Deep cold. Last night it went down to- 2F (-18C) or if you want to add windchill which I find a dubious equation at best, it was -10 (-23C), pretty cold then I’d say. Many people have frozen pipes, no water in their houses and are just waiting it out. I know many of you are colder, I have no intention of competing with you, this is cold enough for a New Zealand girl from the beach. We are doing ok, though still hauling buckets of warm water across to the animals. The heated buckets are not keeping up.
The barn is a circus. No-one wants to go outside. Tilly keeps jumping gates from pen to pen. And Mama is still on a slow recovery. Daisy is on the demand for more food. In the early morning when I am used to hearing chickens and pigs and cows and sheep and peafowl and guineas in the barn I am also hearing a whole range of early wake up wild bird calls. All waking up and saying is it warmer yet, do you have food?
The chook house is full of starlings. It is like a scene from a Hitchcock movie, the one he never got around to co writing with Chekhov due to generational and geographical restraints. A hundred terrified starlings wings beating and squawking, flying about my head inside the chicken coop. Throwing themselves at the windows but never OUT the door. Scrabbling at the glass like live crayfish in a pot of hot water.
The chooks raising their eyes heaven ward threatening strikes. That’s it. That’s it! -either you get rid of the starlings or I am walking OFF the set. No more eggs for you (missy) Miss C. 
Below the trees there are many dead starlings, they are just falling off their perches in the cold. Boo keeps bringing them to me saying: Can I have this One. No? Oh well what about this one it is quite dead. I could have this one. You could throw it for me. No? You want that one too? Oh well, thats ok, because I have plenty more.
It was so cold last night Sheila built her bed so high it was practically a throne. a work of art. She is way off the concrete floor of the barn. Snuggled under her blankie.
Yesterday I had my 10.000 words written by 2 pm. A very good lesson for me in not setting my sights too low. It can be done and relatively easily as long as i give myself permission to ignore everything else inside the house. And now I have the pleasure of going back and editing and shoving the text around until it makes sense.
I hope you all have a lovely day.
your friend
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
95 responses to “Still in the deep cold… just a mite chilly!”
Indeed, it is bitterly cold outside. I was a bit surprised that schools weren’t delayed an hour because of the cold. Yet, I looked outside a short time ago and saw our neighbor boy walking down the street to catch the bus.
The fact that our dogs are spending more time inside than out in the morning is a sure sign of how cold it is outside. Two of the three dogs are Keeshonds, which are Nordic breed dogs. When they want to be inside, it must really be cold outside.
I also realized that I didn’t know what 10,000 words look like so I copied and pasted my blog post from yesterday into Word – 309 words. Maybe I should try writing a 10,000 word blog post. LOL!!!
Ten thousand words in word was 16 pages, not a lot really when you are reading 10,000 words. Your dogs sound lovely. They say that today it may start to warm up, at least to freezing point would be nice. Are you getting this wind also? The wind is the biggest problem.. This is where I look at the sheep and know they are built for this environment.. c
Yes, we’re getting the wind too. However, we don’t live out in the country (sadly). So, it’s not quite as bad since some of the wind is blocked by the surrounding houses.
Now we need to brace for the next round of snow. Although it doesn’t sound like it will be too bad.
Still it will have to warm up to get snow and that is a good thing.. c
and in the spring we need to start making a plan for you to grow your own chickens out here.. or maybe a pig.(though you can also grow half a pig if you would like) or maybe both. I will start that planning in March.. We will make a day of it.. c
Absolutely! Can’t even begin to express how excited I am about this new adventure.
good, more good food for children! that is my goal.. c
I can’t even imagine cold like that… I wouldn’t be suited to the prairies…the ends of my index fingers go white when I walk past the freezers in the supermarket. I can’t believe the starling thing….seeing birds just fall dead from cold…too horrible. I wonder if estate agents/realtors mention this cold, together with it raining birds, to prospective buyers:)
It would be a hard sell in the winter that is for sure, and then to top it off there is that sweltering humid summer! Sometimes i wonder at myself.. c
But it is quiet and peaceful! When it warms up it is wonderful! Layering! That saves me! And I now have a nice face mask with breathing hole for my nostrils and eye holes too! Very very nice!!!! My face used to freeze!!!! When you are warm it is actually magical to ski out on the fields!!! I love it! The sound of the wind is lulling and makes you feel cozy!
When you bake it warms up the kitchen my favorite room! It is a hard life, but it is a good life too! It is just one of those days…when it is gray we feel gray. But let that sun shine!!! And it is beautiful! Have you spotted any sun dogs????
I grew up in that kind of cold in the Midwest, you never get used to it. In a few days we’re heading back to that Arctic cold for a holiday visit with family from our relatively mild Southern temps. Hope it warms up a little by then!
I think it might warm up a little, that would be nice for christmas anyway.. hope you have a lovely trip.. c
Wow England is balmy compared to parts of the states, imagine the first settlers, how did they cope? Made of hardy stuff! Glad all is fine with the farmy sorry about the starlings poor things
I have always thought that the ones who decided to stay here must have arrived in september, it is beautiful here in september, after trolling through the prairies for months they could never have imagined it got this nasty.. c
Too funny about the barn being a circus! I can just imagine it! Our animals have been staying in the barn too. But today it is expected to get above freezing! Yahooooo! Hopefully that will be the end of us carrying water from the house too! xo
I think we are going to warm up a bit now, and I do understand about the carrying of buckets, John does most of them but it is a real chore.. c
Oooh..that is sooo cold! Have you seen the weather map of the US floating around the internet lately? It shows all the cold weather, except for the state of Florida! Something like, Florida doesn’t realize its the holiday season! I’m sending you warm wishes your way!!
Just like you to be in the warm!! I hope you have a glorious day.. c
We are warming up some! We had -1 this morning with a wind chill of -4 which is a huge change from the deep freeze before.
Keep up the good work. It sounds like you will get to have a birthday Week.
Happy Birthday once more, Celi!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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I, too, shall not complain about the cold here today while I warm my hands on my tea cup. It’s like a summer breeze here in contrast to what you’re enduring. A happy day to you!
Ugh, I hate winter…there I said it, so maybe it will go away…yeah right, I’ll keep dreaming though! I guess without miserable winter we wouldn’t appreciate our spring, summers and falls as much as we do! And, yes, I guess nature needs a rest to burst out in all her glory in the spring…but why such a Chilly rest?? 🙂 Stay warm by the fire C. and post some more cuteness photos of Marmy and Boo cuddled up next to it too!
PS. I forgot to tell you that now you will be able to predict the weather yourself with a once broken tail bone. Well, it had to have one good thing about it, didn’t it? 🙂
Very sorry to read about the starlings. Here in Chicago I’ve noticed scads of robins still here. A strange phenomena these past few years. They don’t leave! They move I flocks –and seem very agitated especially when it’s snowing.
how odd, maybe that is where our robins go, to the warm cities..hmm, but there will be no worms for them in the frozen ground.. c
Very chilly here too Celi. Hope your tailbone is doing better. Congratulations for writing 10K words.
We are still in the deep freeze here, too. Starlings are a real pest here, too. They compete with the songbirds and steal nesting holes from the Flickas. In the spring they try to eat the thistles we put out for the goldfinches and seed for the quail. Around here they get shot as vermin. They are not native to this country, and they make nests in insulation and carry disease to poultry. They invade in flocks numbering in the tens of thousands. Luckily, they leave for the winter here.
Kupa has such beautiful feathers. Great pics.
Starlings are an abomination! Lots of them back east!
I like the pic of …is it Kupa?…his little crown glowing gold in the shaft of sunlight. Sorry to say this but I’m enjoying a balmy warm summer morning of around 22c (77 F) everything is refreshed and damp after overnight rain, and it’ll get to about 32 C (89F) today. I’m about to go walk along the river with the puppy. Poor birdies. keep warm
Your day sounds perfect.. c
I shall stop complaining about the heat… and the rain…. and the grasshoppers eating everything in my garden. I just don’t know when I’m onto a good thing. Stay well, stay warm, and that goes for the entire cast of characters out there in the barn too.
We complain when it is hot too! And the double darn grasshoppers!!! 😦 LOL
But then, what am I to complain about in winter, when it’s STILL warm…? I shall just button my lip and count my blessings.
Brrrrr! We thought we were cold here this week at -2C, but to you that must seem like a heatwave! Crowing Crone Joss was a refugee here when the power went off in their house which has no chimney, and inadequate electric heating.
Great pictures. and well done for the 10K words. I have written very little lately, but I have knitted miles of fluffy scarves for Christmas presents, stuffed a lot of dates with marzipan and finished two Christmas cakes. I read somewhere that Royal icing made with meringue powder didn’t set like concrete. The powder is not something you find in country shops, so I bought a couple of large meringues in the baker’s shop and put them in the blender, then followed the rest of the recipe: a triumph. One slight flaw is the colour – a kind of pale biscuit instead of briliant white! ‘ll report back on the result after Christmas!
How interesting, i had never heard that one before.. I look forward to the reviews but I might try that one day.. c