Friday 14 December 2012

Sniffling and freezing

Actually we are not really freezing, it is just that I was lazy about fluffing up the duvet yesterday and the electric blanket switched itself off mid way through the night, so while one side of me was being warmed up by Hubs, the rest of me was a tad on the cold side. But the bathroom was warm when I went for a visit at four this morning. We have left a heater on all the time in that room. Got fed up with exposing our bare skin and sitting on an ice cold toilet seat when bodily needs needed seeing to. 

So I lingered in the bathroom longer than I needed to, warming up. Switched on the blanket when I got back into bed, roasted the underneath of me, still felt cold seeping in through the top of me. 

Message to self: Do not be lazy. Fluff that duvet up. Never mind that it is a heavy thing, and that it tugs at the arm muscles. Do it. You will be a happier bunny if you do, and so will Hubs. After all, it is not nice to be woken up in the middle of the night by a cold body clambering all over you. Not that I exactly clambered as if for naughties. No, it was more a clambering designed to get the maximum body contact for heat from him. He didn't moan though. He's good like that. Just said would I shove over as he was nearly falling out of the bed. 

I have a cold. I felt miserable when it started happening. Then I thought to myself that I have a lot to be thankful for and that being miserable was a waste of effort. So instead of thinking 'I'm not well, I feel awful, oh poor me', I substituted that with 'I have a virus that my immune system is fighting, come on immune system, shoot the b*******r down'. I still have the cold, but I don't feel miserable. 

Old French houses are not designed for winter. They are designed for long, long, hot, summers, which is why most of the English here migrate back to the UK and the close confines of centrally heated smaller houses. But the stalwarts remain, wrapping up in lots of layers of clothing, getting the logs fires going and waiting for the sun to come out. A couple of days ago I sat outside in the Courtyard and fell asleep at my spinning wheel because the heat of the sun made me dozy. Chin on chest, I snored away for ages. Today though, oh but it is cold but probably warmer outside. So off to cut some grass for the pigs, collect some acorns for them and the sheep and goats, pick up the poo from the Sheep Paddock, put some hay in the barns, see if any of them have had babies. Crikey but the sheep are looking beamy. The goats too. All are getting udders. I said to Hubs that would be it a good idea to consider milking the sheep as practice for when we start milking the goats next year. He  looked at me. I said that we do like cheese made from sheep's milk, that perhaps I could practice for when I start having a go at goat's cheese. He looked at me again. One word did he then say to me, and that was 'NO'. Upon asking why, he then went into a spiel that he had enough to do and that if I thought he was going to wrestle with the sheep who are mighty flighty creatures and would not stand still long enough to even let him get to their teats let alone let him milk the milk from them and anyway even to catch the blighters was hell on earth to try to do and he was fed up with them standing on his feet when he is trying to give them grain and alfalfa and that anyway he prefers goats and the cow and why do we have to have sheep in the first place because they are nightmares on four feet..........

So, no, then. 

Have warmed up a bit while chatting to you, so off to do the day. Hope your day goes well. Hope you stay warm and toasty.

6 comments:

John Going Gently said...

the ice cold of yesterday has turned into another wet miserable friday!
I have lit the log burner early....
as for electric blankets
I have a welsh terrier.....the perfect organic hot water bottle
keep warm vera

rusty duck said...

It's cold here too Vera. Even though the temperature is much up on yesterday it is now damp and windy too.

Looking forward to the babies, the sheep and goats I mean!

I hope your cold gets better soon. Jx

Vera said...

Ah John, I used to have a doggy hot water bottle, but then Lester turned up in my life and the dog got booted out! Not really! just had to sleep on the floor by my bed!

Jessica, damp and wind, yuk. Can do cold and dry, wet and warm, but not cold and wet. My cold is trundling along, but has not kept me in bed yet. Builders in tomorrow, which means all the doors open which means all the heating going out which means that I shall most probably give in to the cold and stay in bed! Whooppeee!

Horst in Edmonton said...

Hi Vera, We lived on the farm when I was young, my mother made Goose down quilts for all of us. Took a lot of Geese to do that. The quilts were about a foot thick and as light as a feather. It was pure pleasure to sleep under the quilt. It could be minus 40 in the room and you would not freeze or be cold. This happened many times in the old farmhouse as there were no furnaces just would and coal stoves. The fires would go out at night and it was no problem, but it was hard to get up in the morning and get dressed in a room the was freezing. In Canada it can go to -40C with no problem in the winter. Have a great day and enjoy your weather. Hope you get better soon.

Jean said...

The weather is thoroughly horrid here in Derbyshire. Yesterday -7°C and deep frost, today +7°C and pouring rain, with a morning of treacherous black ice on roads and pavements inbetween. Awful.

Sorry to hear you have a cold. They are miserable afflictions and everyone seems to think you should just ignore them and carry on as usual, regardless of how poorly you feel. I hope you feel better soon.

Vera said...

Horst, thanks for cheering me up - the lowest I have known it to be here is -15C, but that only lasted a day or two. Goose down quilts, not that's a thought, but we only have five geese at the moment so I think we have a long way to go on that one! Stay warm, Horst, at least we have milder weather than you do during the winter, and for that, I am thankful.

Jean, I am indeed carrying on as 'normal', only it's jolly hard work! Not to worry, at least I can retreat to bed when I do feel rubbish, at least I am not stuck in an office miles away from home. Gosh, Derbyshire sound like hard work weather-wise. We have +15C today and a lovely drop of much welcome sun. Rain forecasted for the next few days though, but at least the temperatures are staying up!