Last night as the wind blew hard and the temperatures dropped so fast my face ached, I got all the chores finished. Finally got in the house. Finally peeled off the layers of messed up miserable ramshackle outdoor homeless person clothing. Finally got my iced up gloves off and started thawing out my hands. Finally found the gorilla tape to fix my torn ski farm trousers. Finally got out my bowl of fruit salad and yoghurts wishing I had a good brandy to drizzle it with. And the neighbor calls – he is in a pickle- his truck is stuck in the snow- can I come and pull him out!
Poor old fellow. 
I was happy to help though, like firewood, pulling people out of snow drifts is not my department. However with John still away and grounded in California due to the bad weather here I put all my clothes back on – loaded up the dogs and off we went.
The wind is bad this morning. The temperature is still dropping and will dawdle about in the low minus teens all day. Kicking a ball about with Wind – that treacherous wind. Only a sailor could love this wind but even then she could kill him with an extra gust. 
I lost the tread off one of my boots yesterday. This may seem like a small thing but – yeah.
Still, I got submersible heaters in all the new emergency waters yesterday. After all the usual problems with extension cords. I am usually good at keeping my spirits high and if not then pretending to myself that they are high but I did feel a little frustrated when I discovered that my last good outside extension cord had dropped a loop straight down into a frozen puddle at the edge of the Rat-house door. And was not moving soon. 
And of course my study continues through all this. 
The good news is that today will be the worst day – I think. Tomorrow things will start to improve.
Celi
The weather this morning is from Weather Live.
The Kitchen's Garden 
73 responses to “LAST NIGHT”
It has been quite the winter so far. Not going to lie, I don’t like it. It is only January and I feel in the deep doldrums.
Oh no! Don’t go into the doldrums miss snow-woman. It will get better. Try to get a bit of this sun on your face. Even if it is dreadfully cold. A few minutes sun always helps. All my love !! Hopefully you feel better soon.
I’m not going to complain about the cold here in the south. It’s so rare for us to have this. I can’t imagine how brutal it feels up there. I hope things begin to improve soon for you.
It is just windy and cold. Not the end of the world yet. And I have lots of clothes and a warm house- there are plenty much worse off. Remember my blog posts are not complaints – merely documents of the moment on a farm. It is winter after all /
I did not mean that you were complaining! I was just noting that I sure better not complain (though I do because cold hurts my feet having neuropathy). I appreciate the warmer climate here, but I never have loved anything about the cold.
Oh yes – I did not think you meant that. Mercy it is cold today – I am wearing my hat and inner jacket inside!
I say a headline that said Chicago would be colder than the arctic. Not a goal one aspires too but we are sitting at -1 and will drop to -5. Take care of you and the critters. Morning miss c… t
Morning miss t!! I was wondering the other day how many years we have been saying that to each other! Delightful really
It’s been many years now that’s for sure but I like to think of it as our special friendship secret handshake… or something like that 🙂
It is! And always makes me smile. Have a good one!
It’s only -21 with -52 wind chill here at Pontiac. Glad all the Farmy Kids are inside and warm with your care for them. And blessings to you for taking care of your neighbor – “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Stay warm Celi.
I am not even looking at wind chill – my face tells me enough
Brrrr! But I love those fowl all puffed up into balls!
They are not coming out today that is for sure
Hi Celi! Did you see my question about feeding pigs hard boiled eggs? Do you peel them? And are they very fattening? Sorry to harass you, but you are my pig guru! 😍
Yes I did see it and I thought I answered it – weird – anyway – no I don’t peel them. They eat the shell as well.
They are only fattening if you give them too many – one or two a day is fine. Just INSTEAD of the equivalent in grain not as well as.
Great. Many thanks, I know how busy you are. 😘🌹
I don’t envy you the weather. You can tell how cold it is by how puffed up the cat and birds fur and feathers are. I’ve seen video of Chicago this morning. I’m sure you neighbour really appreciated the help last night too!
I am sure he did – he roared off down the road calling thank you out his closing window- late for something I suppose.
…or desperate for some kind of supplies before the weather worsened.
I hope it warms up soon! We have had snow here in the UK but I suspect it is nothing compared with the cold you have to face!
Cold is relative I think- my son in Canada lives in cold like this all winter and I am moaning my arse off
I smiled at the frozen extension cord loop — not because it’s amusing, but because that’s the sort of detail that can send me over the edge when it happens. Proverbial straw-camel’s-back and all that. It does look like you’ll be improving after today. A friend in Madison, WI will be sunny and above zero tomorrow, and then above freezing on Saturday. You’ll be able to reclaim your cord!
beautifully captured! Spring cannot come soon enough!
I can’t think about spring yet. It would be so disappointing if it does not come early
Hang in there.. I hear you. my hubby heads out for a trip next week and I will be on my own for days, I am prepping but we will get it done, even if its a little slower, a little different.. it does make me at least grateful for all they do.. when we do it all ourselves 🙂 Stay warm!
I do most of the chores anyway – so it is not too much of a hardship. Just the cold really but you are much colder
you are a powerhouse, hang in there) awful here too
Thank goodness it will not last too long
I’m grateful to have a warm house and running water. I feel sorry for the animals that have to endure this and also the poor people running heaters that are sometimes not safe, just to stay warm. My goat is shivering….she is 15…she has water and lots of hay..nothing more I can do. I can’t open the back door because of the wind. It’s brutal and we are much warmer than you at 8 degrees.
Oh poor old goat. Hopefully the wind drops soon – wind always makes it worse
Eastern IA was -24˚F and will be again tonight. The miserable confining cold is dangerous on many levels. It plays with your mind.
It certainly does –
After tonight we start to pull up out of it. By the weekend we might be able to uncover some windows and remove rolled up towels from the bottoms of doors.
One death yesterday from the cold on the U of IA campus.
I sure know the Gorilla tape – trousers trick. This past month even the Gorilla tape would not hold in the cold. Strangest thing to see that happen! Good thing winter is like childbirth. Hard to remember when it’s past … !
What an excellent thought!
My SA heart was strangely happy to see the guinea fowl today. I wonder if they have ‘genetic memory’ of the high 30+C temps and hot dusty roads that their ancestors trotted down? I am also mulling over whether that is Lulu or Egoli. Blowing some sunshine and heat your way today. Laura
Yes – that is LuLu. One of those guinea goal lost her toes in the last polar vortex hit in 2014. I wonder if she remembers that!
Wow…poor guinea. I didn’t know you had guineas. 🙂