Under the Weather

Minus 20 with no wind at all this morning.  Sunny and bright all day so much that I pulled down the shades in the classroom.  Then I left the building....It's still cold!!  My truck begged for mercy.  Back on the farm and it's minus 2 now on the sunny side of the barn. 56 in the apartment.  I built a nice big fire in the wood stove and will start a pot of rice.  The apt. is so small that the fire and some cooking will heat it up real quick.  Wish I could.  The doggies are wild after being stuck in the house all day and have to go out.  They  almost pulled me down off the doorway onto the ice.   After a minute to allow them a very long pee, Izzy was holding up three legs and begging to go back in.  Izzy had the right idea.  Finn, Tanner and Reba ran in the door but I had to drag Bertha and Cooper.  I'm hopeful spouse will take them out when he gets home.  He tolerates the cold better than I do, even with the vaso-constriction his heavy smoking must cause.  My skiing days are over and my blood is aging.  The lovely two-ply cashmere extra large turtleneck I reluctantly paid $20 for at the Episcopal thrift shop feels fantastic but can't cover my face.  I have a face mask somewhere....but somewhere is the operative word.  There's another problem...I have a touch of something which is so unusual for me.  I'm usually bullet proof, or able to ignore the little things, but today it's tummy pains and weak in the legs.  Some kind of bug, just when my animals need me more and the chores are harder.  I had a salad for dinner last night and a salad for lunch today.  Time to go back to normal food I think.  Maybe I picked up something at school. I have better attendance than 95% of my colleagues and pretty much show up when I can stand up.  This is different.  Called Mia, my doktah, and she told me Father Aaron went to the ER in Nevada with terrible stomach pains.  A cat scan showed something Mia was unfamiliar with and I can't pronounce.  Maybe I have mommy empathy pains.  I hope he gets better too.  I think the sofa is calling to me....Will focus on staying warm and shaking this.  Farmers can't be sick.  They just can't be.