Wanted: Guest Writers
At around 4 pm Victoria and I were in the truck on the way back from the West Farm and feeling numb from frozen faces and I looked up at the temperature gauge above the rear vision mirror and it said 7F/ -13. A bit chilly! But we had not felt quite that cold until we discovered what the temperature actually was. We had not realised we had been out in the cold as long as we had and I had not realised that I could not feel my nose until I discovered the temperature.
Before going back outside, we had spent the morning making the last of the soap using cows milk. It came to trace very nicely and I have high hopes. It got very hot in its baking period so I had to take off come of its covers. Unlike the piglets who got extra bedding yesterday.
There was sun, in between the snow showers, in fact there was sun while we had sun showers which felt weird but having sun always enables cheerfulness. Gloom breeds gloom. Sun even weak winter sun just feels better. 
The kunekune pigs are never cold, and at the moment Tane is even walking a little better. I opened their gate and he was through the barn and into the driveway then around the house looking for trouble. 
Tima does move the fastest though – she knows exactly where she is not allowed to go and so she runs like an arrow, head down, little legs a blur, straight for the garage two dogs in hot pursuit hoping she can rip open a few bags of feed before I head her off and close the door I forgot to close before letting her out.
She avoids me running in a huge arc, never breaking stride as she gallops for the barn, finding no feed unguarded there she runs straight for the verandah. She has no problems running up and down steps that pig.
The little pigs are getting longer and longer hair as the winter gets going – some of these little ones even have long mutton chop whiskers on their faces. They are getting quite fluffy. The winter hair comes in very fast – in the summer all the pigs are bald, they shed all their hair to cool off. This is their only means of heating and cooling. Though they do shiver when they are cold.
This morning I drive Victoria back to her bus. She is back off to university. We got through a lot of work while she was here and now I am quite up to date.
On February 6 I fly out to England, then from there to a mystery destination that I have never been to before. It will be a surprise for you. My children and a good friend have gotton together to get me somewhere new for a complete break. I am excited to explore a new city in a country I love, with you along for the ride. But, during the travel days I will be needing four or five guest farm writers to cover the days that I am actually in the air.
Please email me on celima.g.7@gmaildotcom if you are a farmer or work outdoors and would like to be a guest writer and tell us about what you do and where you live. The guest posts will be short, like mine, with a few pictures – nothing strenuous. If you have someone else in mind let them know in the comments section – encourage them. This will be fun!
Much love
celi
45 Comments on “Wanted: Guest Writers”
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Tane looks like he has the warmest coat – thicker than the cows 🙂
He does, he has a long coat like a long haired german shepherd. c
Oh, I would love to guest write for you, Celi! But all my work is INDOORS with animals at this time of year! I hope you get some excellent volunteers! February is so close! I can’t wait for you to take us to England!
Yes! I would love you to be one of our writers. We can go behind the scenes at the zoo! What a splendid idea! email me f you think you have time. c
Done! You have to outsmart pigs, I have to outsmart some giant tortoises.
I see your problem -think like a tortoise.. hmm.. c
Wherever you end up have a safe journey. Thank you Victoria for all the help you have given Miss C
Not for a few weeks yet! I will pass on your words to Victoria. c
Hairy piggies! I bathed my two pups today, first bath for Alfi since his cruciate ligament op on 1st November so he really was in need. He has a coat like a lamb and it’s cold today so I had to give him a blow dry. He is not a happy pup right now!
Blow drying the dog! How embarressing. Poor boy!! Bet they smell better though. c
Much better! !
I am curious now about the destination, can’t wait to find out! I just love your soap making. I think the ugly soap is beautiful.
You will never guess! I am allowing myself to get a wee bit excited now. And of course now i get to fret aboout the weather as it will be another very short trip – no time to waste sitting about in airports waiting for weather to clear! c
Enjoy it! And I just joined Instagram today so I am following you there too! So many lovely pictures. Safe travels.
Love the fuzzy white belly on that piglet…. Is there any way to capture Tima in full gallop, maybe using your phone? It’d be such a fun thing to watch the furry, pot-bellied darling streaking along in search of trouble.
I can do that though I cannot transfer to the blog – do you have an instagram account? that is the best way to view video i think. c
No, no IG account… Never mind, I will just carry on imagining it! And thank you.
“Sun even weak winter sun just feels better” is something i agree with.
true that.. c
No outdoor farm work for me in the city now, but I look forward to hearing from your guest writers. I am also excited to hear about your travels. Hubby, the girls and I love to travel and are leaving on another cruise to visit Honduras, Belize and Cozumel in a few weeks. Hubby and I are also discussing our future travel plans, which will likely included many European countries. Hubby lived in Germany for two years while in the Army, but I have never travelled to Europe and have recently become fascinated several countries that likely fit our personalities and interests more than the U.S. 🙂
Recently, I did a blog post asking for travel suggestions and got a few that I had never considered before. If time and money were no option, I would be adding many more places to my bucket list.
Oh wonderful – yes i love to travel – it makes me feel challenged and alive! c
I think that’s where the old phrase,”ignorance is bliss” came from. If you don’t know it’s that cold, you won’t feel it. But that is COLD! I would love to put a wood or pellet stove in this old trailer because my heat pump can’t keep up with our cold here and I have 20 more degrees than you. More snow today. Brrrr. England in Feb could be a bit nippy too. 🙁
England will be balmy compared to here – wet probably! But not as cold . c
England hmmm, I was hoping you were off to a nice sunny, warm beach somewhere. Laura
Nope – if I go to a sunny warm beach it will be in NZ – c
-19 F/ -28 C on my porch this morning. Brrrrr!
Merciful heaven! c
I KNOW! How did those pioneer women do it?
I’d be happy to write a post about beekeeping, or having an urban garden in California, if you think your readers would be interested in that. Let me know! Cheers, Elizabeth (elizabethboegel@gmail.com)
Very curious to find out the mystery destination! England is having a mild winter so far, certainly very mild compared to your chilly temperatures.
Will you be visiting your old haunts, Cecilia? That would be interesting. And now I can’t wait either for the mystery city.
I love watching squirrels. Love that for winter they grow white tufts behind their ears. Yesterday I could not stop watching this one little squirrel grab a mouthful of leaves then scurry up our tree and pack his nest. He make countless trips. I’d love to know what is it that keeps the nest together? Is it saliva–like wasps?
Past guest writers were wonderful. It was lovely to learn about the various lives of The Fellowship ♡
Oh dear – after a lovely cool week of temps in the 20s C and quite a few delightful Camelot showers [they fall at night if you remember 🙂 !] we are in for four days in the 40s [those in the US: remember 38 C = 100 F !] – don’t know which is worse! Knowing you, you will have your suitcase open soon to be packed – well, have privately written down two destinations close to each other – let’s see how close I’ll get . . .am pretty certain about the country, am pretty certain about the part of the country . . . exciting guesswork indeed . . .
I hope you have a lovely time. We’ll all miss you for sure. I can volunteer to do a recipe if you need to fill some space.
Oh wow – have a wonderful break!
[J+D] We love a mystery! Looking forward to your observations and ruminations that see our home country from a visitor’s perspective.
I lived in the UK and around about for a number of years so I am really looking forward to seeing the changes in my old stomping grounds..
Those kunekunes. You gotta love ’em. (But I wonder if they get their feelings urticaria when I laugh at their antics.
What?? (Supposed to have been HURT)
Those predictive keyboards are such a mystery. c
I’d love to write a guest post for you, if you’d like! I run a small pet zoo in a kibbutz in Israel. Love from a follower from the other side of the world! 🙂
Oh my! email me at celima.g.7@gmail.com. Talk to you soon.. c
Another trip! How exciting Celi. I was so pleased to hear that Tane is on the improve 😃
He is still getting about but I think like Boo it will be up and down for the rest of their lives.
We have problems ongoing with our pooch too ..