Saturday, December 13, 2008

Ramona Sleeps In



The cats are no fools. They spend most of their day sleeping by the woodstove or under it. And sometimes Ramona doesn't get up for breakfast until 11am. Lazy Girl.

We are amazed and dazed that the huge ice storm passed south of us and left us with power. Southern NH is a disaster with power out to almost half the population of the state. And it's cold. If you don't have some kind of back up heat up here, well, let's just say it is a good idea. In a long power outage we can manage with just the wood stove and I can light my gas stove with a match.

It was about 15F outside this morning and the driveway is a skating rink. Olof put down some of the sand we collected from Town Hall a few days ago, knowing this mess was on the way. One thing about winter here, overnight your secure footing gives way to slippery patches. You develop a new way of walking, place foot, wait, place next foot, wait. I also have crampons that go onto my boots and I often wear them walking to the studio. Especially if I am carrying my new MacBookPro which has my life's work on it.

Today I'll be sorting through the photo shoot of the clinic held in the barn and writing up the story for, hopefully, the local papers. And I'll post it here when I finish. I was thinking of the barn cats last night when the temperature dipped. They have bales of hay to make nests in and I'm sure they did it.

Winter in the North Country is an adjustment. I have learned that daily exercise is important to keep your circulation up and we have winter outfits consisting of polar fleece, lined jeans and smart wool socks. Thank you whoever invented the smart wool sock and cured me of wet winter feet for ever. Dressed right and in good shape, it feels good to be outside in the cold. Otherwise, we'd be huddling by the stove with the cats all winter.

But it's not great snow to get out in yet. Frozen slush. Or what we call New England Hardpack. We take advantage of bad weather to get indoor work done. If we get ahead there will be time to ski when the good stuff arrives.

8 comments:

Fat Eric said...

BRRR! I am glad the ice storm did not hit you too badly. We have been worried about our friends in the NE USA - the ice storm got a mention on TV here in the UK.

My dad wants to see the steam loco you mentioned in the last post - he loves steam locos!

20th Century Woman said...

We have a similar storm here in the Pacific Northwest, but with very little snow, although a few flakes are falling now. It's mostly just cold. They always blame it on Canadian air.

Everycat said...

Cats have the right idea during winter weather!

Poppy Q said...

Hi Zuleme,
nice to hear from you. Sorry about that link: this should work now : http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5303444
I bought some and they arrived this week, and they are very sweet.

Happy shopping.

20th Century Woman said...

Well now we've really got the snow, and it's (brrr) really cold. I want to know about "smart wool socks" and "crampons". What are they and should I get some? We are not used to weather like this out here. It should be in the 40's and raining.

Kaz's Cats said...

We can't really comprehend that ice storm from down here, but we're glad that you're all okay. The kitties do seem to have the right idea...It's a great idea to help with the barn cats and we hope that the story gets lots of publicity.

We hope Dancer gets his forever home soon, 'cos he was so brave.

{{hugs}}

Gypsy & Tasha & Karen (Mum)

jenianddean said...

Merry Christmas! We hope Santa brought you everything you wished for.
--Jasper, Josie, Huggy Bear and Maggie

Shaggy and Scout said...

Hi everyone! We haven't visited in awhile and have been reading the blog to catch up.
Glad to hear you are all warm and safe there. Miss Ramona has the right idea.....just sleep the winter away!