Today after school, Aspen and I found a quail lying on the north lawn. We thought, "another bird is going to lay eggs in the yard again." So we went to pick up the other kids from school and as soon as we got home, the other three kids plus the neighbor kids instantly found the quail and started poking sticks at it...I said leave it alone, it's going to lay eggs. That was not the case. The kids poked at it for another half hour before they realized that it was really dead. I told Madison and her friend to find a shoes box so that we can bury it. The box they found said American Eagle on it, so that's what we named the quail before we burried it. I asked all the kids who were there to witness the burial if they would like to say any last words. Aspen said, "this is not the first bird to leave us (right after the duck from the previous blog post hatched her eggs, they were gone). And I said " and probably won't be the last."
I've turned my kids into bird watchers. :)
And because I had the shovel out digging holes, Austin wanted to plant his bean plant from school. And I wanted to plant the lily I got for mother's day. So I continued digging in the yard til the plants were planted and the sidewalk was clear of dirt and weeds. Just as I finshed, it started to rain.