After-action report from Castle Frostbite: no big harm done here. We lost power for a few hours, and the winds were worryingly strong at times, but nothing got damaged. The chicken house remained in place. The chickens have benefited from Sandy—when I let them out this morning, the run was a muddy mess, but all…
Category: castle frostbite.
snor’eastercane update.
The weather is still pretty sedate here in Upper Cryogenica. The wind gusts have picked up a bit, but it’s still nothing unusual for the season. The storm is predicted to pass well to our west, but we’re still in the cone of possible projected courses, so we’ll see how that goes. New York is…
megafridge.
This is our new fridge: I don’t usually go all nuts over new appliances in the house, but I love this fridge. Our old fridge came with the house, and like all the other appliances in the place, it was an early Nineties piece of junk from the “Better Than Nothing” section of the…
unsavory characters.
Here’s a sampler platter of the local New Hampshire wildlife that has visited the chicken coop in the last few weeks. Cat. Bird. Fox. Skunk. Subaru.
eggs!
Araucanas are sometimes called “Easter eggers” because they lay pastel blue-green eggs. (Notice the size differences in this batch. They’re still adjusting their dispensing units.) The eggs from our hens taste better than the store-bought ones. The yolks are darker and more flavorful. It’s been a fair amount of work and effort, but it’s nice…
the first return on our avian investment.
Behold! The first egg from our little flock of laying hens. When I factor in the cost for the flock, the feed, the labor, and that deluxe chicken house and run, that egg is worth about three grand.
cluckheim calls for aid.
The new patio, pieced together from leftover granite and marble countertop pieces. A little while ago I was out on the new patio area, putting together some planters and trinkets the wife had ordered for the new outdoor space. As I was screwing together the driftwood planter, I heard the characteristic “red alert” bawk-bawk-bawking of…
a shack of one’s own.
Neil Gaiman has one. Roald Dahl had one. So did Mark Twain, George Bernard Shaw, Dylan Thomas, Virginia Woolf, and a bunch of other famous inkslingers. I am, of course, talking about a writing shed. The idea for one (or the obsession with it, however you want to look at it) has been firmly planted…
yo, rocky.
He keeps stopping by once or twice a week even though he can’t get into the coop. Maybe he just likes having his picture taken.
weekend recap.
My old school friend Joerg stopped by for the weekend. He is on a business trip to Ontario, and he had the time to visit with us for two days, so I did my best to play New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce. On Saturday, I took him for a drive down to southern NH (with…