocks in our backyard!”

We went out and took pictures of the birds, making sure not to let Muffin out.  As I noted in the neighborhood email, “I would like to avoid breaking up a peacock / dog fight.”  Claire would name the white peacock Caramel Dream and the colorful one Captain Chubbles.  Later, Molly got to see the peacocks too.  Molly was not quite as fascinated with them, but she did note that someone must have “painted” the colorful one.

Just Kit’s luck, the birds finally flew/hopped away over the neighbor’s roof minutes before Kit arrived at home.