February 2025

It is February, and the farm sits encased in ice and snow. The cows peer doubtfully out the big barn doors, taking occasional strolls out into the frozen world. Mostly they remain inside, chowing hay in the sunshine that pours in through the side open to the south.

The farmer’s wife hangs her laundry on the line, holding on to it for dear life, pinning it firmly and hoping the pins hold against the brisk wind. This is a cold February: she brings in armloads of woods and stokes the woodstove well. She looks forward to spring, which is coming soon: she has already sown lettuce and onion seeds in pots and set them in sunny windows where they will grow until the world is warm enough to support them once they are planted outside.

Farmer girl keeps gallantly bundling up and hauling herself out into the wide cold world. She is a busy lady as she milks cows, feeds horses and hens, lugging heavy pails from hither to yon over the slippery ice. Thomas the cat trails along, doing his very best to help, although Farmer girl finds his help a bit sketchy as he seems to feel trotting close by her side and weaving around her ankles is helpful. Farmer girl finds it otherwise.

“Thomas, would you mind?” says farmer girl, slamming on the brakes to avoid giving Thomas a good solid kick in the ribs…. Thomas having stepped on his own brakes just in front of her. “Remember, if you make me fall, I will probably land smack on top of you, which would be bad for me, but worse for you!” Farmer girl weighs around a hundred pounds more than Thomas does, so it would not end well for him.