The late Betty, one of Chris Wyatt’s Patterdale terriers, warmed herself by the roaring stove at Patterdale Hall — a small, idyllic cottage just outside of Yellow Springs that Wyatt and his wife, Karen Russell, tend. (Submitted photo)
The Patterdale Hall Diaries | The ninth plane of Xenia Township
- Published: January 11, 2026
By Chris Wyatt
Nov. 15, 2025
First night at the Hall for a while. I had a lovely fire and read folk horror until I fell asleep. Bliss.
Nov. 28, 2025
We once again navigated Thanksgiving successfully.
Bob is in Iowa visiting his friend Delia, and so it was just Karen, Morris and I. I bought a duck and Morris made confit duck legs and wings; the breasts were marinated in a dry rub from The Winds, then seared and served pink. We had roast potatoes, broccoli, peas, bread sauce and gravy. It was delicious.
I then drove out to the Hall to click on radiators as it fell to 25oF last night. On my way back I picked up Kit Kat ice cream from Dollar General — not fancy, but tasty. I was being very generous as Karen didn’t eat her broccoli, and so should probably have been denied any dessert.
This morning it is still 25 degrees F, and so I’ll light the fire. We had a generous cord of split, seasoned hardwood delivered a few days ago. Karen and I stacked the lot in two hours, I now need to get plastic on the top of it before it rains/snows. It is a mix of ash, oak and cherry with some Osage and should burn beautifully. Many of the chunks are quite large, and so I’ll split those as needed.
‘Tis the season.
While the wood was being delivered, our power pole very slowly, and gracefully began to collapse. It fell to a 45-degree angle before being stopped by its wire guy lines. I called AES Ohio and a crew was out within an hour. The pole was replaced in less than three hours. Amazing really.
The folk who work on the electrical lines in America are heroes.
We are in no danger of losing power now, and my main goal is to keep the pipes from freezing. I think we are only a week or so away from having to blow the water out of the pipes. I simply can’t keep the fire in while I am working, and while Karen could, I think she’d rather be at home with Archie and the motherlode of crafting materials.
Nov. 29, 2025
I spent a night at the Hall and kept a fire going. It was very peaceful. I read and ate crab rangoons, which were very tasty.
The new wood burns well and is straight grained, which means it is easy to split wood down to kindling for starting and restarting the fire. I’m glad I had broken a chunk down, as I awoke at 1 a.m. to find sparse embers. The fire easily restarted and I stoked it up, added more wood at 4 a.m., and then awoke at 7 a.m. I chopped up another piece of cherry as the sun rose, and was treated to skies that went from blood red to magenta, then pure gold. It is now cloudy, so I’m glad I caught that.
I headed home to take medication that I had forgotten to bring with me, did the washing up, and started to make the filling for a shepherd’s pie. I’ll finish it with mashed potatoes later, but there is no point making that yet.
It will snow later today, so I will squirrel away more wood into the garage.
Dec. 3, 2025
We got snow and Bob survived an epic snowy drive back from Iowa. Well, I say survived, he seems pretty scarred by it.
With temperatures below freezing for the whole week I had no option but to borrow a compressor and blow the water out of the house. Really, the only downside here is that we can’t flush the toilet, which means we can’t really stay out there for more than one night. The water isn’t drinkable so we are accustomed to taking our own water, that is not an issue. We can also eat from paper plates, so that is also not a problem. It’s just the toilet that is the problem, and I should look into getting a composting toilet as backup.
Dec. 15, 2025
We have had temperatures way below freezing for nearly two weeks now, so I blew the water out of the pipes at just the right time.
I bravely checked the temperature in the kitchen and it was 29 degrees F, which isn’t bad given that it was zero outside. Brr. One of the DeLonghi radiators is on a low setting and is situated where the water comes into the house, so hopefully it is just above freezing down there. I boosted the setting just in case.
I have meetings and inspections all week, and then I’ll be done for a few days. I’m feeling pretty happy. Morris aced his first semester in business school with a 4.0 gpa, so we celebrated by removing all of his wisdom teeth. Poor lad. Bob is still waiting on all his grades, but aced all his philosophy classes, which will make him happy. I’m not sure any surgical celebrations are required for Bob.
The holidays approach and as we never really do anything special, we are fully prepared.
Presents have been sent back to the UK, and funds allocated to children for slippers, gloves and luxury food items. I’m not sure what I’ll get Karen, it will likely be Turkish yarn that she selects herself, or a subscription to “Selvedge” again.
*Originally from Manchester, England, Chris Wyatt is an associate professor of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology at Wright State University. He has lived in Yellow Springs for 17 years, is married and has two children and an insane Patterdale terrier. “The Patterdale Hall Diaries,” by Chris Wyatt, is now available in book format via Amazon for $11.99.
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