Anti-Climax

By afternoon the heavy rain turned to snow, coming down heavily. So I threw on my clown suit and big jacket and and hattie and trotted about getting everyone fed early in case we got snowed in.  I put everyone to bed and shut all the big doors in preparation for the Blowing Snow. heifers

I Drove at speed to the West barn the dogs jumping onto the truck as I took off “Come on. Up. Up. The storm is coming.”  I was calling to them from the car window as I let the clutch out, the windscreen wipers working over-time to clear the sludgy snow from the front window. Excited. I love storms –  except the storms that arrive on the day I am departing for somewhere. I hate those storms. But I love storms when i don’t have to be anywhere.

The dogs and I jogged about feeding them all at the West Barn, getting their waters up to date, shutting up their doors etc.  Still warm. Not too cold. Big soft flakes of snow.

smoker

Drove back and as I drove up to the house the snow stopped, it switched back to rain and that was that. No more  snow. Duped. Tricked. Disappointed. Just a dusting. A taste. A Snow-tease.

peahen

By six pm it was blowing and 32F (0C) down from 43F (6C) that morning.

Right now at 5am it is 16F (-8C) and still blowing Hard. The temperatures will continue to drop throughout the day.

Sunrise is at 7.16 am we will see what it is like when it is light. I don’t think there was any more snow though.

Do you remember the year that I took a picture of the temperature gauge every afternoon at 4pm?  That was a good record. I have a smart phone now so I don’t need to go outside and peer through the gloom. Technology has caught up with me. I can just look at my phone now to see the temperature.  But I do need to make a note of the temperatures more often for us to look back on.

tree

Oh wait. Almost forgot to tell you:

Earlier in the day, yesterday,  as I was driving on the highway, I got a flat tire in my little cooking oil car. I pulled over all good. But, and I am not going to mention any names but SOMEONE had taken the jack out of my little cooking oil car and not replaced it back into the little cooking oil car.   I found this most aggravating because  I am perfectly capable of changing my own tire on my own car, even in the pouring rain. So I had to call SOMEONE, who luckily was not working, and he had to collect a big arse jack from the barn that only a man could lift and drive out to save me as I sat in the car with the blinkers on like some kind of pathetic wilting flower of a girl waiting to be rescued.  He even turned on the flashing light on top of his truck as he pulled up behind me. God, how embarrassing. What if someone SAW.

But, I was gracious, I allowed him to be the knight in shining armour,  and change my tire in the pelting winter rain. I said, thank you.  Nicely. But then to make matters worse he announces that now I have no spare tire he would FOLLOW ME HOME in his big Man Truck!  I mumbled something like – well the bloody spare tire was not much bloody good in the first place without the Bloody JACK was it? (But in a New Zealand accent so he would not understand me).  Then flouncing I threw my sodden self back into my cooking oil car and was ESCORTED home like some stupid school girl who had run away from home and been CAUGHT by Dad.

Really. I drove fast just to be a brat.

Here are some pictures I took through the windscreen to amuse myself while I waited to be rescued.

intersection

intersection with yellow car

I hope you have a lovely day. It is a dress-up-warm day here.  BooBoo is waiting by his jacket.

love celi

 

54 Comments on “Anti-Climax

  1. Ha ha – very annoying! I went out to the farmers’ market this morning and discovered my bike had a flat tire. I walked to the market, so as not to miss the biggest pheasants and best vegetables. I’ll mend the inner tube later. I was amazed by how much my bounty weighs when carried by hand and appreciate my bike even more. It’s a good job I moved to Islington, my old flat was far too far away to walk 😉

  2. I remember that clown suit very well..it has done you well and lasted a number of years… That last bit did make me laugh..YOU acting like a silly schoolgirl…ha! ha! Ha! Good thing SOMEONE was around to help you but to be truthful SOMEONE really should have put the jack back from whence it came..

  3. I so love the way you write. You have a gift, that’s for sure! I woke up to gray skies and drizzling rain, which I do NOT like. I’m a sunshine kind of girl – that’s when I have the most energy and get the most done. Loved your stories about getting everything ready… and then the snow stopped — and about how ‘someone’ in a big truck, complete with flashing lights had to bring you a jack (but not the jack that goes in the car) to ‘rescue’ you – and how you drove fast so ‘because’!! Have a wonderful day Cecilia – from your friend Cecile ! ; o )

  4. SOMEONE’S often put so much validity in being big and important and helping the downtrodden out of messes, even when the victim is nothing of a victim at all. Puffed up peacocks can be such a nuisance, and aggravating. I bet you and a few pea hens could have an amazing session discussing the merits of independence and strong forthright female identities.

  5. Yes indeed, we have a lot of ‘Somebodies’ and ‘Nobodies’ around our farmy too, that’s for sure!!! 🙂

  6. That’s funny. I know how to change a tire, but I wonder whether I would have the strength to get the lugs off these days. My Somebody tells me from time to time that if I ever run out of gas, don’t call him as it’s my own fault! (Very true. But I am terrible about stopping and filling up sometimes, as my new Subaru has that lovely gauge that says how many miles I should have left to go!). I am sure your Somebody had a wicked good time with his whirly lights!

  7. What a delightful story, photos, and comments! God bless you, Miss C. You and the farmy have made the start of a very cold day very warm here.

  8. SOMEONE was in big trouble for removing the jack in the first place do probably had to change that tyre as penance 😉 Love that photo of the yellow car looking like it’s in the Hall of Mirrors at an old fasioned fun fair!

  9. All Someones need to feel wanted and needed. We know we can and they know we can, they just like to know that we know they can.

  10. What a nicely told story: Glad that you “allowed him to be the knight in shining armour” – that’s not that easy in a situation like that, isn’t it? To let you follow him home means that he even FELT like that big knight in shining armour, no?!
    No more pathetic wilting flower – happy day to the rescued girl!

  11. Oh my. I can feel the frustration at finding the tire iron missing. Sometimes I think men do those things on purpose so we will need them. They need to be needed. More so than women, I’m afraid. I hate when the weather people build up a storm and it lays flat, Guess it’s better than being caught short. What did people do before weather satellites? I hope the rest of your day turns out more to your liking. We are seeing the last of the sunshine for a few more weeks. Happy Sunday.

  12. I can just feel the emotion in this one… the excitement of a storm (I love them too!), the adrenaline of getting prepared for the weather! And that breakdown on the road – goodness! How mortifying to feel sabotaged, and then have to ask the saboteur for help. I think I would have blazed off too. No capable woman ever wants to refer to herself as a “pathetic wilting flower”. But you have to admit, it does make for some great storytelling! ha ha!

  13. I know your exact feelings! I don’t like to have to be rescued either! I offended three strangers that were kind enough to stop for me on my last flat. Me and my 11 changed it all by ourselves!(now he has a new useful skill.) We even had two actual friends stop and watch (non-believers that a lady and a child could get the job done. We both need a sign, “NO Damsel in distress here! Keep Driving!” But instead I’ll just be glad to live in a wonderful small town where 5 nice people tried to help! Glad your guy was home to help you too!

  14. You gave me a lovely morning chuckle. But here is a secret us old ladies know—-shhhhhhhhh, sometimes it is nice to be rescued. SHhhhhhhhhhh.

    Linda

  15. It had to be the day of flat tires. We had one in our rent a car and some knight in shining armor stopped in his pickup and offered to change the tire for us. Bless his heart, he saved our day.

  16. You gave me a great start to the day, with laughter over that story. I read it aloud to the Husband, who laughed all the way through, but loudest about the bit at the end, where you drove home fast, just to be a brat!

  17. Oh dear, you’ve had a Murphy’s Law kind of a day. But you wrote about it so well… Have you forgiven SOMEONE yet? I suppose my Someone would enjoy your story but he’s being such a Grinch that I won’t give it to him, just to be a brat!

  18. ah! that cow eating out of the trunk ( “boot” to you ) of that old car …. kills me every time. So hilarious and lovely.

  19. You have traffic lights in your neighbourhood! That’s a surprise, I always pictured you out back of beyond and nothing but open land and little roads for miles. Isn’t it the best feeling when you get out early to sort the animals ….I don’t have as many as you and certainly no snow, but I love getting out early before a storm or when it’s going to be particularly cold…..like 10…50 F….and I get the chooks away and shut up tight and the cats in. It’s bucketing down and i can hear the neighbours’ tellies going and they’re looking out their windows muttering about the mad woman next door out in the wind and rain. love being that mad woman 🙂 And it’s good to be a brat sometimes, so liberating.

  20. SOMEONE learned the hard way to put things back where they belong… In the long run it is the easy method! I used to change tires on my car, but no longer have the strength to do so… it is not all my fault. If you have tire replaced – either a new one or after repair the nuts are replaced under pressure leaving no hope of me loosening them. You captured the water well in the photos above. Living on a hill has some good points. 😉

  21. Every single one of the shots are so beautiful esp. the peacock and cat and the rain on an angle.

  22. Oh dear – in some ways we are VERY different: I absolutely hate any kind of a storm but oh I enjoy being spoilt to bits by the opposite sex 😀 !!! Love fluttering my eyes and giving ‘that’ smile to say ‘thank you: could not have done without you’!!!!

  23. You made me laugh. My SOMEONE, who is not feeling up to par and is sulking because he has a BRAND NEW truck he’s not allowed to drive for six months- even longer if his defib. thingee kicks him in the arse, I mean chest – is getting a tad snarly. He commented that a piece of wood for the stove wasn’t going to fit. It was just. too. long. And why do I bother to bring them in if they are just. too. long? Patience, not one of my virtues, is wearing quite thin of late so I cocked my hip, plunked a fist on it and replied “If it is just. too. long. what the bleep is it doing in the bleeping woodshed with the wood intended to be burnt up in the bleeping woodstove?” Which sent him on his grumbly way.
    BTW, we got no rain but only 2 – 3″ of light fluffy snow (just enough so it had to be cleaned up) and at morning chores it was 10* F with a brisk breeze.

  24. You put me to shame, I would probably need to be rescued regardless, and me a mechanic’s daughter. Theoretically I understand how but I’ve never had a flat tyre so have no idea if I actually could. Ah, missing things… everything inside the house, particularly useful scissors, hammer etc is a boomerang, even it it’s really something else because it must come back 🙂

  25. Oh, let him be a gentleman and a hero. 😉 My daughter was disappointed with no snow, too. Love the peahen shot.

  26. Perfectly understood your mention of liking storms, particularly when you have nowhere to go. There is something exciting about them — an electricity in the air. All of us here on the coast hate hurricanes (except for people who want to lose their boats or houses for insurance purposes, and weather geeks, perhaps) but it’s a fact that when one is coming, everyone is all ears, twitching noses and raised tails. I remember the same sort of experiences with midwestern blizzards when young. Great anticipation.

  27. Having sat on a nearby road waiting for assistance, I can sympathize but will say no more. Mustn’t tempt The Fates. 🙂

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