'Cuz there sure isn't any "warming" going on around here!!! BRRRRR! I don’t remember winters this cold when I was a kid. Maybe it is just because I was a child then with child sensibilities – the thrill of sledding on the wooden sled my dad made for me, or getting to wear long pants under my skirt to walk to school (though we had to take the pants off once we got there), or building snowforts and pelting my brother with snowballs. Now as an adult with adult responsibilities, I am far less amused.
It was minus fifteen in the barn this afternoon. It's supposed to get colder still over the next couple of days, with a wind chill factor of minus 23 tomorrow. And that's according to the weather forecast - the winter temperatures up here in the hills are usually about five degrees colder than the "official" reports.
Once again I have added more bales of straw to the piggies' stall in an effort to keep them warm. The straw breaks down quickly and piggies are very sensitive to cold. I have two bales left and so I must go on the scrounge again or fork out $12 - $16/bale from the local supplier and haul them home four at a time (which is all my vehicle will hold).
I have put a large tarp over the big double barn door to eliminate the wind, which is picking up again tonight. I hauled warm water to the barn four times today – the piggies can’t get enough of it, and it chills and freezes within a couple of hours. Even Martin the alpaca is inhaling the warm water. Next I will be making them hot chicken and dumpling soup – my personal comfort food for cold nights and winter days. I would make the pigs hot oatmeal, but oatmeal is something I have never learned to cook as it is one of the few foods I really don't like!
Even the dogs have finally started refusing their run in the pasture. Oliver is game, but Belle only leaves the house to do her business, and today Charley and Sadie were both crying and picking up their frozen feet within a few yards of the pasture gate.
So tonight we cocoon in the house and hope that this cold snap will soon end. If I wanted to live in a place with cold winters, I would have stayed in the Northwest Territories!
Stay warm, everyone.
5 comments:
That thought was going through my mind today, as Bill and I tried to walk Black Jack. It was -2, but she kept stopping and holding up one paw (different one each time). Bill finally carried her home.
Really hope you and your gang will get through this cold spell okay. Keep us posted!
Global warming is actually a misnomer because some parts of the planet are expected to get wetter and colder (aka Climate Change). BC is amongst them, and what we've seen over the past five years is eerily in-line with model predictions.
Science aside, this is definitely the longest and coldest cold snap that I have experienced in the lower mainland in 13 years here. Our creatures are surviving happily enough, but the dogs are under exercised and starting to go crazy.
Ahhh, thanks for the explanation, dp! Somewhere in the back of my mind I think I knew that, but the icy sub-zero weather must have frozen that part of the brain. "Climate change" is certainly a more accurate description.
It's also very cold here in the Cowichan Valley but not quite as cold as you have it. Only minus 8.
Jean oatmeal is easy. Boil a big pot of water add oatmeal. for quick oat cook 5 minutes for whole oats 20. Let cool and add little brown sugar or honey. The piggies will think you a godess. Martin too.
Else.
Oatmeal for piggies? Love it!
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