as one lone coyote howled out on the frozen tundra (and Boo answered from THE COUCH! ), the temperatures dropped soundlessly to -12F/-24C.
By midnight the wave of frigid air had rolled through and without pause the temperatures began to rise again. Not a breath of wind just this inexorable deepening then lightening of terrible cold.
I did not check the pigs before going to bed, not because I was too cold but because I did not want to risk them getting up out of their warm beds.
And now we slowly slowly rise up. By this morning (now) we are up to 6F and by this afternoon the warm air that is rolling in, a caboose following that long bitter mass of cold, that crawled its zeppilin body across the faces of the prairies last night, will take us to a high of 16F/-8C.
And by tomorrow our highest point is just below freezing. Great isn’t it. The rest of the week will be significantly warmer. Above freezing and up.
If the animals understood English they would know that last night was the coldest night for this month. And they would smile that that night is behind us. Now we get a bit of breathing space.
Boo and his Barrow (a barrow is a castrated boar pig) are such sweet friends. The Barrow has his own room where he sleeps when we are outside working but when we come in he stands at his door listening and gently oinking and we let him out into the house. Straight away he gets as close to the fire as he can where he finds Boo.
He has crossed over from stock to pet and I have called the wonderful Pig Rescue lady – Lori – she will find a home for him this week so that I can get him settled before I go away on Friday.
John and Ton will not be able to manage a pig inside with all their other duties and winter is my travelling time so I cannot force extra responsibilities on them. Boo is happy with a pig inside but Ton does nothing but pace and sneak up on the little pig from every direction endlessly guarding him. So off The Barrow will go to begin his new life on a little property with other pets. My only request is that he can find a home where he has a heated pen for the winter. I told you he was the runt – right? He was that tiny, tiny boy baby of Poppy’s. Once I worked that out in my head it made some kind of sense. He is slowly eating more and I think he has begun to put on weight.
What amazes me is how fast he has changed to trusting humans and dogs, learning his toilet corner, working out which is his bed, and sleeping and SNORING on his mattress by the fire. (I have taken away the New Zealand Sheepskin because just like a pig he began to EAT it.)
Today will be cold but the sun should come out this afternoon and we are climbing up out of the huddled dark and bitter cold into the sunlight. Just a few more days of shuffle-steps across the frozen skate rink that is the Quad. Our buildings all sit around this area and all the trucks and the tractor and our footsteps have turned the ice and snow between the barns and sheds and the house into a polished skating rink. We creep across it carrying the buckets and hay and feed and machines, criss crossing, our eyes searching for new safer spots to put out boots. But not for much longer. The warm is coming, then it will melt and the ground will go softer but I much prefer mud to ice.
Now I will get out my teensy tiny suitcase and begin to prepare for my own travels.
I hope you have a good day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
65 responses to “In the night,”
Love seeing Nanny Boo on duty once more.
I know – I am finding it hard to get anything done with ‘checking on them’ all the time!
Oh yes, he needs a nice warm home for the winter.
Are you packing your knives and copper bowl, this trip?
This time I am travelling with cabin luggage only so i will only take my apron! No knives but that’s ok – my DIL has a knife I like. c
I hope you find a home for the little guy very soon, although I think we will all miss photos of little barrow boy with Boo. Too, too sweet!
Yes he needs somewhere to be and I need to go to visit my son in the mountains. Lets hope things move swiftly – I am getting ATTACHED!! c
They do say that pigs are very intelligent. I suppose that when they are all together they learn collectively, but when you take them out of their element they look at things with wider eyes and use more of their brains. It’s a good job Sheila doesn’t know about the fireplace 😉
Yes, I can just see Sheila lying in front of the fire and ruling the roost from there too! I am surprised at how fast this fellow has adapted. I wish I could keep him inside so we could test some of these theories and seee if I can train him but there you are – i have to travel and I can’t do both.. c
Ha ha – Sheila would love it!
Brrrr, that’s cold. And here too, but our cold to last through tonight and then warm up significantly (up to the freezing point again) sometime tomorrow. Hope you don’t get Elizabeth’s predicted ten inches of snow… that is an enormous dump, especially so if there is any wind whatsoever. Thank goodness for the Pig Rescue Lady! Those photos of your wee rescue with Boo are so precious. As ;much as it is in Boo’s nature to care for him, it’s amazing how he has taken to Boo. It appears like the wee piggy is dependent on Boo now. Your winter sunlight on the snow is deceiving and makes everything appear warmer than it is. Hope you have a great day! ~ Mame 🙂
It is very very cold – but all the outside piglets bounced happily out of their house this morning and they ate all their feed in the night – I think putting it under the light has made the difference, they can be warm as they slowly munch.. c
We are terribly cold here also! Not like you but cold for us. It’s 4* right now at 9:00 in the morning.
Linda
Cold is relative – but do you remember how I used to moan when i first started to farm here – so cold i was – now I just wear a LOT of clothing.. c
You are right…it’s all about the layers of clothes!
Have a look at the instagram scroll down!- very cute pics of Baby Barrow.
Love the Instagram photo – and all the photos. I can’t believe you can write so well… even before ‘The Crack o’ Dawn’!! And to think that 6F was ‘warmer’. I’m so glad that nasty weather has pasted. It’s warmed up here as well, but we didn’t have the horribly low temps you guys had. I’m sure you’re very, very much looking forward to your trip and Christmas with your daughter and her husband!! ; o )
With Boo tending to his Pig Bro, it reminds me of the old TV show, “Green Acres”. With Eva Gabor, and Eddie Albert. Their neighbors, the Zifel’s, had a pig, Arnold, who thought of him as their Son. It was a hilarious show, and a classic. I think it is wonderful what you do for your animals, when they are in need. Not many farmers would do what you do. Coming back to Arnold the pig, he watched TV, usually Westerns, and he went to school with the kids and had his own desk. I know you would love the show. Maybe you do know about the show, but since you have lived so many other places, you may not have seen it. Good Travels C!
I’ve heard tell, Ceci, that boiling water then filling ice cube trays with it makes the cubes form faster. Now as to boiling a pail of water, this makes sense at those COLD temps. It would freeze solid in the bucket before you could even get it fully tossed out…giggle – one HUGE cube?
Nice and warm here….sorry to brag 🙂 I was thinking along the side lines as you, marveling at how quickly little Barrow decided he liked…..relished!…. the indoor life with a soft bed, a dog and people! A-mazing!
Oh no, one pic after the other of our sweet piggy and Nanny Boo is more stunning! Just lovely.
-12F/-24 C – omg! – Keep strong with this extrem coldness, Celi. Best wishes to all of your animals, too. I think it’s a very long time since I’ve experienced temperatures like that. Must have been a child. I think I mentioned it once: They used to call it the Siberian Cold here. – Brrrrrr…….. Maybe Mr. Coyote was howling because of the cold?
When Don made the trip on the Trans Siberian railway in the winter he says when it was very cold, if you were outside the air from your breath would turn to ice crystals and fall to the ground…similar to the boiled water trick above… but what I equally love is the name for it ‘snow whispers’. Love the photos of Boo and the barrow. Safe and happy travels to you. xx
snow whispers – wow
Love your words describing the cold then warm moving across… I’d be hanging out for the tiniest upward increment into warm. In the meantime the fire looks cosy and the company good.
The Boo & friend photos must be amongst the most heart-warming of this festive season . . . . love animal pictures but have never seen such an unusual ‘coupling’ 🙂 ! Well, even when the little one is in a new home, we shall have the memories to keep: thank you, Miss C . . . and may the trips go smoothly and the landings be soft . . .