Rain on Ice
An interesting combination at the best of times. Especially when one launches forth in the early, dripping morning. Clown pants on, Gumboots, big, long, old Dryza Bone Riding Coat and gloves, swinging my bucket, maybe even humming, after all it was warm rain even that early in the morning. Ton raced ahead as he does and suddenly whipped out of control across the drive, – feet flying out from under him, doing the splits, the twist and the shuffle and some canine breakdancing. His eyes as he spun past us were closed. This was not happening, he was thinking.
Boo and I stopped launching forth. We went very still. As still as I think I would go if someone suddenly told me that the drive was mined with bombs. I stopped the swinging of the bucket and looked more closely at the drive I was about to cross. The rain was bouncing off and pooling over a sheet of ice. Boo and I sighed, assumed the crouching position and commenced the ice shuffle. For the ice shuffle you pitch your body forward slightly, adding weight to the balls of your feet and then slide, slide, slide across the ice and out of danger. Rain on my head, ice under my boots. Aninteresting combination indeed. 
Later of course the ice had melted and the cows were locked off the grass. Everything is sodden.
Today the rain is said to be turning to snow as the temperature drops.
And in a few days we will be as low as -10F (-23C) .. but only for a few days then it will slowly climb back to just below freezing for a while. So this rain is going to be the hard packed ice that will sit on the ground for a while yet. I will need to get my sprigs out.
And the pigs will not be doing this –
Everyone will stay put. When it is cold the animals find somewhere out of the wind and go very still.
Sheila is still insisting on sleeping in the big pen. At night all these doors are closed, and her bed is deep and she has Poppy for warmth this year but why she has left her special draft free area and made her bed out here I do not know. But ah well. I am pleased that Sheila has Poppy and Tima has Tane. A pig sleeping alone gets cold.
I gave Sheila some new leaves of straw to plug into her bed. The cold is coming.
This is the story I was looking for yesterday about making laundry soap from old scraps of soap. Charlotte taught me something about my own site yesterday. If you want to look something up – scroll right down past the Lounge of Comments and into the Black. You will see a completely empty little white box on the left. It has no title or clue to its usefulness at all. Enter your search words in there push Enter and the little blog mice will run all through The Kitchens Garden blog looking for the relevant post. Thank you Charlotte. That make my life so much easier.
I hope you all have a lovely day,
Your friend on the farm
celi
38 Comments on “Rain on Ice”
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we have alternate rain and snow at the moment but the temperature is -1 which is masses different to yours. Rain on ice is not a good idea and it was a good thing that Ton was able to give warning, even if it was unintentionable…it would have been disaster if you had trotted along singing your song…then…Bang ..down on your posterior…you could seriously have damaged something….so take care Miss C, look where you are putting those feet..
Love the pictures of the piggies..they are so sweet, all lovely and cuddly
Oh no! I can imagine Tima begging you for a little pig slide down the front steps 😉
I was laughing out loud at your description of Ton’s moment of realization. But I wasn’t laughing AT you, Ton! It was a brave thing you did, warning others!
I too laughed when I read about what happened to poor Ton! Good that you and Boo were more tentative and took to the ice shuffle!
So cute! Happy New Year! xx
You’re welcome! As you can see, I spend a lot of time searching your site with simple words like PIG or SOAP or CHOCOLATE GANACHE…and boom, there it is! I love that little magic white box. The piggies trotting down the stairs under the watchful gaze of Ton are too funny. Next to Ton, though, I notice how big Miss Tima has gotten. She’s not such a wee thing after all.
Oh I LOVE the ganache too.. i have the chocolate waiting for my black dress diet to finish. c
Your ganache is the best
I looked and looked for a search box yesterday, but didn’t think that little blank white box was the right thing so I ignored it. I remembered the post, but not its name… I love Miss Tima sidling delicately down the steps in her curly-toed slippers. She looks warm and cuddly despite the weather. I think you could easily rent her out as a Warming Pig for Chilly People. Perhaps Tima on one side and Tane on the other, tucked up in bed on a winter’s night…
Tima and Tane have faces that beg to be schmuzzed against…so piggy yet so sweet and soft and bright and brilliant. No ice shuffle here in my world thankfully. I would have looked far less graceful than Ton had I encountered the icy road. Traction shoes are most certainly needed to stay safe.
Oops! Be careful, think of the wedding and take tiny steps. I am very familiar with fresh rain on ice. I live in a cul de sac on top of a hill with the road camber going in two directions. My back door leads to flagstone steps and a patio, I never unlock the back door in the winter months. My garden is not overlooked so if I fell, I’d lie there for months before being missed.
invisible ice, the worst kind, I would think. Thank you Ton for the warning. Stay warm today, take your cues from the animals. 🙂 Looking forward to roughish soap!
We have rain over ice this morning, too. The dogs’ feet were slip-sliding away, as were ours. We turned back as soon as “business” was accomplished and right after a pick-up truck with a snow blade spun around the corner right in front of us. 😳 I’m very glad nobody at the farmy got hurt, including Ton. You cracked your head in the barn just before the previous wedding….better try real hard to not go to this one covered in bruises! 😉
what a good memory you have, I did wack my head last time.. and this trip is such a fast one that really do need to be in tip top condition.. c
Rain and ice…yuck. Today we are under a winter warning and are supposed to get 6-9 inches of snow for 12 hours straight. Then the rain comes. It will be a terrible frozen mess!
Same conditions here today in coastal Maine, but all the snow we got last night is now turning to slush with the rain coming down. Tonight the temperatures tumble, so tomorrow will be the treacherous morning for sure! Take care of yourself out there. I am sure your John is already at work at your chore time and you don’t want to be injured at home alone, although I am sure Boo and Ton and the others would do what they could!
Good morning, c! Is that circular object at the base of the steps, the one that looks like a barbecue grill, for shucking mud off shoes and boots? >
that is the .. um.. the lid off an old fashioned drain i think?.. from a road, and yes.. for scraping boots, plus I kind of like it.. I have always beeen attracted to metal objects.. c
Very cool, c.
and it is VERY heavy.. I have two.. I think I love them because they are indestructible? c
Good reason to love anything, I reckon.
Yes, the grill off the storm drain is fabulous!!! I loved it right away! I might not be able to find something like that around here, but could probably find something like it from a super heavy fireplace or cooking grill! Would be fabulous for scraping off the farm before entering the house!!! Please get your ice shuffle safely on Celi. I believe it was a slip on ice that had you laid up for a while last year. 😦 Be careful! xo
yes that is why I have it at the bottom of the verandah, I try to keep mud off the verandah as it is like part of the house.. though the other day I observed john is terribly muddy boots from work walk around it, up the steps, across the verandah and into the kitchen.. sigh.. c
Yes, mud, or animal poop boots can be so very, very frustrating tracking in all manner of …..shall I say waste, into the house. 😦 Especially when so much energy goes into keeping it clean!!!!!!!
Crampons to the ready! I was glad to find that little white box – the search tool had disappeared from my blog except when editing. I shall now go and look at mine.
Thank you.
Take care, love, ViV
Hope you and your critters stay warm. Some days ya just gotta find a cozy spot & snuggle up!
It’s possible to change where the search box appears in the Widgets section of WordPress. Going through the ‘WP Admin’ option when you hover over ‘thekitchensgarden’ at the top left of the page is the easiest way to do this. Click on ‘WP Admin’ and then hover over ‘Appearance’ from the black left hand side menu that comes up. Click on the option for ‘Widgets’. From there you can see the Search widget and move it to the Main Sidebar or another part of the page. So you could have it at the top or side if you wanted. You can also add a title, so you could call it Search or indeed anything else you want, then it will be an unlabelled box no longer!
Well I didn’t laugh one bit when I read TonTon …with his eyes closed yet….lost it. Maybe I’m part Border collie.
There is a word for this, I learned: lycanthropy. Did I learn it from this blog?
Your land is still green! GREEN! I haven’t seen green in weeks. We are brown and white here. Not very pretty.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/?s=The+Adventures+of+Fuzzy+and+Boomer&submit=Search
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
Loved the piggy sequence down the steps. Oh so careful! I thought the grate was perhaps like a cattle grate…to keep piggies and other critters off the porch! But then again … You can’t fool piggies! 🐷
Yes…Bee careful Cinders!!
Snow turned into rain here in Germany. It’s nasty with a cold wind. I loved the full moon behind the bare trees in the dim light. It rained at my mom’s funeral but during the ceremony the sun came out for just a few minutes and warmed my heart and soul.
And now the snow has arrived. I am taking a lesson from the animals, and staying still ad I can.
Oh how I dislike the ice… but we got lucky down here last week as it missed us and went more to the north. I don’t know how you do it Celi. I never liked the bitter cold of Nebraska and left it 25 years ago next month. It still gets cold in Oklahoma but nothing like your part of the country. You’re a tough gal.
Oh Celi .. Thankfully the weather in NZ is gorgeous … Quick 🙂
Love those photos of the piggies delicately picking their way down the steps!
Beautiful animal portraits …..good luck with the big freeze…I can’t imagine it for which lack of imagination I’m truly grateful…..bon courage:)….and Happy New Year
I immediately thought of you, and Tima, and Tane, when I saw that Dain, the Dwarf King of the Iron Mountains, rode to Thorin Oakenshield’s rescue in “The Hobbit” on a Kunekune. A War Kunekune, mind you, but I’m sure it was an ancestor of Tima and Tane’s. Now I can only imagine them in battle armor!
This photo (of the pigs on the top step) is TOO CUTE!!