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.”
Those sundogs are amazing. We’ve not had any this year as it hasn’t really been cold enough, but I agree they are spooky. We have had some great aurora though (do you get them in your neck of the woods?) and they are a joy to behold. Even after several years here I get goosebumps when I look at those pulsating lights.
“I look back at that sentence and wonder how I can think -9 is not too bad!” Oh my, I so recognise that statement. I remember thinking 15°C was freezing cold when I lived in Australia. Now it’s more t-shirt weather and I don’t don the hat and gloves until it’s down to under 5°C. As for -9°C … well, that would depend if there was wind or not. Oh how our perspectives change. Today we have -2°C but a really brisk wind and driving snow so it feels much colder than this time last week when it was -15°C and still. Go figure… 🙂
I’m glad that Sheila has rallied somewhat from the trauma of the unwanted attention of the opposite sex. Luckily “mum” is there to commiserate, support her and help her lick her wounds. Let’s hope that her next date is more of a success and she can come home.
Deep down i think Sheila quite enjoyed a good dust up. She is a pig after all and has been so good for so long, maybe she felt like biting someone! But she will only receive a boar if she is ready and wants to. If not then we have to force her hormones through it chemically which is not my first choice. Though this is what i do with the cows.
No I have never seen an aurora, how marvellous that must be. There are a few of the fellowship wearing the icebug boots now, including me! those swedes know how to keep my feet warm! c
I hadn’t realised that pigs were so fiesty. Go, Sheila! My little dog is best friends with a fiesty little Australian Terrier (my Swede swears we Aussies are all the same) and you should see her defend her friends. More than one large dog in this town has lost a mouthful of fur to her – tiny, but so brave and just itching for someone to start a fight – which she’ll happily finish. Animals are all so fascinating to observe – each with their own unique personality.
I’ll say this for the Swedes, they know how to dress for the cold. Their stuff is never cheap, but boy is it warm and cosy. When I first came here, my Swede laughed at my Australian “winter boots”. That was the first thing he did – drag me to the shop for proper boots. My gloves, scarf, hat etc were the next to go, followed by my joke of a winter jacket in which I froze to the bone while spending the day in Stockholm. I wear a lot of outerwear from Fjällräven and it’s also terrific. Well made, warm, rugged and lasts forever.
Good on Sheila. Good news all round. I wonder how many people in centuries past mistook those Sun Dogs as angels. Good morning, c, and keep yourself warm. Goodness me, those temps are other-worldly.
This one in particular really does look like two angels stood up straight like guards.. That is exactly what I thought too.. morning misky.. c
Happier Sheila, happier Celi… Those sundog photos are just weird. Seeing them you can understand people thinking they were seeing UFOs.
This one could very well be an alien craft landing.. maybe it was!.. and they are here already.. c
Never seen sun dogs quite like those…usually just a bit of one. ‘Course, we don’t have as big a sky as you do… 😉
Good to hear Our Girl was better yesterday…Perhaps she doesn’t quite agree that she’s a pig, and that boar was a surprise?
She just in a mood for a good fight I think, he caught her on a bad day.. c
I’d be the dogs in the house rather than the pigs in the barn, even if it is only minus 22. I’m glad to hear Sheila is improving.
I thought at first that the sun dogs were a camera artefact, not a real phenomena. Wow.
No that is what was there, not through the window either, though i think the camera captured a wee bit more of the ring, so the image on the screen was a surprise too. All I did was add a darker layer in behind so the light layer was sharper..
Morning Celi, funny how our perceptions change when we kind of get used to the cold. I thought yesterday was really warm at 28F! Dropped over night though but still warmer than you at 10F.
Thought this would interest you:
The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross
In 1461, the War of Roses was in full swing. That cold morning of Feburary 2nd, troops commanded by Edward of York watched as three suns rose from the darkness of the Herefordshire, England horizon.
They were primed for battle, but still heavily influenced by superstition. The fact that such a blatantly unnatural event happened so close to a violent conflict did not seem to bode well.
However, their commander had a different idea in mind.
To him, the three suns represented the Holy Trinity. He saw it as a sign that they were being blessed by their God and were guaranteed a win.
If he had not been able to boost his men’s moral, would they have won that battle?
That enigmatic commander later went on to become King Edward IV.
Shakespeare had later commemorated the miraculous sunrise in his play, Henry VI, part 3.
wow, it is all in the interpretation isn’t it. Clever fellow. I always wondered how they rallied their troops without sound systems or written directives..relying on word of mouth is a tricky business.. chinese whispers and all that! c
Wow! Weird!
I just saw your peachicks on your page! Wonderful. c
Stunning pix today. Is the sundog effect caused by the low temperature? I like your “only” minus 20 – I’m probably wearing as many clothes as you, and it is plus 20 C in the house!
I’m glad Sheila was feeling better – your visit was probably the tonic she needed.
Vx
Morning Viv, the sundog effect is caused by it being so cold that minute crystals of water freeze in the air and then are suspended there, often just above the horizon, these catch the suns rays and bounce them back.. (this is why we usually see them after sunrise and before sunset but today was even colder and no sundog so must have to be just right to get the efffect. I think the theory (which I have to admit I only understand in a very rudimentary way) is similar to a rainbow. Hopefully the weather will stay settled for a while and I can see Sheila every day, this will make the difference I think. c
The sundogs make me think of the Stephen King book Under the Dome. I suspect the reflection in the Dome would look like your photos. (and no, I didn’t watch the TV series, the book was too good to spoil my memories of it with some silly TV recreation)
I read quite a bit of stephen king, i like his succinct style. have a lovely day Pat.. c
Read one of his latest “Dr. Sleep”, it reminded me of some of his earlier works.
I will .. thank you.. c
Those sun dogs certainly ARE spooky, but very beautiful. So glad that Sheila’s feeling better – well she would be now that she’s in a nice, dry bed. Hope that she accepts the boar soon so that she can come home to her mama’s tender care!
Christine
I hope so too, but the normal cycle is 21 days, so I think we may need to be patient. And this will give her time to settle down and get used to the other pigs around her.. and used to my morning visits.. c
I said it to some one else who posted photos of sun dogs which we have never seen… you keep ’em we’ll keep the sun and warm thank you…
Yes well, i do see what you mean, i would take the warm anyday.. i do not function as well in the cold.. so love the sun for me would you?.. c
C I’ll love it for you with pleasure… don’t feel bad if I don’t ask you to love the cold for me… but I might just ask you to keep it there for as long as you can…
I will latch the gate, just for a wee while though. c
I’ve never seen sun dogs that dramatic. I think they look spooky because — at least to me — they look like someone or something enormous is looking at you under a lens. Like the visual tricky tables have been turned and you are sitting under a giant fish eye lens. Or, it looks like the multiple suns out of that funky film Bagdad Cafe. I love the way you allot yourself time to be awed by the supernatural then move on! Such a funny lesson in there. Just gotta keep movin’ I guess, no matter what strangeness the universe is serving up.
Bagdad Cafe is one of my most favourite movies. I still have the soundtrack in my head and I must have watched over 10 years ago.. that long? I must google and see when it came out, it certainly was a long time ago, but a classic i think, still love it. On our route 66 travels we went to where they filmed it.. desolate in the extreme.. c
I love it too. What was the refrain of that song (“I-I’ll be watching youuuu….”)?
Was that it?
Silly me. It’s “I’m calling you.” Somehow the Police slipped in there.
Oh I love the Police too, I saw Sting live not so long ago, as usual they are all shorter in real life!!
Ha ha – perhaps Sheila does need some beer goggles 😉
Just what i thought! c
The sun dog pictures are amazing!!! You really captured them at their spookiest!!! Do you have any snow rollers? I have seen tons of pictures of those the past couple of days. Glad you got some “piggy” time and that Sheila acts better than she did—-I am sure she just needed you to reassure her and that apple looked particularly tasty! Have a warm day—-I agree—our minus 8 this morning seems blazing hot.
Stunning skies .. the Farmy needs a few good omens! Glad Sheila is more chipper. Laura