So how does this Dyson work anyway?

The rugs in the house and the ice house need very deep cleaning so the new Dyson with its hepa filter is perfect for preventing the spread of the flea eggs into the air. The dyson is still in the box and I have to figure out how it goes together and how the wand comes off. Most of the day is spent getting it working and then vacuuming. That chore reveals that I will need to shampoo the carpet in the ice house too.

Oh, what is the ice house you ask. Well, around the turn of the previous century, my grandfather and his business partner had a very large pigeon farm where they raised squabs to ship to fancy NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago restaurants and sold to ocean liners. In addition, Dyer & Davis canned squabs to sell to hospitals that were set up to deal with illnesses such as TB. There was not regular refrigeration as we are accustomed to, so they built a freestanding building and lined it all with cork. By the time of my childhood, the building had been converted to an office for the pigeon farm. And, by the time I was teenager, the ice house had been moved next to my grandparents house, where my grandfather did some shop work and made fishing poles for surf fishing.

The pigeon farm is long gone, done in by the all the federal regulations on poultry farming. It was a specialty business by that time, but I sure miss the squabs. Cornish game hens are still chickens, without the delicate flavor nor the unsaturated nature of the fat on the birds.