Wow, it's been pretty crazy here at the homestead these past couple of weeks. Let's travel back in time and I'll explain it all.
Way back in October, a terrible tragedy occurred when my little dogs snuffed an entire flock of ducklings while I was out running an errand. I didn't really have time to properly grieve, because my husband and I were taking a road trip to the Bay Area just two days later and I still hadn't done my laundry. We were headed up north to check out some neighborhoods in case we did decide to make the big move. We needed to see if our 'Plan B' was a possibility or a pipe dream. Suffice to say that the trip did not yield any hopeful results as far as that went, but we did have some enjoyable moments. The day before we were set to leave, we made a quick trip to Chinatown in search of a calendar scroll. I collect them and I have one for every year for the past ten years, always bought on one of our trips. I never cheated and bought one of the Internet, so I really needed a 2010 scroll if I didn't want to break my streak. No luck finding a 2010 scroll in October if you can imagine that, but one shop had something I found even more amazing. A little cage full of little quails. The shop was selling dressed birds and quail eggs, but they also had live quails available for purchase. My husband is really the best ever because I said to him, " I want one!" and he said, "Get one." No, no, no, that would be ridiculous, right? I mean what would I do with 4 quail in a hotel room (they were 4 for $5) and then on an eight hour drive? In my old age, I am finally acting like a grown-up, because I resisted the very strong urge to buy four quails that day, even though it would have been super cool to have quails from my very fave city!
Although I abstained, those quails were all I could think of. I kicked myself for days for not buying those special SF quail. What a coup that would have been! I am not exaggerating that probably half of my knick-knacks & decor is from San Francisco. I love it that much. But I told myself to get over it, those quail were no longer a possibility and we were never taking another road trip to the Bay Area. I knew there was no way in hell my husband was ever going to make that drive again, because he told me so. The duck pen looked so empty, I just couldn't bear to keep seeing it that way. I did research on keeping quail and decided I could totally pull it off. I began looking daily on Craigslist for quail. I had seen them before but, of course, now that I was looking for them they were not to be found. It took a couple of weeks before I finally hooked up with a lady who had hatched and raised some Coturnix Quail, and now was re-homing them. That's what they call it on Craigslist because technically you are not supposed to sell animals. Whatever. She needed to find a new home for them because they were being picked on by her flock of tiny button quail. Coturnix are so docile that they were being abused by the much smaller button quail and they looked mighty raggedy. Some of them were completely bald on their backs. It was a pathetic sight.
We got them home and into their new pen. They seemed to really like it. No more bullying by birds half their size and lots of grass to burrow in. Watching them joyfully frolic in their new home made me feel happy.
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