A Nasty Day Ahead
Wind and Cold.
It was windy all night and as I write on my disappearing keyboard (the letters are almost all gone again) the wind is howling outside and it is 20F/-6C. This does not include windchill. The windchill equation brings us down to 4F/-15C but I have no interest in that number! I have to work out there so I prefer 20F.
The Westerly wind will keep this up all day and it will get no warmer. Is there any sun forecast my next question is? Let me check. Nope. Mostly cloudy. But it is winter and I am ready for this.
Here is big Sheila herding one of her calves. I tried to get a shot of her in her big bed of straw today but like all pigs she is up and trotting to meet me the moment she gets a whiff of human. Her bed is crushed right through the middle now, so she sleeps in a kind of topless tunnel – an enormous furrow that keeps her sides nice and warm. She is such a big animal that I am sure she contributes to warmth in that shed too. The impressions in what is left of the straw around her bed leads me to believe that they settle quite close to her. I am amazed at this development – I did not expect them to sleep together, I thought she would have stayed in her own straw filled hut.
I think it is time to bring the chick family out of the turkey house. The chicks are still too small to go in with the layers so I might set them up in the empty peacock palace. There are more places to get out of the cold.
Of course they will keep their mother as a heater!
The first wave of plonkers (five of them) left the farm yesterday. So now I have only four bigger ones left and Poppy’s Nine. The decibel difference at feeding time is pretty amazing!
Yesterday we spent extra time putting in water heaters and plugging in water buckets. Also I have to let the pigs in the barn run out of water at nightso I can fill their bowls with warm water in the mornings. They have big drinks in the evening so they are hydrated but they have to finish as a bucket full of ice is useless to me in the morning, I need an empty bucket to fill. I cannot fill a full bucket. Once something is frozen it will stay frozen for weeks now. So I add hot milk to their water and get them to drink it all down.
I cannot give the pigs heated buckets – they use the cords as toys.
All the hoses are drained and hanging. All the milking equipment is in the house. The holes in the barn are patched and everyone has extra straw. The cows get extra hay when it is below freezing so they get to warm from the inside out.
Now we hunker down for the duration of this cold spell.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
47 Comments on “A Nasty Day Ahead”
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Stay warm
..will do ..
I’m sure Sheila appreciates the extra warmth – maybe the cattle fidget less than pigs… 🙂
They probably lie down ever so carefully then stay absolutely still all night so as not to disturb her.
ROFL – she’s had better luck training the cows. Are you sure she hasn’t heard about Animal Farm?
God I hope not
I’m sure she’s the brightest one – Poppy’s still pretending she’s Steve McQueen 🙂
I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the cows all go in to sleep.
Do try and keep warm. I cannot fathom what it must feel like working outside in those temperatures.
It is actually ok until it starts to blow – the wind is a big kill-joy. c
Sheila probably welcomes the extra warmth. Plus, it’s the least she can do since she stole the straw 🙂
The cold temperatures have found their way into Texas. We gotten woken up in the night by winds and when I let my dogs out this morning, the cold was a shock to my system. We’ve been in Texas for almost a year now and apparently my body has already adjusted to the warmer temperatures already. But wind chills in the teens is not the norm down here. Of course I think if it’s going to be this cold, it might as well snow so we have something fun to enjoy outside. Most Texans wouldn’t agree with me on that 🙂
As a lifelong Texan, I wouldn’t mind some snow. In Texas, weather “norms” often don’t apply.
My girls love the snow and surprisingly, I miss the snow. My husband, not so much 🙂
Maybe it will snow – stranger things have happened.. c
I do hope you have looked at our temps up here in Alberta! Hopefully it warms up before you come at Christmas. With the wind chill this week it has been -30 Celsius most days! So when you are in your balmy temps there please think of us!
Yes, my son keeps me informed. You are much colder – how the farmers manage out there is a mystery to me – when i stay we walk the avalanche dogs twice a day too! So I will be taking my warmies! c
Oh sweet friend – I can feel the cold and shiver as I read your words. You know my love for Sheila – she is my Miss Piggy in my world. Hubba hubba – XOXO – Bacon
Yes, i bet you are lying on the heating ducts as we speak! c
Looks around – you do know me! XOXO – Bacon
I sure would like to be a little cooler, but nope, those minus temps are going to far. Keep warm, stay safe. Laura
I try! c
BRR! Arctic air has hit way down here too, but nothing like what you have. Sheila is an architect with functional home ideas!
She does like doing her housekeeping
Would Sheila wear a pony blanket?
She might eat it. Pigs have a great layer of lard under their skin to keep them warm. As long as they are dry and out of the wind they do quite well.. c
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That beautiful fat pig is fast becoming an icon for me. She and her kind were supposedly excluded from Bethlehem, but I think there must be more to the story. I mean, if I had to sleep in a manger I’d want lots of straw piled up and have Shelia close by for warmth.
Agree! She is like a spiritual leader,
I would crawl in with Sheila without a second thought – and I know for sure that one half of me would be toasty warm.
Colder here too, but I guess that’s the nature of things in the northern hemisphere this time of year. We’ll dip below freezing tonight, to minus 5c., and I am guessing it will be windy too because the windchill is expected to make it feel like minus 15c. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. It may sound like it and it may feel like it but, truth is, after the autumn we’ve just had I decided no one gets to complain about the weather, for a while at least… lol Come January and all bets are off though. I am so very grateful I was born in this part of the world for umpteen different reasons. It’s just that for two or three months each year the weather is almost unbearable and getting worse as one gets older. At least we have the ability and choice to hunker in and hibernate with great comfort, which I guess wasn’t possible in past societies. See? So much to be grateful for, I keep telling myself. Keep well and warm and have a lovely day too! ~ Mame 🙂
Yes, I agree – reporting the weather is nothing at all like complaining about it – when you and I complain about it every one will know for sure.. c
I’m such a wussy compared to the likes of you people! I hate that kind of cold…have rarely even experienced it. Clown suits at the ready!
Yes, I don’t last very long outside without my clown suit. c
Sheila the cow herding pig. It reminds me of the movie Babe, only better. 🙂
I don’t think I have ever seen Babe – I think I had better one day because I hear references to it so often!
It’s a cute movie. I tried to watch it again as an adult and couldn’t get over the talking animals.
Your weather is going to reach Maine over the weekend, and then we hear that the dreaded Polar Vortex is going to reach down and include most of us in its clutches the following weekend. My goats are getting their fuzz on, but we will have to set up the windbreaks and get the extra straw out. No Sheila here to warm up the greenhouse!
Oh no – that is awful – there is nothing that cold in our forecast yet.. the lowest will be 4F I think. Lets hope it does not come back – that was the worst winter of my life. c
I agree! It was horrible.
Ooh it’s getting cold but I love to read about and see your very distinctive seasons. Stay warm!
How old is Miss Sheila now? : )
You know, the day I brought her home is somewhere on this blog – so is she four years old? I will look it up. c
Wow – I feel cold just reading this post!! I know every year you do your utmost to make sure each and every animal is as warm as possible during the winter. You’re a good ‘mother’!! ; o )
I read yesterday that the US is expecting another polar vortex. Bugger. But you are prepared & organised ♡
Love the idea of calves heated by Sheila-power. Perhaps she likes the calves because they’re quieter than piglets….
I think that weather is coming my way…
I’m with you on the wind chill. I have to go out there so I’d really rather not know. After all, cold is cold. We have had lots of wind the last two days. I did manage to get the walk with the dogs in on both days but heading west was downright painful. Even the dogs seemed in a hurry to get home. I hear that next week they highs should only reach the single digits F! Pray the wind dies down before that. On the other hand I have a hour and a half therapeutic massage scheduled for Wed. when the high should be about +4F – that heated table is going to feel absolutely wonderful! Like Sheila, Percy leaves quite an impression in his straw mountain. Looks like a giant caterpillar was there.
brrrrrrrrrrr baby it’s cold outside! We only have one animal in our house- Lucy the Cat- and she is a character. Now that the weather has turned COLD she does not ask to go outside on her leash- instead she hangs
out by the woodstove! Reminds me a bit of Sheila! Have a warm evening!