On our return from the Bantam Swap, I placed the cage, with Kupa’s surprise, into the still empty turkey enclosure and left the cage door open while closing the pen door. This was so Kupa could see but not touch for a wee while. I had no idea how peacocks behave with strangers. 
Kupa was tranfixed with what slowly emerged from the cage and he sat down outside the door to the pen and gazed. The Duke of Kupa put on his best and most patient expression and waited. He waited outside the pen for hours. Just watching. 
After I could see that there were not going to be any problems, I let him into the enclosure so you could see his surprise too! I know this is an arranged marriage and I don’t want to overwhelm him but I hope he is not averse to having TWO wives. These girls were too beautiful to leave there for just anyone to take home.
Meet Tui (on the left) and Pania (on the right). Our two new peahens. I was not prepared for how beautiful they are. I thought they would be mousy and dull but they are speckled and fat and gorgeous, with green scarves around their necks and those delicate crowns. They look like large well fed thrushes dressed up for a ball. 
All afternoon they gently flowed about the large enclosure like a tiny school of fish. When Kupa moved left, they moved left, when he settled down so did they, when he flew to the roost they clumsily followed. Kupa is happiness filled. He will have to stay in there with them for a few days until they settle down and learn the peacock call. Which by the way is Neil Neil!! Thank you darling. When I call Neil Neil, Kupa appears and hops up to his feeding ledge, which luckily is IN the turkey enclosure. The girls will learn this too. Then he can lead them out and show them about. But not today.
They were in a good spot because later on in the afternoon the weather turned from bright and sunny to dark and threatening without warning. I guess if we had the weather channel we would have had warning, but we were working outside and don’t watch TV anyway. 
A squall of high wind and dust raced across the prairie straight at the house, then turned on a dime and wooshed back into itself. You can see from these shots how is came forward then whipped back up. 
Hmm, I said eloquently, is that a tornado! No, said our John, that is just a dust cloud! But it is strange. The wind was extreme so this conversation was discussed in stacatto shouts as we raced to and fro saving potted seedlings and buckets as they flew past. Then just as suddenly it stopped. Like when you raise your voice to speak to someone at a dinner party and suddenly the table goes completely quiet. Not by design of course. But always at the wrong moment. A surprised quiet dropped like a brick. Is it over? I said.
The local looked at the sky and turned pondering.
Then the phone rung from inside the house.
It was The Matriarch calling from town. Get into the basement, she said, the tornado sirens are going off here.
Is it really a tornado? I said, as John put down the phone and reached for the IPad. Wait, John said the connection is slow. Is it coming this way? I need to get animals in. I am out the door and pulling my gumboots back on. Wait, I will see. John is tapping at his stupid little box. He caught up with me in the barn. We need to get them in, he said. Forget the computer, look at the sky. He pointed to the horizon. A wide shaft of dark cloud was heading our way from town, not a tornado, but mean looking. This was not a dust storm. This was heavy and dark, it reached from the sky to the ground, and was widening as we watched, racing for us.
Now, you will remember that all my animals have their own call. And my voice was trained for the stage. So as the wind rose again so did my voice. I called everyone in one by one and John moved them through the barn to their pens. One at a time each paddock was cleared, fast, gates shut. I was running, so were the animals. No-one argued. Ton went down when he was told and leapt forward when he was told. Daisy had some trouble getting through her four foot gate at speed and Queenie was terribly surprised to be handed a Get Out Of Jail card so soon. Mama with her babies and Mia at her heel trotted into her sunroom. Hairy said, oh good, time for a wee lie down, and Kupa told his new flock to hold on to their perches. The pigs, three chickens and Mary’s cat were already bedded down in the pigsty so I shut all the big barn doors one after the other.
Just as John got the last vehicle under cover, and I slammed and latched the last barn door the rain began. Hard. By now the horizon was gone, the dark had come, the lightening and thunder were consecutive, like strobes with drums in a 70’s disco and directly overhead. I yelled at the Big Dog to get into the house as I raced for the porch, chased by lightening, the dog ran under the house and I smacked through the kitchen door followed by dark deafening thunder as the screen door slammed behind me.
We turned and dripped on the floor as we looked back out at the already raging storm. The air was thick with wind blown rain running horizontally. But we were OK. Everyone was where they were meant to be. All secure. It was just a storm. We could relax now. I reached down to pull at TonTon’s ear. Good job Dog. Dog was not there.
Where’s my dog? I said to John.
He look at the mat in the kitchen. He looked back outside. You are not going back out there, he said. It is too dangerous.
It’s not so bad. I said. I will be fast. I pulled on my sodden jacket again and stepped wet feet back into my green rubber boots.
You’ll be hit by lightening, he shouted, as I ran down the steps.
I’ve never been hit by lightening in my life, I laughed back. Already gone. Head down, eyes almost closed, gumboots filling with water. Fighting through the storm back to the barn.
TonTon was there where I had left him, with a Down command just inside a door, in a pen, surrounded by animals. He was so pleased to see me, he became the cork in a champagne bottle and beat me back to the house.
Good morning. The thunder and lightening disco rolled for hours in the night. All together so far we have had three inches of rain. And it is raining again right now. I have not been outside yet this morning but I don’t think we have sustained any damage, just a severe storm. I will let you know. Minty’s bottle is warming. Time to start work. It will be a wet day. Nice.
Have a lovely day yourself.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
93 responses to “Love at First Sight. Kupa, The Romantic Peacock !”
So Kupa has a harem, eh? I hope that rain storm passes by us. t
yes you can share your rain with those dry states.. ! isn’t it funny how some states get heaps and other places are parched! c
God Kupa’s first sight reminds me of the love scene from Romeo & Juliet (Luhrmann’s :D)
How romantic – both your beautiful female additions have so much grace and poise, it is no wonder Kupa is game!
On another note, what a terrifying experience – you were so brave to go back though I understand completely why – we never have tornados down in Aus (touchwood) so I cannot even imagine the experience!
Thank god your safe, your family, both human and animal. is safe as well 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I know that scene. I love that movie! And yes if there were a couple of fish swimming past it would be exactly the one.. Morning Chip.. c
Glad you’re safe and I can just picture TonTon’s face. But no heading out in tornadoes, please C.
Thats Ok Greg, it wasn’t a tornado! And TonTon is afraid of thunder! he needed to go and hide in the bathroom!! c
Oh Dog! How exciting! I love how you can call the crew and they come right in.
And how did you get the notify to not default to checked?
Go to settings>discussion and uncheck the follow-up comments box! Saves you all the trouble.. morning rumpy.. c
Ton Ton is an incredible dog! And Kupa’s new ladies are lovely!
Aren’t they just lovely, there were huge turtles there yesterday too! Amazing creatures, but expensive for me though! c
Wonderful romance and a thriller!
Morning Mad! c
well, this is all so thrilling! what a first day for the new girls! they are gorgeous. i love a good storm and this one sure was exciting. i hope it comes my way! we really need rain!
I will blow it across for you, watch for the string! c
Scary. Glad you started us out with a bit of lovely romance first. Your second dust storm photo does look just like a tornado forming. Your were very fortunate. Do you have a weather radio at least??? Glad everyone was safe! xo, Lynda
Nope. Nothing. And i am outside all day anyway, even with a radio i would not hear it. but i am learning to watch the sky.. Morning Lynda. c
Boy, do you know how to do drama. I’d love to see a play you’d written. What a relief that they’re all so well-trained by you. Even TonTon: you told him to down, and down he stayed.
I used to take my lovely spaniel Timmy to work – an architect’s office, 9 young men and me – and at lunchtime we would go walkies in busy centtral Birmingham with no lead. I would say Down and Wait while I queued to collect everyone’s lunches at the sandwich bar. One day I arrived back at the office, head in the clouds as usual, and the lads said “Where’s Timmy?” When I arrived back at the shop he was still waiting patiently, though clearly very pleased to see his cruel mistress!
Oh that is so funny.. poor Timmy. TonTon empathises. Did the poor fella watch you walk past with arms full of steaming food!? Brilliant story of a well trained dog., morning Viv. c
Oh gosh, MEANT TO TELL YOU, both Celia and ChgJohn have pointed out to me that we can turn OFF the option for email comment follow ups on our own pages. Saving you all from having to uncheck the bad box in my comments each time. Here are Celia’s words! Thanks Fig and ChgJohn..
“It’s under Settings -> Discussion and then all you need to do is unselect the option that says:
“Show a ‘follow comments” option in the comment form” . VOILA!! Good morning..c
You are a brilliant writer (and woman, I suspect).
Bill what a cool thing to say.. I hope there are no bad winds in your skies! c
What weather! I have to admit that I think I prefer to deal with gales being channelled up the glen rather than some huge, mean entity barrelling across the Prarie! Thank goodness everyone was safe. And as for those peahens, just beautiful. I’m sure Kupa’s thrilled with his new companions. Might keep his beak shut for a while too, which will be thrilling for John of course!
Christine
I told him that he will be quieter now, i said Christine SAID! je is looking dubious but I have not head a peep out of the birds yet! c
My oh My…I was out of breath and Farshvitst by the time you were safely in the house..what an obedient little dog Ton-Ton is. I hope everything and every one is where they should be this morning. Lucky, Lucky Kupa!
J
Yes jess, everyone is present and correct.. no problems there , they have all been booted back outside.. which dismays hairy more than anyone else.. c
What a day! So much excitement for all!
Glad to hear that everyone is all right.
Morning Klaus.. how have you been , i must pop over and see what you have been up to! c
I would be like John, yelling at you not to go back out into that storm. The “dust cloud” sure looks like a funnel cloud to me. And, BTW, your description of the wide shaft of dark cloud barreling toward your farm also sounds like a possible tornado. Really wide tornadoes, accompanied with those strong rains, do not always look like the typical tornado you would expect. So glad you are all safe.
John has never seen one so we were not sure. I must remember that .. thank you Audrey. And I spoke to my MIL this morning and she said that a tornado had been spotted barrelling up our closed highway! Sticking to the road evidently but exceeding the speed limit! So that is pretty close. c