The wind blew cold and strong yesterday. So the big doors were closed, with boards running crosswise to secure them and stop them from flying inward. 
The little pigs sleep right inside those doors and I don’t want them caught in a cross draft of cold wind blowing straight on them.
The wind was quite the surprise after a few weeks of calm warmer weather.
With it below freezing again the hoses are at risk of freezing solid so after I filled all the water troughs the hoses had to be emptied of water and hung. This is great exercise for the arms. I hold the hoses above my head and pull them in, hand over hand, to empty them. Then loop them over poles until next time.
Once everything was done that had to be done I went inside for the afternoon to make a chicken and roast onion pie.
There was even a little sprinkle of snow – not snow flakes though – these were like little polystyrene balls. They bounced to the ground. Affecting nothing at all. Just hanging out down there.
Sheila my Petal. I need to bring in more straw for her today. Her bed is looking small. I love seeing the dents in the straw surrounding her from where the calves lay for the night. She is like a queen with all her young handmaidens curled up at the edge of her skirts, and slightly below her – as befits their station.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
66 responses to “Closed for Busy-ness”
I love the cow in the car (and the one of Sheila a few days ago) 🙂
Sheila is such a petal.. c
Look at that wavy red coat!?!?!?! I love it. Her Highness Sheila, queen of the bovine.
He has a beautiful Hereford coat that steer.. c
A chicken and roast onion pie? What a treat — I’ve never heard of such. I hope you enjoyed it, and I’m going to try to replicate it!
I will post the recipe tomorrow if I get myself in order.. c
Yes – please post the recipe!
yes please the recipe for roast onion pie…..slurp and Sheila truly is the Queen!
Yep, that Sheila is too, too much! And spoiled rotten as well!!! 🙂
She has a way about her.. c
Your pig pictures have a lot of feel in them. I had to pull my shawl around me more tightly when I read your description of the wind.
The wind is wild when it howls like this..
Boo, you sent that plastic snow to us with the cold. Little pellets bouncing off of surfaces and cold cold wind. Nobody wants to be out for long. I need to add another layer of straw down too and some scratch to get the chickens to scratch it in. Chicken and roasted onion pie sounds delicious. Please share instructions, the freezer is full of birds.
Yes, I will write it for you today – it takes a while but is very easy.. c
Delightful last paragraph about Sheila. Great description.
Bundle up – this is such a windy year. Mary Poppins probably blown way past her targeted house.
Poor old Mary Poppins.. c
wind blown lass of legends!
I’m shivering just reading your latest!
Still, it is not too cold yet.. c
Our local weatherman calls that type of parcipitation “graupel”. Listening to him talk about “graupel” on TV for some reason makes my boys snort with laughter. Since we have graupel here a lot, there’s a lot of snorting that goes on too. 🙂
I had to look of the definition of ‘graupel’ – seems it’s German. Who knew. I just learned something!! ; o )
Me too! German snow pellets, Ha! If I ever hear that term on tv now, I will for sure snort with laughter now. ~ Mame 🙂
Ha! Was there “snorting” involved?
I am German and have never heard the word graupel, maybe it’s Austrian or Swiss German.
It is graupelling here now too! Snort, tee hee.
You guys are so funny!!
we are also having a bit of graupel ! It must be contagious!
Graupel~ HAHAHA! ~snort~ oops 🙂
The great grandmother barn hovers over your little community day and night, heedless of wrinkles and scars and blotches. She could tell long stories about survival. Beautiful photograph! The bits of bright color couldn’t have been better placed by a painter. They belong, and have their own stories to tell.
Beautifully said Albert!! ; o )
The barn is what makes it all happen- without the barn I would not be doing this at all.. c
I bet those two Owls were grateful to be roosting in the barn 🙂 We are having huge storms and resulting power failures over the last couple of days, so my visits have been brief. Laura
Oh no that sounds awful – good luck! c
How about sharing that recipe!!!??? ; o )
I will write it up for you today! c
Awesome – everyone will be so pleased!
I had the oddest thought. What is there was a pink petal that was as big as Sheila….times 5 or six…that would be the biggest flower ever! ha It’s Friday. My brain is fuzzled. Have a great day!
Tomorrow is Saturday thankfully. c
Ha! A pig in a boot! You must be right, that wins for sure. (re the instagram photo).
A friendly reminder… yes, it’s colder and the wind has picked up, but no temperature for future reference, unless I missed it. Cooler here too, with temperature going to a high just barely over the freezing point until Sunday when it no longer rises above for at least the next week. But here we are nearing the end of January already and if winter does finally come we’ll have no excuse to complain, also it won’t last that long because March isn’t so far away now. Hope you have a lovely day too. ~ Mame 🙂
March is such a LONG month I always think – because it is March we feel it should be spring but anything can happen in march. Still February is a short month! And a busy one here so that is good! c
I love Sheila. That’s all!
That’s all there is really, isn’t there. c