CHill 'er Up

Last night, Friday night, was a new moon.  The kids and I have been talking for awhile about putting a mattress and a ton of blankets in the back of the truck and going out and star gazing on the night of the new moon.  It has been cloudy and snowy for the longest time, but yesterday it cleared up just in time for a moonless night of star gazing.    

Last night was super-dee-duperly cold, so instead of doing the back of the truck thing, we cranked the heat up in the suburban and piled a bunch of blankets in it.  We drove out into the middle of the field by the hay shed and parked (after Weston turned the lights off and spun us around and around).  Spencer, Kate, my nephew, Jiles (for a little while), and I climbed on the top of the car with a bunch of blankets, a flash light and a couple of star gazer books.  Weston waited in the car with Zoe and Ezra (who fell asleep).

It was so pretty!  And magical.

And, of course, freezing!  (And there was a slight breeze.) 

We could see the Milky Way, and we identified Orion, Taurus, Betelgeuse, Sirius, the Seven Sisters, the Big and Little Dipper, Polaris (the North Star).  I really wanted to see Cassiopeia, and we knew just where it was supposed to be, but we couldn't see it.  I learned that constellation when I was going to school in eastern Idaho, and would always look for it after that.  We were wishing that the city, however many miles away, did not put off so much light pollution.  For the future:  Use a flashlight that has a very dim bulb.  It was hard to adjust from the bright light looking at the books, to looking at the stars in the darkness.  

We stayed out there for a good 25 minutes or so.  It would have been longer, but it was sooo cold (and that breeze....eesh!).  

I hope to do that every month at the new moon.

This morning I packed every up with blankets and cranked heat in the Suburban again (I had to wake up Ji Guy), 

and we headed out to take pictures of my nephew while they fed the cows.  He needs pictures for his report that he is doing for school. 

Guess how cold it was.

Can you see that little line in front of the 10?  Yes, that is a negative.  A below the zero mark number.

Those poor, poor rancher men feeding out in that.

My nephew was lucky because he got to drive in the heated tractor cab.

But not for the whole time.  He is usually out there for the whole time with the ranch hand while my rancher drives.  

They feed 7 ton a day. 

(I'm pretty sure that's right.  Is that right, Rancher?)

This was the tail end.

Pushing off the leftovers.

After the photo above, the ranch hand came running over saying, "Rev up the engine!"

He looked sort of frantic, so I was worried that something was wrong.  He ran over to the exhaust pipe and crouched down to where I couldn't see him.  It turned out that his hands were so frozen, and he wanted to hold them up to the car exhaust.  He had gotten to a point where he probably did feel sort of frantic about them getting frost bite.  He had been out there for at least an hour working.  Probably a few hours, knowing him, who wakes up at 4 every morning.  Sheesh.

The ranch hand drove on the way back to the truck, and Rancher Weston and my nephew kept themselves entertained.

They have to do something to impress the ladies. 

And they're a tough crowd.

Um, can you please not walk on your food?

Snow is pretty...

 Phlight of the Pheasants...

Yes, it is this cold...

I took all of the above pictures of today from inside the car with the heat on high and the seat warmer toasting my back end.  Then I stepped out to take this picture,

and this one,

and when I got back in the car a weird sound was coming from the front of the car.  About a mile down the road I noticed that the check gages light was on, and that the temperature gage was clear above the high mark.  We were overheating!  Really?  Overheating in this subzero Siberian weather?  The engine was getting pretty rattly.  I prayed that we could just make it home.  The heater began blowing cold air.  We were only a few miles from home, but it would sure stink to break down.  We made it home, though, and Weston has since filled our Black Magic 99 up with some sweet antifrEEzEy.