weather | Minnesota Prairie Roots

Goin’ quackers during a Minnesota winter February 12, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: art, duck, Faribault, Minnesota, photography, snow sculpture, weather, winter

THIS COLD AND SNOWY Minnesota winter has many of us natives going a little bonkers.

I am not good at judging size. But this is one big duck.

But at least one Faribault resident is goin’ quackers instead, sculpting a mighty snow duck in the front yard at 417 Second Street Northwest.

Another angle, looking toward Second Street Northwest.

Another angle, looking toward the street.

I spotted the waterfowl a few days ago, when temps reached a high of around zero and the wind was whipping something fierce.

Little duck (decoy). Mighty duck.

Not a great day to pull out the camera. In less than five minutes of shooting, my gloveless fingers were chilled to the bone. Back inside the car, I positioned my hands within a wisp of a heat vent.

Gazing up at the mighty duck.

Now you’re going to ask, “Why a duck? And why would anyone do this?”

I nearly missed the rubber ducky atop the snow at the end of the driveway as I hurried toward the car.

I didn’t knock on the door and inquire. My only thought after shooting about a dozen frames shortly before sunset was to get inside the Chrysler and warm up.

Therefore you get to offer your theories. Go.

FYI: Not that this has anything to do with the duck sculpture. But D3: The Mighty Ducks, a 1996 sports comedy movie, was filmed at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault and at Carleton College in nearby Northfield. NHL player Emerson Eten, who played prep hockey at Shattuck, now skates for the Anaheim Ducks.

UPDATE: After pulling today’s issue of my local newspaper, The Faribault Daily News, from the fresh snow atop my front steps, I settled in with the paper at lunch. There, on page two, were a story and photo about the mighty duck. Kurt Kletter is the artist behind the sculpture, having crafted snow sculptures during the past four winters. Why have I not noticed his leprechaun, dragons and giant stop sign in past years?

Click here to read the story. Mystery solved.

Comments (29)

Up on the rooftop February 3, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 11:48 AM
Tags: humor, Minnesota, photo editing, snow, snow removal, weather, winter

Ho, ho, ho!
There he goes.
Ho, ho, ho!
There he goes.

Up on the rooftop
Scrape, throw, scrape.

Right through the snow with
Good Saint Minnesotan.

Comments (32)

A glorious respite January 30, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: Minnesota, weather, winter

OH, MY GOSH, people, am I excited.

Sunshine and warm temps defined Minnesota weather on Wednesday.

Look at this photo. No, don’t focus on the ice dams plugging the eave trough.

Rather turn your eyes to those two top icicles and specifically to the water streaming from the left one.

Yes, the temperature here in southeastern Minnesota soared to a balmy 30-ish degrees Wednesday afternoon. That, combined with abundant sunshine, created enough warmth to start the melting process, at least along the roof line of my house.

But mostly, in a January that’s been marked by sub-zero temperatures and windchills in the double digits below zero, as in minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, this one-day respite lifted my spirits. I mean, to step outdoors into the sunshine in a zipped sweatshirt rather than my wool pea coat felt absolutely glorious. Glorious, I tell you.

But this morning it’s back to reality with lower temps and more snow. Gosh, I haven’t shoveled snow since Sunday.

UPDATE, 9:15 a.m.:

Snow has been falling at a steady pace in Faribault for several hours as shown in this image from my neighborhood.

Snowplows are out in force this morning as yet more snow has moved into Minnesota, creating a mess out there on the roads. Travel along Interstate 35, and in all of southeastern Minnesota, is tagged as “difficult,” according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation 511 website.

Be careful if you must be out and about today.

Comments (34)

Brrrutally cold in Minnesota January 27, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:28 AM
Tags: cold, Faribault, Minnesota, school closings, southwestern Minnesota, travel, weather, weather warnings, windchill, winter

The temperature monitor in my home registered the outdoor air temp at minus 14.8 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:45 a.m. Yes, I know the time is wrong.

The temperature monitor in my Faribault, Minnesota, home registered the outdoor air temp at minus 14.8 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:45 a.m. today. (Yes, I know the time is wrong.) Temps, unfortunately, are correct.

MINNESOTANS AWAKENED to another brutally cold morning with windchills plunging more than 30 degrees below zero Fahrenheit on Monday.

A screen shot of MarshallRadio.net’s weather-related closings list this morning. This shows only a portion of the closings listed for that area of southwestern Minnesota.

Across the state, hundreds of schools are closed and activities canceled.

KLGR radio in Redwood Falls listed these area roads as still closed this morning. Minnesota State Highway 19 in both directions between Marshall and Redwood Falls is closed due to white out conditions. My hometown of Vesta lies half-way between Marshall and Redwood Falls.

Some roadways, especially in the southwestern region of Minnsota, remain closed due to white conditions and snow drifts blocking traffic lanes.

A screen shot of the Minnesota Department of Transportation 511 website shows road closures and conditions in Minnesota at 8:45 a.m. today.

We’ve been advised to carry winter survival kits if we must travel, to watch for black ice and that exposed skin can freeze in five minutes.

Students in my community, like many through-out Minnesota, have another day off from classes due to the brutal weather conditions.

Stay home if you can. That’s my best advice.

Comments (23)

Blizzard warning January 26, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 4:19 PM
Tags: blizzard, blizzard warning, Faribault, Minnesota, weather, winter

A view from my front window around 4:30 p.m. shows reduced visibility due to blowing snow and fresh snow falling.

UPDATE: 5:39 P.M.

WHILE PREPARING HOMEMADE lasagna, I listened to weather news on an Owatonna radio station. Here are snippets of the latest:

Extremely dangerous travel…travel with a winter survival kit.

Life-threatening windchills.

No plowing until the winds subside.

After the lasagna went into the oven, I stepped outside, ever so briefly, to snap a few photos from my yard as fierce winds flung snow and more snow fell from the heavy skies:

Shot from my back steps looking into my backyard and toward my neighbor’s yard to the south.

Standing at the end of the driveway, I aimed my lens toward the side street past my corner house.

And then I turned the other direction to photography Willow Street, a main arterial street in Faribault.

And then I turned the other direction to photograph Willow Street, a main arterial street in Faribault.

WRITTEN EARLIER, AROUND 2:30 P.M.

SNUGGED UNDER A FLEECE THROW in my home office, mug of hot chocolate to the right of my desk, fingertips resting on the computer keyboard, I glance outside.

The sun blazes, for the moment, upon a landscape that appears deceptively serene here in a valley in Faribault.

But then I shift my gaze higher, toward the sky and the tips of trees that reveal the truth in bending branches. Wind, oh, powerful wind. Occasionally snow blasts around the corner of the house.

My area of southeastern Minnesota, like much of the state, is currently in a blizzard warning.

"The photograph, taken along Minnesota Highway 30 in southwestern Minnesota, photographed in January 2010..

“The photograph was taken along Minnesota Highway 30 in southwestern Minnesota in January 2010. This gives you some idea of the landscape and how wind can whip snow. Conditions today are much, much worse than those shown in this image.

I google Minnesota 511 to learn of difficult driving conditions, spin-outs and crashes and a jackknifed semi along the stretch of Interstate 35 stretching from Burnsville to the Iowa border.

On television, I view footage of current conditions in the Northfield area 15 miles away. Visibility is poor with blowing snow on I-35.

Across the border in North Dakota, Interstate 94 between Fargo and Bismarck has been closed. The Fargo Forum currently lists 294 severe weather related announcements.

In my native southwestern Minnesota, U.S. Highway 71 has been closed. I expect it won’t be long before snow gates are pulled across other roadways as conditions deteriorate.

I will phone my mom shortly, as I do every Sunday. I expect she will tell me church services were cancelled. Again. Too many Sundays already in recent weeks, services at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Vesta, and in other southwestern Minnesota prairie communities, have been cancelled because of the cold and/or snow. When wind whips snow across the open landscape of that region, it is not safe to be out and about.

Tomorrow, once this blizzard ends at midnight, temps will plunge into the deep freeze again. Nearly unbearable cold.

Xcel Energy natural gas customers in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin are being asked to conserve energy after a pipeline rupture in Canada early Saturday morning. (Click here to read details.)

What a winter this has been already. To think, last Sunday the temp registered a balmy 40 degrees…

Comments (44)

The value of the snow shovel January 23, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, Minnesota, photo essay, snow, snow removal, snow shovels, weather, winter

WE MINNESOTANS VALUE our snow shovels, an essential tool to clear our driveways and sidewalks of the never-ending snow.

A snow shovel at the ready at St. Luke’s Church.

When I recently photographed a snow shovel inside the entry to St. Luke’s Church, Faribault, I wondered how many times I’d snapped images that include shovels. So I searched my files and selected a few to show you.

My little neighbor boy shoveling the driveway in February 2013.

My neighbor boy shoveling the driveway in February 2013. We start ’em shoveling young here in Minnesota.

My neighbor across the street shovels snow Saturday morning.

Shoveling snow at the same house during a December 2010 blizzard.

My husband shovels the end of the sidewalk while our neighbor works toward him with the snowblower. What a great neighbor.

My husband shovels the end of the sidewalk while our neighbor works toward him with the snowblower following a December 2010 blizzard that dumped 1 1/2 feet of snow on Faribault. We have two snow shovels, a scoop shovel and a snowblower to handle snow removal at our house and a neighbor’s place.

Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church in Faribault is prepared with a trio of snow shovels.

My husband shovels snow from our Minnesota backyard patio a year ago.

My spouse shovels snow from our backyard patio in March 2011. Most of that snow was shoveled from the house and garage roofs earlier in the season to prevent ice dams and to reduce the weight of deep snow on the roofs.

What would we do without our snow shovels?

Tell me, if you live in a snowy region, what’s in your snow removal artillery?

Comments (22)

What Minnesotans do on a balmy winter day January 20, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 8:36 AM
Tags: Faribault, photo essay, photos, rural Minnesota, southeastern Minnesota, Sunday afternoon drive, travel, weather, winter

SUNDAY BROUGHT A WELCOME change in weather with an abundance of sunshine and temps reaching nearly 40 degrees Fahrenheit here in southeastern Minnesota.

It was a glorious day.

Following a country road Sunday afternoon somewhere northwest of Faribault.

So after my husband had finished repairing a friend’s dad’s snowblower, we set out on a Sunday afternoon drive along back country roads northwest of Faribault. Oh, how I love a drive in the country, camera in hand, shooting scenes from the passenger side of the car.

And, yes, prior to departure I cleaned the salt-grimed car windows, a futile effort as the windshield was soon spotted with road spray. Temps weren’t quite warm enough to roll down the front passenger side window to take photos. No, we can’t always stop for photo ops or we would never get anywhere.

Anywhere was our destination. We both are suffering from cabin fever, the trapped feeling that afflicts Minnesotans when the winter gets too cold and too snowy for too long. Such is this winter. Today, after a one-day reprieve, we are sliding back into the deep freeze.

But we had yesterday, a gloriously warm and sunny Sunday. For that I am grateful.

Sunday proved a perfect day for this family to ride their horses.

These Minnesotans preferred driving their snowmobiles in the ditch along a Rice County Road.

These Minnesotans snowmobiled in the ditch along a Rice County Road.

A few miles further north, other snowmobilers parked next to the old school in Millersburg and walked across the street to Boonie’s Bar & Grill.

While some played, others worked. This guy prepares to saw wood along a rural roadway.

Back in Faribault, another man cut wood.

And we ended our drive with a walk along the snowy trails at River Bend Nature Center in Faribault.

Fresh tracks showed us that others snowshoed and skied through the nature center.

Comments (22)

Hunkering down during Minnesota’s extreme cold January 7, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: Faribault, historic cold, Minnesota, photo essay, weather, winter

FOX 9 morning news on Monday shows temps and windchiills predicted for Monday evening.

FOX 9 morning news on Monday shows temps and windchills predicted for Monday evening in the Twin Cities.

I’M ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES. I don’t have to venture outside, into the frigid cold which is gripping Minnesota and many other parts of the country.

Rather, I can hunker down inside, working from my home office.

When I arose Monday morning and switched on the radio, the temperature registered at a negative 22 degrees Fahrenheit with a windchill of 47 degrees below zero. That’s cold, people, darned cold.

Starting a cold winter morning off with a bowl of banana-laced oatmeal.

The television weatherman reported the same brutal temps before I turned off the TV and enjoyed my usual morning bowl of oatmeal.

We have an abundance of fleece and wool throws at the ready.

I have an abundance of fleece and wool throws at the ready.

On mornings like this, the house feels colder than normal. So I’ll notch up the thermostat a degree, to 68, and grab a fleece throw from the couch to toss across my lap while I write.

A cup of instant cappuccino set atop a stash of books.

A cup of instant cappuccino to kickstart me on an exceptionally cold winter morning.

And although I’m not a big coffee drinker, I typically have a single mug of instant French vanilla cappuccino each morning. I can almost hear all of you serious coffee drinkers out there cringing at the idea of me drinking instant coffee.

Every January the regional library system implements its reading incentive, appropriately named “Hot Reads for Cold Nights.” My mom gave me this mug, which she got from her library system. That’s my stash of books and magazines from the library.

Saturday I stopped at the local library to stock up on books and magazines, but didn’t read much until Monday evening as I attended a wedding on Saturday and then Sunday evening was riveted to the two-hour premiere of Downton Abbey. Much to my husband’s dismay, I recently discovered this Public Broadcasting Service Masterpiece Theatre show.

Ice rings created by my husband and in the backyard.

Ice rings created by my husband and now in the backyard.

My spouse entertained himself on Sunday by watching the chilly football game in Green Bay and later making ice candle holders. He froze water in ice cream buckets on our patio. I darted outside Monday morning to view and photograph his ice art.

The furnace vents through a pipe into my backyard.

And then I photographed the exhaust venting from the furnace, enveloping the lawn chairs in a visual contrast of seasons.

A reminder that, yes, spring will come and this fern will once again grace my backyard.

Back indoors, I aimed my camera lens at a fern (temporarily displaced by the Christmas tree) and at a pineapple on my kitchen counter.

The closest I am to anything tropical.

If you live in Minnesota, you understand why I photographed both. Right?

Comments (25)

Dreading our next Arctic blast here in Minnesota January 3, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: childhood memories, cold, Faribault, Minnesota, snow, weather, winter

I’VE EVOLVED INTO A WINTER weather wimp. Truly.

I photographed these winter enthusiasts heading up the hill to the park to go sledding.

I photographed these winter enthusiasts across the street from my home a few days ago as they headed up the hill to the park to go sledding. And, yes, I shot this image through a window so I didn’t have to step outside.

There was a time, many decades ago, when I actually thrilled in snow and cold—tunneling into snowbanks, building snow forts, packing snowballs, sledding, running up and down the mounds of snow Dad pushed from the driveway and farmyard into make-believe mountains.

I role-played a Canadian Mountie driving a dogsled across those mountains and across rock-hard snowdrifts.

I battled against my brothers with stockpiled snowballs.

I gripped the baler twine handle of the old runner sled as I raced across the yard.

I loved to skate upon patches of ice in the field or at the ice pond in town.

Those were the days.

Later, when I had my own kids, I played outside in the snow with them, slid down the hill at the nearby park, even ice skated occasionally and once snowshoed with my family at the local nature center.

On New Year’s Day, I suggested to my husband that we take a walk at River Bend Nature Center. But then I stepped outside to shake out a rug.

“Uh, I’ve changed my mind about that walk,” I said. “It’s too cold.” Temps were in the sub-zero to slightly above zero Fahrenheit range. Too cold. Way too cold.

The low temp in Embarrass, 90 miles north of Duluth on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range, plunged to 46 degrees below zero Fahrenheit on Thursday. That’s cold. Way too cold.

Winter no longer appeals to me. Rather, it rates as mostly an unpleasant season to endure with snow to shovel, icy/snowy surfaces to traverse and travel, and frigid cold to withstand, although beauty does exist in a snowy landscape.

The upcoming days will surely test my winter endurance. The National Weather Service office in Chanhassen, Minnesota, is forecasting the following:

SOME OF THE COLDEST WEATHER IN THE PAST 20 YEARS IS EXPECTED ON
SUNDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR 40 TO 60
DEGREE BELOW ZERO WIND CHILLS. WIND CHILL WARNINGS APPEAR VERY
LIKELY TO BE NEEDED.

Now doesn’t that sound fabulous?

Comments (37)

The ever-present shepherd December 29, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 5:06 PM
Tags: devotional, faith, Faribault, Fourth Avenue United Methodist Church, life, Minnesota, The Lord is my Shepherd, thoughts, weather

EVEN WHEN PASTURES are not green, the Lord stands steadfast as our shepherd.

Pastures currently are not green, in the literal sense, here in Minnesota, although on Saturday we enjoyed a balmy 46 degrees.

Today we’ve been thrust back into winter’s hold, with an Arctic air mass gripping the state. Air temps are hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit with the windchill at minus 25 – minus 34 degrees F.

Consider that yesterday I didn’t wear a coat; my long-sleeved flannel shirt proved sufficient to keep me warm while outdoors.

This morning I pulled a sweater over my shirt and bundled into my wool coat, scarf and gloves to head out for church services.

What a difference between yesterday and today.

Just like our lives. One day brings comfortable walking through green and sunny pastures. The next day brings challenges along a cold and snowy path.

No matter the route, I am assured that the Lord is my shepherd, there to guide me on this journey through life.

He gives me the tools—prayer, loving family and friends, His promises and love, and more—to help me clear and navigate the path when the going gets rough.

What a blessing to have the assurance of His presence.

Comments (21)

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Goin’ quackers during a Minnesota winter February 12, 2014

Up on the rooftop February 3, 2014

A glorious respite January 30, 2014

Brrrutally cold in Minnesota January 27, 2014

Blizzard warning January 26, 2014

The value of the snow shovel January 23, 2014

What Minnesotans do on a balmy winter day January 20, 2014

Hunkering down during Minnesota’s extreme cold January 7, 2014

Dreading our next Arctic blast here in Minnesota January 3, 2014

The ever-present shepherd December 29, 2013

Follow Minnesota Prairie Roots via Email

An essay of barn photos & memories; In praise of preserving country churches; & Testing the track during a Soap Box Derby trial run in Faribault

Search

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Calendar

Subscribe with RSS