BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!

Subject: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: skipy
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 07:27 PM

This afternoon I was driving through the pretty village of Denchworth Oxfordshire, I was held up for several minutes by a peacock, tail out, standing in the road! I even considered turning around & using another route! Just wondered what other people have been held up by?
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: CarolC
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 07:35 PM

Around here, some people have been held up by alligators sunning themselves in the middle of the road. I haven't yet, myself, but I live in hope...

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Amos
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 07:40 PM

Driving in the predawn dark in the periferico (ring-road) outside of Guadalajara, I was held up by a copper-skinned Indian naked to the waist, facing the Eastern dawnlight, who had stopped his truck and gotten out, donned a ceremonial head-dress, and was standing in the road doing a ceremonial meditation of some kind.   He was lucky we didn't hit him in the dark. We crept slowly around him and carried on--just another "Mexico moment" in a long series of adventures South of the Border.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 08:02 PM

I was once held up by a man wearing a ski mask and pointing a rusty 12 gauge shotgun, but that's a different meaning of "held up", huh?

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 08:05 PM

Mule deer, a cougar, a rattlesnake. I let all of them have right-of-way.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: CarolC
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 08:21 PM

We didn't get held up by a white tail deer so much as we scooped it up with the windshield of our car and carried it along for a bit.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 08:24 PM

Moose in Alaska are the hold-upper of choice.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 08:26 PM

Nah -- at least once that I know of a motorcycle just tried to drive through one (outside Glenallen, 1997 or 98).

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 08:49 PM

Not a good idea, Rap. (Bet you wrecked your bike. :)

Did you know that a moose stomps with all four feet?

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 08:57 PM

Upon occasion I have exited my vehicle just off the road and have transformed into a Peecock myself................

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: maeve
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 09:02 PM

And did you fan your tail and preen?

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 09:35 PM

I used to be a werewolf, but I changed.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: artbrooks
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 09:37 PM

Got held up by a couple of javalena crossing Interstate 10 (I-10) in west Texas last month.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 10:48 PM

"And did you fan your tail and preen?"

No Maeve, but I did fart and it blew out the headlight of a passing Mazda...........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Janie
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 10:52 PM

Wouldn't have happened to a Ford F250....

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Amos
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:39 AM

Must be some kinda dingleberry attached...


A

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Alice
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:45 AM

I had a peacock experience. Backing the car out of my driveway, I suddenly saw brilliant metallic green colors flashing by on the sidewalk . It was a HUGE peacock, trucking up the street as fast as he could. I got out and started to run after him, he was too fast, so I had to turn back and call the animal control officer to let them know which direction he was headed. There is a home on a large lot near our neighborhood where the owners have had peacocks for many years. Rarely do they escape. That was a close one!

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Alice
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:55 AM

Wild animals that have blocked the road in front of my car:
Elk, singular and in herds
Bison, singular and in herds
bears
big horn sheep
rocky mountain goats
moose

deer and antelope run out of the way

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: bald headed step child
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 02:41 AM

I also have been held up by a peacock on more than one occasion. Here in Kansas a lot of farmers use them much like guard dogs. They will make as much noise, but they won't eat the chickens.

Cattle on more than one occasion.

The most un-nerving though was a bull bison in Roosevelt NWA in North Dakota. It was in a rest area that I was trying to access in a Freightliner tractor trailer.

I thought I should have the right of way as I was much larger, and he seemed to think I didn't look that big to him.

I was 13.5 feet tall, 8.5 feet wide, and 75 feet long, but he was not impressed.

It took about 10 minutes of discussion before he finally wandered off the road.

I'm not sure exactly what he was saying during the discussion as I don't speak bison, but bison does sound a lot like drunk biker, so I think I was getting the general idea. ;)

BHSC

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: bald headed step child
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 02:48 AM

Ooops, forgot to mention blue haired snow bunnies.

Southern U S is crawling with them this time of year. ;}

BHSC

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Megan L
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 03:07 AM

ah we obviously live a far gentler life her aprt from milking time the only things that ever stopped the flow of traffic (he he)was two old me one would take his Jersey cow for a walk and the other had three sheep on leads which he always took for a walk at dusk. Then there was the day a mother duck and five ducklings decided life was nicer on the other side of the road then found it wasnt :)

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 03:10 AM

deer and antelope run out of the way

Must have happened while driving across the prairie huh Alice?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 03:11 AM

Or will any range do?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: ragdall
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 03:14 AM

Moose and cattle own the roads here.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: open mike
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 03:15 AM

i have come upon cattle drives a few times..
thery used to use the local paved road to
transport cattle to the high meadows and
back each memorial (May) and labor day (Sep)

also have stopped for snakes stretched out
across the road. also geese . i once stopped
and scooped up a small owl that was sitting on
the striped line in the middle of the road. I
presume he was hit by a car and was dazed for
a while. it later recovered and flew away.

on christmas i came across a road killed pheasnat
and stopped to pluck a few feathers. i also
have picked up foxes, ring tailed cats and other
unfortunate critters who lost their lives on roads.

i skinned the fox, kept the tail of the ring-tail
and have owl and hawk wings. i never kept a striped
kitty (skunk)

i have pulled several deer out of the road way
after they died in a spot where they blocked traffic.

life is rough out there for varmints@!

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 05:04 AM

I take it you are a vegetarian then, open mike, if you only took a few feathers from the pheasant.

Deer leaping in front of cars at night is a common problem, as they are dazzled by the lights and don't know which way to run. So if you spot deer ahead, dip your lights to give them a chance.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 08:04 AM

drunk drivers who've lost their licenses and ride lawnmowers around town.

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: wyrdolafr
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 10:11 AM

This happened to me a few years ago in York (England). I wanted to go through an open gate but this great big bird just sat down in the gap between the walls.

I didn't want to shoo him away and just had to wait until he'd stopped staring and me - possibly wondering who the hell I was and what I was doing - and got up and sashayed away in a blaze of blue and greens.

Beautiful birds who not only look like own the place but also act like it.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 10:18 AM

goats, sheep, pheasant, deer, elk, moose, bison, cows,skunks, fox, possums, coons, coyotes, dogs, I'm sure there are more.....

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: gnu
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:10 PM

mINDS ME OF WHAT THEY CALL MOOSE IN nEWFOUNDLAND... OOPS..

Newfie Speed Bump.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: frogprince
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:24 PM

There's a small bridge on the highway a couple of miles north of us. Traffic stopped one day while a young woman escorted the biggest turtle I've ever seen outside of a zoo off the road.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: GUEST,DannyC
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:44 PM

Skipy,

My wife and I had the same sort of an encounter with a peacock on full display in the middle of Rte. 395 South(in Kentucky, USA).   We had been gigging at a summer faire for three consecutive years and we have tried to vary the Sunday ride home thru the countryside just to break the tedium of the hour plus homeward sojourn.

Once we had our encounter, we established the 'peacock road' as the preferred road home. We would stop each time we came to the exotic kennel and linger in the peacocks' presence.   The farmer never bothered to come out and shoo us off or anything. We tread softly enough around the wonderful creations that we must not have been too bad of a bother.

When a young Limerick-native boxplayer happened along our way one day at the faire (the appropriately-named Helen), we drove her back to Berea on the very same day -- and were delighted to share our byroad discovery.

The only dark moment came near the end of the 2008 run when we caught full sight of a purposive coyote crossing the road (seemingly kennel-bound) just up a the rim of the rise near the farm.   We started honking and cussing the bastard... but that was the extent of our intrusion --- for, at times, we're truly sorry man's dominion has broken nature's social union.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Charmion
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 12:48 PM

One Sunday morning in Germany, while driving to work, I came to a screeching halt in the middle of Bundesbahn 36 (a major highway) near the access road to the base to avoid a large cock pheasant strolling across the road. The airfield where I worked had quite a pheasant population; one of our air defence artillery crews literally bagged one, using two garbage-bin lids and a gunny sack. The bird walked right into the sack (held open by Gunner X, hiding behind the gun-shield) to get away from the horrible noise generated by Bombardier Y with the bin lids. Maybe it was the same over-confident bird.

About a week later, a large hare bounded out of a ditch and brained himself on the front bumper of the same Beetle as I tootled down a farm track near the airfield. As hasenpfeffer, he was delicious.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Alice
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 01:10 PM

and 4 bald eagles eating road kill

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 01:48 PM

Oh yes....box/land terrapins!

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 02:30 PM

Come to think of it, over in the Tetons and in Yellowstone, we've been held up (traffic, that is) by a grizzly, coyotes, moose, bison, and a porcupine.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: fat B****rd
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 03:45 PM

Peacock, schmeacock! Here in Dunfermline , we have a peacock that occasionally saunters down the main shopping street and is on film popping into the local branch of..........Peacocks.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: artbrooks
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 03:52 PM

They have salamander crossings in Cleveland.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 04:42 PM

I have been held up on more than one occasion in ...ummmm... 'ethnic' neighborhoods by two guys in cars going in opposite direction on a narrow street stopping in the middle to chat thru opened drivers windows. Pull over to the side? Naawwww...

Did I honk and yell at them? I did not - which is why I'm here today to relate the story.

I do have opinions about the attitude, however.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: open mike
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 04:43 PM

i saw a hedghog crossing in sweden..
i think they are called Iggelkott
http://hem.passagen.se/hedgehogs/hedgehogs.html

i also have seen a dung beetle crossing sign in africa
sort of like this one:
http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Texsign-Dung-Beetle-Crossing-Insect-Novelty-Dung-Sign

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Newport Boy
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 04:44 PM

A while back, I was doing 69mph in my 2CV (near max speed) in the outer lane of the M4 towards Newport, passing a string of trucks. Between two of the trucks came 2 dogs, trotting briskly. I didn't get chance to brake, and flattened both of them. Also wrecked both wings and the bonnet of the 2CV.

MeganL mentioned ducks. My police pal came across a duck family slooowly crossing the road. He got out, stopped the following cars, and carefully shepherded the duck and ducklings off the road and into the ditch. Waving his thanks to the waiting drivers, he climbed back in and moved off -- with a BUMP -Squelch!!

Unfortunately, he'd not spotted one of the ducklings. The driver of the car behind was helpless with laughing.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Joybell
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 04:50 PM

Lots of wildlife but the strangest one was a crawling baby on a busy road beside the beach. I stopped the traffic. Scooped up the baby. Wandered hopefully along the sand among the crowds of people. After a bit a young woman said, "Oh, there she is, thanks". I had two little kids of my own. There was nothing to say except goodbye to the baby. We'd become quite fond of each other.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 04:54 PM

I have given right of way to guinea fowl, wild turkey, deer, armadillo, alligator, cows and this is the weird one. A great blue heron which walked around to driver's side from the front of my trooper as I stopped for it on route 250 in Fluvanna County. Bird looked into my window at me for several minutes then walked off of the road and into the adjacent field in which there was a tiny farm pond.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Gurney
Date: 25 Jan 09 - 09:21 PM

On the edge of Dartmoor, a ram. He wasn't impressed by my Mini-Cooper and just continued to lie there, glanced at me and looked away contemptuously. The horn/hooter was ignored, so I nudged him (very much a HIM) with the bumper.
He stood up, smashed my headlamp and dented the bonnet with one nod, and sauntered off, exuding contempt.

I wasn't game to kick his arse for him.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 09:05 AM

And for those who don't wait there's always the road kill cafe, for recycling.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: bald headed step child
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 12:15 PM

Yep, road ready flat snacks.

Bill, that's not just an ethnic thing. Around here it is very common on country roads with farmers in pickup trucks, and I've even come across the Amish doing it in their buggies.

BHSC

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 01:30 PM

A stark naked man walking across the street against the light in snow. It wasn't the first time I had encountered him. Poor soul often ended up in the local hospital after a police escort.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 01:49 PM

I once hit a bunny on Easter morning.
The only other animals I've hit were two pheasants on 2 different days on the same road in the same car.

Oh I almost forgot , I did hit and kill that contemptuous little squirrel who loved to run cars off the road and celebrate afterwards with that mean little fist pump of his.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 02:05 PM

There's a peacock running wild in my neighborhood. I first saw him walking around my yard on Thanksgiving Day (that's the fourth Thursday in November in the US) and have seen him four or five times since. I managed to get a photo the last time, about a week ago.

I just set up a Flicker account, where this is the first photo available for viewing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhenehan/?saved=1

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 02:45 PM

Leaving Khatmandu on a bus to go trekking. A cow was lain in the middle of the road where it stayed for three hours before allowing the bus to proceed. Apparently this is par for the course there and the locals were all very laid back about it.

Subject: RE: BS: Had to wait for a Peacock!
From: Darowyn
Date: 26 Jan 09 - 03:10 PM

I once had a phone call from a friend who worked in a school which had formerly been a mansion house, and still had peacocks in the grounds.
He was asking for help because a peacock had wandered into his classroom and had him pinned in the store cupboard. I went round on my motorbike and chased it out with a metre rule.(I felt safe in helmet and leathers!).
More dramatically, I was riding a 500cc Suzuki up Staxton Brow outside Scarborough one morning, when I went round a bend and found a very large Jersey Bull grazing from the hedge and taking up nearly all the road. I got the bike stopped, and since the bull appeared unfriendly- verging on aggressive, turned round and pulled into the nearest farm, knocked on the door and told them there was a bull out in the lane. Men appeared from nowhere in seconds, and a full-scale panic ensued. I was not aware how expensive a top flight bull is, and the idea of some sunday driver damaging the animal with a car worth half as much caused a great deal of concern from the entire farming community.
It appears that Jersey bulls are a bit unpredictable, so I had done the right thing in running away!
I also ran under a dog once.
I was driving a kart, and it was a big dog, so there was no possibility of running over it. It ended up sitting across my knee until the kart stopped, then it got off and ran away with no damage to either party.
Cheers
Dave