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”
Chicago is on our news today in the uk, those temps are awful. We are complaining, and our weather is a lot milder than yours. 😀
I sure hope that neighbor offered you some firewood for your major assistance! And also hope Jake is around for you just in case. And little Jude looks so pensive!!
Funny, that was exactly my first reaction, but refrained from commenting 😃 Laura
Thank goodness you and your animals can be inside and safe. I can hardly bear to think of farms with large herds. I do hope John can make it home soon after your weather moderates a bit. Take care.
I get a kick out of Poppy tiptoeing over Sheila going to bed at night and then rising earlier than Sheila in the morning. This would be grist for a hilarious video someday.
Also I wonder about their pillowtalk—the pros and cons of motherhood as opposed to maidenhood.
Probably grizzling about the rations
In pondering the question of ducks and freezing water, i came across this Mother Nature News article on why birds’ feet don’t freeze (hope the link works). Fascinating!
https://mnn.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6df70d8dcc50e45d16f196d8c&id=e485f5fd16&e=6ed9e767ed
I read that ducks feet can’t freeze but then on duck forums, they say their ducks feet do freeze. I have seen my goose sitting on her feet to keep them warm. But imagine them being stuck on a frozen pond where they can’t get out.
For example, does Poppy secretly think Sheila “is too selfish to have children “?
I am sure Poppy is jealous of Sheila’s Aunty role. Poor Poppy is back off to the boar next week!
I was hoping your neighbour would come up with a slug of brandy for your yoghurt. That would have warmed the prospects of going back out again! Hunker down. Spring will come.
Your arse has plenty to complain about but you do it with such good humor that no one notices. You are a good soul to go help your neighbor but that’s what neighbors do. To bad your John is missing all the fun. 😉 I’ve been watching the weather and praying for everyone and everything affected by this deep freeze. The other extreme can be just as hard. Winter is finally winking at us here in Portland, OR. Won’t last long and NOTHING like what you have there. I’m glad you can protect all in the barn.
Horrible temperatures. Helping out neighbours in time of troubles is another thing farmers are familiar with because it could be you next time and county services/garage etc can’t always be depended to get out there in a timely fashion with other more immediate situations to deal with. (It’s -15 F, feels like -31 F in our area.) Sending warm thoughts your way.
Poor kitty! (Lulu?) Couldn’t find anything bigger to sit on? Looks kind of like a mugwump! Old term in politics for indecisiveness in Presidential elections (sitting on the fence with your ‘mug’ on one side, your ‘wump’ on the other! In this case, kitty is a wire sitter – smile.
Please stay warm to your comfort zone, stay happy, and know we all wish you the best through this!
Mugwumps. Goodness. What was in the mug?
Thank goodness today was the worst day. I can’t get my head around the weather, or much else… I’m getting better at just dealing with whatever… but I doubt I’ll ever be in your league of stoic.
The guinea fowl look like they have lost their combs on top due to the frost…or is it my imagination? Goodness, it is cold there…and you’ve lost the tread on one of your boots. It makes our heat feel much more tolerable!
Those guineas came through the polar vortex of 2014 – one of them does not even have feet!
😱😱😱
Aw a hard days work for sure. I’m worried about some Ohio friends who are without electricity. Yes, they have gas and oil, but dumb manufacturers have gone to putting electrical switches for the pilot lights for the on/off mechanism. “Advancement and safety” my back end! anyway – that is a soapbox I’ll step down from. Seems I have a few soap boxes hanging around my area these days.
Bonkers – at least if the electricity us off
Sorry to hear you lost a YakTrack! In my world, that’s a bigger problem than some! We are also having waterer problems, as the electric cords going out to the animals must be getting water somewhere, so the circuit keeps popping and turning them off. Pain in the neck (and a lot of other places, too!). We are just getting into the cold you just had. Brr, but this too shall pass. I love what meadowmice said: winter is like childbirth, you forget how bad it was afterward! So true. But on some of these bitter cold days I struggle to imagine warm breezes blowing through the leaves on the trees, and have a hard time imagining that as well!
I found it ! My anti ice devices have been reunited! I was very wary wearing only one today!