Harvesting

The Siberian wind is now increasing in strength but the real cold that will come in the next day or two is still thankfully not here

The  -5°C this morning as I set about mucking out the horses wasn't too bad and "indoors" one doesn't get to suffer from the wind chill.

Bliping this 24 hours late, the temperature at 7:00 am on Saturday is the same -5°C, the windchill making it -14°C. And just wait until the High arrives and the clouds disappear! A public warning has just been issued of north-easterly storm winds of up to 80km/h until 18:00 on Sunday.

The dog walk had to be in the forest to get some protection. At the halfway point we come to the edge of the forest which is where the two photos were taken. From the same spot but in different directions.

At the top, on the very left, MrB's hunting barn which has been cut off for weeks since the December storms. It was MrB's birthday yesterday and I had sent off an early morning text message, expecting to call him in person later. But a reply came back straight away. He was enjoying the day at Hunter's Show in Salzburg.

At the bottom, the harvester that no doubt did the clearing up and are now about to do more also in MrB's hunting patch, land owned by our parish council.

By afternoon, Angie was back from her expedition and I collapsed on the sofa for an hour or two to recoup from my exertions of the last 24 hours. No animals died on my watch - still 2 horses, 2 dogs, 5 cats and 30 odd chickens. I haven't been told that they are all just skin and bones but I suspect a lot of emergency feeding took place while I snoozed.

Getting a photo worthy of a Blip is a bit of a challenge in the snow and grey cloudy conditions. At least the impending freeze should bring sun at last.

I promise to do better in coming days.