Feathered house-guest.

We have a new part-time resident on our porch.... a peacock belonging to a neighbor at the bottom of the hill. The neighbor has had the bird for quite some time now, along with all of his chickens and roosters. Seems that the peacock, however, lost some of its tail feathers to a predator. We don't know if it was a dog or a coyote... could even have been a bob-cat or a fox, both of which are seen here from time to time.

I'm thinking that because the peacock had that near-death moment down the hill at his own property, he's not wanting to stay around that part of the hill at the moment. So where did he come?  To our porch, of course.... along with the orange cat (who's still here).

I've been calling the peacock "Carson" (a la Downton Abbey) and when I mentioned that to my cousin F, she said if I should find a penhen, I could call her "Mrs. Hughes."   At the moment, however, I'm not in the market for a female to keep Carson company, and I'm hoping that at some point, Carson will want to go back to his own yard and follow along with the flock of chickens and roosters down there.

For now, however, we have this beautiful peacock (whose tail feathers seem to be growing back)... and he's walking around our backyard deck and roosting on the railings around the porch. And right now as I type, Carson is admiring himself in the windows of the breakfast room while Sweet Pea watches him from the door of the TV room.

The orange cat..... not only does he spend part of his days up here on our porch, but I found out yesterday that he's been 'visiting' two of the neighbors' properties down the road. And both G and B know when he's there because he will walk around their houses and just meow for all he's worth. Which is what exactly what he does up here... he makes sure to let everyone know he's out there and ready for his bowl of Meow Mix.  A very vocal cat, that one.

Well, for now, the orange cat (along with Gatsby and Mickey) are sharing the porch with Carson, the peacock.... who, in fact, has developed a taste for Meow Mix.  I guess I'd better be buying an extra bag of that cat food, just in case Carson does indeed find a lady-friend.