An Egg-cellent Hobby ~ by Kristine Raymond
When Jocie invited me to write about my favorite hobby, I paused for a moment. Do I tell you about my love of crocheting? How walking the yarn aisle of a craft store elicits the same excitement I felt as a kid on Christmas morning? Or should I extol the joys of jewelry-making; of the hours spent stringing one colorful bead after another, basking in the accomplishment of a
Nah, why talk about any of that stuff? None of those hobbies currently occupy my time. What’s keeping me busy these days are chickens!
Yes, you read right. Chickens. And, guineas, too. My hankering for acquiring live poultry began last year, and the desire intensified about the time the pandemic hit. I mean, what’s better to have during a quarantine than your own egg-laying machines? Of course, by the time they’re old enough to lay eggs, this whole self-isolating thing will be over. One can hope, anyway. And lest you worry that the flock will be kept in small cages solely for the purpose of providing
I’d owned a variety of backyard birds many, many years ago – chickens, ducks, guineas, and peafowl – and was excited to begin the experience again. When two boxes of three-day-old chicks arrived at the post office in mid-April, I was in heaven, quickly settling sixty-seven peeping fluffballs into our spare bathroom. But it only took a few days before I was reminded
In a weeks’ time, they’d doubled in size, draining their food and water supply faster than I could replenish it. Their delicate peeps developed to hearty chirps, and their need to vocalize outweighed their need to eat and poop. Almost. After a month indoors, it was time to move them to their permanent – outdoor – home; an old herb garden repurposed into a hen house.
Next up – constructing an outdoor run so they can stretch their legs – and wings – in the fresh air (they’re still too young, i.e., small, to roam, so the free-ranging will have to wait a month or two) and building nesting boxes for all of those eggs I’ll be collecting (you know, the payoff to my investment). Though, now that I think about it, this hobby seems an awful lot like work!
A secret message hidden inside of an antique wooden box, an unidentified dead body, and a mother determined to marry her off to the high school crush whom she hasn’t seen since…well…high school. There’s no doubt about it; Finn Bartusiak’s life in the seaside town of Port New is about to get interesting.
Coming into possession of a 19th-century, bronze and mahogany writing box under somewhat suspicious circumstances, Finn’s accidental discovery of a coded note leads her and Spencer Dane, bestselling novelist and love of her life (though he doesn’t know it yet), on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the jumble of letters. But they’re not the only ones interested in the cryptic message. There’s a con man on their trail, and he’ll stop at nothing, including murder, to claim the ‘treasure’ for himself.
Buy link – https://books2read.com/finnagled
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
When a spare moment does present itself, she fills it by navigating the publishing and promotional side of the business. When not doing that, she spends time with her husband and furbabies (not necessarily in that order) at their home in south-central Kentucky, reads, or binge-watches Netflix.
To find out more about Kristine, please visit her website at www.kristineraymond.com and follow her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and BookBub.
And for links to podcast episodes, guest posts, and other great stuff, check out Word Play with Kristine Raymond at www.wordplaypodcast.com.