The story behind the pool noodle emu-dueling lawn mowing internet sensation in Midlothian

MIDLOTHIAN, Texas — The Midlothian couple that has turn out to be an internet sensation, from Texas all the method to Australia, mentioned the supply of their fame is exhibiting indicators of calming down a bit. 

But a pool-noodle-armed husband will preserve his defenses at the prepared simply in case Cosmo the emu decides to go on the assault once more.

Toby and Michelle Wilson dwell on a quiet two acres in Midlothian, and like many mother and father, agreed to most of the requests from their youngsters about what pets they needed to have. So, the Wilson family is a menagerie of canines and cats and cockatiels and hermit crabs. And when one daughter requested emus, they mentioned sure to that too.

“Absolutely raised them in the house,” Toby Wilson mentioned of the flightless birds from Australia second in dimension solely to an ostrich. “Swam in the pool with them. And just treated them like little dogs, kinda.” 

Michelle even reduce holes in a few of Toby’s socks so the child emus might parade round the home in “diapers.”

But now empty nesters, the Wilsons have been left to cope with the menagerie on their very own. Including the indisputable fact that the two “male” emus they bought … weren’t. 

Rocky, the second emu, turned out to be feminine. A clutch of eggs appeared subsequent and Cosmo, the proud dad, immediately started to vary.

“He just snapped. At that point, I guess nature just took over and he snapped. And his whole intention was to protect those eggs,” Toby Wilson mentioned.

And that protecting emu dad appeared most frequently when Toby Wilson was on his using lawnmower making an attempt to mow the pasture behind their home. Cosmo would run and assault anytime Toby Wilson bought too near Pebbles, the child emu.

“It started getting funny because I kept watching him and watching Cosmo dart across the yard and try to attack him,” Michelle Wilson mentioned. “And so I said why am I sitting her wasting my time when I can record this and send it to my friends.”

But her pals additionally included a rising viewers on TikTok. Toby Wilson had found that if he took a pool noodle with him, he might joust and fend off Cosmo, get the yard mowed, and survive the ordeal unscathed.

“The idea was sound. The noodle was working,” Toby Wilson mentioned. 

A pool noodle hat, nonetheless, was not. 

“And the thought, the idea was to put the noodle on the hat so that it would kind of expand my radar signature right? But it wasn’t that effective,” Toby Wilson mentioned.

But the comedy Michelle Wilson was recording on her telephone was extraordinarily efficient. Millions of views on-line that led to appearances on CNN and even Australian TV.

“And before I knew it, my oldest was calling me asking me had I looked to see how many view I had. I said no. She said oh my gosh everybody’s laughing at Dad. I’m like are you kidding me,” Michelle Wilson laughed. “I hear people saying they saw it in other states or other countries. And I’m like, y’all got to be kidding me. It was just a video are y’all serious?”

“We got so many calls, it was craziness,” Toby Wilson mentioned. “Yeah I’m OK with it. Look, it’s really she had fun, as long as she was having fun I didn’t care, even if it was my expense.”

“But he would hurt me if he could,” Toby Wilson mentioned of the protecting Cosmo. “And my only intent was to mow the lawn and get out of there as quick as possible. And look, if that entertained people, great,” Toby Wilson mentioned as his spouse laughed.

The good news in that two-acre Midlothian yard is that, on our go to a minimum of, Cosmo gave the impression to be calming down, not at all times as susceptible to assault. And Michelle Wilson, the obvious emu whisperer who was hugging and kissing Rocky once we have been there, does not look like in any hazard in any respect.

But Toby Wilson is aware of – and accepts the reality – that he may at all times be in hazard of showing in Michelle’s subsequent TikTok sensation.

“I’ll be sitting here reading a book or something, and I hear some shenanigans going on. And I peak around the corner and she’s filming a Tik Tok video about somethin’,” Toby Wilson mentioned as they each laughed.

Somethin’ that thousands and thousands followers of an emu-dueling pool-noodle-armed husband … will certainly get to see.