Friday, January 29, 2010
When it Gets This Cold
It is all about the cold. Yesterday an email weather alert promised the winter equivalent of a summer squall line of violent thunderstorms. Two of the kids were out and on the way home and Liz's BF was on the way down. I knew it would be a close race whether they beat the storm here or were caught out in it.....I was talking on the phone with my brother when it hit his place maybe forty-five minutes west of here.
It was sunny when the call started. He said, "Wow, here it comes. I can't see Fred's place. Wow, now I can't see the place across the road......now I can barely see the trees in the yard."
I would guestimate that less than three minutes passed and the sun here vanished behind a black wall of cloud as dark as a bruise. It was like pulling down a curtain. As I watched snow began to plow in from the north and two more pieces of tin slashed off the big barn roof before the snow shut out all vistas here too.
To my relief, just as it got really bad, Liz trundled up the driveway from the post office in the little turquoise Dakota. Not half a minute behind her came the bigger blue truck bringing Alan from college. Big sigh of relief when the black one was right behind him.
It howled and screamed most of the rest of the day and most of the night. What a year for wind this has been! Now it is just breezy, but cold. Two above and I am sure it will drop more before sunrise. When it gets like this you have to plan how to wear enough clothes to work in it. My shoulders ache all winter from trying to work with so many shirts on. I am so looking forward to the time when outerwear, rather than weighing forty pounds, consists of a pair of shorts and a button down short sleeved shirt.
Meanwhile, it is time to go put on the down vest and heavy fleece and my wood gettin' gloves and my ancient Brown's Feed hat and see what froze in the cow barn. Have a good one!
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13 comments:
I sure know what you mean, getting ready to go out and do chores myself. Here come the layers of the michelen man!
Stay warm!
Get a scarf to put around your neck. It's like putting on another jacket. Seriously. We all wear silk ones. Should I send you one?
Can't really see you in one of JB's silk scarves! Can try it, though.
Take care, now.
I love the timing of the big kids! Glad they got home safely. :)
I was watching those waves of squalls coming from the NW in the weather.com radar much of yesterday. And out the window for half the day as well. I saw the line of yellow running down the spine of the largest one as it swept down the NY Thruway and thought of you guys and your compromised barn roof. Hope the hatches stayed battened down!
[Just 3.6 degrees here at the Aerie this morning at 7 AM, but at least the bloody wind has stopped howling!]
Lisa, I have forgotten what I look like...all I have seen all winter is a big heap of clothes stacked up and walking around. lol
JB, funny you should say that. I have this big, long, fuzzy, wildly-colored scarf that my brother wore in college. I only wear it when it gets really, really, really cold, because my glasses fog up, but it is a real asset walking to the barn when it is brutal out. Some winters it never comes off the shelf, but I have worn it a couple times this winter. lol Thanks for the kind thoughts
dickiebo, hey, you never know. lol, thanks, it has warmed up to a balmy 4 degrees and the wind hasn't gotten too bad yet....and I am not going back out for a while...
Dani, it was almost funny. I stood watching the storm stream in and hoping...first one rumbly motor, then another, then the third...and all was good.
Joated, it sure was wild! Today I looked at the weather map on channel 9 and just had to turn away. The whole darned thing was purple and red because of the cold...brr....you stay warm now!
I'm so glad everyone made it in before the wind hit. Wind is a terrible wrecker of things and it usually has something other with it, (rain, snow, something)
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/
I picture you dressed for the cold looking something like that kid on "The Christmas Story".
You sure do have a way with words!!! Take JB up on a silk wildrag.....they're wonderful!
bohzo (hello)
I hate winter, nice blog!
Linda, it is indeed and this has already been a terribly windy winter!
FC, kinda, sorta....lol
Linda, thanks! Sorry everything is all about the cold these days, but alas....it is. lol
Pokagon, thanks! And thanks for visiting!
I was at WalMart when it started. The weatherman had predicted it owuld start at 11; it came at 10:52am here in the Utica area. I drove through about 100-foot visibility... but the speed limit (55) was faster than the storm. By the time I got home, it was sunny. I had driven right out of it. But then, by the time we got the groceries in the house, BA< it hit our area. A really neat event, I think. It's something awesome to watch a storm fall down on you like a curtain... and to drive right out of the blustery beehive of snow.
I'm just pulling it together after that coldsnap mess. Feel like I've been under water for a few days. Weird how it consumes the farmer.
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