The cold wind slices through you like a knife. It takes your breath away even though you can see it swirling nearby escaping your body. I am not sure how the early settlers did it. They were a tough lot and probably didn’t have a thermometer to tell them how many degrees it was below zero. They probably told the temperature by the sounds the snow makes. Snow makes different sounds under your feet as you walk around out in the cold. Snow begins to squeak at 14 F or – 10 C eh.
If you don’t know how cold it is, are you warmer? Do farts freeze?
Being a farm girl, I always enjoyed the warmth of the barn in the winter….and hated opening the back doors to take out manure…I am sure the cows didn’t like it either.
If you took your time closing a door to the house did someone say “Close the door, were you born in a barn?”
It's cold here too but not as cold as there! I'm wondering if I've gotten 'soft' living down here and will I survive if I come back North? LOL! Actually, I think it's age...I can't seem to handle either extremes of temperature but then I will just get clothes that will handle the cold...right?
ReplyDeleteI always remember the The Little House on the Prairie and how they survived those bitter winters is amazing. Brr...I'm cold now....stay warm!
That's a wonderful photo of the horses. When I lived in Baudette I learned that at -40 the car seats freeze and are about as comfortable as sitting on s block of ice! Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteLiving in the country, we don't have a barn, we say, "Close the door, you're heating all of Lanark County!" when we were in Muskoka, is was Muskoka, of course!
ReplyDeleteThat was a cold one, rain yesterday. More today. Love the horses.
It's going to be the coldest playoff game in the history of the Seattle Seahawks, playing the Minnesota Vikings today. There are people who actually PAID to go there to support the Seahawks, can you believe it? I also love that picture of the horses. :-)
ReplyDeleteQuestions that have me wondering.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was often asked if I was raised in a barn. I also could not slam the screen door. No saying there but STOP! After my first house, I installed an old screen door just so I could slam it when I wanted. Oh, the things we carry...
The rooms in the houses early settlers built were very small. This allowed the heat to be trapped where you needed it. Usually bedrooms were not heated, so settlers used to take hot bricks to bed, to warm the sheets before they got into bed. But mostly, they were were young, and more able to withstand the cold. Hey, they survived, or we wouldn't be here!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how early settlers did it either, if the hot summers didn't kill you off the winter cold would. I'm definitely a temperate zone lady.
ReplyDeleteWhen friends of mine were very poor they couldn't afford to heat the bedrooms. They used to heat bricks in the bottom oven and wrap them up in old towels to heat the beds. Do you have any clue how hard a brick is if you kick it in the middle of the night?
ReplyDeleteI heard that saying, too. Never made much sense to me--LOL!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pic of the horses on a cold day.
I wonder how those little grouse with their skinny little stick legs don't freeze to death out there. Well, all the birds have legs that seem so exposed, you know? But the grouse family just ran by this morning. Maybe they keep running to stay warm--LOL!
Heh, heh, my mom used to say the same thing if we left a door open too long! Stay warm up there!
ReplyDeleteI love hearing the snow squeak underfoot.
ReplyDeleteThat team looks eager to move on down the road.
It is -7 here in Minneapolis right now at 10:09 AM. Who knows how much it will "warm up" for game time today. I don't know how the players and fans are going to survive the cold today. Good day for fans to stay home and watch game on TV. The sun is nice and bright though!
ReplyDeleteShirley H.
Our old house on the hill just as well as have been a barn with so little amount of heat and the drafts blowing through. I was out in it yesterday and it "done me in."
ReplyDeleteIn an old musical movie the lady on the street talked about hard times and she would say "near bout dunn me in." The guy in My Fair Lady had to help her to learn proper English.
DeleteYep more than once. I remember asking Mom (when I was really young) was I Mom? I think I took her breath away. Tee Hee
ReplyDeleteLinda
Beautiful horses. Oh I've heard that saying too. I think I'm told old now to move from our relatively temperate climate. Not that I ever really wanted to:)
ReplyDeleteOh absolutely I heard the comment more than once, not only in winter, but in the summer because the flies would get in.
ReplyDeleteI think the settlers managed because they generally hunkered down for the winter. My Dad, who was born in 1910, told us stories of tying a length of rope from the house to the barn so they wouldn't get lost in a snow storm. When it was cold, they only went as far as the barn to feed to animals, to the woodpile for more fuel, and to the well for water (or melted snow on the stove).
I think we could learn a lesson or two from our forefathers.
That is one popular saying in our house! The son still goes outside and will leave the door open. Darn kid anyway;)
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing photo and yes I remember hearing that said! Stay warm!
ReplyDeleteLove the picture!!! It is so cold here, that saying is always used too.Keep Cozy,Francine.
ReplyDeleteCold enough to blow bubbles outside and watch them freeze, but GN is old enough that she won't be interested anymore. Works for me. We get to stay inside and . . . keep the barn door closed! Right now, I am sitting in the spot where the sun shines in the living room. Stay warm.
ReplyDeletePoor you, how do you keep warm? A friend in Colorado said wood fires are illegal and they had central heating. Balmy 24C, 75F, here at 8:30 in the morning, going to reach 35C a bit too hot for me but bearable.
ReplyDeleteNo problem with warmth here in Melbourne today - 34c/93f coming up! Not sure I could hack it where you are though. I don't mind day play in the snow when we get a light dusting about a couple of hours away but that's it for me.
ReplyDeleteFarts - Don't know if they freeze at all but I tend to think they smell stronger on hot days :)
Close the door, were you born in a barn? That was said here this morning....and the snow squeaked as it was -13*F. I'm goi g for a walk this afternoon as its warmed up to a balmy 18*F. Being a Canadian I still haven't learned the French Celsius yet but that's probably because both of us here hate change😕
ReplyDeleteMy farm experience is older than yours!!! We dressed differently. Fleece lined underwear, pants and outer pants. You get used to the cold. Yes, the barn was warm and cozy. Now that we're old and wiggly we feel the cold. we also won't dress appropriately.
ReplyDeleteOh I have not forgotten how cold the prairies get. Today, in Manitoba, it is minus 25 with a windchill of minus 34. Of course this is Celsius but still very very cold. I'm so glad we moved away!!
ReplyDeleteWe lived in an old drafty house with wood heat when i was a child on our farm in Oregon. Fortunately it never got below 1o degrees.
ReplyDeleteThat football game today in Minneapolis was a cold one, and the result did nothing to warm the hearts of Minnesotans.
I didn't watch...apparently the Queens lost...thats what they are called up here ViQueens:)
Delete