Quail Update

My mother, who has become a fan of the blog, asked me about the quail yesterday. I’ve become a bit defensive about the quail, so I almost wrote “confronted” instead of “asked” but looking back, it really was a benign inquiry.

“Now what’s this about the quail?” she’d asked. “What do you plan to do with these quail? Is it for the eggs? Quail eggs are awfully small. You'd need a lot of quail to do anything meaningful with those eggs.”

I confirmed that it was very much about the eggs. Confessing paranoia, I humbly explained that it might become a sustainable form of protein for the family in a post-apocalyptic world.

“Well, that makes sense, I guess. But then what would you feed to the quail?”

I had not thought about that. It was a good question, but it was easy to dismiss it since we were already on a topic that came from the category of irrational thoughts.

She seemed okay with my lack of response. Then she said—calmly, almost too calmly—“I’m just not sure you need to worry about how to feed your family in the event that something wipes out the economy and/or the food sources. If something takes those down, I think you’re pretty much dead right away. If, say, a nuclear bomb took out all your local grocery stores, it’s really unlikely that your house and yard would survive."

Good grief. I had NOT thought of that, either.

I always knew my mom was sensible, but morbid, too? This is too much! Yet there was something oddly reassuring about the whole exchange.

I guess the quail can wait.