My Mother used to say that. ‘I am feeling bloody.’ In other words do NOT Bother me with mundanity today – you might just lose your curly little head. Yesterday I wandered about the farmy in the cold, just feeling bloody. Everything just looked cold and grey. 
Camera house followed suit. Feeling bloody is compounded and much more satisfying when shared. The Camera and I felt cold, unenlightened, heavy and grey. Just tired, tired, tired. 
The Old Codger and I worked out the other day that we could possibly, without too much imagination or fiddling with dates, trick ourselves into thinking that we might be half way through the winter. 
And I don’t mean that stupid calender winter that has nothing to do with the season at all, I mean half way through the cold period. Yesterday I threw down more straw for the animals to deepen their beds and fed them a little extra hay so their little compost bellies created more heat than usual. Feeling bloody helps you to work faster. And the thought of the cold to come just digs into the bloody.
Daisy had tracks of frozen tears down her face yesterday. I could not wipe them off. The chooks and the pea hens spent all day hunched, sitting on their frozen feet, waiting. Waiting, like Dr Seuss would have said, for the warmth to come. Waiting for the sun to sun. Waiting for the spring to sprung. Waiting for a thrown crumb. Waiting. 
Four times I went out with my crowbar and broke the ice on heated water tanks. 
And every single time the kitchen door opened and I emerged feeling grim and bloody, dressed in layer upon layer, after fruitlessly searching once again for my favourite bloody gloves, clutching my ice bashing tool, stomping my double socked feet into boots, the little barn cats wooped with meowing delight, raced out from the barn to meet me and scampered and paraded and rolled like jesters ahead of me as they led me back out into their cold outside. Completely unencumbered by my bloody mood. Oblivious in their curly little heads.
It was hard to maintain feeling bloody with their little warm furry bodies pressing against my thermal ankles. But I persisted. A good seriously bloody mood does not come around every day you know.
But that was yesterday and now it is morning again. Another week has begun. The temperature is 13F (-10C) and it is blowing snow. But I have had my Bloody minded day so now I must switch to Stoic because at 6.02 am we have already reached our high for the day. The animals are beginning to call. Time to start putting on the layers. Then out I go.
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
77 responses to “Feeling bloody.”
ACK! We moved south to avoid the bloody cold. Reading this reinforces the rightness of that decision. 😯
Yup I hear you…… -31C here this morning. An ‘inside’ day!
Sun makes me cheer up as well as all the pictures of the Farmy animals!
Have a ‘not-bloody’ day today, Celi.
this is why i should not moan too loudly MINUS 31 is dreadfully cold.. c
SING! Sing the bloodies away. Loud as you can. Scare the animals with song. Surprise yourself with joy. Chase those bloodies; don’t let them get you.
I would too but at these temperatures it is best to keep your mouth firmly shut.. the icy wind will literally take your breath away.. humming is good tho, i might hum! c
Sorry you’re having a bloody time. I’ve been feeling a bit winter-woeful myself and I don’t have to brave the elements like you do. I do have to go up to the village again, though – the pharmacist sold me the wrong kind of cough mixture this morning, on two counts: it contains 98 grams of salt and I’m on a salt-free diet, and she sold me an expectorant whereas I am revoltingly spitty already.
Keep cheerful: you are my smilometer. I hope you have time to snuggle up with a cat or two and a couple of quilts.
Smilometer!! What a charming word ViV.. Hope you get that cold in order though, I like to know you are healthy over there.. c
with 850 other followers you don’t really need me but i signed up anyway…it’s an interesting blog you have here and I would like to read some more
oo welcome Miss Whiplash and i had no idea i had that many followers, I have not looked in ages and when I am signed in it doesn’t tell me. However all the friends of the farmy are important and it is especially lovely to hear a readers voice and read their words, so drop into the comments lounge anytime!! c
I hope you are feeling better today 😉
That’s the Dunkirk-spirit girl we love!
[…] but was prodded into it by reading – consecutively – Celie’s very very cold post from The Kitchen’s Garden and Granny 1947’s superheated complaint from South Africa. It seemed to fit the chained rhyme form […]
Pets can be instant mood lifters. It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to check the subs. Good to catch up with your little corner of the world.
morning greg, i was thinking of you and katherine this morning as i carefully navigated the supermarket so as not to knock anything over!! c
a few years ago, when i was absolutely convinced it was time to get chickens, i forced myself to imagine what it would be like to go out in snow up to my knees in freezing weather to care for them. thus, i remain chickenless.
wise girl.. c
Celi, I am wondering why the Shush sisters– can’t be artificially inseminated like Daisy and Queenie. I hate too the thought of putting Sheila and or Charlotte “to boar”.
There is a book called “A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck that I loved. In it is a scene where his beloved Pinky is brought to boar. Terrible scene!
They actually can do AI, maybe i should look into it. It is getting the semen which is the tricky bit as it only lasts for a day I think.. c
Also working out when the pig is on heat is not easy, my pig book says she will let you press heavily on her back when she is “receptive”, my pig will let you do that anyway, probably wouldn’t object if you rode her around the paddock, so thats no help. The boar will definately know!
I know where you are coming from. The high all this week will be in the low 20’s…Wednesday the hight will be 12. We are getting at least 6 inches more of snow tonight. Half way you say…I’m looking forward to spring.
I commend you for writing through the bloody bloodiness: I can’t write when I’m having a day, because I loathe every word. You, however, still manage to bring us a little light. I hope you find some soothing and warmth today. ❤
I agree that 13 degrees isn’t the most fun time to care for animals. Right now, in California, we are experiencing low temperatures of 32 degrees and highs of 64. Crunchy in the morning and pleasantly warm in the afternoon. I must enjoy it while I can, for winter will soon return-foggy, gray, and 47-degree-daytime-highs that feel like 13 degrees as the wetness chills our sissy California bones.