TICK TICK TICK TICK!!! can you hear it?? – the countdown is on – the countdown to what you ask?? – there are many countdown clocks in my world – the countdown to back to work after some much needed time off – the countdown to wakey time tomorrow morning – the most important countdown for me right now is not for Spring – that is second on my list.

The most important countdown  – the countdown to DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME!!!!

For some – the most dreaded day of the year – Spring ahead  –  lose an hour sleep – to me it is the countdown to salvation.

It is that day of the year that I dance with joy in the extra daylight at the end of the day without having to drive home in the gloom of the night. I jump for joy – to lose the hour – keep it- I’ll sleep when I am dead!!!

I can come home and well – ride my horses because I don’t have to scramble to feed in those last precious  waning daylight hours.

Daylight – my precious- keep your Rings – give me light – LET THERE BE LIGHT!! and warmth and sun. It’s coming- I can feel it.

Outside today – the sun was warm on my back. Sure I was dressed in five layers but it was so toasty.

March 9 – March 9 – just gotta make it to March 9!! Then I will start countdown number two- countdown to spring.

Oh  – it’s better than Christmas – better than Halloween – a monument should be erected in the honour of Daylight Savings Time.

Stay tuned for “The Barn Project” -it will be epic!

I am always at a loss as to what to do when I have time off and the house to myself.

Should One dance around in One’s unmentionables to the tune of Bob Seger? – One has already cleaned the house and cooked dinner for tonight after re-arranging One’s bedroom.

Should One stare aimlessly out the window at the massive piles of snow??? – One is usually only good to do that for about 30 seconds – SQUIRREL!!!

Should One read a book – One says – see above.

One had a somewhat busy day today – son had a doctors appointment in order that One took him to. Anytime you can spend with your children  – no matter their age is always worth it – they are in a car – there is no where they can go – they are pretty much at your mercy for talking.

Of course One’s email from work is blowing up and One decided to check and make sure all was well. stupid!!! Of course there were issues – but One just put her phone down and said (expletive deleted) that!!!

Time off is time off.

Sure is quiet though. One has learned that day time tv simply does not exist. 600 channels – NOTHING ON!!! Don’t say Olympics – One cannot get into it.

One thinks that One will go for a walk. Yes – One will do that. One will don the “Farmer Jane’s” and go for a stroll – perhaps check One’s mail. One has not done that yet this week.

One will go into the bush and see if One can find that wild turkey that One saw earlier. One will meander down to the barn for some epic kitten love.

One really needs to learn to relax or else One will surely burn out. One is working on that.

Tomorrow – One has a great day planned – One will sleep in to a minimum of 0630 and perhaps One will even go back to bed after One has fed the boys.

One is a tiny bit bored – just a tiny bit.

So One will find something to do before Two gets home and then One will relax with Two.

Have you ever noticed that while February is the shortest month of the year -it always seems to drag on??

The days are getting longer – it is no longer as black as the damn ground hogs heart – he who predicted incorrectly in my opinion.

Flashlights are no longer required both morning and evening.

The sun is definitely warmer – If you can find a wind proof area to actually stand and soak it in.

The birds are singing – they have to – elst the freezer their little bird butts off. Kittens are frolicking – horses are starting to shed out.

What do they know that we as simple humans do not??

We curse February – you short bastard – you bring the sub zero yet again. Why is that -18C  (-0.4F for my American friends) colder than the -40C (-32F) that much colder? Is it our psyche telling us that it has had enough?? Hey this is fun – let us let the stupid human think that one temp is actually colder than it should be!! Could it be all in our minds? AND will telling ourselves that “it was colder two weeks ago” actually work?

I have been trying to tell myself that daily. It was colder – it was colder. She who loves winter – the fresh air and no bugs and squeak of the snow and the stillness of the night?? See I am not complaining – I am not allowed. Mostly because I bitch and moan about the stupid humidity in the summer. Sort of an unwritten rule in our house.

It’s like voting – don’t vote – not allowed to complain – oh FYI – I do vote so I can rant on that all I want.

Take heed my frost bitten friends – Spring is a mere 36 days, 15 hours and 45 minutes away.

More importantly – it is only 26 more days until Daylight Savings Time!! That day is my most favourite day of the year!! A monument should be erected in it’s honour. It should be a National Holiday!! Lose an hour of sleep??? Who cares  I’ll just go to bed an hour earlier to acclimate!! The mornings will be dark. Who cares – evenings will be glorious with blessed sunshine past 5:00pm!!

Keep your extra hour you stupid lying ground hog – cause baby – I have Daylight Savings Time and you cannot predict that bad boy wrong!!!

Well – the weather outside is frightful and winter can officially bite me – quite frankly there is no where to go – no more snow, no more snow, no more snow!!!

My hands they are frost bitten and I’m sure I’ve lost both mittens – my boots are all full of holes – no more snow, no more snow, no more snow.

When I finally hit the hay – forecasting snow for another day – the roads have ice like glass – the ground hog can kiss my ass!!

Tis my dream that I am living – dear Lord what was I thinking – Winter really has got to go – no more snow, no more snow, no more snow!!!

A lyricist I am NOT! But I am sure that everyone will agree with me.

Do I still love winter – yep!!! – Just not THIS winter!

Come on spring – we are all waiting for you so cut us some slack and come early – please?!?!?!?

Not much new to report that you all don’t know about I guess.

I am a’gonna hunt me a ground hog and blow that little rat btard away for saying 6 more weeks of winter?? – I am going to lasso my interweb dish off my roof and return it to the hell it came from? – I am going to smile and barf kittens and rainbows in hopes that this frozen hell we are currently living in will soon be gone???

I say it all the time – I like winter – I don’t mind it at all but even as a die hard winter fan – I have to say – enough already!!!

It’s been long and cold and if you heat with either oil or propane – EXPENSIVE!!!

Enough complaining – an anecdote!

Yesterday  – mid afternoon after all my chores were done and I was preparing for my interior designer (I have one doncha know?) to come over and guide me through the process of where to hang all the pictures that I gave framed to Hubs for Christmas – I happened to glance outside.

Earlier that day – I stripped the boys of the offending winter blankets in order for them to move freely and shake off the itchies and enjoy the sun. Little Horse was lying flat out in the middle of the paddock – not moving- “Good Lord” I thought – “This is it – I’ve killed him with my stupidity of moving” and then I remember – Little Horse is super fuzz!!! I watched more closely – he twitched – excellent – not dead. He was actually cooling off in the snow. He had a good roll and shook off the itchies and my heart started again.

That and hanging pictures for our art gallery was our weekend – oh ya – it snowed – did everyone get that memo??

So dear sister informed me to account my trials and tribulations today – where should I start??

I’ll start with 0445 this morning – dragging my sorry ass out of bed again – tired – did not sleep well – apparently I have been grinding my teeth at night – hence the valium which I refuse to take prescribed to me by my dentist none the less so I will not ruin his masterpiece. Now I need a root canal – fun abound.

Not the worst of it -fly out of bed – turn on the water in the shower – hmmmm – no water – this is problematic. How must one shower with no water – YES!!! My son’s bathroom – please please please let there be water. Eureka –  5 minute shower as I am now running behind because of course I had to turn the water on and off in my bathroom 5 or 6 times just to make sure I was not still asleep.

I run a tight ship time wise – every minute carefully calculated to maximize morning timing – and NOW I am running behind by 3 minutes PLUS this morning I knew I had to stop for fuel.

Shower done – cats – tripping over friggin’ cats who are starving – they are fed – coffee in cup and back upstairs to transform into “working me”. Hair dried and straightened (until I go outside of course) and now to choose the outfit – skirt – nah too cold – cords – they are warm – Khaki green – nice burnt orange shirt with one of my flowing cardigans – pop into dryer to “iron” and off to don the Farmer Janes and feed the boys.

I have made back those 3 minutes YES!!!! Beet pulp – grain – steamed hay  all securely tucked into Slim – oh Slim – I have not mentioned him yet – Slim is my sled that I used to transport stuff to and from the barn as Wally (the wheel barrow) does not work in deep snow – Wally is resting right now. Slim and I head off to the paddock to feed the Lord of the Dancers (who are of course – starving because I don’t feed them – hmmm that sounds familiar) Grain here – grain there – grain grain everywhere – Big Horse does NOT like to eat off the ground so I hold his bucket for him- we chat – catch up on current events – Little Horse eats like he has never eaten before. Hay done – Slim loaded up for trip back to the house- Dammit – I lost 2 minutes.

And then I made the mistake- I walk into the living room where Hubs is watching early morning TV and say “There is no water in the upstairs bathroom” big mistake – because “flashlight flashlight where is my flashlight – must be frozen pipes – ohhh that is bad – Holy crap – why would the pipes freezer  – we have a big problem – negative negative negative” Crap me and my big mouth.

Upstairs he goes – “why is warm water feeding back into the toilet?” What ??? I don’t know!! all I know is that NOW I am running 4 minutes behind and I am starting to sweat because holy hell – I have to get fuel!!!

Tinker tinker – flashlight – running water – tinker – mumble mumble. “Dude – get out I am not done yet” I said -still have to do makeup – leave please you can tinker when I am gone”.

Flash forward – 536pm – home – thank God he grained the boys I just had to feed hay and clean the barn – dinner made – and still can’t figure out why my feet are cold.

Well – I posted on FM earlier – in and effort to conserve heating fuel – Hubs turned down the thermostat – to 15C – it’s minus 32C outside – for my American friends – I cannot convert but that is BLOODY COLD!!!  I hit the run button on the stat – and Fred (the furnace) fired up – it’s warmer BUT I forgot to turn off the space heater in the living room – and when Hubs plugged in his IPAD to charge – it blew the breaker – HAHAHAHA – an Apple disabled our house!!!!

Oh he went downstairs 20 minutes ago to reset the breaker – he has not come back up yet – I should go check!!!

That was my day today!!!

The wind is howling…it has been all day.

I grab my scarf and mitts – don my coveralls to go out to feed the boys and night check.

Hay here – hay there – hay hay everywhere – make sure the are tucked in.

It’s not really cold – just windy.

My legs no longer protest walking through the snow – I no longer get winded – bales of hay and water buckets are lighter and easier to handle. I am in the best shape of my adult life!

My boys – so silly – so sweet – greet me with a nicker.

I flick on the lights in the barn. The creativeness of hubs and his homemade lights – a marvel.

It smells like “barn” – one of the greatest smells in my life. Instant flashback to my childhood of donning my snow suit and slugging my sorry ass to where I first fell in love with my equine friends. The 20 minute walk to the barn where I worked – at 0430. I remember setting on a pot of coffee for mom so she would not have to – and trekking through rain and sleet and snow. Hopping the fence and calling Star – the dog who would run and greet me. Arriving at the barn – walking in and flicking on the lights to be greeted by 10 nickers that seemed to say – “We’ve been waiting for you!” Grain here – grain there – grain grain everywhere. Horses turned out – stalls cleaned and floor swept only to walk home and jump on that big yellow bus to school and do it all in reverse at the end of the day.

I cop a squat in the barn – listening to MY boys munch – off in the distance – I hear train number 21 (we have 23 or so a day pass by) – it’s loud tonight. The wind carrying the whistle call.

While this year we cannot achieve our epic spring vacation to Cuba – I simply don’t care.

Memories and dreams – I have my memories of simpler times – but most importantly – I have achieved my dream.

Happy memories and dreams friends!

So – I am going to steal some music from a very famous movie to demonstrate the way I feel right now- dear readers – please keep in mind that I am by no stretch of the imagination a lyricist – so here goes.

Mother Nature seems to experiencing that which I have been having for a few years -hot flashes!!!

When I can go out to feed my boys in leggings and a vest – global warming has definitely hit us this week.

The night is so still – so quiet tonight  – I took some time and sat and chatted with my guys.

Are you happy? I asked them – I think they are – they follow me – they are happy to see me in the morning and at the end of the day…of course – I do have the food!

I think they are. I think they are happy in this life I have given them. They are well fed – well taken care of and of course completely fussed over. I think I am doing a good job.

Our annual trip to the tropics of Cuba will not be happening this year for a couple of reason – Mainly finances – it would be more prudent and practical to take that dinero and put it towards an upgrade on our barn but quite frankly I am simply not able to leave them for a full week.

Lord I have anxiety enough leaving them for 10 hours during the day but a whole week?! Nope – not this year.

We, of course, have still scheduled the week off to reno our barn – expand our paddocks and make room for more horses – shhhh Hubs does NOT know that yet. That will be our little secret but I would like to add one perhaps two more to our “herd”. Two does not make a herd  – two is two – I think four is a herd.

The evening is waning quickly – I am tired  – time to go to bed and think of all the things to do tomorrow – work – farrier – filling replace and baby the son who had surgery today.

Til next time friends!

Well well well – looks like Mother Nature has got her panties in a bunch these days as she decided to drop a nice little cold snap on us.

Yesterday – minus 40 C (minus 40 for my American Friends) with the wind chill and getting up to a balmy minus 30 (minus 22 for my American Friends) right now.

Needless to say my friends – it’s friggin’ cold!!!

Freeze your eyeballs – frost bite warning – nose hair frozen cold!!! MY KIND OF WEATHER!!!

I do love the chill – I love the crispness of the air and the distant smell of someone who has a woodstove fire going. I love the crunch of the snow under my feet and the stars seem so close you can almost reach out and touch them!!

What I do NOT like is the grinding noise my cars makes whilst trying to start (it did) – my sunglasses fogging up because my scarf creates the perfect little vortex up to them while I am wearing it – but I mostly don’t like the worry – the worry about the kittens who are now part of the family because dammit – we just have not done anything about them yet but mostly – my boys.

They have a perfectly viable shelter – enclosed and I have strategically placed hay so they can both stay out of each others way and eat and be out of the wind – but no – they want to stay outside.

The old man – I am not as worried about – he has a nice fuzz happening and has a blanket – the big horse – he has two blankets as he was quite the prince where he came from on Ohio – pampered and fussed over- now he is in the big bad cold of Eastern Canada. Big horse seems to have taken it all in stride. He is not shivering and quite frankly quite toasty under his two blankies.

I have offered Mother Nature some of the hot flashes that I seem to now encounter every two hours lately – but she seems to have declined my offer – from what I understand – she will have a hot flash this weekend and then get her undies in a bunch again early next week after crapping 20cm’s (8 inches for my American Friends) of snow on us – which means Hub will be gone for two days so we are back to earlier posts of huffing and puffing – slugging through with thigh burning etc etc until he can get home to clear it.

Do I despise, disdain and hate winter – nope! – do I wish it were spring – yep! – of course I do – will I get through this? of course! It’s just winter in Eastern Canada – happens every year.

PS. Yesterday in Eastern Canada (where I am from) it was colder than it is on Mars.

EDIT – Saturday January 4th – Mother Nature has warmed us this morning – to minus 19/minus 27 with a wind chill (-2 and -16 for my American Friends) with a high today of minus 7 and minus 13 with a wind chill (19 and 7 for my American Friends) – NOW THAT IS BETTER!!! – it was positively balmy – the downside – the snow is coming. I’m torn – freezing nose hairs – or ruined hair with crappy driving – I think I’ll take the ruined hair thank you – for now anyway.

The sun is rising casting a lovely orange glow over the trees – I think it will be an outside work day today.