Cold, cold, cold

What a day to have off. It is below zero with windchill in the -20 degrees. Jacky was nice enough to take care of the horses and llamas before he left for Illinois this morning, but with the wind so strong, everyone had to stay inside. I'm sure they appreciated not chasing their breakfast all over the county! Finally downloaded all my camera photos so I have a picture from the other day last week when the snow was blowing so hard. Today the snow isn't blowing but the wind is. There's so much ice outside that nothing can really get off the ground! Just think 'Antarctica' , or maybe "Alaska tundra"...



I decided to drive to Albert Lea to fill up my car. There's a snowstorm heading this way Thursday so I wanted a full tank of gas. I have to admit though, with the wind this may not have been the best day to go! First I went to the grocery store and bought lots of green vegetables and fruit (wishing for summer??) and then stood out in the -2 degree weather filling up my tank. BRRRRR!!!! And yes, the windchill really was -20 degrees. You have to be pretty hardy to live in Minnesota. Poor GiGi kept getting pushed around on the way home. But we made it and now I'm ready for Friday, maybe.
Put the horses outside after lunch. It was still blowing but not quite as bad. Cleaned the pony barn but then I had to go inside to warm up! When it was time to bring them in, I bundled up and headed out.



My recently repaired Eddie Bauer coat is wonderfully warm -  but I can't wear it to the barns. Oh well. The horses were all ready to come back inside. Little do they know they will spend most of the rest of the week inside! SueBee's breath was all nice and soft and warm, asking me for treats, which she got of course. I'll try to describe how it feels walking from the barn to the goose pen. The wind makes your thighs hurt with the cold, even though you are wearing your long underwear. The freezing temps make your nose run, so you are breathing through your mouth. Of course, the warm air coming from your breath is rising and fogging up your glasses, which then freeze with the condensate on the lenses. Every step you take, you worry you'll hit the ice wrong and go down (and you KNOW how hard that ice is on a 50+ year old body). The moisture on the edges of your nose starts to freeze too so you can feel that as you breath. One hand, in a mitten, is holding the edges of your jacket close around your neck to keep out the wind. The other mittened hand has trouble undoing the gate latches and you have to take that mitten off to let the animals in and out. You put it back on just as fast as you can, but it never seems to get as warm again. After about 15 minutes, even the mittened hands are starting to hurt with the cold and you head back inside to make a cup of nice hot tea (with sugar and cream!). You know you'll have to head back out to finish up, but please, not until you can feel your fingers again!
Can you imagine what it was like in the days before heated water buckets? It may be not so fun some days - doing outside chores - but it could be worse!!
The animals are all taking it easy today. Too cold to stay outside for long. They got marrow bones, haven't had them in forever! So they are quite happy. Here's a cold little chickadee that hung around the house. It's almost too cold for the birds to come eat. The cold and wind keeps those nasty starlings away, but also the songbirds. I did see a hawk in the trees on the way home from town. He was in the trees trying to get a little protection.
Here's my chickadee: