Peeep-peep-peep-PEEP-peep....
What a weekend it has been!
On Friday, I drove my old Chevy down into town to meet the straight truck with six crates of flintlocks. They were piled pretty high, but we made it back up the hill safely. Paul was there to help, and Wendell stopped by as well. The snow was really beginning to fly, so we muscled all six crates into the shop to open them inside.
It was our first look at the new Ketland pistol and the new Cookson fowler. All I can say is WOW!!!
I don't mean to overshadow the outstanding job that was done on the Ketland project, but the fowler is just plain awesome! It's taller than Wendy. It balances so well that when you aim it, it will just seem to hang there motionless in the air. It's long and slender, with a very comfortable feel to it. So far only five people have seen it. Something about a gun this long just makes you want to giggle like a schoolgirl.
I called Jeff to come and see them, I wouldn't want him to miss "the unveiling" of the Cookson. Of course he stayed and talked until his wife to say he was about to miss dinner. You put a few reenactors together in a room full of flintlocks and there is no way it will be a short conversation!
Charlie came up on Saturday morning. Left his house at 7AM, got stuck twice trying to come up the hill in the storm. At some point, Brian (lives down the road) stopped by and helped pulled him out with his truck. Brian is a nice guy who would go out of his way to help a stranger. He's been very good to us in our first winter here.
The snow got worse and worse, so we just left Charlie's truck in town and came up to the house in the Suburban. He and Gracie stayed the night. Caleigh was very glad to have Gracie to play with, even though she had her first earache on Saturday night. It is truly amazing how much disorder and noise a 3 year old and a 4 year old can create.
Sunday came and the storm ended, so Charlie and Gracie headed home.
Monday morning and it was time to get moving on getting stuff prepped, packed and shipped. When all of a sudden, we get a call from the post office! They wanted me to get down there ASAP to pick up a very noisy cardboard box full of day-old baby chickens. Peep-peep-peep-peep!!!
There were a total of 54 in the box. One died in transit, and one died late this afternoon with a "pasty butt" problem. (it's a bird thing, I won't go into details) There is quite a mix of birds, some layers and some meat birds. I had ordered a 25-pack of assorted meat birds ($15) and a small flock each of New Hampshire Reds, Barred Rocks, Black Giants and Araucanas. Araucanas are the chickens from South America that lay colored eggs, I thought they would be fun. The hatchery also threw in free "exotic" chick of their choosing. I'm pretty sure it is a Brahma, the chick looks sort of like a sheepdog and is the only one of it's type in the flock.
I built a brooder for them using a musket crate. It's lined with wood shavings and contains a feeder full of "chick starter" and a 1-gallon waterer. There is a "brooder lamp" clipped to the box to keep the temperature at 95 degrees in the middle of the box. Each week, you are supposed to raise the lamp a little to lower the temperature in the box by 5 degrees.
By the time the little peepers are old enough to go outside, it should be spring. I'm going to build a coop for them out of recycled musket crates. It's probably be the only mahogany and rosewood chicken coop in New Hampshire!
We may also build a few "chicken tractors". They are portable enclosures that you keep the birds in so they can forage bugs and grass off of the ground without wandering off into the woods to be eaten by something other than me. Sort of like a semi-free range setup.
In the meantime, I'm accumulating pallets every time I go to town with my truck. Dan's Max Saver puts them out behind the building for people to take. Some folks burn them as they are almost always made of good hardwood, but I plan to use them to build a pig pen. I have figured out where to get feed, now I need to figure out where to get a couple of feeder pigs. That project will have to wait until the snow melts.
In the meantime, Caleigh is running around here singing "Old McCaleigh had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-o, and on this farm there were some chickies, ee-i-ee-i-o, with a chick-chick here and a chick-chick there..." etc. We had a discussion about pigs this morning, she wasn't shook up about the fact that you actually eat real pigs, she was kind of shocked at the idea that you can actually eat the pig's nose and feet. No vegans in this house!
Recently I told her that she can have a fish tank when she gets a little bigger. I told her that she can watch them swim and can even get to feed them all by herself. She replied "Then we get to eat them?". It was a proud moment for me!
Peep-peep-peep-PEEP-peep.....
On Friday, I drove my old Chevy down into town to meet the straight truck with six crates of flintlocks. They were piled pretty high, but we made it back up the hill safely. Paul was there to help, and Wendell stopped by as well. The snow was really beginning to fly, so we muscled all six crates into the shop to open them inside.
It was our first look at the new Ketland pistol and the new Cookson fowler. All I can say is WOW!!!
I don't mean to overshadow the outstanding job that was done on the Ketland project, but the fowler is just plain awesome! It's taller than Wendy. It balances so well that when you aim it, it will just seem to hang there motionless in the air. It's long and slender, with a very comfortable feel to it. So far only five people have seen it. Something about a gun this long just makes you want to giggle like a schoolgirl.
I called Jeff to come and see them, I wouldn't want him to miss "the unveiling" of the Cookson. Of course he stayed and talked until his wife to say he was about to miss dinner. You put a few reenactors together in a room full of flintlocks and there is no way it will be a short conversation!
Charlie came up on Saturday morning. Left his house at 7AM, got stuck twice trying to come up the hill in the storm. At some point, Brian (lives down the road) stopped by and helped pulled him out with his truck. Brian is a nice guy who would go out of his way to help a stranger. He's been very good to us in our first winter here.
The snow got worse and worse, so we just left Charlie's truck in town and came up to the house in the Suburban. He and Gracie stayed the night. Caleigh was very glad to have Gracie to play with, even though she had her first earache on Saturday night. It is truly amazing how much disorder and noise a 3 year old and a 4 year old can create.
Sunday came and the storm ended, so Charlie and Gracie headed home.
Monday morning and it was time to get moving on getting stuff prepped, packed and shipped. When all of a sudden, we get a call from the post office! They wanted me to get down there ASAP to pick up a very noisy cardboard box full of day-old baby chickens. Peep-peep-peep-peep!!!
There were a total of 54 in the box. One died in transit, and one died late this afternoon with a "pasty butt" problem. (it's a bird thing, I won't go into details) There is quite a mix of birds, some layers and some meat birds. I had ordered a 25-pack of assorted meat birds ($15) and a small flock each of New Hampshire Reds, Barred Rocks, Black Giants and Araucanas. Araucanas are the chickens from South America that lay colored eggs, I thought they would be fun. The hatchery also threw in free "exotic" chick of their choosing. I'm pretty sure it is a Brahma, the chick looks sort of like a sheepdog and is the only one of it's type in the flock.
I built a brooder for them using a musket crate. It's lined with wood shavings and contains a feeder full of "chick starter" and a 1-gallon waterer. There is a "brooder lamp" clipped to the box to keep the temperature at 95 degrees in the middle of the box. Each week, you are supposed to raise the lamp a little to lower the temperature in the box by 5 degrees.
By the time the little peepers are old enough to go outside, it should be spring. I'm going to build a coop for them out of recycled musket crates. It's probably be the only mahogany and rosewood chicken coop in New Hampshire!
We may also build a few "chicken tractors". They are portable enclosures that you keep the birds in so they can forage bugs and grass off of the ground without wandering off into the woods to be eaten by something other than me. Sort of like a semi-free range setup.
In the meantime, I'm accumulating pallets every time I go to town with my truck. Dan's Max Saver puts them out behind the building for people to take. Some folks burn them as they are almost always made of good hardwood, but I plan to use them to build a pig pen. I have figured out where to get feed, now I need to figure out where to get a couple of feeder pigs. That project will have to wait until the snow melts.
In the meantime, Caleigh is running around here singing "Old McCaleigh had a farm, ee-i-ee-i-o, and on this farm there were some chickies, ee-i-ee-i-o, with a chick-chick here and a chick-chick there..." etc. We had a discussion about pigs this morning, she wasn't shook up about the fact that you actually eat real pigs, she was kind of shocked at the idea that you can actually eat the pig's nose and feet. No vegans in this house!
Recently I told her that she can have a fish tank when she gets a little bigger. I told her that she can watch them swim and can even get to feed them all by herself. She replied "Then we get to eat them?". It was a proud moment for me!
Peep-peep-peep-PEEP-peep.....
posted by MVTCoPete | 2:20 AM
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