Here are a few photos from the SFO International Airport this morning. They have fabulous exhibits there.  There were 3 exhibits: Automata: vintage mechanical French puppet-like figures, some of which seemed alive; a stunning exhibit of vintage Italian motorcycles; an exhibit of  old microscopes.

Vancouver is one of my favorite cities, similar in many ways to San Francisco. (I’m in Canada for 12 days to do slideshow/book signings and interviews. Schedule is here.)

  I got into my hotel too early to check in, so I’ve taken one of their (free) bikes out and am touring around the Granville Market/West 4th St./Kitsilano area, checking out shops, detouring through neighborhoods which are strangely quiet. I like being plopped down in unfamiliar territory where everything is new. Serendipity abounds. Running across the unexpected. Stay tuned; ride shotgun  with me this next week.

Above: five Silver Seabrights and one Golden Seabright bantam hens (pic shot yesterday).

We just ordered about 50 bantam baby chicks from Murray McMurray (10 Auracanas, 30 Golden Seabrights, and a few each of Rhode Island Reds, Partridge Rocks, and Black Tailed White Japanese). Bantams can’t be sexed as can regular birds, so you figure half of these will be male, and will become tasty barbecue.

   We’ve been ordering birds by mail from McMurray for over 30 years. Their breeding seems to be top notch, and service is excellent.You go down to the post office and pick up a box of peeping chicks. It’s amazing how it all works.I couldn’t conceive of being without chickens these days. We feed them all our food scraps, along with scratch and mash, and they produce these small eggs that taste like nothing you will ever get in a store.

   Here is a chicken starter kit McMurray offers for first-time chicken owners: https://shltr.net/HRyDfg

“Hey Shelter team,

I just found this neat blog and figured it’d be good for a blog post or spot in your next book (even if it’s not a boat). He’s secretly built a beautiful egg shaped treehouse in the backcountry near Whistler BC, and his story about how he did it is pretty entertaining to boot!

https://thehemloft.com/

-Glen Jackson”

https://hpo.ornithopter.net/