Friday 8 January 2016

Red sky at night........

 
The old saying goes....
'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight' which means a good weather tomorrow.
'Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning' which means not so good weather ahead.
 
We were late back from band practice last night. It was a hard drive all round. Blackness, rain, fog, up and down through wooded hills and valleys avoiding the frogs as best we could, with one headlight deciding not to work.
 
It had rained hard while we were out.
The courtyard was wet, particularly by the entrance gates, where the water tends to lay in a pool, fed by the slope of the drive and the roof of the porch which does not have a gutter, it being the original roof so just drips water along its length.
When it rains, it is like going through a waterfall.
When it stops raining we have a wide muck of muddiness through which we have to walk.
We never have non-muddy shoes in the wet weather,
which is not so bad if one is going shopping,
but when one is wanting to be tidy, and indeed does look quite tidy, the mud splattered shoes at the end of one's body does spoil the overall effect, particularly when the shoes dry off. Then there is a quantity of dried farm mud scattered on the floor around the area  where one is sitting in.
 
Anyway, it was a good band practice, which was a surprise because I had lost interest with playing the accordion these past three weeks and thought my time was done with playing it. Not so. As soon as I strapped the accordion up on my chest I felt a swoon of affection for this red beast of an instrument. So, no, I had not given up playing it for ever and ever, we were taking time out from each other, that was all.
 
As I was saying, we were late back last night.
So up late this morning.
Dogs out for pee and poo.
And oh wow! The sky was smashed through with a redness which made the sky look like it was oozing blood. I took photos, none of which could even come close to the magnificence of those skies, but I took them anyway.
 
'Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning......'
so had a look at Meteo, the French weather forecasting station.
Oh.
It would seem that we are to have the mud in the courtyard refreshed in quantity,
because it looks like we are to have loads of rain coming our way.
Not to worry, as I said yesterday, it is our turn to have some difficult weather.
 
But what did sent a shiver down my spine was the news that we might be expecting a 'tempete' Sunday night.
'Tempetes' are bad news for us.
Last time we had one we ended up like this:
 

.....January 2009, amazed that we got through in one piece, stamped in our memory as not one of our better times, smiles still up on our faces but only just.
But we do have a house now, so we are more sheltered, as are all our animals except the chickens who still insist on sleeping up the fig tree.
We had huge gusts of wind the other night.
I was surprised to see the chickens hanging around for their breakfasts in the morning.
I had thought them all blown away.
We keep telling them to roost in the tractor and hay shed, but chickens are chickens so do their own thing, and they insist on climbing up on to the higher branches of the fig so we can't reach to get them down unless they want to come down on their own.
 
So I am disregarding Meteo's news of a possible 'tempete' for the moment. Hopefully it will just be a big storm and not like the hurricane which nearly blew us to pieces in 2009.
 
Cheese making day today.
Might have a nap first though, it was 1.30 this morning before we got to bed.
As I say, it was a late night!
 
Boolie is sleeping at my feet. His tummy is rumbling something fierce. He needs to go to the loo. I wish I could do something about the tumour on his ear, because it has taken to doing thin spurts of blood sufficient to leave pools of blood everywhere. The tumour does not leak if left alone, but it is when our rottweiller girls decide to involve him in a romp, especially when Blue paddles her feet at him, or when Maz decides to give the lump a love-up, that is when the tumour will spurt blood.
And yet he is not in pain.
I cannot understand this.
Perhaps it is my prayers which are keeping him pain free.
It is a shame that my prayers are not able to remove the lump completely.
Ah well, it is as it is.
Righty-ho, let's get him outside before it starts raining.
 
Saying 'bye for now'
Vx

 
PS. Lester has just come in from milking.
Apparently Lissie has just tried to mount him.
So, time for artificial insemination again.
C'est la vie!

21 comments:

Dawn said...

We have winter arriving next week will make a change from all the rain, we really need a good cold freezing spell, I hope you dont get a nasty storm over the week end, stay safe :-)

rusty duck said...

The weather is crazy all over. Take care Vera, especially if there is a ''tempete''.

Rhodesia said...

It just never seems to stop raining up here since we returned from the UK. Neither of us have been well since we returned and the rain is depressing. Saturday we are expecting high winds so I guess we need to battten down the hatches. Hang in there and I hope that you get through the next few days OK Diane x

DUTA said...

Red sky as I was always told, is a sign of an upcoming war.
Are you sure farming and not music is your true vocation? You play the piano and the accordion, you've got a good voice etc... I suppose you want both worlds.

Vera said...

DAWN, we could do with a cold hard spell of weather as well, instead we seem to be in a mild and wet cycle of weather. Be glad to get into next week and have that imminent storm behind us!

JESSICA, bless you, and wishing you a happy New Year!

DIANE, I saw on the weather charts that the 'tempete' conditions are likely to be from us upwards, covering most of France and the southern part of the UK. Hope it is not as strong a storm as what they are saying it might be! Did you bring your dehydrator back with you?

DUTA, oh dear, hope that the red sky is a signal for a drop of rain only! I think that music and farming go very well hand in hand. Both are very productive to us in different ways, and both enable us to have a good soul energy!

John Going Gently said...

Your writing always has a pace.....it also differs from some of your facebook entries.....i like it

Cro Magnon said...

Amazing morning skies here recently. Don't forget Milligan "Red sky in the morning, shepherd's cottage on fire. Red sky at night, shepherd's cottage still burning".

Vera said...

JOHN, thankyou for the compliment, but I think your writing is excellent because you can put so much in just a few words whereas I seem to need whole chunks of words to get out what I want to say! You did mention in a recent blog about wanting to write a book. I have often thought a collection of some of your blog entries would be really good......

CRO MAGNON, now that is funny! I used to read a lot of Spike Milligan in days gone past. Loved his humour.
Normally I don't see the morning skies because I am busy indoors....must make a note to peek outside as soon as dawn arrives because that sky was gobstoppingly brilliant!

Janice said...

Hope you don't get the storm they are predicting. Got up this morning to -27C, -34 with wind chill. Burrr. Itès supposed to be on the plus side middle of next week, lets hope so.

Kirsty said...

I love the idea of chickens in the fig tree. 'Red sky at night' reminds me of childhood, it was always said in the evening when the sky was blazing. It's great hearing all about your everyday Vera, your animals always have something fun to contribute too x.

Vera said...

JANICE, crikey but -27C sounds darn cold! The storm is not actually forecasted for our area but for the Pyrenees, which is just on our doorstep!

KIRSTY, bless you, and I love to hear about your life as well!

Mizumatte said...

never a dull moment at your place, our weather is crazy too, had got more snow in few days than in whole last winter, some places here in Sweden got over 1( one) meter snow yesterday, thankfully not we. take care Jaana

Vera said...

MIZAUMATTE, while I like to see the snow on the nearby Pyrenees mountains, I prefer not to have it here because I have got too used to too much warm and sunny weather. Now when I used to live in the UK I used to walk for hours out in the snow! Keep warm, M, ....Spring will soon be here!

Kev Alviti said...

I juast think "Red sky at night - BARN ON FIRE". My stupid sense of humour!

Vera said...

KEV, oh dear, bless you!

Kerry said...

Beautiful photos. My camera Nevers seems to capture the vivid colours but then again, it could be the photographer.

Vera said...

KERRY, my friend who lives opposite also took photos of those skies, and her photos were far more intense and therefore so much truer of the actual colours than mine were!

Rhodesia said...

Yes Vera I did bring the dehydrator back but I have not been feeling that well and there is not that much around to dehydrate at the moment. I had thoughts of making some pumpkin and apple leathers today, then realised that I did not have the paraflexx sheets so that was put on standby. I just made soup in the end. I am looking forward to trying it out. I have two drawers of frozen chillies that I am planning on dehydrating when I feel a bit more energetic. I need the freezer space! Diane

Louisette said...

Wonderfull photos sky, greeting from Belgium

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Yes chickens do their own thing. I hope Boolie continues to be free from pain.

Vera said...

DIANE, hope you are feeling better....... you probably caught a bug when you were in the UK! As for the dehydrator, I have just bought paraflex sheets to have a go at dehydrating liquids, but not used them yet. When I bought my dehydrator it was about the same time of year so I tried it out on apples and bananas, just to see if it worked. I wouldn't be without it now....even use it to rise bread and make yoghurt!

LOUISETTE, thanks.....just one of those rare times when I am outside at dawn instead of being inside doing house jobs!

LISA, I cannot understand why Boolie does not feel pain because the tumour is getting quite big, but he is still high spirited which is the main thing. Hope your son's new glasses are still intact!