Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

Maria reports that our backyard thermometer read 14 degrees this morning, reports Maria, and for the first time, The Weather Channel agreed with her. Honestly, my eyes were not good enough to read the thermometer too well, and I didn’t yet have my glasses on. I need one for close-ups. It feels like a warm-up.

I mention this because I got another classic Outstanding Yenta Of The Year message yesterday from Barbara E, a vigilant reader with social media manners: “The thermometer in your picture shows – 14, not -20. It’s a pretty sad commentary,” Barbara wrote, “on your level of attention to detail if you can’t even read a picture you are posting.”

I can do worse than that every day, Barbara; you are not reading the blog daily. Fortunately, there are better things for me to do than read someone else’s outdoor thermometer at sunrise.  I am picturing what might happen if someone spied on my Grandmother’s ancient outdoor thermometer and told her she was a sloppy reader.

I sometimes think George Orwell’s ghost is stalking me. Big Brother was nothing compared to the prying eyes of the Social Media Yentas.

People tell me I can be too nasty to the Orwellian element of modern media; I’m a little too nice, to be honest. Since I can’t write what I am thinking, it’s best to try to have some fun. I am laughing, honest.

It’s great to have something to do while going to the bathroom.

Barbara, this is an unfortunate commentary. I’m taking it as a compliment to the blog that people get up early in the morning to monitor my reading of the backyard thermometer (you are not the first) as I go to the bathroom. I doubt that even happens at Mar-a-Largo. I had no idea I was that interesting.  Better to laugh than cry.

In the real world, this was the first two-digit reading in days, and Maria called me from the pasture to say it was balmy. She wore too many layers,  she said, so  I told her to call Barbara to explain this. Maria is invincible.

I’m happy to report that I’m learning a lot from the Finches, who are also beginning to look at me and hang around. There were no Starlyings this morning; Pincus must have been cruising around.

I figured out that they eat in 20-minute passages, swarm the feeder, and then go to the store, share, or eat the feed. Then, they return in messages for more, and I am learning that this is the best time to get close. They are so busy eating that they pay no attention to me.

I love learning about them and figuring out how to photograph them.

Everything on the Internet is controversial in its strange way, even our backyard thermometer, which said the temperature at the farm was -20.

The Weather Channel says our temperature was only -1, but I trust the backyard thermometer, which looks like it’s been on the back wall for a century. Maria said it was the coldest she remembered feeling on this farm.

At 8:40 according to the weather channel it got up to 14° here. We’ll take it.

Maria said it felt like -20, and I was barred from going out, let alone in a bathrobe. I did get to a check-up with my doctor; it’s time to be more careful with my diabetes and revamp some of my diet. Diabetes is constantly changing, and so do the people who have it.

This happens every couple of years, and I take it seriously. I want to be around for a while. A nurse once told me that you take diabetes seriously or it will take you seriously.

Zip is, as always, a surprise. He ignores his heated barn hut, and like sit out in the sun on the ice at the back of the house. When I touch him, his fur always feels warm, just like the donkeys.

They have fur that soaks up the sun.

Bud is off to his own version of Florida, he never wants to go out in this weather, and always finds a spot by the fireplace or or in the sunlight.

Pincus, my new Starling Meditation partner was off yesterday, he came bye to stare at me in the morning when I sit for my bird medidtation. We are getting used to one another and the bird people have a point. He sure loves his food and is not shy about pushinng the other birds away.

The finches are getting less afraid of me by the day, they even swarmed together to push Pincus away and it worked – at least for a while. This is a great new meditation spot for me, and I love it.

Of all our animals, Zinnia was the least impressed by the weather. She paid no attention to it, happy to doze next to her pal Bud, or in my office, or out in the bitter cold, her favorite napping spot.

She and Bud are inseperable, cold or hot.

We have a lot more cold to go, and pipes are bursting all over the place. I am grareful for our very story farmhouse, which is holding up well, and are wood stoves are heroic.

I wish warmth for all of you, some news alerts popped up on my Iphone and I got to turn them off and celebrate four wonderful Calla flowers that came into Sue’s Cambridge Florist shop, she is a blessing.