Yes it’s Feb and it’s hot and sweaty again! Honestly the hardest month of the year out here for weather. But who am I to moan at present about the extremes of weather, as England is in the grips of the ‘Beast from the East’. More snow than they know what to do with and freezing temperatures! Our thoughts have been with everyone there. Trying to farm in freezing weather is no mean feat. Animals still need to be fed, the young are being born into snow, the water pipes are freezing and getting food out to all and sundry is a challenge. The roads are impassable and those who normally bemoan a tractor on the road are now grateful for a farmer’s help. So yes it’s hot here and oh so humid and we are all a bit tired of it, but we do remember how hard snow can be and the hell of the ice and sludge that follows!

Not saying I wouldn’t love a day in the snow and the camaraderie of it all though. As the photos are coming through on Facebook, of drifts higher than hedges and kids on sledges. The memories are coming back thick and fast to us too! We miss being snowed in and after sorting all the animals and associated dramas, going out sledging with the neighbours from the village till dusk and warming up after by the trusty AGA with a hot drink and whisky or two! Fires lit and going to bed in drafty houses with woolly hats on and never getting warm! Piles of wet clothes and boots on racks, stepping over wet dogs drying out by the fire and mounds of carb laden food to keep you going!

So how different could it be here! The thermometer has regularly been hitting 35-40 plus and at night 28! The humidity has been high and we have been grateful for some rain. On the bright side the cane is growing well, the cattle are fat, the slashing of grass is never ending and the ground profile is full, so irrigators are off. But there is talk of a big rain event on its way, which may be just too much for us, so finger crossed most of it will go out to the poor guys out west struggling with a 6 year drought. Hard to believe there are children who have never seen rain let alone snow!

On top of it all I am currently getting over the Flu, its all that coming in and out of the heat and air cons and fans blowing everywhere its inevitable. But for me I think it all started two weeks ago when i suffered from heat exhaustion. We were treating cattle and branding the calves. My job was to do the paper work and manage the gates but unfortunately this also meant standing in front of the branding furnace! We had sensibly left the branding job until early morning. As mustering the day before the thermometer had hit 40 and i had cooked myself then as well. I think heat exhaustion had already started as I woke up dizzy and feeling sick but pushed on. Anyway, long story short, I started to feel really ill but got the job done and as soon as I got in the house collapsed. Heat exhaustion is no fun and next time I will recognise the symptoms and take action!

So whilst all our family and friends in the UK freeze we are literally cooking out here! Instead of coming in from work wet from the snow and rain, we now come in drenched from the sweat! There are pros and cons to both sides of the coin or should I say pond! But oh how I know we would all love an adrenaline-pumping sledge down a hill right now and a good hot toddy afterwards in the pub with friends! Or should I take the rose tinted glasses off right now?!