It has been an absolutely brutal 24 hours, and it is supposed to continue another 12 yet. The wind has me next thing to squirrelly (I hate high wind), and it is dangerously cold out.

None of the livestock were allowed out today. They were fed and watered, but inside out of the wind is safer. The chickens were happy enough to stay indoors. The ducks were absolutely livid about it. Ducks do not in general give two flying farts about the weather. And they *probably* would have done fine outdoors this time, too, but one worries. In any case, they’ll be fine locked up for one day, however vocal in their disapproval.

We humans were indoors-only also. Except for the absolutely necessary trips out to feed the animals, no one went out. And even those trips were as fast as humanly possible.

The fire was kept on at a low roar all day. We were actually bordering on too warm, which in this weather is beyond wonderful. We sat, we read books, the kids played, we made food and ate food and made more food. Hearty oatmeal for breakfast with apples and raisins and sugar and butter and cream, roast beef and potatoes and carrots with rich gravy and garlic toast for midafternoon meal, and for late ‘meal’ a piping hot fruit crumble to top up the tummy. Cozy food. Hibernation food.

Because of the high wind and blowing snow, the roads were pretty drifted and terrible today. If they have been cleared by tomorrow, we’ll head home. If not, we’ll spend one more day. Hopefully our driveway is passable. Several inches of snow fell here, but less was forcast for our area. I guess we’ll see.

“It is winter in Canada
And the gentle breezes blow
At seventy-five miles at hour
At thirty-five below

Oh how I love Canada
When the snow is up to your butt
You take a breath of winter air
And your nostrils frozen shut

Yet the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I’ll hang around
I could never leave Canada
Because I’m frozen to the ground.”

(No idea of who the author is; it’s an old one)