Three Mother Quails

Dale was moving some stuff off the lawn against the fence and under some signs found a little nest of quail eggs. He decided that they were abandoned and dead (for lack of a better word) so didn't put the signs back. Scout and I visited them and talked about them (and I'm not going to lie, grieved a little for the poor quail babies) and a few days later we kept noticing two quails hanging around the driveway. It's the mommy and daddy and those eggs are very much not abandoned! The nest is located very close to where we park our cars, but that mommy and daddy are very brave and will protect those little eggs even with us around.
Rob and I have turned into fierce little mommy quails too. We are also protecting those eggs like they were our own. Some neighbor boys discovered them while retrieving a ball from the backyard and we had to shoo them away. One time, I stepped out of the house to take the garbage out and one of the same neighbor boys had mommy quail captured in a net and when he saw me released her quickly (he hasn't been back and won't be if he knows whats good for him!) If we come home and we see mommy quail on her nest, we whisper and tiptoe inside. We have had long debates over whether to put the signs back or not to give her some privacy, but we have settled with not. We don't want to disturb anything else any further in case she takes that as a last straw and she is such a good mommy, she is doing very well as is. We don't want to rock the boat. We will keep you all informed on the progress. We are excited for the big day and hope it comes soon so we don't have to worry about them so much.

Here is mommy quail on her nest (taken far away with zoom, so not real good sorry)