Moon Webs, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
one rises, one sets
Moon cradled in snow branches
Sun births a new day
Cradled In Ash, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
click! snaps the shutter
fingers frozen to the bone
nose running away
Wolf Moon, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Wolf Moon howls at me
survival of the warmest
she wins every time
Note: Woke up to -18 degree temperatures in our zip code (-32 wind chills) and saw this through the window at sunrise. What a magnificent sight. I had to step out in my soft new PJ’s (thanks Mom!) and take a few shots. Right after that, I donned all my winter mummy-wear and spent 1 1/2 hours shoveling the two feet of snow blocking our long, hilly driveway. We are in the January deep freeze, traditionally the coldest weeks of the year.
I love winter in Minnesota. It makes me feel alive. And the Wolf Moon is the brightest I’ve seen in months. You can read more about why in the Comment links from our readers in this post about a celestial ménage à trois . (Thanks diddy and R3. I knew I’d fit that phrase in somewhere!)
-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, January 13th, 2008
-related to posts: winter haiku trilogy, PRACTICE – Wolf Moon – 10min, haiku (one-a-day)
redravine.wordpress.com 
Absolutely beautiful photos and haiku. Thanks for standing out in the cold to share this with us. From one moon-woman to another: deep bow.
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I agree that these photos are absolutely beautiful & so are the haiku! As always!
Gosh, I’m ashamed to say that it is a balmy 35 degree day here. Yikes, -32 wind chills? I’d have to pack up & move! D
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There’s something kinda fun about saying there’s a -32˚ wind chill. I can always get a groan from my relatives in Hawaii, California and Florida. Hey, wait! If I have relatives in those states, why am I spending my January in this deep freeze?
Oh, I remember.
‘Cause it makes me feel alive! 🙂
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I love the blue sheen of the photos, QM, and the haiku are all very alive. It’s evident that the moon—and winter—inspire you.
Hey, I just looked up and saw that Bo also used the word “alive” to describe how winter makes her feel. I can relate, although I’ve never known the depth of a midwestern winter. But I do love the cold.
Oh, and tonight Jim commented on how bright the moon was last night, how you could have gone out with a book and read under the moonlight. Of course, too cold for that, though.
It was 19 degrees when I got into the car this morning, not including windchill. I guess that’s balmy compared to -32.
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I spoke too soon. Yep, it’s all headed our way. Another Alberta clipper. But nothing like -32 wind chills. Below zero wind chills in the forecast. But, we have plenty of firewood on hand & a special to thanks to Dave, Paul, reccos62, & R3 for that. A lot of good hardwood, locust & pin-oak. We’ll stay warm. It is currently 77 dgrees in the house thanks to our fireplace & those that helped us to feed it! D
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breathepeace, thanks! I know you are a moon-lover, too. And, in fact, your haiku in the haiku (one-a-day) yesterday (LINK) was eerily similar to this post . Connected through moonglow. 8)
diddy, it’s supposed to get even colder tonight. I think it will be the coldest day of the year so far. We almost had our pipes freeze last night. This morning we got up and there was just a trickle that finally broke through! Glad you had help with the firewood gathering. We’ve had our heat up higher during the day to keep the cats warm. Especially Chaco who was running very cold while he was sick.
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Bo, I bet your relatives in Hawaii and California think you are nuts for living in the Midwest. I admit, I wouldn’t want it to get much colder than the last few days here. I heard on the news that when it’s cold here, Alaska is even warmer because the temps have moved on down our way.
ybonesy, thanks. I think it’s going to be -20 something tonight and not supposed to get above 0 degrees today. When I was shoveling the driveway yesterday, the top part of me was hot and sweaty but my legs (in jeans only) were completely frozen. It took a stinging while to unthaw them with a hot shower. It felt good to do that exercise though. I actually find shoveling snow kind of a Zen activity.
Yes, the Moon once again this morning was really BRIGHT. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching it this month. It makes me happy to see it shining high in the sky almost as bright as the winter sun that’s about to come out. It’s true, your temps are a little milder than ours being way further south. But it does get pretty cold there. I think you get much more sun than we do though, so it warms up more during the day.
This weekend is supposed to be mild again, back up into the 20’s. Just like that! It won’t get much colder than this. This winter has been one of the coldest we’ve had in a while. More below zero days in December than in many Moons. Happy January!
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Is there a danger when the pipes freeze that the ice, since it expands, will crack the pipes? I know our pipes sometimes froze in our old house, and it took a while for us to get water flowing again, but that was also because the house was so old and the pipes weren’t insulated properly nor buried far enough down. The water always eventually came, but I always fretted about it in the mean time.
The moon was bright this morning. I woke up, it must have been about 3 or maybe earlier, to a coyote making lots of yips and howling. That made the dogs start barking (we won’t let them run out, since there could be more than one coyote and several together could take down a big dog). Jim went out and could see the coyote without the flashlight. “It’s just sitting there in the field near the corral,” he said. I guess the coyote might have caught something, a squirrel or a bird. At any rate, it wasn’t budging.
Very apropro the moonlight, I think.
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yb, yes, definitely a chance of cracked pipes with the sub-zero temps. In this little house, the pipes run right under the house in a crawl space so many of them are insulated by the heat of the house. But there are a few that run to the edge of the house where the hose faucet and laundry room are and those tend to be more exposed.
The pipes have only frozen once here that I know of. It was before I moved in with Liz but I came over and helped her unthaw them. It turns out, we had to crawl on our bellies under the house (no basement here, only crawl space) in the dirt crawl space over to the entire other end of the house. We were wearing dust masks and carrying little walkie-talkies. Anyway, we both checked out the pipe to see where it was frozen. Then I came back up and Liz went down again with a hair dryer and a space heater. She directed them at the area that was frozen while maintaining contact on the walkie-talkie. Eventually, the pipe let loose. What a relief! She then wrapped that pipe with insulation and we haven’t had trouble with it since.
This morning, she was in the bathroom, I was in the kitchen, and we both turned on the hot water at the same time and went, “Oh, no, tell me it isn’t so!” There was only a trickle. But in a few seconds, it opened up. We left the heat a little higher today while we’re gone. I don’t want to be crawling on my hands and knees in a dark cold space tonight. Sometimes our washer drain hose will freeze. But if we do laundry, it keeps it open. I’m glad this only happens a few times a year!
One good thing, since we got the new roof last year we don’t hear as much popping and creaking from the moist wood timbers in the roof. And no long icicles anymore or ice dams on the roof. It really pays to do the upkeep on a house, even though it’s expensive. I’m thankful to have a warm place to sleep. 8)
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QM,
Do you know about the water-dripping-trick to prevent pipes from freezing? We used it on the farm all the time when the weather got below zero. You always leave the water on (just a steady drip will do). This prevents freezing. We’d keep on a few faucets around the house.
I always sleep with the window open a crack during the winter; I love the fresh air. I pile on blankets, turn the heat off, and open a window in my bedroom. This morning when I woke up, the glass of water by my bed was frozen solid. Maybe I pushed it a bit?
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Teri, I’m so glad you brought that tip up! It’s good to add it here. I had forgotten all about it, but then Liz reminded me later this morning that she read we could leave a couple of the faucets running on a slow drip. So when I called to ask if I should go home over lunch and run the water, she told me she left the cold water dripping in the back laundry room. And a small drip on the hot in the bathroom. I couldn’t believe it was the hot water pipes that had frozen. Doesn’t that seem odd? I guess one of them must run close to the outside of the house.
I can’t imagine what the temperature must have been growing up out in the open on a farm, Teri. It must have been freezing most of the time. I met an art school friend who grew up in Thief River Falls and she said it was so darned cold all the time and the wind NEVER stopped blowing up there. Of course, Liz says the same about North Dakota.
Are you kidding about the glass of water on your nightstand being frozen solid this morning? I can’t believe that! Your apartment is so warm inside. Wow, those are some COLD sleeping conditions!
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I’m not kidding about the glass of water! I always open the window a little, but sometimes I want more cold air blowing on my face. I reach over from my bed and swing the window open wider. It’s dark and I can’t see, so sometimes the window swinging gets carried away. I’ve never frozen water before.
When I went to Holcomb, Kansas to research Truman Capote, I found out my Minnesota relatives who migrated to Kansas in the 20’s slept with their bedroom windows open all winter.
Yes, the wind of North Dakota. It’s famous! My high school friends who went to college in Fargo used to regale us with wind stories. They all had good stocking caps.
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QM,
My Hubby mentioned the weather in Minnesota and I said a silent prayer for you 😉 But I do see the beauty in it…though I doubt my sandaled feet would…
It was 84 today and I’m no longer allowed to tell my friend who moved to New York 😉 I’m not sure I would even know what to do in weather as cold as you’re seeing! I’d probably have my tongue stuck to something “I just had to experiment with” or be frozen in place in some embarrassing position.
excellent Haiku…love the part
Wolf Moon howls at me
survival of the warmest
she wins every time
I hope the cats have sweaters 😉
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Teri, yes, I think you went a bit too far with the window swinging. Wow, how your ears don’t freeze, I don’t know. My ears are sensitive to cold and I just wouldn’t be able to have that much cold in the room, although I like the bedroom on the cool side to sleep.
I thought of this post yesterday as I saw the national news and the headline story was the record-breaking cold in parts of the Midwest and East. Yikes. And remember last winter? We thought that one was unusually cold!
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Teri, I guess sleeping with the bedroom window open in the dead of winter must run in your blood! 8) I can’t imagine you had it open last night though. Unbelievable this morning. And, yes, a good stocking cap and warm gloves are a must (though I wasn’t wearing a hat this morning…I should have been!).
Heather, thank you. It was -21 air temperature when we woke up this morning, -36 below with the 6mph wind. I could not believe how cold is was when we stepped outside. Our cars barely started this morning, but they finally start after a very slow rurrrr, rurrrr, rurrrr. Good old Greta the Camry and Sylvia Saturn. They’ve been good cars, all without ever having a garage.
Last night, we kept the heat at 65 and kept the water dripping in 2 faucets. Liz also set the washer to do a load at 3am to keep the water flowing to the laundry room. It startled me when it started in the dead of night, but so far, no frozen pipes!
I called my brother in Pennsylvania this morning to wish him Happy Birthday and he said he thought they had it bad at 17 degrees until I told him about the -21 in Minnesota!
So, Heather, what’s the temp in New York? Is it like PA or colder? I can’t believe it’s 84 down where you are. I can’t even imagine that kind of warmth this morning. It’s funny about the tongue…our front window is covered with frost and the cats like to lick it. I asked Liz this morning if she thought Pants would get his tongue stuck to the window! 8)
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QM Hot water freezes faster than cold. It either has more or less oxygen in it. I forget which. I hope you all are staying warm and dressing right when you have to go outside. LOVE YA!
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MOM, thanks for the tip. I had no idea. Moms are so smart. 8) We are definitely staying warm. Once we get home, we warm up the entire house and haven’t gone back out the last few evenings. It was once again -21 degrees this morning and that was just the air temperature. The minute you step out the door, your lungs kind of seize up like they are in shock!
I’ve been pretty warm but today I wore cotton socks instead of wool blend and my feet were cold when driving. Both cars, Greta and Sylvia, started right up again after a little whirring of the engine. Took a while to warm up though. It’s supposed to warm up this weekend, into the 10’s and 20’s above zero. It will feel downright balmy.
It’s strange but you do kind of get used to the cold by January. Your body has to acclimate to it. I heard something interesting about wind chills on the news. The reporter said they were developed by doing tests on humans about the cold factor of wind on the skin. Then they came up with this complex mathematical formula to calculate how exposed skin feels in freezing temperatures with different MPH wind on it. Fascinating for all us weather enthusiasts. In these kinds of temps, you can’t have exposed skin.
I was thinking about those people standing on the wings of that plane that landed in the Hudson River yesterday and how cold they must have been. I’m so glad it wasn’t landing in the Mississippi River in Minnesota. It would have been a much different story with the cold.
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Oh, Teri, I thought of you last night again with your glass of H20 by the bed next to an open winter window. It must have been another freezing water night (BTW, that would be a good name for a moon, Freezing Water Moon). With your frozen glass method, you could measure wind chills by the level of frozen solid vs. liquid water in your glass each morning. You might start a new trend. 8)
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QM, I just came from the gallery and saw this. I checked NY and my buddy Kathy is in for 16F Saturday. I like to send her cell phone pics of my bare toes. I usually get a returning one of an extending middle finger. Makes my whole day 😉
HB will be 70 tomorrow so it’s cooling off.
-21…you are one tough hombre QM
and Great and Sylvia ain’t bad either
I’m a wimp that keeps her heater at 72!
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so sorry Greta! 😉
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Quite a difference here today, Heather, it’s up to 19 degrees, 40+ degrees warmer than the previous days. But the wind is still whipping, making it feel like 8 degrees. Can’t believe what a difference a day makes. The heat didn’t go off nearly as much last night.
Yeah, our cars, Greta and Sylvia, are pretty middle-aged gals to be putting up with this kind of weather. They are real troopers. Both get along well in snow, too. And neither have all-wheel drive. I’ve been impressed. We’ve been drooling over new cars lately, looking online at what’s out there. We may need a new/used one in the next few years. Boy, I don’t miss those payments though.
Your buddy Kathy sounds like a good friend. Love the cell phone exchanges. Looks like NY is in our temp range today. A real warming trend for us!
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I saw last week a piece on Good Morning America about how there are some real hot car deals out there right now. One car dealer had a “Buy One, get one for $0.99”!! Can you believe it?
The show also talked about a website you can go to where you enter in the type of car you want and it provides all the new car prices around the US, who’s offering it for the cheapest, etc.
It’s a sunny morning here, unseasonably warm. I hope it gets cold again soon.
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[…] still the dead of Winter in Minnesota, and we’ve got the temperatures to prove it. How do you know it’s January in […]
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