Life – Page 24 – New England's Narrow Road

No Eggs For You!

Summer in New England means fresh country eggs and it seems that many folks raise their own chickens. (Click here to see pics of their baby chicks!) My neighbors have some (that I ‘babysit’ when they go away) and the little store downtown has it’s own “Farm Fresh Eggs” section. The farm on the outskirts of town also sells them.
But this year they have been scarce. I haven’t bought one single dozen from my neighbors (the kids do the selling for fun money)…and even the little store has frequently had empty shelves. Usually people are giving their eggs away because of the abundance, but not this summer.
I blame it on all the rain and cold weather in June and July, but don’t really know the reason. I’ve heard that chickens need lots of sunshine to produce eggs, and I guess numerous rainy days could be the culprit.
Now Fall is approaching and the hopes of having fresh eggs is diminishing.
What’s the difference you ask? Well, just don’t start eating fresh eggs because you will be hooked and store bought will never appeal to you again.

By the way, raising chickens isn’t easy – it draws all kinds of unwanted critters such as foxes and bears, to the yard. It seems they love the taste of chicken. My neighbor has an electric fence up around his entire pen. He had to do this after a bear tore the coop apart and ate a bunch of the chickens.

Meredith New Hampshire Classic Boat Show

My brother-in-law just bought a place in Meredith so my kids and I drove up to check it out. We chose Saturday because the weather was suppose to be nice – and it was. We haven’t had too many nice summery days this season, so when there is sun…everyone wants a part of it!

We walked (thankfully) down to the docks in downtown Meredith which is at the north end of the big lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. There was a bit of a crowd and the traffic never let up!

The boats were interesting and we took some shots.

The boats and jet ski’s came and went as everyone was enjoying the heck out of the day.

I thought that this one with the blue trim looked nice. They all mostly seemed to be built in the early to mid 1900’s and each had a paper with stats and some history.

And of course we had to eat! The wait was (surprisingly) not very long.

Small Town History and Pride

This is what I love about living in a small town. I recently received this e-mail notice.The Antrim Historical Society will host the 16th Annual Celebration & Reading of the Declaration of Independence on Saturday, July 4th, from 9:00 am – 10:30 am at the Bandstand at Memorial Park. The Declaration will be read by Bill Nichols and Dean Proctor in celebration of the birth of our country. As part of this annual tradition, coffee, homemade sweet rolls and doughnuts will be served.

I haven’t lived here for very long, but I know that the folks who have are proud of their way of life and keep the past alive by having meetings that celebrate our heritage. I think it’s awesome!

Some of the homes around here were once hotels that housed the flatlanders who came up from the Boston area to vacation in the country.
My friend lives in one of these hotels turned home. Apparently it burned and part of the place is gone, but her house is still quite large and very unique looking.

These people care about the environment too and have formed and association for taking care of the lake by teaching the members about invasive plant life that can kill the lake by taking over. So those of us who are out canoeing, boating or kayaking can identify what we see and have it removed before it spreads. The Lake Host project is another way of informing boaters to watch out for weeds, such as Milfoil, that might be attached to their boats and be transported from one lake to another.
A monthly paper is sent out and the “Limerick” is full of great stories about the area written by long time residents. I’ve recently discovered that one family raises dogs for dog sled racing!
I love small town life.

Personal Fireworks

I’m not much for going out to see the fireworks displays around the area, although Peterborough usually has a good show at Conval high school. We have gone there a couple of times. In New Hampshire there are some good fireworks for sale and my firefighter son loves to go nuts with them when he comes to visit…no matter what time of year it is.

This is what he spent his money on last year and we set them off over the course of the week. My favorites are the fountains. I don’t trust the ones that fly off (hopefully) into the air.

My son is not here for the fourth this year, so I might go down to the lake and see if anyone is having a display there. If not, it will be a quiet 4th.