Its So Cold...........

Oh my goodness, how cold is it?   Yesterday I took the car out to the stables and I was pleased with myself when I took a photo of the temperature at minus 7 degrees.   Last night I went back to the stables and it was minus 13 degrees (I'd forgotten the camera). 

My pussycat Mia just looked at this white stuff for a few days and crossed her legs, and now she goes out, does whatever a cat has to do and comes in looking quite disgusted - there are little paw tracks across the nine inches of snow we currently have and we are forecast about another ten inches tomorrow - if that happens she'll just sink into it - its a good thing she's got some black on her or I'd never find her (and of course, she has been offered the convenience of an indoor loo its just she prefers to go outside).     

Link: Its Colder Than A Freezer In Cheshire UK
The days are so beautiful - I have never seen such wonderful blue skies in the winter time - Mark tells me this is what it is like when he goes ski-ing (it always seems completely crackers to me to go out in the cold voluntarily, throw yourself down a slippery slope covered in ice and call it fun - on the other hand, it probably seems crackers to other people that I get on half a ton of unpedictable animal who could throw me off at any moment and call THAT fun....) - I just saw a report that claimed that the UK was colder than the South Pole.

A cold winter here is normally about minus three degrees and even that causes moaning and griping and everyone running around telling everyone else how cold it is (Olde English Tradition).   I've had an on and off cold ever since I had my last infusion for my Rheumatoid Arthritis last month, and it doesn't matter how many clothes I have on, I still feel like I am not wearing trousers when I am out in the snow.  

I've been acutely aware of all the animals who must be suffering through this - birds who must have trouble finding a safe dry place to land, all the creatures who live alongside the horses in the fields in good weather - foxes, badgers and the herons we all love so much - and its terrible to see the local gypsy-owned horses out in their fields with no rugs - I know these are tough horses, but for goodness sake, its the Cheshire South Pole.   Merlin can't go out in the field and I have resorted to giving him a herbal calmer to make the experience less stressful for him - I take him into the indoor ring every day and he rolls and has a run around before being warmly rugged up again, but its not the same for him as being able to run and run completely free - I just can't take the risk of him misjudging something and ending up in a ditch full of ice and freezing water like one of the other horses did earlier this year (he had to be rescued by the fire brigade).

So that's my snow and ice report for the moment - I'm looking forward to re-reading this in July when the sands and heat of the Sahara arrive.