Thursday 12 January 2017

Winter in all its rage.

The first 'real' taste of winter that we have had for several years has hit the country hard over the past couple of days and large parts have seen quite a lot of snow.   So far it has missed us here in the Dales.

Because the farmer is not one hundred percent at the moment he has not ventured out in the bitterly cold weather any more than he has had to.   Once the wild birds are fed, the farm cats are fed, the pregnant cattle are silaged and bedded down, the sheep have been looked at (he kills two birds with one stone and walks Tess at the same time) and the logs for the wood burner have been brought in, he brings himself in for the rest of the day.

I have had a busy afternoon - hairdresser, shopping for groceries for the weekend, collecting prescriptions from the surgery and finally driving to my Physiotherapist for a forty minute session - I arrived home at tea time just about exhausted.   One the way home, coming through a village with a thirty mile an hour limit, I accelerated just before reaching the sign to tell me it was no longer necessary to stick to 30mph and had reached about 35mph before I noticed a speed Police vehicle on the side of the road.   So now I have a wait to see whether or not I get a speeding fine.   Then, just as I turned into our land I hit and killed a cock pheasant.   This is a first for me as I always try to avoid them.   Sadly the local landowner had had a shoot today (I had seen all the cars on my way to the Physio) so this poor pheasant had managed to escape the guns, only to be killed by me.   Not sure whether the speeding or the killing of the pheasant upset me the most.

Now we are snug and warm. the wood burner is chugging away and we are set to play Rummikub.
All the curtains are drawn so if it snows we will not know until we draw them back in the morning.

I am thinking of the poor folk down the East coast who are being warned about an exceptional high tide.   I vividly remember the time when the coast of Lincolnshire was flooded and I believe around three hundred people were drowned.   Much of the land is reclaimed land and is very low-lying.   I believe the year was around 1957.  Hope to goodness it doesn't happen again tonight.

25 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

"All the curtains are drawn so if it snows we will not know until we draw them back in the morning."

I've done that myself, and it's a lovely surprise, unlike hearing the rain fall all night!

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat, you were probably referring to the 1953 floods. I was five and our house here on Sheppey in North Kent was flooded, as was half the Island.
If you were only doing 35mph you should be OK, the car speedo often shows a slightly higher speed than you are actually doing plus the police will allow a degree of tolerance. When I was doing it as part of our local council Speedwatch team we never recorded cars doing up to 35mph in a 30mph zone.

Gwil W said...

The east coast is going west.

Sue said...

I always get a little childlike thrill drawing back the curtains and discovering snow has silently fallen overnight. Alas we rarely get snow in Wiltshire.

jinxxxygirl said...

Keeping you the Farmer in our thoughts Pat... We are expecting several days of rain which we need very badly ... our Lake.. Beaver Lake that we also use for drinking water is very VERY low ... and the fishermen are not happy either... So cross your fingers.... Stay warm.. our temps are pretty mild for this rain event so no snow is expected... I hope the Farmer gets to feeling better soon...It must be awful wearing on your nerves to know something is wrong but not know what it is...

Hubby is installing a door today... that is always an all day event in this old house... and i'am painting trim ... We also took some time to clean out the rain gutters of pine needles with all that rain expected we thought it prudent.. :) Big Hugs! deb

angryparsnip said...

Where I live, they give you about 9 miles over the speed limit. You can also speed up to the higher limit as soon as you see the posted sign. I will be shocked if you get a ticket.
Good luck with the weather. We are expecting rain this weekend, I really hope so.

cheers, parsnip

justjill said...

We also have a flood alert. It wont affect us as we are 3 mile away from the coast. But there is to be a high tide tonight and tomorrow at noon. We do seem to forget the winters of the past. Or should I say we forget nature has the upper hand. Stay safe.

Frances said...

Pat, I think there is to be a full moon tonight, which will add to the flood potential. Good to learn that you and the Farmer will be snug and warm indoors. xo

Mac n' Janet said...

It's always upsetting to hit a critter, I ran over a snake once and cried and I don't even like snakes. Stay warm.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

The famous floods were in 1953 - the year that I was born. I see that flooding may happen up The Trent and along The Ouse and the Aire as well as the waterfront in Hull. Let's hope the forecasters are wrong.

Toni said...

Sad about the pheasant, I know, but there is a relief in it too. As a nurse, I worked in Orthopedics wing of the hospital. Out of 30 patients in the wing, we almost always had at the very least 3 people in traction who had crashed their vehicle trying to miss a squirrel, skunk or turkey in the road. One woman was in a halo brace to stabilize a fracture in her neck when she swerved to miss a turtle and rolled her car. Later to find out the turtle had already been hit and was dead.

Let's just say the pheasant was 'taking one for the team.'

Cro Magnon said...

Sorry to hear about the Pheasant Weave. Poor thing. I heard that Scotland was having 150 mph winds recently; now that I find really worrying!

Rachel Phillips said...

Don't forget the Full Moon. This, combined with a storm, will give the highest tides. 53 was also at the time of the Full Moon.

Derek Faulkner said...

Finally today, the Environment Agency have announced something that I have been banging on about since September, it has been very dry and our water levels are very low. Apparently our reservoirs here in the South East are only 45% full and a drought this summer looks likely.

Librarian said...

Poor pheasant! When I have been to Yorkshire earlier in the year (say, April or May) and not in the summer, I have always noticed many dead pheasants by the road side. It would upset me, too, and probably more than a speeding fine.

For someone who is not 100 %, the Farmer's day still sounds very busy to me! I hope he is back to 100 % soon.

Stormy night here, rather noisy so that I did not sleep too well. But we are so far away from any significant body of water that there is definitely no risk of being flooded.

Gwil W said...

Full moon, stormy weather, high tides, Friday 13th . . . what could possibly go wrong?

Tom Stephenson said...

Good luck with the speeding fine - you don't deserve it. Pheasants would rather walk than fly it seems. I have always thought that this was because they are stupid, but somebody suggested that they have learned that they are only shot in the air. They should learn to drive as well. What is worse - a walked-up pheasant shoot or a driven one???

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

I always try to avoid hitting an animal, too. It's the larger ones that scare me the most. I've never hit a deer, but many people have. We've tried to teach our kids as they became new drivers that if it's the choice between them and the animal, they need to just stay on the road and risk hitting it (small ones that is). Not nice, regardless. -Jenn

Elizabeth said...

Thinking of you in the cold and wild weather.
Hope your husband feels better soon
the weather has been oddly warm round here 60F yesterday.
Hope you have lots of good things to read.
Warmest greetings to the rest of your family.

John Going Gently said...

No snow here pat but it sure is wild!

Gerry Snape said...

It's cold here in the NW...but nothing to you in the hills or those on the east coast...hope all stay safe. Sorry about the pheasant.

Derek Faulkner said...

Well the height of the tidal surge has just passed here on the North Kent coast and begun dropping and so far, no reports of any flooding.

The Weaver of Grass said...

As Gwil points out - everything seems to have conspired against us on this day. Let's hope that things turn out to be less devastating than expected, although on the 6 News a few minutes ago it said that folk have bee evacuated on the East Coast as a precaution.

We have been lucky here - just a light dusting of snow which has almost gone and a very strong North wind which has gradually abated as the day has gone on.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Rachel - does your reply mean you are back or are you send this from Vienna?

Rachel Phillips said...

Back.