Day in the Life of an Idiot

Last night was the peak of the Persied meteor shower.  It's become a tradition for Mason and I to hop in the car and head in the general direction of Cherry Grove (an astronomical viewing spot that jiawen turned us on to years ago.) I'm not sure we have ever actually made it all the way to the official spot. Usually, we get some distance on Goodhue County Road 1 (or, in the past few years on the DETOUR of Goodhue County Road 1) and then randomly pull off in some cornfield and sit on the hood of our car.  

This time had to be the best show ever.  

Mason never makes it for very long. Deep, deep darkness (particularly in the country) freaks him out a tiny bit, so we usually never last more than ten minutes, if that. Plus, inevitably it's chilly. I would have thought last night would have been fine, given that it had been 90 F (32 C) all day, but, no, I was shivering and wondering if I should pull out the blanket from the back seat for us.  

Regardless, in the short time we sat on the hood of our car, we must have seen seven or more long streaks, which were very easy to see. 

Even when we go and it's too cold (or cloudy) to really enjoy the show, it's always a fun time. It's a very weird family tradition in a way, especially since it takes us far longer to get there and back again than the time we actually spend stargazing, but I wouldn't change a thing.

My birthday was Saturday. What I wanted to do most of all was go out to brunch. I’d been thinking about trying somewhere new, but, instead, we ended up at Grandview Cafe, which is just down the road from our house. It’s mostly known for its Cajun-style breakfasts and I had a big plate of biscuits and gravy, which was perfect. Very greasy, but just what I wanted.

We ended up having a bit of a “dinner and a show” thanks to two college-age boys in the booth across from us. They were either really hungover or….maybe… giving them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they’d just come off a long gaming session. Whatever their deal was, neither of them could keep their eyes open for more than five seconds. They were nearly literally face-planting into their breakfast plates. It was one of those things that was kind of hilarious for the first ten minutes and then it was like, “Dudes. Get it together.” You know?

But, they kept us entertained.

My family bought me a whole bunch of letter-writing supplies (Pens! Stationary! Return address labels!) Shawn also made me my favorite cranberry upside-down cake.

The rest of the day was low key, however. I’d been feeling under-the-weather the day before and it kind of hung on… so I spent a lot of my 50th birthday napping like a boss.

On the other hand, this meant I was primed for the trip out to see what remained of the Leonids. Mason and I stayed up watching old episodes of “Whose Line is It, Anyway?” until midnight and then we headed south towards the Cherry Grove Observatory that jiawen  turned us on to. We never go all the way to the observatory site, since I’d feel bad using it without being a member of the Minnesota Astronomers Society. But, we drove a few miles down Goodhue County Highway 1 and pulled over into someone’s corn field.

The first hilarious part was me, at fifty, trying to pull my fat butt onto the hood of our car. Let’s just say it took a few tries. We’d brought along several blankets and a thermos full of hot chai, but it was 20 degrees F (-6 degrees C). Even so, we weren’t going to last more than ten or fifteen minutes tops. In that short span, however, we saw three meteors. One of them had a long trail, which was fairly spectacular.

I had on a full parka, hat, mittens, and scarf, and so I was actually fairly warm. But, I could feel Mason’s shivers beside me. We’d also woken up the farm dog and its barks woke the cows. There we were in pitch darkness that was punctuated by deep lowing…. I don’t want to say it was creepy, because it was just COWS, but yeah, it was kind of creepy.

Also, the cold made me have to pee. Mason and I ended up stopping at one of those 24-hour trucker “travel” centers so I could use the bathroom and he could buy some beef jerky (which is his traditional road trip food.) We’d TRIED to stop at a McDonald’s in Cannon Falls earlier, but turns out that small town McDonald’s are NOT 24 hours. This was a bummer because Mason really had a craving for salty French fries and the beef jerky was a poor substitute, indeed.

A good adventure for the big 5-Oh, however.

Sunday was a lot of return to the usual. Shawn and I did a big grocery run to Hyvee… which, predictably, was fine for the first hour, but then, as the shop started to fill up with other Sunday grocery shoppers, became annoying. As we always do, we determined to maybe do the whole shopping for staples more than once a month. (We won’t.)

Otherwise, we’re spending a lot of time cleaning house in preparation for our Thanksgiving guests, who should be arriving on Wednesday. Today, in fact? I freaking WASHED the FRIDGE. (Who does that?) I mean, it needed it, but I’m fairly certain no one but Shawn is going to appreciate the work I did. On the other hand, I watched one and a half more episodes of Elegant Yokai Apartment Living, which I enjoyed.

Okay, well, I need to run pick up Mason. See y'all on the flip side.

These two nights will be the Orionid meteor shower (remnants of Hailey's comet!)  

Mason and I decided that one road trip was not enough, so we headed out at 1 am in search of a clear patch of sky. We drove in the direction of the Cherry Grove observatory that the Minnesota astonomers like, intending not to go all the way, per se, but to stop somewhere on Goodhue County Highway 1 to see what could be seen.  I didn't think we'd make it out of cloud cover, but somewhere around Canon Falls, MN, we started to see stars in the sky.  So, I drove a little further and we pulled off in a corn field.

We just got situated on the trunk of the car when, sure enough, we saw a bright light streak across the sky.  It was the only one we saw, however, because the wind picked up and the clouds rushed in. 

Still. Kind of a magical moment.

If it clears up, we're going to try again tonight.