So the most interesting Christmas story so far this year would be the peafowl up on the farm in KY. Our nephew had asked for peafowl for his birthday a few years back however none had been located until a few weeks ago. G (his grandmother) managed to find some available, about 6 months old, at a reasonable price and with parental permission, contracted to purchase one male and three female for Christmas. As we were up in KY this past week, we became part of the story.
Friday was the day scheduled to go pick up the birds so Thursday evening nephew and friend were informed they were needed on a road trip the next morning. Niece was spending the night at a friend's house. When asked what they were going to be doing, the boys were told that they had to go pick up the Christmas present that G had purchased, and that they were ferrets. When asked "why ferrets?" nephew was informed that he could raise them for the fur, skin them, and sell the pelts for his college fund. (Understand here, this family hunts so the idea of raising animals for pelts is not as farfetched as it might sound.) While nephew was a bit perplexed as to how this would work out, his father and his uncle managed to spin quite a good story as to the value of the pelts, how quickly the animals grew to maturity, and how fast they reproduced. His mother and I threw a few comments in here and there and the biggest obstacle seemed to be how to handle the smell. That night, nephew and friend were overheard to discuss how they didn't want ferrets, but that they could do this and help save for college.
While we were not along for the ride or the discovery . . . there was a very happy boy to find out he was picking up four birds and zero ferrets the next morning. But, the story continues. The guys managed to sell friend's mother on the fact that ferrets were now part of the farm and as this is where niece was spending the night, niece was convinced she was coming home to ferrets. When taken out to the coop to see the ferrets, she confusedly remarked "those are ferrets? no they aren't! those are peafowl!" and the fun continued. Even to the point of telling other grandmother they had received ferrets and causing her to think that G had lost her mind.
So now, everyone knows there are no ferrets on the farm. Just four new birds. Who will turn out to be beautiful and I look forward to seeing them the next time we visit.
The below picture is not of these new peafowl, just happens to be two peacocks visiting from next door. And I really enjoy it when they do . . .
