Monday, December 7, 2009

The Weather Report


We were up by 6:15 this morning as J. was invited to drive to Denver, Colorado with his twin brother.  They intend to spend two days strolling around a Ritchie Bros auction. Their 12 year old g-nephew has gone along to keep them in line. 
As I sipped my coffee, looking sleepily toward the bird feeder, I caught sight of a doe under the disheveled branches of a willow on the far side of the pond. I hurried for my camera, while J. called excitedly, "Her fawn is on this side of the pond.." The morning was so grey/white that the flash activated creating a blur on the window.  The fawn hung about, probably eating the cracked corn our renter has been putting out. This is my only decent snap of it.

Charlie decided to entertain us by performing up on the kitchen area ledge. Doesn't he appear hulking and ferocious?  [He is really a clown.]

Charlie comes down a level to the top of the fridge in order to converse with J.

With Charlie back on the ledge, J. prods him gently with the broom handle. Charlie's daughter, Jemima, loves to race along the edge "meowing" loudly. This is but one example of why we are wary of displaying collectables.  The cats' territory has few boundaries.

By noon the sun broke through, but, oh dear, it is cold. The weather page forecast today's high as a minus 4. I drove to town at 2PM, tires squeaking on the frozen packed snow. The digital thermometer outside the pet supply store read 2 degrees above zero.  When I left the shop at 5:15, the parking lot was nearly dark, and my car's windshield was frosted. Huddled shivering over the steering wheel, I started the engine, and observed that the outside temp read-out on the dash was a minus 1. By the time I reached the stoplight on the edge of town the reading was minus 5, and as I crested the hill it dipped to minus 9. [For UK readers, remember this is Fahrenheit temps.  Using an online Fahrenheit to Celcius converter, I find that our "9 below zero" works out to a minus 22 C. ]
 I struggled in with sacks of cat food and litter, my spoils of several warm sweaters from the second hand shop, the mail. With each trip into the kitchen the cats inquired if I was ready to dish up their tea. Telling them to be patient, I pulled on my Carhartt bibs, snow boots, yanked a ridiculous fleece hat down to my eyebrows, layered on a vest.  All this merely to walk to the pasture fence and put several pads of hay in Pebbles' feed bin. J. took down the electric fence which has penned her into her "starvation lot" for the past six weeks. The grass is long dead and now covered with snow, so it seems safe to allow her a greater range. I had to call several times before she could tear herself away from the lower pasture and her long postponed gossip with the horses kept in an adjoining lot.
Back inside to switch on the kettle, feed the cats.  I don't want to know how cold it is outside now!

SIL phoned to tell me he was forwarding his best deer photos of the day. This buck was with his tribe on Mortimore Lane.  M. on a service call, took these through the van window.

When the buck had cleared the fence and loped a safe distance into the pasture on the other side of the road, he turned back as if to taunt M. by his dramatic get-away.

6 comments:

  1. Hullo MM,

    -22! Jumpin Jehosaphat thats cold!.

    6.15 am here today and I would say its still about 3 or 4 degress at the moment. Forecast high in this area today is about 8C. we havent yet had a real frost - the sea being so close helps keep this at bay here.

    Having read your post and looked at the photos I think I might put on my shorts and T shirt and go for a wee walk in our tropical weather.

    Then again, maybe not...........

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Early Morning, Al; December and no killing frost--I need to adjust my ideas of a place to live during our "golden" years! The parts of the US which are warm in winter are unappealing to me--either desert [as in Yuma, AZ] or soggy semi-tropics such as lower Florida--both places that become unbearbly hot by April.
    The weather service here had been calling for -46 F., so we are meant to feel blessed if its only -20 overnight!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh that is COLD; I know I could not have driven home on ice-crunching roads in the dark. Hope you can keep warm indoors - and the doe shot is beautiful.

    Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I won't complain about being cold any more, I promise! YOU are cold, definitely!!

    BRILLIANT leaping deer picture. My camera has a slight delay on leaping things and when we go to Badminton Horse Trials I always have to press the button when the horse is a stride or so away from take-off - sometimes it works, but mostly I get the horse's front half or sometimes just the tail end! I can see why you don't have collectables up around the kitchen ledges - Banshee would love to come visit please - she loves being high up.

    Al - there's a racehorse trainer who is aiming to raise £5,000 for various charities this winter by only wearing shorts throughout the winter. He was sporting a pair of scarlet ones the other day at Kelso. I felt for him - bet his little knobbly knees get chapped long before the end of March! Good on him though!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've become a popcicle just reading this MM! Bless your warm heart! Those buck pictures are awesome!! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am stunned at your cold. We are 4 degrees Celsius here tonight, lovely bright stars and a clear night. Your snow pictures are wonderful though.

    ReplyDelete