Yesterday I got my new heater and it's superb, too hot on full heat but I'm perfectly toasty at half throttle.
On the way home I got stuck again and had to walk the last half mile to get the Polaris and a driver. Having failed to make the last brow I'd reversed the car off the road into the pig's gateway and it then fell in a tractor rut. Amazed the little Polaris had the grunt to shift it but it was perfect for the job.
Polaris ruts in first light today. It looks a flimsy machine but is lovely to drive and will go almost anywhere. It's a street better than the Mule it replaced, nasty thing that was and it spent more time on the vehicle lift than it did working.
Icicles on the van and not a cloud in the sky.
Eros and his companion. Their hay is down by the gate but if he stands up there he can see the rest of his herd. There are about fifteen Highland ponies and they are all characters. Eros is the exception as he's a right little bugger. All stallions have a tendency to bite but he is amazing. I have never seen a horse open it's mouth as wide as he can. He has bitten folk but doesn't if you tell him to give up then reinforce the command with a slap and a special word or two.
The road is ploughed as we did it yesterday. It now needs the Highways to give it some de-icer and then I can get both out and back. My winter tyres aren't in the first flush of youth but I was hoping they'd last this winter out, they will if it warms up as forecast on Sunday and doesn't get cold again. One of the many disadvantages of getting old is adding up whether or not one will get value out of a set of tyres. I may just swap the back ones to the front and the front to the back, that should do the trick for this year.
Centre foreground is the burn before it goes into the big hole. I bet there are some great icicles down there but I'm too old to risk going down and not being able to get back up.
A pathetic bit of ice but it has reminded me to dig some Cadis Fly larvae out for a photo opportunity come spring.
This morning having little to do I decided to see if the burn had frozen, it hadn't which means I'll have to have another trip down tomorrow. Not to worry the dogs aren't bothered where we go. I took the camera and got a few snaps.
That's more than enough for today. Keep safe.
All this getting old business, whether we can jump down into a ditch and get out again, tyres, getting a new heater, gritting observations; funny how the entire way we approach life changes isn't it? Well not funny, bloody annoying really, we go all sensible.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I dislike being old but it has one advantage and that is time flies by.
DeleteI thought the Mule was Kawasaki. Sounds like it's not up to their motor bikes' reputation. This post is reminiscent of 'the old days'.
ReplyDeleteGraham. Mules are Kawasaki. We had two, the first one was bought as scrap and rebuilt, well, got going. The second was a good one being ex-MOD. It didn't last long and gave a horrible bumpy ride. Polaris are American, very light but we've not broken it yet. It's fast and very smooth, a beautiful little pick-up. The engines are Japanese Kubota I think.
DeleteOh my goodness, that is a lot of snow and ice. You don't usually get that much, do you? The tyre tracks through the snow really tells the story but I like the horses tracks best. They must be hardy creatures.
ReplyDeleteI think all of us past our fittest years get a bit down about our physical abilities sometimes. I can't even jump a puddle these days so give thanks that I can still walk around them.
Stay warm and think happy thoughts!
Pauline, it is a bit worse than usual. The horses are bred for it and seem to stand any amount of weather.
DeleteI'm happy I'm still enjoying the snow. Just as well as it's doing it again.