It's too bad that the Radio stations stop playing Winter music at Christmas. This really is "Lovely weather for a Sleigh-ride together with You".
Let's go back in time a bit, say a century and a decade. No internal combustion engines. We travel by sled or sleigh so the roads are not plowed---they are shoveled and rolled for sleigh travel. No telephones yet---we actually have to take a walk to talk with the neighbors. There is no radio or television yet to whip us into a frenzy. And the US Weather Service is only a few years old, so we have no idea what size snowfall is coming. Or how strong the wind might be. But yesterday was the calm before the storm, a real "Weather Breeder" day if ever there was one. So we did expect the storm today.
And, of course, the Farm work must go on. When the young folks get home from school, around three o'clock, they will help with the afternoon milking and feeding in the Barn. Likely we will let them go sledding on Moulton Hill while we clean the manure from the Barn gutters. And, as happens every single day, the same process will be repeated in the Barn at three in the morning as well.
But the Barn is such a comforting place. The cattle's warmth and the heating manure in the cellar keep the solid wood structure from freezing inside. And the smell of Summer, fresh-mown hay, wafts up at us as we fork hay down from the loft to feed the calves. Looks like a cold night coming---I think we better give the hens a little extra corn to keep them warm 'til morning. We want those eggs to keep coming. In the morning, we'll have to dig out, harness the team and get the milk and eggs to our customers in town.
But right now, as darkness settles in and the wind picks up out of the northeast, we can head back through the wood shed to the house. I think there is a pot of chicken soup on the wood cookstove, and maybe a cornbread and some grapenut custard pudding in the oven. The kids are back from sledding. So let's light the kerosene lamp and sit down to supper. Looks like the snow is picking up a bit.
