Not one furry, or feathered, animal, or bird, moved from the barn until late in the morning yesterday,
except maybe to run quickly outside to the loo but that would only be the piggies.
The rest are not as particular with their ablutions.
So after the milking (the milk production has levelled out at 15 pounds a time which is good) and their breakfast, they all lay back down in pockets of cold sunshine, to wait for the morning to warm up. 
At least the wind stopped howling.
The sheep apparently decided to stand out in the rain because the tips of their fleeces were frozen solid. When I wriggled my fingers down through the ice, and into the wool, it was astoundingly warm. Toasty even. The frozen fiber acting like an insulator. Though as they moved about not a hair fell out of place, it looked like they had gone overboard with the hairspray.
How can cold look so harmless and friendly. 
So lacking in drama. 
Once the low goes below 0 I have no idea which way is up with the mini/maxi thermometer, we will all just have to wait for The Father’s graph at the end of the month. All I know is that it was cold but not too cold. (I have to say that because I know it will get even colder.) We were below freezing for most of the day.
As to Nanowrimo: I achieved my Day 14 objective on day 13 and am over 40,000 words now. I have had another AHA moment too, which is deeply satisfying. In fact it feels as though I have had a subconscious writer in there all the time, one who knew exactly where the story was going, who was lining up characters and their props preparing for the finale. And I have only just caught on to what was happening. So now the work begins its twisted descent towards the ending. 
Good morning.
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
42 responses to “Hiding from the Chill”
Great pictures, Celi!
The piggies look cozy and cuddly!
Brrrr…
When I am cold, fingers near numb..morning chores can be that way…I bury my hands in the llamas fiber; while pretending I am scratching a back or two….lol
Ooh, nippy! The image of hair-sprayed sheep will stay with me a very long time. 🙂
How can a post about pigs and sheep with frost tipped wool be so sublime. A post about milking Daisy, and kittens that knit them selves into a ball of fur be so utterly wonderful.. A post about writing so uniquely intriguing. It’s the magic of Celi!! Hugs Virginia
Ah, yes…our horrible chill has reached your lovely place. But a warm up will follow as we are gradually moving into one that will last at least a week.
Your grass is still green…WOW!
Also, Yippee for Daisy!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Love the expression on the kitten – like you are bothering me, go away – ha! Happy Day on the Farmy:)
Even with the beautiful sunshine, it looks crisp. Congrats on reaching your goal, it’s so satisfying.
Ah, yes, the subconscious writer, aka The Muses, who let me think it was my idea when something catches their interest, but when I get to the end of a blog post, I go “oh, so that’s what it’s about”… Your day sounded to me unbelievably cold but looked oh so beautiful 🙂
Do you mind if I ask, are those scrolls in the barn from a gypsy caravan?
Congratulations on progressing so well with NaNoWriMo! 🙂
I don’t blame your farmy-mates for wishing to stay snug indoors. I didn’t do much outdoors myself and was surprised late last night to see snow on the ground. Nothing much but enough to warn of things to come. Good news on the NaNoWriMo front. You’re doing so well, it’s as if you’re sprinting through a marathon. Keep it up!
I have never tried my hand at writing prose — well not since I was in the 7th grade and wrote really bad love stories. I know that my poetry often goes places I don’t expect — it takes on a life and path of its own. It sounds like prose does that too? I thought you had to plot everything out in detail before starting to right. Which would scare anybody off, especially me. Now you have me curious about the process. It sounds like it might be fun. Do you just create some character sketches and see where they go?
Morning Annette, before I started, I chose a location, a few of the characters, a date and the season, and a prop, then I put a couple of the characters in a car and drove off.. it IS fun, especially if you let it be fun and say YES to every idea that comes into your head that is remotely feasible, PLUS you have to allow yourself to let go of all your initial decisions too.. you should try it, if nothing else it is a marvellous challenge.. c
I like that approach. Maybe I’ll give it a shot…
There’s a very interesting thing going on here in BC. The sale of raw milk is restricted and so people have formed co-ops with the farmers who offer raw milk for sale (but cannot legally sell it), the people buy into the ownership of the cows instead of the milk, partially owning the cows. LOL This is how we do it! 🙂
Some people have started a new farm along my route from home to Concord, and they recently added ~50 pigs. They are very cute. In the morning, I often find them sleeping in piles – all parallel to one another, but not necessarily facing the same direction.
A belated visit to the farmy: why do I think ‘this too will pass’? That is after some more and worse of the same . . . the cold and the wind and all else that is natural . . . and I am somehow glad I am writing this at about 75 degrees C and windlesss . . . . ?