Yesterday, tiny crystals of cold jaggedy ice rained down out of the sky, clattering through the trees and onto the ground, tinkling like the harnesses of a hundred prancing celestial horses. It was a curious sound. As they fell they packed into each other like sharp gravel, like rock salt on a fish. Then as the temperatures rose the frozen rain turned to molten rain. 
I went out into the rain, carefully skating on the wet ice, without Camera house, (we have all seen rain, though not very often lately but the camera was not coming out in that weather) and fed the animals. The barn is a lovely place to be in the rain, all cosy, with everyone munching contendedly. Daisy’s water trough is set up to fill from the rain water that runs off the barn roof so I scooped water from there to fill all the other water buckets. So much easier than lugging buckets of water from the house. 
As I went to and fro between the buildings the rain turned back to ice again. My wet farm coat became quite confused and began to freeze solid with me in it so inside I went.
While my clownsuit and coat steamed in front of the fire TonTon and I spent the afternoon doing Sunday things, visiting as many of you as my poor beleagured slow-as-a poke internet connection could manage, writing and reading. Bliss.
Good morning. I am always so grateful to you for dropping in and yet sometimes all I have is a little ice, a little more rain and a warm fire. It is blowing outside as I write this morning. I was hoping for a sunrise through those piled up ice crystals and frozen rain but I think my weather event has been blown away.
Today Hairy MacLairy, the big Dorset ram, is being moved back in with Daisy. Hairy is such a big sheep and yesterday, when we were in the barn, I saw him back up and launch himself straight into the side of Mia to shove her away from the feed. This is one thing when they are out in the paddock, but when they are in a pen due to the weather – he is smashing her into a wall. Not good. Plus, now that the Mia and Mama are moving into the latter months of their pregnancies, they need a little extra feed and that Hairy MacLairy is quite fat enough.
It takes a wee bit of reshuffling and there will be protests but it is better in the long run.
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
54 responses to “Rain and Ice, Ice and Rain”
Morning Miss c….hopefully we don’t get any ice since the snow is in a good melt now! Stay warm and safe out there. t
I will move fast! morning miss T.. c
I don’t miss the ice!
Ice is my greatest fear, it really scares me.. c
Phew, I hope your ice disappears PDQ. Does Hairy need a few more wives? Or is it just greed for food? We had a gloriously sunny morning and I walked up to the village, but now it’s gone back to grim and grey again.
I made three fruit cakes, using up every bit of every sort of dried fruit I could get my hands on – raisins, sultanas, apricots, dates, cranberries, crystalised ginger plus almonds and the last of the walnuts. I used malt, black treacle and dark marmalade as well as dark brown sugar, so the cakes should be good and dark. The smell in the house is fabulous, but I won’t dare cut into them until at least next week. Meanwhile, I’m feeding them with Grand Marnier.
Those cakes sounds extraordinary, I mean REALLY extraordinary.. Is there a recipe we could nab? I bet everyone reading this would like to see that one!! I love dense fruit cakes, especially without that peel stuff.. c
I make it up as I go along, according to what’s handy (see the list in my comment for the fruit.) About a kilo of flour was sieved with a LOT of spices and a little baking powder, with the rest of the ingredients in rough proportion – 500 grams each marge (we’re not allowed butter), 500 grams of Muscovado sugar, 8 eggs. There were the remains of a bag of peel – but you don’t have to use that, though the big dollop of marmalade also contains peel, and I wouldn’t leave that out. The fruit was soaked in Grand Marnier for an hour while I got the tins lined, whipped the sugar, marge and eggs, then the sifted flour and spices were added alternately with the fruit a little at a time. My Kenwood Chef bowl was absolutely chock full, and it made three cakes each weighing about 1.3 kilos. Cooked at around 145C for plus or minus an hour and a half. They keep happily in an airtight container for months – the alcohol helps that – but they don’t often get the chance!
I am certainly going to be making this soon, your recipe looks a bit like something I would write so it makes perfect sense to me! thank you for popping back Viv!
Hmmm. I’ll have to see if I can convert! 🙂
Conditions here in Minnesota yesterday were horrible with snow, rain, freezing rain and the resulting ice skating rink conditions you would expect on roads and sidewalks. Sorry I did not warn you of this approaching weather.
I was surprised at it jumping about like that, swapping about as the temps went up and down and now it is so warm I have the kitchen door open!.. c
Isn’t it great not to have to carry water so far? For the last 3 days we’ve been carrying water about 500′ UP a hill from our spring as the line froze at the pump. Michael says it’s good exercise. 🙂 It rained all night and most of our snow is thawed so I should be blessed with running water today. I think I need to pop over to vivinfrance to see if she has a recipe for that fabulous sounding cake. Have a great day Celi!
Any relief from the buckets is welcome. You poor thing having to carry water UP a hill, at least i am on the flat! Michael sounds just like my Dad. ! .. c
You’re making Spring look awfully attractive!
Are you ready for spring yet maggie? we need to get busy on another few bangles before we both get back out into the gardens.. I will get in touch.. c
In some ways I am ready for Spring, but honestly, I am still enjoying my solitude and jewelry making time…Also, we are hard at work on paperwork, planning, and marketing for the new season, ordering seeds, etc etc. So this ends up a busy time, just in other ways…Looking forward to more bangles for you! I’ve been daydreaming quite a bit on Pinterest.
You’re making the farm life in the Mid West of America seem a little too cold for me to even survive… the weather at the mo is so up the pole that predicting what to expect next seems so difficult… If this is what your winter has been like this year I don’t look forward to ours… What with South Africa and Australia suffering floods and all the other misnomers of an upset weather system, our winter this year will probably be some thing we’re not used to… love you daily chatter about the cold etc… but I wonder how does this affect you NZ builder, can he still make progress on the Coupe House..??
he won’t be here today that is for sure, too wet. but once it dries out he will be back..he is a stoic fella! c
Seems like animals can be like children sometimes…
Hope you stay nice and warm today.
🙂 Mandy
It sounds like Noah’s Ark in the barn. At least Hairy and Daisy are good friends and she’s bigger than him 🙂
yes they actually rub along quite well, after she has taken him down a peg or two that is! c
Haha, thanks for sending THAT messy weather up here: first 15 cms of snow today followed by freezing rain tomorrow! Oh joy, winter….
Have a lovely day Celi, and take care of yourself with ramming Hairy.
You know Celi, for me it’s so reassuring to know you and the farmy are still there and the animals are warm in the barn and you are going about your farmy business…every day. It’s something I’m learning about the people who come to read my silliness. (and feel terribly humbled and loved by their words …especially this past Saturday) They come for me, like I come for you. To support you, to catch up with my friend, to see how you are doing. Rain, sleet, snow and beautiful sunset photos are incidental. 🙂
Veronica that is such a cool thing to say, and you most certainly do not write silliness, i think what you mean is that the small things mean a lot to us.. you and I, and in fact most of our combined readers.. so we write about those things..things close to our funny little beating hearts.. have a fantastic day.. c
I can just imagine how cozy it is inside the barn when it’s raining outside. That paints such a nice image in my mind. 🙂
Celi, that first paragraph blew me out of the water. It was so fine, so perfect, so wonderful. It is why I love to read you. All joy. HF
PS: (Small typo in first graph “The as the temperatures rose the frozen rain turned to molten rain.” I always want people to tell me so I can correct my typos. It’s probably just me.) Love ya and your writing.. HF)
See what I did there. I spelled writing, writting, just to illustrate my point. Yeah, sure, right, that’s what I did! HF
Yikes thank you.. off to fix it! thank you.. usually viv picks these things up for me too and i really really do appreciate it, i am a team player! (I will fix yours too while i am in there!! he he OH THE POWER!!) c
Yes, it sounds mighty cozy in that barn with the rain on the roof and the munchings within. I’m miffed however at Mr. McLairy. He needs to learn a little respect for his ladies, especially since they’re in a family way.
We have had a discussion and he has been sent to the back room with his absent tail between his legs.. c
Love your description of “molten rain.” I could feel you freezing in your coat, Celi! I would love to be present when you give Hairy MacLairy his talking-to! You do have an interesting composite of duties. Animal referee is one of the most unusual! 🙂