The sun with his dogs. Frankly I find these images downright spooky.
These were taken from the field and yes it was cold. 
Ads shooting straight into the sun creates some odd effects but there is something deeply supernatural about these. What does it mean to have this in your skies, as you trudge in from doing ordinary chores in the early morning.
After the work for the morning was finished and I had dealt with the supernatural, we loaded up the white truck (too cold for the red truck) and slipped and slid on the ice covered roads out to visit Sheila.
She popped up out of her deep straw bed with much more vigor than the day before. I had brought her a big feed of her favourite oats,barley, molasses and eggs and an apple with an aspirin hidden in it. Aspirin is amazing for pigs with limps. Plus her hay and another half bale of straw as last night was forecast to get dangerously cold at -16. (Though to be fair she would not have been any warmer in my barn) She ate and then set to work on her bed, rearranging all the straw. I took this as a very good sign and helped her for a while, chatting as girls do and when I could no longer feel the fingers attached to my hands I said, bye bye darling girl and shuffled off back to the truck.
Later we racked the Lady Bird Wine
and the beer.
I have kept the left over beer for when we breed Sheila. As a special treat. Seems appropriate actually. Maybe she just needs a drink then the Boar will look prettier!
The Lady Bird Wine made with natural wild yeasts is tasting startlingly good, even now, with at least 6 months before I can bottle it.
I hope you all have a lovely day, maybe this is the last bad cold day for a while. As I write this before dawn and at 4.50 am it is only -9F (-22C) with no wind. So not as cold as forecast. Which is a relief. I look back at that sentence and wonder how I can think -9 is not too bad! Have to laugh at myself really.
Your friend on the farmy,
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “Amazing shots of the sundogs , visiting Sheila and racking the wine.”
Don’t remember any sundogs from my childhood – Tallinn being a coastal city perhaps it simply did not get cold enough? Do remember seeing the Northern Lights many a time tho’ – awfully dramatic but the unexpected colours and patterns still made me hold onto darling Dad’s hand ever so hard 😀 !! Would have found the sundogs less spooky methinks! Glad one lot of wine going to be a good one!! Am wondering whether you will know the alcohol % ?
No we did not do that test yet, though I did have a wee glass so as to do a taste test, and it has a reasonable kick.. hopefully after a year or so it will develop into a lovely dessert wine.. I am feeling optimistic.. for the first time in four years of making this wine. I had a hard time convincing John to give me half to let the wild yeast go to work, so thank goodness it is shaping up! c
[little smile 🙂 !] Well, since you are the one with the wine and Big John will provide the vinegar for the household, don’t think he can ‘hold back’ ‘your half’ next year – and every year you will get more and more the feel of an expert winemaker!
he tasted it too and raised his eyebrows, i think we have convinced him that wild yeasts are the bestest! (phew) c
😀 !!!
Beautiful shots of the Sundogs, C. I just love that name…sundogs! Do you think there are suncats anywhere? 🙂
Suncats? I love it!! We must find some.
Glad there’s good news about Sheila.
Great sundog photos!!!!! We’ve had a lot here, too but I keep not having my camera on me because I don’t want it to freeze in the car when I’m doing errands. I did take some with my cell phone, though – which were ok, but not the unobstructed view that you have with only the field between you and the sun!
Even in the coldest most harsh of time, there’s beauty to amaze. Lovely
I have been worried about Sheila. Horses and cows can also have difficulties and can’t be rushed. Stay warm!
A super giggly happy post and I think it’s because Shiela’s happier now too. Interesting about the wonders of aspirin for pigs. Love the “girl talk” you had with her and all your efforts to make her snug and well fed. And the sun dogs shots are awesome! Your post left me full of smiles – even at the -9 temp reading..
I am a huge sundog fan! Thank you thank you for posting those images, we get them here too but we don’t have your big big skies to enjoy them in all their glory and splendour. I don’t know if you sent them to lovely Les Cowley at http://www.atoptics.co.uk/ he would probably love to see them, they are quite superb. Ice, it’s all in the ice…. I wish I was there with my nose tucked inside my muffler peeking out between frozen lashes, I wish…. xx
I tried to find his email but the site will not work for me, maybe I do not have enough signal.. I shall go and do some farming and try again later.. there must be an email address on there somewhere.. c
I have put a couple of sensible links in an email to you. xx
[…] winter has brought with it quite a few interesting sights. Cee over at The Kitchens Garden has some amazing shots of sundogs. I’ve seen sundogs many times, but never with a […]
Loving you captures:)
Too crazy for me to even imagine..cold like that. I’m going to have an apple with an aspirin to help me recover from just reading about it:)