California Quail

These are such amusing birds. John called me to the front door to watch 17 of them come up the front stairs, branch off along the path in front of the house and browse amongst the grasses for seeds. They were also interested in the water feature next to the stairs but seemed reluctant to drink from it, perhaps because they didn’t like the running water. There is always a sentry quail who stands on a rock or a fence post and surveys the scene while the rest have their heads down. This is the sentry on his way to a higher post. The majority of the rest of them looked like teenagers who just got out of bed.

We were greeted this morning with a letter from our insurance company saying they would not be renewing our homeowners’ insurance because we live in a hazardous area. We weren’t entirely surprised because several big companies have canceled everybody in our zip code, but we had kind of let our guard down because they didn’t do it last year. We have until November 10 to find another insurer which will not be easy due to the aforementioned.

We’ve been insured by this company for 30 years and didn’t really know where to start, but I called a neighbor who was cancelled almost three years ago. He put me in touch with an agent in Southern California who said he would take care of everything…that he would find us an insurer, that it would be expensive but he could definitely get us coverage. He said the cancellations are due to over regulation by the state department of insurance which essentially doesn’t allow insurance companies any way to recover from their big losses in the state. He thinks something will have to give and he will eventually be able to. find us a more stable long term policy.

It’s ironic that he said he was in New York and that his flight home to Southern California tomorrow would probably be cancelled due to hurricane Hillary’s predicted effects there.

We really are at the mercy of the weather and big business….