Spent the morning outside in 4 degree weather, lugging box elder trees down off the hill behind the stove and trying to get the fire going good enough to get the indoor temperature above 50 degrees.
Other than that it is (in theory) my morning off, it wasn't really a horrible job. Alan had the foresight, when we first got him his saw, to knock these little trees down for emergency wood. They are not far from the stove and they are bone dry so they are very light. It is easy to pick up a 4-inch thick, twenty-foot tall tree and drag it away with one hand. Lots of nice little birds were chinking and cheeping nearby, the sun was shining off the snow, the sky was brilliant blue and the wind wasn't too bad. As long as it stayed down we weren't really uncomfortable at all.
The box elders burn like tinder....(wait a minute....they are tinder) and we soon had the stove burning great. We are now quite comfy, (although somebody is going to have to get the darned tractor started and get some real wood pretty soon).
However, what really gets me going is to come inside and turn on Channel 9 Weather.
And to hear the weatherman, who is quite literally young enough to be my son, tell me firmly, (as if I were three and a half), "Bundle up when you go outside. Cover all exposed skin and don't be out any longer than you have to. There is a real danger of frostbite and hypothermia."
DUH
I have so many clothes on INDOORS that I would roll off the hill if I happened to stumble. When any of us go outside we wear even more than that. Most sensible folks do. The average person over the age of five is smart enough to figure out for themselves that it is cold outside in upstate New York in January. If they missed that part of life 101, having the weatherman tell then how to dress just isn't going to cut it....so to those pesky (and generally inaccurate) weathermen I say, show the long range forecast and get it over with.
I have been dressing myself for a while now!
About Me
- threecollie
- Embracing agricultural diversity, one species at a time. All rights reserved
I think the cold is making you a little testy! We are all used to inane banter on the news!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear someone else complaining today. I am sick to death of winter and I believe it has only just begun!
ReplyDeleteWell I totally get the "extra clothes on inside". I just cut the toes and heel out of an old pair of socks and am using them as fingerless gloves! I'm also in Upstate NY and this is nothing like the 70 degree weather we had two weeks ago! Brrr...
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog.
ReplyDeleteIf that is the only inane thing you hear on the news today you are way ahead of the game ;)
So why do you put magnets in a cow's stomach?? Can't you tell I'm a city girl :)
Every weather person must have been a kindergarten teacher first.
ReplyDeleteJUST TELL US THE WEATHER!!!
Drives me batty.
We have electricity, but I turned the thermostat way back to try to make the propane we heat with, last a little longer. So we are all bundled up, even while indoors, too!
ReplyDeleteLaughed at someone telling you how to dress!
Best wishes for a warm spell soon!
As a country chick myself, it irritates the socks offa me when they do that. I'm with you on the grrrr factor; as if we didn't know that we need to bundle up if it's below zero. Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteThanks for another post that had me laughing out loud! Oh, not at the travails of gathering wood in the arctic blast, but at the thought of rolling off the hill. "Hill" is a rather bland word for that cliff on which you dwell.
ReplyDeleteI know too well the perils of living in a drafty (but wonderful) old house. On these cold days, it's about 58 by the floor where my feet are, 62 at chair level, and in the 70s by the ceiling (at 11 1/2 feet), where it does no good. So I, too, was bundled up inside today. It occurred to me that if I put on any more clothes, I'd have difficulty fitting my posterior into the desk chair.
What makes me want to throw something through the TV screen is when it is snowing in the mountains, they have to send a camera crew up to show us that it is snowing in the mountains. Or when it is raining in the Valley they have some stooge standing out in the rain to show us that it is raining.
ReplyDeleteA weather persons perception of the obvious is amazing. They also must lead very dull lives as a fairly minor weather event will suddenly take on major proportions with possibly (the operative word) dire consequences.
ReplyDeleteHi Cubby, used to it is one thing...putting up with it another. I know they are idiots but they aggravate me. lol
ReplyDeleteYou have it a lot worse then we do Joni, your photos are gorgeous, but I am sure glad we don't have that much snow.
Hi Jen and thanks for visiting! I like the glove idea. I might try it.
Hello Flo, I like your blog and I will certainly visit again. The magnet is put there to collect bits of metal that the cow inadvertantly swallows, so they don't pierce the stomach wall.
Hey there FC, it makes me wonder if other people accept being treated like slightly stupid children....
ReplyDeleteThanks Marti...we had a nice long, warm fall and early winter, but I am ready for warm again any time now. Brrrrr
Hi Laurie....love that Christmas present!
Numberwise... I KNEW you'd understand. This place was so cold yesterday no matter what I did that I didn't get warm until just before night milking. I was tired from being cold I couldn't wait to go to sleep!
Thanks Jan, the exact same here! We have an all news station and they must get hard up for something to report so they send folks out in all weathers and take pictures of them.
Hi Dave, exactly right. The worst thing is that you are hard put to judge when serious weather is on the way or if they are just overreacting to come up with something to talk about!