THE GREAT LEVELER
I want to put two ll’s in leveller. (There are going to be problems when I get to SPELLING in my English course). Anyway, Our John thinks we got over Six inches yesterday. Nice light fluffy snow. 
But it is what comes after the snow that will cause the – hmm, what is the word, not problem exactly – adjustment, change, issue? No, it is the wind. If all the nice white fluffy snow stayed in place it would be very manageable. The wind is continuing to blow – the pathways and driveways he scooped and ploughed are already blown back up into mounds of snow again.
I don’t scoop snow. It is not my department. The dogs and I just clamber through the snow drifts like pioneers.
Snow is the great leveller – everything evens out in the snow. Until men get at it and try to subdue the snow everything is uniformly pretty.
The other issue is the cold. It looks like we will be below freezing for a few days now. I see this as a good thing because snow melt means more mud and I am deeply tired of mud.
But the animals are all less than inspired by snow and the barn will be packed with sheltering animals and birds. 
My guests yesterday worked hard and cooked hard and laid in front of the fire to rest a lot. There was a chef and a barista and two dishwashers ( one of whom was visiting from the Philippines ) so I was well taken care of.
The blowing snow kept our work inside. 
C
The shot below was earlier in the day. 
Our John has already taken a pass with his snow-plough. He is a Midwest native and joined the chorus of complaints from the men about the snow but secretly they are thrilled to bits when they get out there and hook the huge heavy metal rusty dinged up ploughs to the fronts of their oldest rusty dinged up trucks and plough off into the snowy sunset.
I hope you have a good day.
Celi
And now the weather…
Oh Wait!! I almost forgot to tell you – Jude has shifted himself into the grown up pigs house. The black upside down tub – stuffed full of straw and rags has been hanging out next to his heat lamp bed for a few weeks now. Last night I found him deep in the straw in his draft free house. With his heat lamp heating nobody. At last I can turn off his terrifying heat lamp. Thanks Gods.
He will get hot porridge twice a day now and I will be watching him carefully for signs of chilling. But that heat lamp ( which was only on at night and tied up three independent ways – even anchored from the sides so it could not swing) makes me very nervous.
Ok – NOW the weather and I will see you in The Lounge after chores … onwards!
C
31 Comments on “THE GREAT LEVELER”
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Oh my, in that second picture-the one with the clatter box contraption that carries hay up top- is that Jude just in front of Boo??? If so he has gotten huge! It was always difficult to tell just how much he had grown, but if that’s him then the perspective from that picture really shows how much he is bulking up and becoming a real pig!
I missed that and had to go back and look! If that IS Jude, he has a proper big, fat pig bottom now!
Yup. That is Jude alright with his minder. He is a good winter weight.
The men-with-snow-tools thing doesn’t just apply to trucks and big plows. The men on our street get excited when flakes start to fall. Next door neighbor Don and across the street neighbor Glen both cleared their drives by mid-day with their blowers. But, alas! It continued to snow until dark. They had to do it at least one more time. Me? I watched from my front window then went out at dusk to do the job only once.
I’ve noticed that a lot of men like Action, big sweeping noisy activity with lots of highly visible results. If it involves a tractor and a big, dinged-up metal attachment, they’re right there. I quite like that too, but I get a lot more satisfaction from clean paths, dry feet, full bellies and everyone safe and warm… I hope the Farmy and all its denizens (don’t you love that word?) will stay warm, well fed and dry in the coming days. And no mud.
I bet they get thrilled when they hook up the snowplows – it sounds exciting to me!
The trails in the snow always fascinate me. Laura
Me too, Laura! (Story-telling at its finest; )
That Tane is just too cute, tusks, overbite and all!!! 🙂 Gosh, we’ve had nothing but rain for the past several days, but I’m always delighted by rain, no matter what, to fill the ponds and lakes around us! Everything totally stops here when the snow comes, as in these Ozark Mountains snow and ice can be
extremely dangerous. It would be fun to see a little of it though! 🙂
Are you watching the series Ozark by any chance?
Those hearty duckies are brave little guys. And I agree with Jude, draft-free sleeping quarters are superior when it’s cold. Boys and their toys is the phrase that always comes to mind with the first couple of snow falls each year, but that wears off soon enough and the ‘toys’ would gather dust except for their need to get their other toys through that snow. Hope you can stay warm and dry today. ~Mame. 🙃
Men do love their toys, er tools. They can complain but my last husband loved to get out and drive his little tractor around pushing and blowing snow. I got the shovel, thank you very much. Tane is so cute in that photo. I hope I have that right. How nice to have help in the kitchen. That’s where I like help the best. Hang in there with the snow and cold. I have a feeling the summer is going to be a doozy.
Morning Celi ~ we had 10.5″ of snow over here 30 miles west of you!! No wind this morning and the sun is glistening on the all white beautiful landscape!!! Boo Boy would have a ball running around here!! And Jude would just sink down in ~ in some of those drifts!!! I dread the mess when it decides to melt. Have a good day with your guests cooking for you!!!
My crew gets that way when storms come through. When storm drains get clogged, they call for the backhoe, and then get annoyed when I unclog the drain with a shovel before the backhoe arrives.
A couple chefs and a barista sound WONDERFUL to me!
Precisely what I was thinking!: )
Here my poem for the season:
I hope I never grow so old—
that I don’t delight in the sight of snow.
So glad that you had helpers for the day! A chef and a barista sounds so wonderful. I agree, boys and their toys… Love the snow photos when everything looks so clean and bright. Later on though, grey snow and slush and mud is not so much fun :*)
my oh my….Jude is becoming quite hog like! So big now!
Yes, being north of the Great Lakes, I find “American” spelling constantly trying to autocorrect me (so I just changed my keyboards to UK English, et voilà! Problem solved! (Or Canadian French, Mexican Spanish… ; )
American vs UK English, ahh yes, I have no other language than English but I find now I switch between them sometimes quite unknowing -or uncaring- now which is which… such is the evolution of language; another great leveler or leveller.
Took my girls on a snow excursion to Mt. Shasta, OR when they were 8 & 9 years old. We went to a snowy area (lots of snow) and just sat and listened to the noises the snow and forest made. All kinds of noises! They still talk about it, and they’re in their 40’s now. Pristine snow is wonderful!! Your photo of the farmy reminded me of our farm – first snow – in Cottage Grove, OR. So serene! Thank you, Miss C.!
It’s nice to have guests who do chores and make dinner. 🙂
Those Kunekune pigs are the most adorably ugly animals. Everytime you put up a photo of one I want to give it a good hug. Are they sweet natured or does their temperament match the cranky grimace?
I miss snow where I live. Snow looks so pretty and cheers me up. On the other hand I don’t have to tend animals so I imagine snow/cold for critters is a nuisance not just lovely trappings.
I am a new subscriber and I want to thank for your blog and pics of the Farmy. I look forward to each day you post. Please keep us posted if you need to “go private”
As to your ESL adventure I humbly suggest the following: Diagramming sentences. It sounds like a lot of work but it can be very helpful to visually show the correct placement the components of grammar. I also strongly recommend Phonics. I taught in graduate school and I had a lot of International students who had trouble with pronunciation and spelling. Phonics helps both with pronunciation and spelling. I believe that vocabulary would also be easier to learn if they could sound out the letters that make up the words. There is a lot to learn and I honor you for taking on this task.
These are two excellent points. I totally agree about teaching using phonics. I was taught this in England and have used it ever since. Diagramming sentences is also an excellent visual tool. Thank you so much!
Your guests are a Chef, Barrista and TWO Dishwashers? You do attract the best kind of visitors, C; )
I see Peacock feathers, just yesterday I took videos of my neighbors scratching around in my garden, they do no harm. I have often wondered why do people raise Peacocks? They are displacing the wild Turkeys around me and often sound like a person in distress.
Extra beautiful photos today miss c!
I’d be happy turning off that heat lamp too! 🙂
I hear you. There’s been a lot of snow here in southern Ontario too. I read west coast and English blogs to warm up!