Easterly
It seems that the wind is directing my days at the moment. The other day it was the Northerly and now it has swung to the East and settled there with all the gloom and damp that always seems to accompany an Easterly. It is not a big wind or anything just a grey wet persistent one.
Before I started farming I don’t think I took much notice of which direction the wind was coming from. It was either a hot wind or a cold wind. But out here on the prairies the wind determines so much, even the doors that I leave open in the barn.
And this Easterly drives rain and wind right into Sheila’s bedroom so she and Poppy have to put up with their door being mostly closed. In fact Poppy and I battle all day with the door, it is a big very heavy solid wood sliding barn door, I slide it almost closed and she will push it back open, all the way. I return and close it again and I have not even got over the gate before she is lining her nose up with the door again and pushing it all the way open again. She persists with a smile. But persistent she is.
Aunty Sheila hates a draft so she will have nothing to do with opening of doors, she recamps around the corner until we have stopped fighting over the door and when it is safe she stomps about reloading her bed with today’s fresh hay before Poppy eats it all trying to build a fluffy wall to keep out the wet wind.
Once the Plonkers move on everyone gets bigger quarters, so soon all the pigs will be able to access the center of the barn, though Poppy will still be playing with her door.
But sun is coming. The forecast is not bad at all. (Except Wednesday when there might be snow but I can handle snow.)
The calves: John wants to keep Difficult. So Little has gone off by himself. I hope he will be happy. These calves were being raised to sell so this is just a small adjustment.
Alex the new Dexter heifer is getting used to me, I am not allowed to touch her yet but she does not startle as I move about her pen anymore. She chews solemnly while watching me. She has never been handled, being raised in a field with a herd but she is a gentle wee cow, her manner is smooth. And she has Naomi to teach her and Naomi is a wonderful wee heifer.
I am still working on a good linear system of feeding and cleaning so when I leave the men in charge on the 11th December it will be an easy list to write and execute. One more change (The Plonkers) then I can set everyone up in their final spaces for the winter. Though nothing is ever final. Farming is a fluid occupation after all.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
ps. A secret. Now that all my company has gone and winter is descending, I have discovered Amazon Movies and Downton Abbey. After all my work is done and Our John is long asleep I sit by the fire, with the dogs stretched at my feet, and a cup of hot tea, I quietly put in Hugo’s forgotton little head phones and I watch one episode a night on my computer. ME! Who scorns television as the supreme waste of time. There are a number of projects I should be spending this hour on. I am on Episode Three of the First Season. All is LOST! I am captured. Don’t tell anyone – my reputation will be ruined!
58 Comments on “Easterly”
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thekitchensgarden 
Oh, Downton is so good!
I think everybody will forgive you for making an exception for Downton, well worth it 🙂 El Nino still has us in a vice grip sadly, so I wouldn’t care what direction the wind blows as long as it brings rain with it. Laura
Bless you..enjoy your free time and watcjing Downton. Is also social history so its educational
I’m With you on TV, but Downton Abbey hooked me, too. Winter is my time to “rest” so that’s how I justify that.
On the subject of pigs, How long did you feed them out?
Hmm.. They were born on the Fourth of July. So.. counting on my fingers.. Five months.
I am sure you will be sucked into Downton Abbey like the rest of us! Happy viewing—it is not a crime for you to relax with a cuppa and a bit of distraction.
I totally agree with you Beth Ann! Relaxing with a cuppa and a bit of distraction is good for the body and soul! 🙂
What a nice wheather vane you’ve got on your housetop! Is that an old one?
Our storm, which lasted until this morning has paused (to be continued soon… ;-))– it was howling and rattling around, so noisy, it made me all dizzy. It must have been or it was a Westerly, because he has brought some warmth. The North and the East winds are always meaning pretty cold temps.
Alex may have to learn to trust you and that you won’t do her any harm… I can feel with her. – Have a nice and comfort day, Celi.
Maybe that storm will blow the lights out on that tree?
I too am a Downton fan. Jock can’t stand it so I go to bed and watch it.
Re Poppy’s door: if it’s a slider, could you not place eg a heavy rock at the other end so she can’t push it open?
You’ve answered my yesterday’s question about Alex.
Have a good day,
love,
ViV xox
Poppy would keep pushing until she broke the door, Pigs are very strong, no we just play the game until she gets tired of it.. It was still three quarter closed this morning.. c
Now I truly am the only person I know who hasn’t watched Downton Abbey. Which is funny, considering I was brought up about 5 miles from Highclere Castle, where the series was shot. I hope your Easterly doesn’t make everyone restive and difficult. Sounds as if Miss Sheila is well into constructing her winter quarters. Rain and cold winds… Please send some, we need it so.
Me too Kate, I’ve never seen it either! But, I’ve heard wonderful things from just about everyone I know about it! And if Our Celi has begun watching, I guess that I’ll just have to have a ‘look-see’ too! 🙂
I found it free on Amazon with my Prime membership – if I had to pay for it i may not have even thought of it!! Such a miser!
No, me too Kate, started to watch the first episode and just couldn’t get into it, I’m with Viv’s Jock, can’t stand it so go and do something else. I know everyone raves about it but nope, not me!
My 94 year old father is hooked on it, everyone I know raves, but it never appealed, somehow… If I ever did watch it, I suspect it would be mainly for the costumes!
I am a non-watcher too….. and usually I love most of these type of shows …… and being from the UK to boot. Joy
Then there are a few corners of a foreign field which are forever Downton-free… I’m also a total soap/serial avoider, which simplifies life tremendously!
Nanette says you’re in her neck of the woods. Do you have an email address I can write to, to stop hogging Celi’s Comments Lounge?
We have a small contingent of non Downton Abbey watchers… my MiL is a huge fan, I’ve glanced at it and flicked the telly to another channel or off.
Aha! I am not alone after all… I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me 🙂
You have so much to look forward to with Downton. One of my favorite shows.
Soooo, does Our John want Difficult as a member of the Farmy Family? Will she become a producing cow and stay on the Farm?
She is probably a free martin so she is to be kept for beef. However she can hang out with Carlos late next summer – you never know! She might be able to produce a nice wee Dexter/Holstein cross so it is a win/win either way. c
Yes indeed!!! xo
Ah…you deserve nothing more than a warm TV show and dog nestled about your feet. I love thinking of you like that. You have discipline if you manage to hold yourself to one episode. I have troubles with that if it’s a series a really love…shhhh. we won’t tell a soul! x
I’ll take the rain, snow, even heat but the wind makes me crazy. I can’t get anything done when the wind blows. It’s like it’s blown away my brain. Poppy and Sheila are like an old married couple. One wants the room warm, the other wants it cold. That’s why so many buy homes now with two master bedrooms. 🙂 I have not watched DA but during my rest after a surgery, I got hooked on an English series Midsomer Murders until they changed the lead characters. Then there was an Australian series called Miss Phryne Fisher’s Mysteries. Then another English series I loved called Rosemary an Thyme. I spend a lot of time sitting still and hand sewing. 😦 Now it’s the Hallmark Christmas movies as I bind my quilts. One each night then off to read and write. That’s what winters are for. I so love winter and the coziness. I have wondered what possessed you to want to tackle farming in the first place. Is that in an earlier post?
Oh, yes, I am interested in that historical question, too! You’ve got experiences in farming already in NZ as far as I understood until now. How come that you are a Farmer now with Heart and Soul?
Oh, I LOVED Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries! I had never heard of it before Netflix… lol I also have loved Rosmary & Thyme, but on PBS stations when they have played it over the years. If you liked those series, then I am sure you would also really enjoy The Bletchley Circle (also mystery). I also have loved Call The Midwife (not mystery) and The Guardian. Right now I am into season 3 of House… lol You hand sew and I crochet… both fine occupations to pay with for watching fun, but mindless, tv programmes. At least we are accomplishing something!
Such a big question – maybe I will answer it in a blog post? c
That would be fabulous Celi!!! 🙂
Well, good for you! I also don’t watch TV, but did get sucked into Murdoch Mysteries and Miss Fisher on my lap top, with headphones…here and there of an evening. 😀
You are in for a treat working your way through Downton Abbey. We too got hooked on it about two years ago. We found it on Netflix and LOVED being able to watch an episode when we had time rather than waiting a week between updates. However … as we hit the last of the episodes available that way we had to go through withdrawal! 😉 Now we’re looking forward to the last season coming up on tv this winter. We’re settling into a drizzly eastern driven day up here too. A good day to slow down some.
Downtown Abbey . Not just a TV drama but a lifesaver. My son installed Neflix for me to be entertained after my mastectomy. (I HATE television. Me who worked in it for 20 years.). The day after surgery I watched six episodes of D.A. and I was hooked. It was a life saver. I was too tired to read and so unsettled. I escaped in Downtown Abbey.
Escape is the right word too – i have been quite transported – c
The east wind! Never lived on a farm but it seems to me that only nasty weather results from an east wind. All the really bad storms come in on an east wind. I have had times when I wanted to search out a place that didn’t get east winds… lol Suppose such a place exists? I rather doubt it but, nevertheless, if there was one then that’s where I would go! Hope your day gets a little brighter! ~ Mame 🙂
The wind has shifted to the south so Sheila is pleased! c
On demand is the best thing to happen to TV since colour. Choice of what and when to watch. It’s therapeutic. When you’re done with Downton Abbey and if this winter or the next lends itself to you having time try the Outlander TV series of Diana Gabaldon’s books.
teasing me you are! I found these ones free on Amazon.. c
I think Outlander might be free on Amazon Prime too. John might also like it, the G.O. is a fan of the TV series, which we’re now collecting on DVD.
I shiver at the mention of wind from the East, for us that means the cold blast comes from the Russian Steppes. Brrr! Downton Abbey is full of wonderful characters and the costumes are fantastic. I managed to see all of the six series with only the final Christmas Special to go, so I will say no more and not spoil the show for those who are yet to see it. Celi, the story of how you got into farming would make a great ‘Christmas Special’ for all the fellowship.
Oh my story is not that exciting.. more like a slippery slope!! c
An interesting slippery slope just the same.
Oh Celi: methinks each and every one of us has been down that slope of our own: we would love to know more of how a Kiwi girl working a movie job in London ended up on the Prairies 🙂 !!
I got hooked by Downton Abbey too, it’s so beautifully done. Waiting for the last season, which I hope I’ll get to watch. You certainly deserve a time of rest and relaxation, Celi. You work hard every day.
East winds can bring lake effect snow, which can be a heavy downfall. I was driving west and it was like a curtain lifted suddenly as the edge of the clouds was passed and there was bright sun. It certainly looked odd.
Hope it’s a lovely day for everyone on the Farmy and in the Fellowship.
I am SO glad you have discovered ‘Downton Abbey’ and friends DO praise the ‘Outlander’ series also [have read the books!] . . . being a Kiwi and having lived in England I can so see you thoroughly enjoying them. Have seen shorts many times but with my predilection for politics, economics and other documentaries and panel shows must admit time reaches only to just about every marvellous cookery show by both the Brits and the Aussies: watched the latter until 2am last night – guess who has to order the Yule groceries with a sleepy head 😀 !!
I’m sure you deserve a little R&R with computer TV, but watch out for the amount of data you are using. Video counts as a lot if you have a limit 😉
Yes.. you are right – I am watching it.. I am hoping only one hour a day will not be too awful?
It would depend on the quality, but it’s worth checking with your ISP in case they send you a huge bill. It might be cheaper to buy the DVDs 🙂
Celi…shhh…I have seasons 1 – 4 on DVD. Would lend them to you with the understanding that should anything happen to them you would replace them. Now, here are my viewing stats.
I watched seasons one through three at least seven times. Watched season four four or five times. Season five three times. Season six probably not more than three times. She bows low. Much love,
Gayle
Ha ha!! So you have succumbed to the TV! I am maintaining that hell will surely have frozen over should that happen to me. 😀
I will check the weather forecast! you never know.
Just saw a weather report. National weather forecasting is predicting that there’s a 70% chance that December in this area will be milder than normal. We can thank El Niño, the worst on record. This should mean a warmer January with less snow. Fingers crossed, eh?
LOL We can keep your secret!
Ah, Downton. Enjoy! The first two or three seasons are the best IMO. Then they started milking the cash cow and dragging it out. But all seasons are enjoyable comfort viewing. 🙂
Yeah, first three seasons ARE the best. Much love, Gayle
Ha! Downton is special though. One should always reconsider convictions for specialness.
I’m glad to hear you can occasionally put your feet up! I watched a lot of Downton in the nursing home with Ants – it was soothing somehow.