Christmas is Coming!

The Christmas Tree is up and the decorations are out!  The official measurement on the tree is 15’3″ but it is considerably thinner than years past.  We are gearing up for the Belsnickel Tour this Friday and Saturday With Authentic Bed and Breakfasts of Lancaster County.

2015 Christmas Tree

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Turk

This summer we lost Angus, our 13 year old Shepherd-Husky mix.  Angus was a great friend and a good B&B dog, and he is greatly missed by our family and our return guests who knew him.  While Angus can never be truly replaced, we did add a new addition to the family a couple weeks ago.

Turk is an Anatolian Shepherd-German Shepherd mix who is now 15 weeks old and approaching 40 lbs.  He is well behaved for a puppy and is relatively mellow.  He looks forward to meeting you when you come to visit!

Turk 10-15-15

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The garden is planted…

Spring is finally here, and the garden is planted.  In a few months we’ll be serving home-grown potatoes (with home-grown onions) to go with our backyard chicken eggs, and homemade bread and jelly.

Trees and flowers are blooming — in a week or so, the redbuds and dogwoods along our driveway will be putting on their annual show (see the background on the webpage for a preview.

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More Snow .. on the first day of Spring!

Yes, we got three more inches of snow on March 20th, the first day of spring.  It’s a pretty snow, and relatively easy clean-up, so not a big problem.  The chickens are protesting, as they were just getting to enjoy foraging outside of the coup on a daily basis.  They do not like snow, so they are back in the coup most of the time.  I guess spring will come when it is ready.

Chicken waiting for the snow to melt

 

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Christmas!

It’s officially Christmastime at Furnace Hills B&B.  The Christmas tree is up and the decorations are out.  The tree is a little shorter than our average — only 13’9″ this year compared to 17′ last year.  It’s getting hard to find a good one at our usual spot, but I think we managed to pick a nice one.  It’s an all day event to get the tree, bring it home, set it up, and decorate it.  Fortunately, the girls are old enough to pitch in and help decorate.  They like putting on the tinsel!

Decorating Tree 2014

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Fall (wait… did we miss summer??)

OK, So we’re a little behind on the blog thing.  The last time we posted we were waiting for spring at the end of a long, cold, snowy winter.  Now it’s fall again (not really sure where the summer went, but we were busy).  The leaves are starting to change, and we are just about to get into the peak color.

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Spring?

More snow is on the way, but there are some (early) signs of spring. The Witch Hazel is blooming, and has been for about a week and a half. Which Hazel normally blooms in mid-February, and despite the extreme cold we have had this winter, it was right on schedule with the mini- thaw we had the third week of February. We have also had some groups of bluebirds visiting our feeders, attracted by the suet. The snow geese and tundra swans are here, too, even though Middle Creek Lake is still frozen solid. I expect that more will move through in the coming weeks as it starts to (finally) warm up. By the calendar, spring is only 18 days away, but it will be much later until the piles of snow are gone. In the mean time, there are a few subtle signs that the end of winter may be in sight.

Bluebirds visiting the feeder in February

Bluebirds visiting the feeder in February

Witch Hazel - just about done blooming

Witch Hazel – just about done blooming

Witch Hazel - Just about done blooming

Witch Hazel – Just about done blooming

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New Sign — Part 2

The new sign is finally up!  Here it is!

New Sign 1New Sign 2New Sign 3

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New Sign – Part 1

Our old sign at the end of our driveway was hand-painted by a good friend eleven years ago on some scrap pine boards that Ben fashioned together. It has served us well, but it will soon be time to retire that old sign. We have a new, professionally-made sign in the works, and in preparation, a new sign post is also in order. Phase 1 of the project is now complete with matching posts on either side of our entrance, mounted on boulders, and topped with lighted caps. For now, the old sign is temporarily fastened to the new post. The new sign should be ready in the next month or so. Stay tuned…

sign1 sign2

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Chicks Update

The chicks are now 15 weeks old. Only another five to ten weeks until they start laying. Then we should have plenty of eggs to fully supply our breakfast needs. They are integrated with the two older chickens (we lost one of the older ones to a raccoon a few weeks ago), and the pecking order is being established. As you can see from the photo below, they have come a long way from the two-day-old chicks we brought home.Chicks May 2013 (1)

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