.A cold day is fine. Or should I say a fine cold day is fine. But a cold day, though not too cold with a high of 29F (-1C), but with low slate gray clouds and a relentless wind becomes uncomfortable.
Yesterday it snowed on and off and blew without enthusiasm. 
So we worked in the barn most of the day. 
I tried to get a shot of Daisy through the dirty barn windows but she wasn’t having any of it.
I cleaned the pig pen again. While I was away the Shush Sisters got lazy and shifted their toilet inside and you know how I feel about that. I train the pigs as though they are dogs so I pointed to the smelly deposits and made them have a sniff so they knew exactly what I was mad about told them off in a disgusted voice. They followed me in and out, in and out, as I cleaned up with my shovel, making small squeaky apologetic noises. 
Queenie is adjusting, with good grace, to her new living arrangements with a more reasonable amount of fodder. She is such a solid wee heifer. But she is now living where Minty and Meadow were. So now I have the problem of how to arrange for Minty and Meadow to have access to shelter from the salad bar field, it is OK for now, but when it gets really cold I will have to do an evening shuffle to bring them right into the centre of the barn where there is a free pen.
But thats OK. There is no hurry. I have time.
Daisy is milking nicely for me now, her anti kicking apparatus is leaning on the wall as a reminder, but she is more settled, and her new pen works well. But there are some changes to her udder that are a little worrying. And as you know to farm organically we must pay attention to change in an animal, the idea is to get ahead of any infection. I am going to see if I can get her milk tested on Monday to make sure she is healthy although there are no outward signs of mastitis in the milk. This is not a good time of year to be ordering tests. I have consulted with Trapper Creek and she has recommended a homeopathic remedy called Mastoblast that I shall begin the moment it arrives. I can use this proactively in case mastitis is beginning to rumble.
Better safe than sorry as Mum used to say. She also used to say – a stitch in time saves nine. She also used to say if you don’t clean all those clothes off the floor of your room I am putting them in a rubbish bag and throwing them all out.
Good morning. Have a lovely day.
celi
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The Kitchen's Garden 
62 responses to “Cold wind blowing”
But, did she ever DO it? 😉
(My Mom made the same threats, but never brought out the trash bag…)
Wishing you a less-windy day, Dearie. We have snow, and snowmen must be built!
Oh yes she did, she would clear all the detritus from our rooms, into big rubbish bags, stash them in the shed and if we had not retrieved and tidied it all away by rubbish day.. out it went.. though we ALWAYS saved the good stuff.. it was a near thing a few times though! c
Oh I love the small squeaky apologetic noises pigs make, they also make the same noise when they want affection, in particular for you to scratch thier bellies, leaning into you just so you’re sure you know what they want! Interestingly I have never heard them squeak like this at each other this noise seems to be reserved for us humans.
That is an interesting ovservation, i had not thought of that before.. how are your wee piggies doing, all well now?.. c
The pigs are all good thanks but my piglet source has dried up so I have to rethink my very small operation this year. I have kept one of my berkshire crosses for breeding from next year. It’s Baby, the one that got sick, because she has the nicest nature and I have never had a really big pig to contend with before. I will be away for two months next year and baby is being baby sat so I hope she will get pregnant before she goes and have piglets on her return. In the meantime I am raising two other black pigs (Shania and Ulrika Meinhof) so that I can keep supplying my customers. They came from another source and are totally different to my other pigs. It is a nightmare trying to keep them behind a fence, so mostly I dont bother, they just come back at teatime. Also they have a completely different temperament and it was a good month before I could touch them. Also they are growing more slowly than i would like so no more piglets from that source. So I have decided to take a deep breath and breed my own, all very new and exciting. Baby will go and visit the boar in March so she will farrow later than Charlotte so I am sure I will learn a lot from you along the way..
well we are both new to the breeding, but lets hope it works out OK. I think it is really funny that your black pigs pop in and out for a feed. With them larking about like that they would be hard to fatten too. Don’t they get in your garden? c
I think my mom said all of those things too. In fact, I think I may have even said one or two of them. 😉 Enjoy your day C. While I don’t mind the cold, the snow or the wind, it’s the gray skies that start to get to me. Hanging out inside the barn sounds like a good solution.
And this morning we have a clear sky and SUN, i hope you have it too up there! morning kristy.. c
Even though you blogged when you were away I still missed you – some sort of weird cyber thing. Now that you are home again, I’m so glad!
Morning Julie, I keep imagining the old girlfriends turning up in felt hats and furs with their feet stuffed into sensible slightly scuffed shoes for some reason!! I must pop over and see how that went! c
A high of 29? I miss those days. In Florida so far the coldest day we’ve had was with a low of 29 and a high in the upper 50s.
Ah, a high in the upper 50’s sounds so Civilised! c
Celi, this thought just came to me: Do you think that Daisy’s bad behavior at milking time was because the problem in her udder was coming on? I do hope she improves with the proactive treatment!
On clothing on the floor… I never received any such threats. I had few clothes and a Father who would make me wear any dog damaged items to school… I remember a favorite sweater with the arm chewed off and a pair of penny loafers with the heal missing in particular. Keeping my clothes off the floor was not really a problem after that. 😕
Ha ha!! poor you.. your dad had a sense of humour i think! We had a family of cousins older than us and were the recipient of all their hand me downs, bags of them, plus we were beach kids so we actually wore very few clothes in the summer, the rest were just dragged out of the drawers and left in little heaps everywhere! So you can see Mums problem.. we all did our own laundry from a very young age! c
We have cold AND snow! Yesterday I shoveled twice! It’s nice that Queenie is behaving, hope her troubles aren’t serious. Take good care, it’s nice to have you back.
Morning Eva, I hope you are having a glorious sunday! c
I’ve never had to use the clothes threat with my kids–they have always picked up their clothes–however, I have used it with their toys. And a few times I did gather up the toys on the floor, put them in a garbage bag and stash them for weeks. Then they had to ‘buy them back’ with good deeds.
The cold wind is the hardest to endure. At the moment, we’re in the middle of a wind and snow storm. Blizzard warnings are in effect, but we’ll see. It will make for an interesting day feeding the animals in the various out buildings.
That is brilliant, having them buy back the toys! fancy you having an almost blizzard where-as here it has dawned fine, clear and still! I hope it clears a little for your afternoon chores.. c
Seems like you’re well and truly back in harness. Hope you sort Daisy out.
it is just a process of elimination.. we will get to the bottom of it.. have a lovely day roger.. c
Welcome home and Happy New Year, Celi! First big snow back in Salem but I’m down at the Jersey shore where there is no snow but lots of storm damage from 2 months ago.
Queenie looks almost as wide as she is long. 🙂 Think you can retrain the Shushs? 24Fand feels like 17 here this morning with light snow. At least the wind is light and not gusting. The kids are looking forward to playing in the 2-3″ we received last night. Have a great day Celi!
Kids and snow, a perfect mix! have you posted lately, can you send me the link? I can never seem to find you.. i hope the pigs will retrain, they don’t like going out in the cold.. well nor do i to tell the truth!! have a lovely day,. c
I haven’t posted for a while. Hubby says POST! I remember using the outhouse when I was growing up so I can’t say I blame them for not wanting to go outside!
I too have memories of the cold breeze on ones bare bottom! maybe you could take some shots of your kids flying through the snow with socks on their hands.. we always had to wear socks so we did not wet our work gloves!! c
How is it that Hairy always looks so adorable? Maybe it’s his ears but whatever it is, he’s the most huggable looking ram I’ve ever seen! (Not that he’d appreciate a hug I’m sure!)
Christine
Oh no christine.. he Loves hugs, he is honestly the strangest animal.. always poking his face into you or leaning against you looking for scratches and hugs.. most unusual for a sheep.. still checking the mailbox, i am sure Tons painting is imminent! c
Oh dear, I’m getting worried now that Ton Ton in his wee tube has got wedged in some plane’s cargohold unseen by the mail man! The post office here said it would only take 5 days and that was on 14th December! Hey ho, let’s hope that he’s just got bogged down in all the excess Christmas mail. I put my address on too as a return option in case of any label damage, so surely one of us should find him amongst our mail some day soon! I shall pop into the post office in the New year to see if there’s any way of finding poor Ton Ton.
Fingers crossed, Christine
The mail take longer at this time of year anyway, I am sure he will turn up! c
The title sounds like a Bob Dylan song 🙂 Love the photos as usual Cecilia
Morning Gaz! I am sure Bob would play something mournful and howling to accompany the cold wind!! c
We had more snow yesterday, but it was the light and fluffy kind, pretty out, cold, 20’s, but the sun is shining and presently it is calm, going to be quite windy later in the day. The Shush Sisters sure took advantage of your absence. Hope Daisy’s problem is not serious and all is well soon. All the best for 2013.
Yes I had to laugh too reading that the pigs were apologizing for their bad behavior. And of course I hope Daisy is A-OK!
she gave more milk in days this morning so I hope I am over reacting.. c