Desert Survivor

Park Discovery

2012-01-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

When we went to Cedar City last week, Jenny and I decided to take the kids to a park I had read about but had never visited, up on the hill above Walmart and across the street from the Aquatic Center.

It turned out to be a really cool looking park, and we hurried to enter.

No one else was there on that January day at lunchtime.

I can imagine that it gets quite busy during the warmer months of the year!

All the kids liked the series of steps and buildings to run through.

Ava balanced well on a mushroom--at least that's what I think it was!

Although Desert Girl was first to go over the suspension bridge, the bigger kids couldn't wait.

And away they go!

I kept trying to get photos of the kids, but they were moving fast! Desert Boy and Ava paused for just a moment.

Then Desert Girl had to take a turn!

They even had a bouldering wall. It's extra challenging in cowboy boots!

The park opened in 2001, so we were surprised we hadn't ever heard of it before. Now that we know it exists, we will certainly be back! For directions on how to get there, click here.

Traveling Adventures

2012-01-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

The kids and I are on a little trip (okay, maybe a big trip) to visit family in the Midwest. As any trip traveling with kids, it's always an adventure. I choose to be a "half-glass full" type of person, so instead of thinking about all the things that went wrong, here are all the things that went right:

* Desert Girl's chin stopped bleeding relatively quickly after she finished shaving while I was packing.

* At a stop after I stepped in poo--Desert Girl's poo that had slithered down her pant leg--there was enough snow to get most of it off my shoes.

* We were going on a long trip, so I had three outfits for Desert Girl that day, including an extra pair of shoes.

* I had also packed a plastic bag so that all the stinky clothes could be sequestered somewhat in the van.

* They didn't have to lock down the Target after Desert Girl wandered off while I was paying for our purchases. She had gone to the clothes section and according to the employees that found her, she had a big grin on her face.

* Even though the airport shuttle was 20 minutes late and our gate was the very last one in the airport, we made it onto the plane.

* Although TSA confiscated our Capri Suns, we learned that next time we can bring sippy cups without a problem.

* Although we got to the gate too late for family boarding, we still got on the plane early enough that I didn't have to place the kids in middle seats with random people. This could have been really fun:
"Here's my daughter and her diaper bag. She's ready to take a big dump. Good luck."
"Here's my son and his bag of goodies. He expects to be entertained nonstop for the next three and a half hours. Oh, and he'll have to get up and pee at least three times during the flight."

* Although many of Chicago Transit Authority's downtown elevated train ("el") stations are not handicapped/stroller accessible, they provide a great workout for hauling two suitcases, a backpack, and a child in a stroller. And Chicagoans are very helpful; some kind folks made it easier for us.

* We made it to our destination safely and greatly enjoyed some extra visiting with family along the way!

So if you're contemplating a trip, just think of all the things that could go right! (And hopefully you won't have to deal with blood or poo!)

Train Time

2012-01-24T09:06:00.001-08:00

Winter nights call for creativity!

Pinyon Jays

2012-01-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

I saw a flock of birds the other day, up near the transition between sagebrush and pinyon/juniper. This meant the flock was pinyon jays, a neat bird. You usually don't see them alone--they like to hang out in big groups. Despite this, very little is known about where they nest. I figured that this would be a good opportunity to try to photograph them, after all, there were a lot.

But when I started following them, they kept flying farther away. I persevered and got a couple okay shots, so you can at least see that they really are pinyon jays!

They are really bright blue, a very pretty color. They hang out in this area year round, and it sure is nice to see their splash of color.

By the way, the Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up soon, February 17-20. This is a good excuse to check out what's in your yard.

Sheepherders' Party

2012-01-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

I'm hanging out with some sheepherders this weekend. You can too, by clicking here.
Try it. You'll like it.

Cloudy Skies

2012-01-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

We went to town today for a fun day of dentist visits (yes, my kids consider those to be fun, to my great delight!), thrift store shopping (and dropping off more than we bought--hurray!), eating yummy food (do you know how overwhelming food choices are?), playing in an awesome playground (photos coming soon), swimming (yes, how could we resist the swimming pool), grocery shopping (every trip to town involves this), and best of all, getting to enjoy it with friends!

On the way back, the light was fantastic between the third and fourth mountain passes. (Oh, did I forget to mention that this little jaunt to town was over 130 miles one-way crossing four mountain passes? Oops. Little details.) Jenny and I couldn't resist taking some photos.

Is this called virga when it could be snow? Actually, with the 40+ degree temperatures, it probably really was virga (rain that doesn't reach the ground). We are crossing our fingers for snow this Saturday. It would be too weird not to get any snow during the entire month of January.

The colors in the clouds changed so quickly, and the view was spectacular in every direction. It was hard to know which way to turn. And the only other beings out there with us were some cows. I'm not sure if they enjoyed the light show as much as we did. I'm kind of guessing not. But you never know. Cows can be a little funny.

The desert is one beautiful place!

I should probably mention that it was in this same valley that a UFO was purported to land. Or rather, crash. From aerial photos you can make out the shape of the spacecraft in a playa. The report says that the aliens assimilated into the local population. So maybe the cows weren't the only ones with us enjoying the sunset. Or perhaps since we're the local population, maybe that explains some of the strange behaviors seen around the nearby towns and communities from time to time...

An Unexpected Visitor

2012-01-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

I glanced out the window Saturday morning and noticed a sheep wandering in through the gate towards the cookhouse. I did a double take. A sheep? I wasn't hallucinating, was I? I didn't have any flowers blooming so I didn't need to race outside. I shook my head, wondering if that would make it go away. Then I got distracted by something (or someone) else for a little while. A few minutes later I opened our front door (which is really the side door, but as the front door opens directly onto one precious piece of unstained carpet, we rarely use it), and saw the sheep was on our front steps.

Hello?
Are you selling something?
Do you have pamphlets to distribute?
Do I know you?

For some reason the sheep didn't answer me, but he (and it was obviously a he) didn't give me any pamphlets either. He also didn't run away, which surprised me. Perhaps he didn't run partly because our dear dog Henry was so busy sunbathing in the driveway that he didn't even notice the sheep approach. (Note to would-be robbers: he does bark every time someone drives into our driveway, so if you want to rob us of our wonderful collection of toy trains, kids' books, and broken crayons, come disguised as a sheep and you will be able to get right in.)

I moved around to get some different photo angles. The sheep was content to stay put.

In our few minutes of acquaintance, I was getting fond of the old guy. I mean, what's not to like with the grass hanging from the shaggy wool, the dirt-stained nostrils, and that nearly comatose demeanor?

I got bored before the sheep did, and since I didn't know what to do with a sheep on my front steps (would you know what to do?) I went back into the house and did something or other. But I couldn't resist going back outside to check on the sheep. It wasn't on the front steps anymore.

Now it was in the flower garden. If the flowers had been blooming, I might have been a wee bit upset. Okay, it would have been a lot more than a wee bit. But at this time of year, I was hoping that the sheep might be helping to push some seeds from the native flax into the ground to enhance their chances of germination. So I didn't chase him out. Plus, he was just so darn cute.

Henry had woken up from his stupor by now and gave a few half-hearted barks. The sheep didn't seem to care. Henry went back to the driveway and laid down to resume his sunbathing. Life is good when you're a relaxed black lab.

This was about the extent of concern that the sheep showed. It kept standing there and again I got bored, so I went back in the house. As I was cleaning in the kitchen, I peeked out the window and found that the sheep had moved to another part of the yard.

Yep, I guess that sheep was ready to play!

I still didn't know what to do with a sheep in the yard, so I just ignored it. When my husband came home for lunch, he said we should get it out. (Hmmm, who woulda thought?) Lucky for us, it wandered through the gate and headed for the neighbors. (In case you're wondering, towards the neighbors with the crazy bull. Those neighbors apparently just attract weird animal behavior!)

I did wonder where the sheep had come from, and this morning I saw that the sheepherders had moved their camp to just above town. I also noticed something else that might have caused a distraction to the sheepdogs that usually keep the sheep in line. Can you spot the distraction in the photo below?

Here's a close-up to help you out:

The cutest little sheepdog puppies! I counted seven of them, and they were all so adorable.

The mama came bounding up to the truck and I recognized her as the same dog that had greeted us last week on our adventure walk where we collected the bones for Henryosaurus. I rolled down the window (which usually isn't recommended with sheepdogs), and she was happy to let me pet her and say sweet things and compliment her on her gorgeous pups. I was wondering what her calorie requirements were to nurse seven pups. Yikes!

The pups ventured towards us a bit to check us out.

The mama sheepdog might be a little hampered protecting sheep right now, but before long she's going to have a big bunch of helpers!

The Great Bull Debacle

2012-01-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

It was the morning of Christmas Eve and my husband came into the house.
"There's something interesting going on next door."
"What?" I asked. We usually don't have too much excitement around here.
"A bull got its head stuck in the feed panel."
I searched my brain for an image of a feed panel and was coming up short. "What's a feed panel?"
"Go see, the bull's down in the meadow."
So I bundled up the kids, grabbed my camera, and we walked along the fence line. On the far side of the neighbors' meadow, I could see the bull. And now I understood what the feed panel was.

I wondered how in the world they were going to get the feed panel off the bull. Or the bull out of the feed panel. Or however they would be separated.

As it so happened, the neighbors were out of town for the holidays. So the guy that was watching their cattle called some friends, and then they called our ranch for some extra help. This wasn't the kind of problem that comes up every day. Or every week. Or every month. Or every year. Or probably even every ten years. This was a weird kind of problem. And it needed some extra heads to figure out how to free the bull.

My brother-in-law Dave, who has a tremendous amount of experience with cattle, rounded up some tranquilizer. He had a bit of a dilemma deciding how much to give, as he knew the dosage for a cow, which weighs less than a bull, and had to estimate how much extra to give to the bigger bull. To make matters more confusing, the tranquilizer had been left in a vehicle overnight and had frozen, so its efficacy was unknown. He used his best judgment and drove up to the bull and darted it (you'll see the dart in the photo below. And speaking of photos, yes, there are a lot of photos in this post. And there are at least three times as many that I didn't post. You can thank me later.)

See the dart in the left hip? After the bull had been darted, we (and I use that we very loosely, as I didn't really do anything except take photos, but I sort of felt like I was in on the whole thing as I witnessed it) had to wait for the tranquilizer to take effect. The bull looked a little pitiful with the big green metal accessory.

I was standing far enough away that I didn't know what the plan was. I was waiting and watching and trying to keep my kids from getting tetanus from all the old machinery and junk with exposed nails and sharp edges that they were playing on.

I was a little surprised when the backhoe showed up, driven by my brother-in-law Tom. I couldn't figure out how a backhoe was going to be used in this situation.

The bull was feeling a little calmer and had laid down in the meadow. Tom circled around and approached him from behind.

The bull struggled to its feet as the backhoe came up next to it.

It looked like Tom was going to scoop up the bull!

Then it became apparent from my distant view point what was going on--Tom was lining up the bucket of the backhoe with the feed panel.

Maybe he could push the feed panel off!

A good shove, and nope, the bull was still stuck. On to Plan B. (Which might have been Plan A for all I know, but since I'm telling the story, I'll tell it how I want to.)

Tom got out and lined up the panel with the backhoe. He didn't seem all that nervous being around a 1500+ pound tranquilized, trapped animal.

He used the chain to attach the panel to the backhoe bucket.

It looked secure to me.

But then he had to get even closer to the bull to get more of the panel secured. I was nervous for him!

Finally it was all secured and he gestured to the others to come up and help.

They pulled Dave's truck right up next to the bull. The plan was to use a sawzall powered off Dave's truck with an inverter to cut through the feed panel. (I found this out after the fact, as I really couldn't hear anything they were saying.)

They got it all hooked up, but the inverter couldn't keep the power going consistently.

The bull didn't appreciate all the extra noise and managed to bend the feed panel and get out of position. Dave pulled out his lasso rope and got into position.

He lassoed the bull.

Then he secured the rope on the back of the backhoe to help keep the bull in place.

I didn't have a great viewing angle, so I wandered down a bit farther, where I could see better.

It was impressive how much the bull had bent the panel.

So what next?
The bull was still stuck, the feed panel was bent in half, the sawzall wasn't working.
It didn't look good.

Fortunately for everyone, there was a Plan C.

Tom approached the bull again. (Like how the bull is kicking? Aack!)

I couldn't quite see what he was doing except when I took a photo at full zoom and then played it back and zoomed even closer. He had out a hacksaw and was cutting right above the bull's neck.

Then it was time to pull the bar up.

Pull, pull, pull!

And it worked! The bull was free.

And all ended well.

So now if you ever find a bull stuck in a feed panel, you know what to do.

Introducing Henryosaurus

2012-01-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

This is Henryosaurus, the rearticulated dinosaur found in Bone Canyon. Desert Boy and my husband had a fun time putting it together.

As you can see, Desert Girl doesn't quite know what to make of this fantastic creature with multiple sets of teeth.

I have a feeling that we will soon be adding to our unique dinosaur collection.

A January Hike

2012-01-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and I had spent too much time sitting all week, so I took the afternoon off to go hiking with the kids. Desert Boy was glad to go out, but had a couple tears because he wanted to have friends go hiking with us, and they were all busy with other activities.

I'm not sure what Desert Girl was thinking. She was keeping warm in her coat. Not that it was all that cold--it was upwards of 50 degrees.

I wasn't entirely sure where to go, but ultimately decided to go towards a canyon not too far from our house. I couldn't get too wild, as I was driving the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van.

On the way I spotted a large bird and noticed it had a white head. Brakes!! We stopped to admire the beautiful bald eagle. We usually have a couple that spend the winter near us, and it's always so cool to see them.

Then we continued on our way, and instead of going up into the canyon, decided to climb a "mountain" that juts up from the bench on the way up to the canyon. The "mountain" doesn't have a name, but when I deigned to call it a hill, Desert Boy was quick to disagree.
"That's a big mountain," he said.
Okay, I wasn't going to disagree.
"Do you think we can climb it?"
"Yes."
Good. Because I knew he could. But it would be better if we wanted to.
Before we started the hiking challenge, we had the fording the creek challenge. In the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van.

Momentum was our friend, and we made it across. Good thing, too. It would have been really embarassing to have to go for help and tell someone we had gotten the van stuck in the middle of the creek.

Before I had gotten out of the van and Desert Girl strapped on me and the camera ready, Desert Boy and Henry had charged up the mountain. This mountain is known for lots of rattlesnakes in the summer, so it was nice to be climbing it in winter and not have to worry about them at all.

When I finally caught up to Desert Boy, he was trying to scale the sharp limestone on a "huge" cliff. He made a good start of it, but eventually slid right down the face of it. He skinned part of his hand, getting a "blood owie." Then it was time for more tears because I didn't have a bandaid with me. I know, what an unprepared mom I was!

I convinced him we could continue, and despite great protestations, we ascended.

We could measure our progress by how much smaller the sheep camp below looked.

Yep, it's tough to climb a mountain with a blood owie. Really tough.

I was amazed that there wasn't any snow. And looking up the canyon, we could hardly see snow at the higher elevations.

We hadn't gotten too far when the kids decided it was snack time or else. So we plopped down and they happily sipped and munched away. Afterwards they were slightly more willing to continue.

They got much more excited when we found some fossils.

Here I am holding one for scale.

Then the whole mindset for the hike changed. Now we were on a mission to find cool fossils.

And cool caves. This one was big enough for the kids to climb into it.

It turned out it had a sunroof so I could look down at them. We found several other little holes to investigate, and Desert Girl got really good at spotting them. Unfortunately my camera battery died and the spare was back in the low-clearance two-wheel drive soccer mom van, so the photo taking part of the trip was over.

We made it to the peak and enjoyed the view. Then Desert Boy was really concerned about how we were going to get back down. I told him there was a special way. And lucky for me, there was. We went down a little gully, and on the way, we saw some bones. Desert Boy entered his dinosaur paleontologist mode and immediately declared we had discovered some dinosaur bones. He asked if he could take them home. I told him that if he carried them, he could. Then we found more bones. And more. It turned out that the gully was full of sheep bones, including some recent deaths with lots of wool all around them. Desert Boy had to pick and choose what he wanted and filled up his backpack. He decided he was going to make an Emmasaurus with that day's finds, and then we might have to go back to gather more to make a Henryosaurus and a Daddyosaurus and a Mommyosaurus.

Here are some bones he had at the end, while he's looking at a large sheep dog with a blood-covered face that came up to check us out. Fortunately she was very friendly. I tried not to dwell too much on why her fur was blood red. It wasn't too appealing.

I tried out my new camera lens.

Hurray, we survived the mountain! Then we went home and promptly all took a nap.

Fun with Triops

2012-01-03T17:19:00.000-08:00

We're starting the New Year with some new pets: Triops. My first thoughts about these creatures is that my parents really should have let us have these when we were kids.

They instantly stop fights because the parent just says, "Look at the Triops."
or
"What are the Triops doing?"
or
"Are the Triops still alive?"
or
"Have the Triops grown so much that they're going to eat your head off?"
and the kid is immediately distracted. They're also much more entertaining at breakfast than reading the backs of cereal boxes (which is what we did when we were kids when we weren't throwing dirty looks at each other).

Every day I wonder if the Triops are still alive in their slightly murky water. Why is the water murky? Maybe because my husband feeds them hamburger. Maybe because I give them a little carrot once in awhile. Maybe because we couldn't resist adding some sand to the bottom, and the water has never been quite the same since.

Fortunately, Triops are quite hardy. They lived when the dinosaurs lived. Whatever killed the dinosaurs, the Triops survived. It probably helped that their eggs can be dormant for up to 30 years.

The above photo was taken a couple weeks later than the first two, and the Triops has grown in size, to almost half an inch. It's really cool looking.

They live in our water pitcher, for perspective. And to future house guests: if you see this water pitcher on the table, DO NOT drink from it unless you ask first. I'm not sure what Triops taste like, but I imagine the sensation of something going down your throat and wiggling its way into your stomach is not pleasant.

We have one Triops that looks like a classic Triops, and then we have a bunch of these shrimpy-looking things (as my friend Anna calls them. And a million thanks to Anna for starting us on our Triops adventure!). I should do a little research and figure out what they are, but when I did the research before, I didn't get much past the part where you could add sand and feed them carrots on weekends.

Photographing Triops has proven to be a challenge. This one looks like it's ready to jump out of the pitcher and attack.

Don't you want some? We need some Triops penpals!

2012: Eat, Drink, Be Merry, and Play in Mud

2011-12-31T20:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks for checking out my blog in 2011, I appreciate those who have taken the time to read what I have written and checking out the photos. Writing this blog helps keep me organized. Even if I have just discovered a photo from back in September.

As for the photo, the kids just couldn't resist getting wet and muddy while Dad was out irrigating. I figure that's apropos for enjoying life: playing in mud takes us back to our roots, grounds us, and is one heck of an exfoliator.

So here's to a happy and healthy and muddy 2012 for each of you!

Children's Nativity Play-2011

2011-12-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

Friday afternoon was the dress rehearsal for the Children's Nativity Play to be held Christmas Eve. The kids were so excited to put on costumes, although Desert Girl wanted to keep her sparkling red shoes on with her sheep costume.

As the children waited to put on their costumes, they watched a video from two years ago. Desert Boy had been a lamb that year, and all the other kids had had other parts. They thought two years ago was ages ago, and it was true that they all looked quite a bit different.

Once everyone had their costumes on, it was time to take their places: King Herod on his throne, the angels on their cloud, the shepherds and sheep on Shepherd's Hill, Joseph and Mary in the stable.

Desert Girl liked the pillows under Shepherd's Hill. The sheepherders weren't too concerned about keeping their sheep behaving well.

Doug skillfully accompanied all the songs. I sure wish I could play the piano better--I used to take lessons from Doug but eventually gave them up because I didn't have time to practice. But I'm getting more tempted to make that time...

The girls--and Neto--lined up to sing a song. Desert Girl was happy to stand up there even though she didn't know any of the words. I guess she's not so shy.

The angels are always so fun to watch. One of the advantages of photographing during the dress rehearsal is seeing the orange socks! Oh, the lighting is a little simpler, too.

Little Ella had fun wandering all over the stage and back and forth from the audience during the dress rehearsal.

She found the other angels for this song.

Desert Boy had several lines and was really good about memorizing them.

The Three Wise Men made their grand entrance.

Joseph and Mary (aka Megan and Kayli) had to check out what was happening over at the palace.

Desert Girl was a little tired and ready to be held.

The grand finale, Joy to the World.

On the night of the performance, Isaac joined Emma as a sheep.

This little lamb had fun playing with Grandpa before the performance.

My husband then videotaped the performance, but I haven't had much luck uploading the large files yet.

The kids did an excellent job, despite a wandering sheep and angel that caused a little havoc.

For the last song, all the kids were up on stage singing except for Desert Girl, who sat on Shepherd Hill making funny faces. I guess I could say she was basking in the limelight!

School Christmas Program

2011-12-24T12:26:00.000-08:00

The local elementary schools had their Christmas program Tuesday evening, and the preschool kids (with a couple helpers) started off the evening singing a couple songs. Desert Boy belted it out, but I'm not sure if Desert Girl ever opened her mouth!

Those cherubic cheeks just make me want to pinch them! They won't have them for much longer.

I'm not sure if they weren't hitting the right notes or if there was something else of concern to make Ava and Emma look so worried.

Fortunately it turned out okay!

Afterwards, the kids went and sat on the gym mats. They goofed around, and I thought this was a good "See no evil, hear no evil, smell no evil" pose. Or something like that.

Next up was K-2. Yep, this is the whole class (minus one) for those three grades. Have I mentioned we live out in the boonies?

Oops, I got distracted by my mega-cute niece Kayli.

Time to watch the elementary school play, about inventions. It was fun to watch.

Grades 3-6 went next. I think there are 17 students in that school, all in one classroom. They did a nice job and had fun with the fancy microphones.

Megan and Melanie were obviously having a good time.

Desert Girl always likes to visit her babysitter when she has a chance!

Then Santa arrived, to the merriment of all the kids.

Well, almost all the kids. Desert Girl wasn't too sure about getting close to Santa, even with Grandma's urging.

Meanwhile, Desert Boy had no qualms about plopping down and telling Santa his whole list.

Hmmm, still thinking!

It was a great evening.
Tonight we're going to the children's Nativity play, which both kids are supposed to be a part of. It's always so cute to watch them.

We hope you have a very blessed Christmas!

Christmas Lights

2011-12-23T07:53:00.000-08:00

With Desert Girl getting extremely excited over Christmas lights, we decided we would visit downtown Salt Lake City at night. She said, "Whoa!" every time we saw cool lights. Soon she sounded like a train, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" It made us laugh.

I liked this fountain, it made me think of aliens--or amoebas--emerging and doing a little water dance.

We were surprised how many people were wandering around Temple Square on a Sunday evening. The light displays were terrific. When I looked at this photo, I noticed that there were even more lights (from building tops and high windows) illuminating the scene.

But then we had to take a detour. Desert Boy's biggest wish wasn't to see Christmas lights, but to ride the Trax train. So we walked down a block to the station and waited for the train.

He can't wait to get on!

Here it comes, the big moment!

We rode down a couple stops, got off, then got on a returning train. That counted as a train adventure, and Desert Boy was happy. I think I've only been on the Trax trains once or twice before, and again I was impressed with their cleanliness.

Then it was back to Temple Square to look at some more lights. Uncle Ed's friend Nick told us about the Nativity scenes, so we went over to take a look.

The Nativity scenes were so interesting, representing different cultures. I didn't see signs saying what cultures, so we just guessed. I really liked seeing Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the angels, and Wise Men shown in different ways. It was also fascinating to see what animals they chose to accompany each scene.

These Wise Men seemed so serene.

These angels are ready to trumpet!

I really liked the bird in this scene!

Merry Christmas!

Utah's Hogle Zoo

2011-12-21T19:06:00.000-08:00

My brother suggested we go to Hogle Zoo while we were in Salt Lake City, and as we had a free afternoon, we decided that sounded like an excellent plan, especially since none of us had ever been there before. Granted, a zoo is usually a warm-weather destination, but the animals don't take the train south for the winter, so the zoo stays open year-round.

A winter visit meant no line to get tickets and plenty of space. We did have to bundle up, though, and we put the kids in their snow pants, which worked out great.

Desert Boy immediately spotted the playground, and we had to drag him away from that to go see the rest of the zoo.

I enjoyed the canyon country walk, with the native animals and a replica of a Native American house.

Yes, this is a plain old rooster. But it seemed very colorful, so I couldn't resist taking a photo. Desert Girl wanted to capture it, but that will have to wait for another visit.

Here's something more exotic in the primate house. I told myself I was going to remember the name, but it's been over a week, and that is just too long. I should have made Desert Boy memorize the name--his memory is much better than mine!

Desert Girl and the chimpanzee looked like they were connecting. Or maybe the chimpanzee noticed the copious amounts of grapes that Desert Girl was eating (which we decided a few hours later really wasn't the best idea to give her a whole bag of grapes).

My, what a big mouth you have. And maybe you need a little dental work.

Desert Girl made a face like she was wondering if she really was safe.

Fortunately she and the chimp parted on good terms.

I liked the exhibit of different sizes of primates. Desert Boy fit right in.

Then I saw something I had never seen before at a zoo: an emergency ladder. That made me think twice!

I loved the detail of this iguana! It was nice to have some indoor exhibits where we could warm up a bit.

Uncle Ed was amused by the kids' reactions to all the animals.

Desert Girl had to climb higher to see better. She managed all by herself. We definitely have another climber on our hands!

Desert Girl is becoming more intelligible at a rapid rate, so she is really fun to listen to!

The meerkats were hilarious, scurrying around and then posing. Okay, they weren't really posing, but it seemed like it.

One came over to check out the kids, and that made them laugh a lot.

Desert Girl checking out something. She had this great expression on her face a lot of the day.

She loves cats, so she was fascinated by this one in the basket. I never did see its head.

Then we went into the giraffe house and I was fascinated by these odd-looking creatures.

What beautiful eyelashes!

And quite a tongue.

Yum, that branch must have tasted really good!

These two cool dudes were strutting around.

Meanwhile Desert Girl and Daddy shared a good time in front of the elephants.

We tried for a family photo in front of the elephant sculpture, but once again we couldn't get the kids to look at the camera and smile.

The giant ball supported on water was fun to push.

And then it was back to the playground.

Desert Girl in the tortoise shell.

Come Find Me!

2011-12-19T19:35:00.001-08:00

Today I'm posting on Protect Snake Valley about the Christmas Bird Count.

Check it out!

Utah State Capitol

2011-12-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday morning after we went to an interesting church, we were headed to the Hogle Zoo. I said, "Let's go by the Capitol." I was driving, so that's where we went. We found plentiful parking, so we hopped out and started roaming the capitol grounds.My husband was out looking at some auction stuff, so I figured we had a little free time. And I couldn't resist testing out my new camera some more. (Have I mentioned how much I like my new camera?)

The architecture is beautiful. The Capitol was designed in 1912 by Richard K. A. Kletting and completed in 1916. Everything looks so stately, and we had it pretty much to ourselves.

I was enjoying the great lighting and snapping way too many photos. This post is a wee bit on the long side. A wee bit.

The kids were game for going up all those steps. Desert Girl wanted to do them all, so this was a good way to work off some extra energy.

I noted the beehives--the symbol of the state of Utah. It truly is an industrious state, with lots of bees helping to keep the hive healthy.

The stairs go on and on. Desert Boy has made it to the top.

We found beautiful doors and light fixtures.

Then we turned around and saw the inversion over the city. They chose well to put the Capitol on a hill.

A red coat for Desert Boy was a good choice--I can always find him.

Then it was time to go down the stairs.

Underneath the stairs we found a gate open and couldn't resist checking it out. There were some doors to the building and I tried one and it was open!

We went inside, finding all the lights on. No one else was in sight. We felt like we were intruding, but Desert Girl made plenty of noise and no one came running. We figured out that the Capitol was indeed open for folks to tour (and it was--it's open seven days a week except for some holidays).

I made a stop in the bathroom and was intrigued by the granite changing table. Not sure I've ever seen one of those before.

The place is wonderful for photography. In fact, if you're doing professional photography you have to get a permit. I'm definitely an amateur, so I had the kids sit on the stairs. Above them is the Supreme Court (mostly for show, they now conduct most of their business in the Scott M. Matheson courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City). The lunette above the doors was painted by Gerard Hale and Gilbert White and is titled Reclaiming the Desert by Irrigation. (I only know this because they have self tour brochures and I brought one home.)

Cute kids!

We admired the tall rotunda. The interior dome is 165 feet at its highest point.

Twelve murals adorn the walls in the rotunda, including four in the pendentives, or arched triangles leading up to the dome. (That was a new word for me, how about for you?) These were funded by the Public Works of Art Program, a federal relief program formed to provide work for unemployed artists during the Great Depression. The one above is titled Brigham Young and Pioneers Entering the Valley.

Father Escalante Discovers Utah Lake 1776.

Fremont First Sees Great Salt Lake - 1843.

Then we looked toward the west side, with the matching grand staircase. It leads up to the House Chamber, and the lunette above it is The Arrival of the Pioneers in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

We climbed up those stairs, enjoying our self tour and feeling very lucky to still have the entire building to ourselves. We wandered around the third floor a bit and then found stairs up to the fourth floor.

I enjoyed this light fixture.

Then it was time to start heading down.

The telephoto lens made it easy to get some candids.

On the way out I saw this lion and liked it. Even larger lions reside outside the west and east entrances, but we missed those. I feel like we just skimmed the surface of this wonderful building. Guided tours of the Utah State Capitol are given weekdays from 9 am to 4 pm, and we'll have to return sometime to take one.

Desert Girl really liked hanging out with Uncle Ed.

I'm not sure what they were talking about--maybe the next adventure?

Natural History Museum of Utah

2011-12-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to the Natural History Museum of Utah. It's in a brand new building, which made it a little hard to find, as our GPS and all the signs pointed to the old building (plus my city driving skills are a little lacking). If you're looking for it, it's at 301 Wakara Way, and follow the signs to Red Butte Garden.

We met Uncle Ed and his friend Nick, who had the opportunity to see the museum through the eyes and at the speed of a four-year old. Fortunately he works for the University of Utah, so he got in for free. He'll be able to see the museum again at a more leisurely pace and possibly read an exhibit or two.

Desert Boy quickly became attached to extra adult supervision, as the supervision was really fun, willing to swing him, one of his favorite activities.

The ticket lady recommended we start up on the fifth floor since we had a stroller and work our way down. That turned out to be good advice, because the parts Desert Boy was most interested in were down on the second and third floors, so that gave him something to look forward to.

The top floor had an exhibit about weather, along with a nice outside deck. We took advantage of it to check out Salt Lake City's inversion, which obscured most of the view. We were grateful to be up in the sun.

We wound our way down to the biology floor; with exhibits about different types of organisms. We missed most of those as the kids were really interested in the play/educational area. Desert Girl quickly remembered how fun Uncle Ed is.

They had neat dioramas of different habitat zones. I did a double-take when we reached the alpine zone. I recognize this photo--it's a place I've visited frequently! I won't spill the beans of where it is, but I'll say it made me chuckle.

This probably isn't what the building designers intended for a handrail, but Desert Girl sure enjoyed it.

We went through an interesting geology section (although I didn't get to read much of it). The part we concentrated on was the exhibit that showed how erosion works. We moved sand around and then turned the faucets on to see what would happen. I have to admit that I really enjoyed moving the sand, too!

After an archaeological demonstration, we headed down to the dinosaur floors. Desert Boy was in heaven.

I had fun trying to take photos in the low light and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

I think this is a wooly mammoth--again, we really didn't get to read very much. We definitely can go through the museum many more times to pick up on things we missed the first time around.

Besides looking at the skeletons, Desert Boy was fascinated with a see-through floor with bones underneath.

Desert Girl found another one and was equally enthralled.

Desert Boy found a draw-your-own-dinosaur station and did a nice job of making a "cowasaurus."

We then managed to lose Uncle Ed and Nick when we went into the kids' playroom and the kids got soaking wet playing in a fake little stream. They also had a little cave. It was little enough that I didn't really want to go in, but Desert Boy crawled through.

So we left happy and wet. It was a good day at the museum.

Clark Planetarium

2011-12-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night we went to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City. It's a free museum that also has lots of movies that you can pay to see. They also have a really cool gift shop where we found some fun things. In the photo above, Desert Boy tries to influence the cloud-making machine.

Desert Girl and Uncle Ed checked out the giant pendulum.

Then the kids went for a ride above earth to see what the Hubble telescope was up to.

Desert Girl made it to Mars and can apparently withstand its atmosphere without any protective equipment.

Desert Boy went for a Martian walk. He, too, has special powers.

On the way back, they detoured to the moon and tested the gravitational pull.

It was fun looking at the exhibits, even if it was a whirlwind tour due to some very short attention spans.

Afterwards we checked out the Christmas lights in the Gateway Center. We were fascinated by a fountain. During the summer it would be a wonderful place to cool off. In the winter it looked cold. But my husband found a way to walk through without getting (too) wet, so he and Desert Boy took a walk on the wild side.

Sneak Peak

2011-12-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

We spent a long weekend in Salt Lake City to visit my brother, Ed, who was able to arrange a several-day stopover. I've hardly spent any time there, so we had a wonderful time exploring. And I had lots of fun learning to use my new camera. Which also means I have a lot of photos to sort through. And a busy week ahead, so it might be awhile before I do. In the meantime, here's a teaser of some of the things we did:

Have a great week!

New Hay Barn

2011-12-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

I saw a high, bright red thing out on the ranch, so we went to investigate. It was the new hay barn! The old hay barn fell down last winter with huge amount of snow on the roof. This one will be sturdier. It was fascinating to watch the process.

It was a big crew. And they were a long way up!

Now on to the other side!

I really liked the moon over the hay shed!

Sewing Day

2011-12-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

A few Saturdays ago we went to the community center for sewing day. Several ladies were working on a variety of projects. I dug out my box of crochet projects I did once upon a time. We also brought some thread and needles and rags so Desert Boy and his friend Ernesto could practice their sewing skills. Carol graciously spent some of her time helping them.

They went to work making little bags that could carry their cars around. They both did pretty well and neither even punctured a finger.

Then Carol showed them how to do a neat candy cane activity. That was fun stuff!

The little boys did great at sewing day. I hope they continue to like sewing. They'll be sure to snag ladies in the future if they have a valuable skill like sewing.

A Dead-End Adventure

2011-12-05T09:52:00.000-08:00

These photos are from back in September. Sometimes it takes me a little while to get organized! But I didn't want to forget them, and when you get to the last photos, hopefully you'll feel a little warmer (especially if you're dealing with below-freezing temperatures and blowing snow like we are now).

So the story starts with a rumor I had heard about petrified wood at a little-known destination out in the desert. I found someone to substantiate the rumor. Only problem was that I didn't know exactly where it was. I had a general idea, so I looked at the maps and tried to figure out the best way there. Well, there was a shorter way and there was a longer there. And the longer way would take us up a canyon I had wanted to visit, so I figured, why not, let's take the longer way and kill two birds with one stone. (Not that I'm into killing birds. Unless they are European starlings. I have been very tempted to get a BB-gun so I can shoot them. For the record, so far I have resisted.)

The scenery was beautiful, so I figured that even if the road on the map wasn't truly a real road anymore, we would still have a good time. We had snacks packed, so it would be a good trip as far as the kids were concerned.

We cruised up the very good gravel road, then turned off on a good gravel road, then onto the okay gravel road, then onto the rather poor gravel road that continued to deteriorate. Things weren't looking too hopeful. Still, we persevered, enjoying the beautiful rock formations.

Finally we got to a point where the road seemed a little too narrow for our wide truck. Plus it was slightly washed out.

We didn't want to stop, so we got out and proceeded on foot.

As you can see by Desert Boy's short sleeves, it was a nice day. And with his irrigating boots, he was ready for the next gully washer. I'd like to say he's prepared like that, but more likely he chose the boots because he couldn't find any of his other shoes.

He was thrilled when he found a horseshoe. That was a real treasure.

It was apparent no one had been on the road for awhile. The pinyon and juniper trees have encroached upon the human disturbance. My main focus was on the spectacular rocks that jutted from the trees towards the clouds.

Wouldn't this one be a fun one to climb?

Photo op! (Once again I can't get both kids to look at the camera at the same time!)

We decided it was time to retreat. I'd love to go back and hike more of the old road. I think the trip helped my husband decide to buy the very-used Jeep that is now his hobby. He'd love to go back and drive more of the old road. Perhaps the Jeep will be tough enough.

On the way back, we were treated to some very nice afternoon light. I love how the shadows make all the gullies seem deeper and more mysterious.

On the drive home, Desert Girl started crying and was inconsolable until we stopped.

She had had enough with all the bumpy driving and just wanted to play a little. The gravel on the side of the road was perfect for her bare little feet.

Then she was ready to pose with her chocolate-stained cheeks (and dress) in the terrific light.

Oh yes, we want to see her round belly!

How's that for a mischievous grin? Desert Girl's personality is getting stronger and stronger, and she has a very stubborn streak and a good sense of humor.

Oh yeah!

Okay, almost done.

Have to finish with both kids actually looking at the camera!

Seeing the bare feet and exposed skin makes me wish for some warmer days!

To think we just went sledding yesterday. Yikes! Ah well, we have to appreciate each season, and before we know it we'll be back to the heat.

Grandparent Fun

2011-12-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

We were lucky to have a set of grandparents stay with us over Thanksgiving weekend. The kids soaked up the extra attention and a good time was had by all. I didn't manage to get many photos except for a walk to the playground. Desert Boy was learning how to walk the dog and thought he was pretty big stuff when he had the leash!

Desert Girl is walking more, and it was extra fun walking with Grandpa.

Such great smiles at the swingset!

It was a chilly day, as you can see by the coats, but it wasn't windy, so it was quite comfortable to be outside.

Desert Boy was eager to be photographer (one of his many career ambitions), so we let him take a photo. He did pretty well. I like to give him the camera from time to time because his perspective is a bit different (shorter) than mine.

Then it was time to get the grandparents and grandchildren together. The lack of both my kids looking towards the camera with smiles at the same time is a common theme. Our Christmas photo documents that. Oh well!

We had lots of fun climbing all over the playground.

Then it was time to go home and Desert Girl was motivated to walk when she got to hold the leash.

Desert Boy had to show off a little and climb a tree--or at least the bottom of the tree!

It was a fun, relaxing weekend with great company and great food. I'm definitely liking laid-back holidays.

Month of Literary Abandon

2011-11-30T07:23:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo. I am happy to report that I've written more than the requisite 50,000 words! My novel is in no way publishable in its current form (some characters had name changes and character traits shift due to memory lapses and the plot has some major holes). But it sure feels great to have another story, no matter how draft, down on paper.

What's next? I'll most likely try to edit and revise to have it ready to go for the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association literary contest in February. You have to pay to enter but get two good critiques on the beginning of your story. And maybe I'll try the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. That one's free, but you don't get as much feedback. Nevertheless, I've found it's always good to have a next step or you end up with manuscripts lying around. Yes, that is spoken from experience. And yes, someday I will get back to past writing projects and see what I can do with them!

And of course, in the meantime, I'll keep blogging so I can make sure I'm writing (almost) every day!

Good luck to you in whatever your goals are!

Happy Advent! and Our New Nativity Advent Calendar

2011-11-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of Advent, which includes the four Sundays before Christmas. It's a time of preparation for remembering Christ's birthday. I've always associated it as a rather festive period, but after a little Internet reading I see that in past centuries it wasn't all that way.

We have an Advent wreath with four candles on the dining room table. The first week we light one candle each night, the second week, two, and so on. Desert Boy loves that we get to play with candles and fire.

We also brought out some Christmas decorations yesterday at Desert Boy's request, and the house is looking a little bit brighter, with our one-foot Christmas tree up, fake Poinsettias, and other assorted decorations. We'll keep bringing them out over the next weeks so we have new things to look at. One other thing we got out were Advent calendars, where we open one door a day to see a Bible verse and a secret picture.

I just haven't been happy with those little cardboard Advent calendars, so I was trying to figure out something more interactive. I saw that they had cool felt and magnetic Advent calendars online, but they were a little pricey. I found a neat design for making your own felt Advent calendar, but that looked like a little too much work (and I'm not particularly crafty). Finally, I came up with a rather easy idea for our own nativity Advent calendar.

The first step was to go through old Christmas cards. (Yes, I've saved them since we've been married. Do other people save their Christmas cards? I know some must. I just don't want to think of myself as a hoarder.) I found the ones that had Nativity scenes or things that could be put into a Nativity scene (like birds and dogs and cats). Desert Boy had the job of cutting them up.

We also had to clean off part of the refrigerator. It was nice to have a white slate.

I decided that I would put up a little stable on the refrigerator and then have pouches below with numbers and each day we would add something to the scene.

All I had was white posterboard, but we did find a variety of construction paper so we could make it colorful. Desert Girl was most helpful (okay, not really.) She wanted to be a part of it all.

Here's probably the most technical part of the project. I got a ruler and marked out squares 2.5 x 3 inches. Why that size? It just looked right. Fortunately that turned out to be a size that would fit well on the posterboard. Then I gathered up a big stack of construction paper and cut it out.

I drew a number in pencil on each piece of paper and Desert Boy traced it in permanent marker. It was good number practice.

Then it was time to attach the number pouches to the posterboard. The kids weren't really much help for this part. There is definitely a limit to one- and four-year olds can do. I also found out that even if the cap of a gluestick has been left off, if you cut the gluestick in half, there is some sticky part left. I stapled the numbers at the edges of the posterboard for a little extra reinforcement.

Then it was time to tape the posterboard to the refrigerator. (I still need to buy some magnetic tape. It's just that I didn't feel like driving 100+ miles round trip to the nearest store that might or might not have it.)

Desert Girl helped put the different cutouts in the pockets. She made some of the animal noises as she did so. We will have a lot of animals in our stable this year!

And here's the finished product! It will be fun to see how it goes.

And if we can keep Desert Girl, aka Emzilla, from destroying it.

Happy Advent! Do you have any Advent traditions?

Indoor Riding

2011-11-25T10:19:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a delightful day with family and friends. I even managed a 5k Turkey Trot that made me feel really good and guilt-free throughout the rest of the food-rich day.

I didn't manage to get any photos of Thanksgiving as in the recent cleaning frenzy I misplaced both my cameras. I have since happily relocated them and downloaded photos from them. This set brought a smile to my face, hope it brightens your day, too!

We brought the riding horse into the living room, and the kids had so much fun bouncing on it one night. I'm not sure what caused their halos in the photo above, but I loved their expressions so much I decided to use the photo anyway.

This one's a winner. You can see how many teeth Desert Girl has now. In July she only had four, but they started popping out quickly after that. This was definitely a wild hair day for both of them. Desert Girl was wearing a shirt with a cowgirl and horse, so I think she was ready for a ride.

Part of the fun was that the horse kept bucking them off. Riding double made it happen even more frequently.

Oops! Off again.

I like Desert Boy's hair!

We might be getting a little out of control.

Off again! It's nice that on the cold days and evenings they can burn a little energy this way!

Hello, Cows

2011-11-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

Desert Girl and I went for a little walk this afternoon. She soon found a very long stick and just had to drag it along. We went over to the little creek by our house and she busied herself throwing sticks in. She wasn't too thrilled that Henry thought it was a game and jumped in to retrieve the sticks. She wanted them to float down the stream.

Meanwhile I was keeping an eye on the cows. They're in the meadow right by our house now (with only a stray cow or two adding some extra fertilizer to our yard). The cows are really curious and decided we were worth investigating.

What's up?

The cows came a little closer. Desert Girl was definitely paying attention now.

She decided to go say hi.

Although the cows are many times her size, I knew they wouldn't let her get too close. She actually stopped at a reasonable distance, waved hi to them, then came back to me.

The cows shuffled down the road a bit and turned and looked at us again. We looked at them. It was an exciting scene.

Then they turned and walked away. And we did the same.
The end.

Leaf Jumping

2011-11-17T19:28:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago--or was it longer?--it seems to be getting harder and harder to keep track of time--we decided it was time to go play in the leaves. We raked up the leaves under our catalpa trees and Desert Girl thought it was absolutely funtastic to fall into the leaves. She did it over and over again.

Desert Boy was also eager to partake in the fun. He helped Desert Girl dust the leaves off her clothes. It was precious to watch them play together.

The catalpa leaves were big and dry, so they didn't last too long. It's not so much fun to jump into shredded, crumpled leaves, so we decided to move to another part of the yard, under the apricot tree. The leaves at the top of the tree had turned a golden yellow and fallen off the day before, so they were still moist and perfect for jumping.

Takeoff!

Takeoff again!

If you're wondering about the helmet, we were about to go on a bike ride and Desert Boy decided he just had to jump in the leaves.

The kids convinced me I had to jump in the leaves, too, but I found my favorite activity was burying them in the leaves.

Now we have lots more leaves on the ground, but they aren't as pretty as the first ones. They're mostly green and brown. Fortunately the kids don't mind at all. If we somehow miss the snow and rain that's supposed to come this weekend, I have a feeling we'll be raking up more piles of leaves and jumping in them!

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

2011-11-17T05:53:00.000-08:00

I've never done a promotional blog before, but this was a good deal (for both me and you), plus I've just ordered three different Melissa & Doug toys within the last two weeks, so I can vouch for their quality.

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

Random November Photos

2011-11-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

We saw about 70 pronghorn in one of our fields a couple weeks ago. I made my husband stop so I could take a photo of some of them. As you can see by the snow on the mountains, it's getting colder, so lots of the animals are moving to lower elevations. The pronghorn are found pretty low year-round, but it's not often that we see this many of them together.

I liked the juxtaposition of this well against the dry desert behind it. In many places in the Great Basin desert the only water is underground, so if you want to grow something (or get water for your house), you need a well.

It was a cloudy day, leading to the bleakness of the landscape as it prepares for a long winter ahead. This photo makes me want to curl up in bed with a good book and a pot of homemade soup on the stove, sending its delicious aroma throughout the house.

It was cold enough for icicles to form on this water trough. The cattle will use it for part of the winter as they're out grazing on the winter range. A small pipeline brings the water from a creek higher up on the mountain to this lower location.

And last but not least. The freezing temperatures at night are creating some wonderful ice formations along the creeks.

Horse Canyon Hike

2011-11-13T09:33:00.000-08:00

We bumped our way up a really rocky road recently to go for a little hike. We were wishing that the new addition to our family was up to speed so we could get there in a little more comfort! Finally we arrived at the trailhead for Horse Canyon. I had been there before but had not hiked past the trailhead, and I really wanted to this day, despite the snow.

So we trekked up the trail, which I found extremely beautiful. There were all sorts of things to look at, like this hornet's nest. I was glad it was winter and I didn't have to worry about them.

Desert Boy thought it was fun to run. He had a lot of energy.

He slowed down to get a stick. Why is it that every kid needs a stick to hike?

We eventually got to the sign marking the Mount Moriah Wilderness. The kids thought that was far enough to hike, so they snacked with Dad while I went up the trail a little farther. I didn't want to turn around, it was so pretty. I will have to go back another day!

They were still snacking when I got back. Snack breaks are very important.

I couldn't resist a few candids of the kids.

My, what big blue eyes you have, Desert Girl!

On the way down Desert Boy wanted to run some more, so I went with him. (We teach the kids they have to stay in sight of us when hiking because we don't want them to become a mountain lion snack.) Desert Boy slid along just fine. When we got to this little branch across the trail, he decided he wanted to go under it. That required him laying in the snow, but he didn't seem to care.

When we got back to the two-track road that led to the trailhead, Desert Boy had so much energy that we kept hiking down the road, past the big, beautiful ponderosa pines. It was a really fun hike, more than any of us expected. It turned out that a little snow and cold didn't put a damper on the day.

A Snowy Adventure

2011-11-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

We sometimes like to go on little drives on Sundays to go out exploring. Last weekend I wanted to check out a spot nearby to verify some information I have written in a non-fiction book of the area. I'm not going to say too much about it now (even though I am SO excited about it), except to say that I'm reviewing proofs and if all goes well, the book will be published in April 2012.

Anyway, we went up a canyon that my husband and I hadn't been up to since before the kids were born. It was funny comparing our memories--or memory lapses--of the canyon. On the way back down, I was amazed at the huge cave entrance that I had forgotten about.

I remarked to my husband, "I must have said we'll come back someday to take a look at it."

He agreed that I had said that. Apparently I say that often enough that I forget I say it. And I forget some of the holes I've said it about.

This time we decided we weren't just going to say that we'd come back. We were going to hike up to the cave that day, even though it looked like a really steep hike. And we had two little kids. And it was about to snow.

Desert Girl managed just fine on Daddy's back, but Desert Boy had a few rock climbing adventures.

The scree was especially difficult, as his short legs didn't let him get much farther up the hillside, and then he just slid back down to where he had started.

Nevertheless we kept getting closer and closer to the gaping cave mouth.

The storm clouds were swooping down the canyon as we made it to the cave entrance. We dug out our lunch and were glad to have a little bit of cover.

After lunch, I took a quick look around the cave. I'm not sure what its name is, but it wasn't too large. The big entrance room extended back about 70 to 80 feet, but I didn't locate any passages that went off from it.

I did find some nice frostwork. I also saw a few stalactites and stalagmites. There was one giant stalagmite, over ten feet tall and about three feet wide. It, along with all the breakdown, made us think that this once might have been a much bigger cave.

We did our best to get a family portrait (I wanted to be in at least one photo!). It turned out okay if you just ignore the Doritos bag.

While my husband was trying to find an easier way down, I had the kids stand and look at each other. Oh, they can be so sweet. I really like how this photo turned out.

Then it was time to head down. That part wasn't all that fun with two complaining kids. I don't think I'd go back with little ones, but I would go back to see what kind of birds are nesting in the cave in the summer. We saw the guano and ledges, but couldn't really see much more.

It was good to have finally checked out another hole in the ground (even if it was a hole I had forgotten about!). And we did spot a few more nearby that will warrant another visit.

A New Addition

2011-11-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

Yep, we've got a new addition to the family. This lovely Jeep that my husband is so excited about. He gets a big grin whenever he thinks about his "new" jeep. When we went out to get it last weekend, I have to admit I didn't quite have the enthusiasm he did. In fact, I tried really hard to bite my tongue, but perhaps a remark or two slipped out about the quality of this find.

The doors are on the seats and a few wires are dangling from the control panel. But the roll bar seems to be in pretty good shape.

The seats might need a little work. And maybe a few other things too.

If my husband can get it running reliably, we are going to paint it. Then we are going to take off to the mountains and have some great adventures! Stay tuned....(maybe for a year or two...)

Biodiversity and Politics: A Great Cartoon

2011-11-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is something I came across on Facebook, and it really tickled my funny bone. I don't want this blog to be too much about politics (at least in this stage of my life), but I do like biodiversity. A lot. This graphic does a wonderful job of integrating the two:

This is a design by Kira Treibergs and Laurel Hiebert from the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. They competed in a fall term t-shirt contest. They are selling t-shirts of this design; message either of them if you'd like one.

And now go appreciate the invertebrates in your life!

Halloween Hayride

2011-11-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

Last night we went on a Halloween hayride around town. It was a hoot.

The cast of characters started assembling about 5 o'clock.

Desert Boy decided to be a skeleton superhero--for awhile. Then he decided he wanted to be a plain skeleton.

Cute Isaac.

We tried to get all the kids to look in the same direction at the same time. I guess it was a bit of a lost cause, but they were all really cute anyway.

Then some more kids arrived and we took more photos. Fun costumes! We kept gaining kids through the evening. At the end I was surprised to see how many were on the hayride. I think most all the kids in town came. There aren't too many places where you can say nearly all the kids went trick-or-treating together. (I guess most people wouldn't want to live in a place like that!)

And here comes the hayride! Fortunately we had a low trailer, which made it really easy to get on and off.

Desert Boy thought it was so cool.

Folks piled on and started chatting. That was one of the best parts of the hayride--having time to talk to each other. Okay, the candy was important, too.

It was an absolutely beautiful night--warm temperatures and no wind. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

The trick-or-treating around town was a little hit-or-miss. Here are the kids retreating from the upstairs apartments, where nobody was home. We had slightly more houses with candy than without candy, so that was good. And all the kids ended up with more candy than they really needed. Or than they and their parents needed. (Come on, everyone knows that parents raid their kids' Halloween candy!)

One of the consequences of trick-or-treating en masse was that the big kids always got to the door first and the little kids last. Here's Emma at the end of the line. She didn't care, though. She was so excited to be mobile and be able to go trick-or-treating. She even managed a few quiet "trick-or-treats" and "thank yous." I was so proud.

The final stop was the community center, where folks who lived outside of the main town gathered to throw a great Halloween party. They had gobs of candy and cookies. They also had craft projects and plenty of good spirit.

It was a super way to end the evening, and nice to see everyone's costumes again in plenty of light.

Thanks to Carol for organizing the Halloween party at the community center. And thanks to everyone who went on the hayride. It sure was fun to be with you!

The Meaning of Halloween

2011-10-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here is Desert Girl, dressed up in her ladybug costume. We went into Ely for a kids' Halloween party, which the kids enjoyed quite a bit.

To my parents: I know that you never drove us to go trick-or-treating because you said the candy wasn't worth the gas money. You were right. And if you're wondering why I drove 100+ miles to go get a few bagfuls of candy, here's the answer: it was a good excuse to get groceries. And the van tires changed. And go to the bank. And take books back to the library. And the candy made the kids behave the whole time, even though they each only got to have three pieces all afternoon. And mom got to have some candy too!

Desert Boy decided to go as a skeleton, despite the costume being a little too tight, and Ava went as a cat. Oops, sorry, she was a leopard. And if anyone called her a cat, she was sure to correct them.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays as I like to dress up in different costumes and well, let's be honest, there's the whole candy angle. Yum. Who doesn't like to get candy for just saying a quick "Trick or treat?"

I teach religious education classes, and I always like to tie in events to make the classes more meaningful. So I did a Google search and learned all sorts of interesting things, some of which I have likely forgotten over the years, and other that I had never known before.

First off, "Halloween" means "hallow" or "holy" and "een" means "eve." It's Holy Eve, or the night before the holy day. What's the Holy Day? November 1 is All Saints Day and November 2 is All Souls Day. In some cultures, November 1 is Dia de los Inocentes, a day to remember children and infant deaths, and November 2 is Dia de los Muertos, a day to remember adult dead.

Although saints have their own feast day, there were many martyrs in the early Christian church who were unknown, for example those thrown to the lions for the Romans' entertainment. It made sense to pick one day to celebrate all these unknown martyrs, along with all the saints. In addition, the early Christians followed the Jewish tradition of praying for all those who had died. However, mass wasn't said for All Souls until 1048. With the Reformation, most Protestants dropped the doctrine of the communion of saints and praying for the dead.

Halloween is often portrayed with skeletons, ghouls, and other scary things representing death. When thinking about that the day originated with martyrs, perhaps this is appropriate. Of course there is a limit to what children can handle, and, I would say even adults, and it's up to everyone to decide what that limit is.

Trick or treating is a fun custom for many on Halloween. It originated in the Middle Ages, when it was thought that if someone died and hadn't made amends with you, they might turn into a will-o'-the-wisp or a ghost. They would appear suddenly, trying to jolt you into praying for them and forgiving them so they could move on to the next world. You might also try to provide some "treats" in order to avoid the mischief, or "tricks" of the offender. Eventually people started going door to door, masked and unrecognizable, basically wiping the slate clean for the coming year (apparently in case they died, they would already be reconciled and not have to become ghosts). They bargained for treats, hence the now common saying "Trick or treat."

Jack-o-lanterns also have an interesting history. To see details, click here. The short version is that the Irish and Scots carved scary faces into turnips and potatoes to scare away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. When they carried this tradition to America, the pumpkin was present and easier to carve.

One person suggested that Halloween is akin to Mardi Gras before Lent. It's the time to be wild and party, and then the next couple days are good for reflection about our own mortality.

However you choose to celebrate, Happy Halloween!

A Last Glimpse of Fall Color

2011-10-23T09:46:00.000-07:00

We went with some friends for a hike on Saturday to enjoy some last fall colors. We're supposed to have a twenty-degree dip in the temperature on Tuesday, along with wind and rain/snow. An early October snowstorm turned most of the high elevation aspen leaves brown, so I was feeling like I had missed my opportunity to see the brilliant colors. When we got to the trailhead and saw the vibrant yellows, my soul just felt better. I needed that brilliance before we enter the monochrome winter.

Rose hips dotted the bushes with little specks of red. At lower elevations, the scarlet skunkbush looked like little flames bursting through the brown grass. It was just a terrific day for color.

Fortunately Jenny brought her good camera, so I can't wait to see what photos she got. Little Isaac was a patient helper.

Jenny had suggested this hiking locale, and the loop trail was perfect for the kids. They raced to be the leader, hid in the bushes, ran back and forth from Nomi to the slower little kids.

Here they are making a train. I was curious to see how this would work.

They chugged along in sync for a few steps.

Eventually the train decoupled and they ran up the trail, ready for the next game.

Then it was time for the inevitable question:

"Can we have a snack?"

We were ready for this, and told them they could have a snack at the bridge, which was the half-way point.

Before we got the snacks out, we asked the kids to sit for a photo. Here we have Isaac, Desert Girl, Charlie, Desert Boy, and Ava. Like how Ava is already barefoot? She had some plans.

It didn't take her long to convince Desert Boy and Charlie that they should join her in shucking their shoes and socks. They tiptoed through the cold mountain stream and commented on just how frigid it was.

Then Desert Boy fell in.

Fortunately Nomi had extra clothes he could wear.

Nomi was also the cuddle place, and the three bigger kids had so much fun cuddling in her lap.

Jenny and I took photos for a bit.

Then we got back to the bridge. Desert Boy had warmed up and wanted to go back into the water. I explained that we didn't have any more dry clothes, so if he wanted to go back into the water, he had to take off his clothes. He thought this was okay. Then Ava thought it was too. I sure hope this is a phase they will outgrow in a few years, and not a precursor to teenage behavior!

The underwear-clad little four-year olds hopped back into the creek and decided they would try to cross the rickety old log across the creek.

Their balance wasn't the best, but at least they didn't get any more clothes wet! The temperature was perfect, and we could warm up quickly, but not get too hot.

Isaac and Emma cooperated and laid in the leaves for a photo.

Then, after a lot of convincing, we got all the kids to lie down in the leaves.

I could have spent a long time looking at the fantastic patterns in the leaves. No two were exactly the same.

When a gust of wind blew, the leaves fluttered down to the ground. Desert Boy tried to catch a leaf, but didn't quite manage it.

Then it was time to start heading back, which meant heading downhill. Desert Girl and Isaac, despite missing naps, were eager to hike.

I followed the older kids, who were still full of excessive energy. They tore down the trail, enjoying the several bridges. Then Charlie tumbled on the trail and came back with a worried expression on his face. I checked out his scrape and told him Desert Boy had a first aid kit.

Desert Boy was eager to get out his first aid kit, which he had packed that morning. He had a handful of bandaids and a few gauze pads. He had wanted to pack more, but I had told him that would be enough. He also really wanted to pack treats for his patients if they were good, but I convinced him that really wouldn't be necessary.

Desert Boy patched up Charlie quickly.

Then they discovered that Ava had an owie. And it wasn't just any owie, it was a blood owie. That definitely required a bandaid.

Ava got patched up too. Then Desert Boy improvised. He didn't have the suckers for his patients, but he did have some chips, so they all ate some chips for being such good patients/first aid providers.

All us moms were trying not to giggle too much as the whole scene unfolded in front of us. It was infinitely adorable how they were solving their own problems with such calm.

Then we went back to hiking.

I found more beautiful leaves.

The leaves were coming down quickly, so we were all happy to have had our outing to commemorate the beautiful fall. The hike was especially fun because we were able to do it with friends. Now it will be a little easier to face the coming of cold weather.

Bagging Silage

2011-10-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

This long white bag that looks sort of like a mutant worm leaving some excrement behind is really not that. Course, you probably already figured that out, being the intelligent blog reader that has chosen to come to this site.

What this bag signifies is that it's harvest time! These are silage bags, and they cost a lot, like several hundred bucks each. Who knew a little plastic could cost so much?

This machine is called the bagger, and it's being used to put silage (ground up corn) into the bag. The idea is that the bag will create a moist environment, allowing the silage to ferment a bit and increase the protein content. And if the cows get a little tipsy, with fermented food, cheers to them.

The silage truck backs up to the bagger.

Then it opens its gate and tips the bed.

This is what the silage looks like coming out of it. Hard to believe its good food!

Jose operates the bagger.

Malcolm puts on a big grin in the silage truck.

It only takes a few minutes for the silage truck to dump its load in the bagger, then it heads back out to the field to get more.

The bags are labeled and dated.

It was such a nice afternoon that we decided to head out into the fields to try and find the chopper.

We found a few errant corn stalks that had evaded the maw of the chopper.

Seeing the brown corn really made it seem like fall. The snow-covered mountain might have helped with that appearance, too.

I liked how the road threaded its way through the corn field. We had to take it, of course. The chopper wasn't on the other side.

We saw that the chopper had been there, though. So we looked for the dust of the silage trucks and continued on.

Then, off in the distance, we saw the chopper at work, with a backup silage truck ready to take the first one's place as soon as it was full.

Aw, the joys of fall. My husband will breathe a huge sigh of relief once all the corn is chopped. The corn silage is all done now, with quite a bit of corn earlage left. Earlage is when the chopper just pulls the ears off and chops them up. Its higher energy for the cows and is harvested later than the silage.

And now you probably know more than you wanted to about bagging silage. But if you still want to know more, here's a post I wrote about it back in 2008!

Hi

2011-10-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

It can be really fun to pose for a shadow photo. Even Henry got in on the action!

It's been a little crazy lately, with some awesome fall weather so we just have had to get out of the house. Plus we restained our house this weekend, which took longer than expected (don't all DIY projects turn out that way?) And the Internet isn't working correctly. So all that means limited computer time. It's kind of nice in a way, but I do have to feed my addiction periodically!

Hey, NaNoWriMo starts November 1. Have you ever wanted to write a novel? November is a great month to do it--the days are short, the evenings are long, and you can fill them up by writing. The idea behind NaNoWriMo is that if you force yourself to write every day, you will finish your novel--or at least a really rough draft. I've participated twice before. The first time I finished a really fun young adult novel, Adventures in the Junkyard. I haven't found a publisher yet, but I have submitted it to a couple contests and received some helpful reviews. The second time I didn't make the 50,000 word goal, but it did help me get through insomnia and make me exercise my writing muscles.

This time I'm ready to go at it again. And for those of you who are non-fiction writers, there's a similar non-fiction challenge for November. I have a friend doing that one, and we're going to be encouraging each other. Who else wants to join the club?

National Fossil Day

2011-10-12T15:50:00.000-07:00

It's getting late in the day, but I just learned that today is National Fossil Day! Better get out and celebrate! After all those fossils might not be around for long (but we'll hope so).

For those junior paleontologists out there (like Desert Boy), here's a super fun Junior Paleontologist booklet for free, plus some more activities.

Ricks Spring

2011-10-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

After visiting Logan Cave on our NCKMS field trip, he headed farther up Logan Canyon and stopped at Ricks Spring. The spring emerges from a large overhang and has a handicapped-accessible trail that goes up close to the springhead. Except that this isn't any regular springhead. As we watched, we saw a light in the spring, followed by a body. There were divers in the spring!

Even though I won't do cave diving as it's one of the most dangerous sports around, I'm fascinated by it. And it was interesting seeing these divers emerge with all their specialized gear in the 46 degree water. They said it was warm. They dive there all winter, and some of the water comes from the Logan River, so it can be really cold.

I wasn't the only one fascinated--our group watched in awe as the divers surfaced.

It was hard to believe that the passage continues, but in fact it goes back at least 2300 feet in the main passage, and they haven't even started exploring the side passages.

These cave divers have begun mapping the cave.

The cave twists and turns like most caves, and also goes up and down, making it a sporting challenge. These divers have done over 200 dives at Ricks Spring, so they know the tricky spots, like especially tight spots that require side mount tanks. They also know at what water levels they can dive the spring--during snow melt, the water velocity is too high to safely go in. This year all their guidelines were washed out by the super high velocities. They also have to dig out the cave entrance every year.

We listened to a USGS presentation about the geology of the area and what dye traces had shown.

Then we listened to the divers, Wendell Nope and Richard Lamb. They made it clear that they are very safety conscious and love what they do a lot. Then they showed a video they shot, which was awesome. If you'd like to see the video and some additional photos of this underwater cave, check out Wendell's website.

Logan Cave

2011-10-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

This last week I went to the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium in Midway, Utah. It was an excellent symposium, with lots of great information shared, old relationships revitalized, new cave people met, and to top it off, it also included an informative field trip.

We headed up Logan Canyon and after stopping at a couple springs and learning how dye tracing had revealed the water sources to them, we met with a state wildlife biologist and learned about the bats in Logan Cave. This is a fairly large cave with a huge cave opening right by the highway. It has both a maternity and hibernating colony of Townsend's big eared bats, so visits in the summer or winter can impact the bats. About 15 years ago, the gate was put on, and since then the population of bats has increased from about 5 to 250.

Since we were visiting in the fall and the group was made up of cave managers and researchers, we had been able to obtain permission to visit part of the cave. Several members of our group remembered visiting the cave decades ago and were grateful to have a chance to see it again.

Large walking passages predominated in the part of the cave we visited.

Of course I couldn't help but look for cave life. I saw several heleomyzid flies.

We were a little bit of a parade going through the cave, our group, strung out into a single file. It was interesting hearing the little tidbits of geologic, hydrologic, biologic, and historical knowledge people were sharing.

A bat with white nose syndrome. No! Just kidding. This was a dead bat with lots of white fungus growing on it, but it had been dead a long time. White nose syndrome is a disease caused by the fungus Geomyces destructans, and it causes a white fungus to grow on bats and then those bats usually die. It was first discovered in the U.S. in New York state about five years ago and now has spread to many more states, primarily in the East and Midwest, killing thousands of bats. No one knows how to stop it, and cavers are taking precautions of not wearing gear from infected areas in uninfected areas. In addition, many caves have been closed, which has been controversial, but I won't go into that discussion here right now.

Logan cave had lots of interesting sand riffles, mud cracks, and other sediment deposits showing how water had recently moved through the cave.

We continued in the passage until it eventually got too wet. The stream flowed a few inches deep, with pools sometimes a few feet deep.

With the advance of point-and-shoot cameras, we had plenty of photographers documenting the cave!

On the way out, I noticed the water lines in the cave. When I saw this photo, I realized that folks had also lined up rocks to avoid getting as wet when water was flowing in the cave.

We saw lots of chert nodules in the walls.

More passage with water lines evident.

A snout-nosed moth (take a good look at that nose!).

Someone called this a monarch moth, and I'm going with that right now because I forget the Latin genus name.

Returning to the entrance, we saw that the skies had opened up and that it was raining hard.

Shawn had found some items to clean up in the cave--a beer can and a super soaker.

A large packrat midden was right next to the gate, looking like oil oozing out of the wall (and one participant shared a story of a visitor describing a midden just like that and wanting to know why the cave was leaky).

Right inside the gate was a box with a sign that said "Warning, this area under video surveillance."

I was about to leave when I was notified of a millipede just a short ways back.

I couldn't resist checking it out. Even though it wasn't a white cave-adapted millipede, it was still really cool and I was glad to see it. Somehow invertebrates are so much more interesting to me when they're found inside a cave!

Then it really was time to leave, out past the thick chain and padlock. I don't know if I'll ever have a chance to go back in, but hopefully these photos give a glimpse of what's back behind the bars. I hope the bats are able to keep living peacefully in their home. They've lived there a lot longer than us humans have been around, and it's quite sad that humans nearly destroyed them there. (The cave was ultimately closed after some stupid, irresponsible people (yes, I wanted to use much stronger language here, but resisted due to the family nature of this blog) set off firecrackers under the bats. How could they be so stupid?).

We hiked back down to the highway, next to the spring cascading down the leaf-covered rocks.

Next stop: an even larger spring, with a surprise right in the middle of it. Stay tuned...

Camping at Navajo Lake

2011-10-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

My husband couldn't go on the previous camping trips, so we decided to go on another one so he could appreciate all the joys of camping. (He doesn't like hard ground, sleeping in the cold, dark evenings, all the noises of camping, but he'll still go along once a year. He's a good guy.)

After shopping all day in Cedar City (it really wasn't supposed to be all day, it just sort of ended up that way, along with a long stop at the Aquatic Center), we got some food for camping (as we really hadn't managed to pack anything) and headed up the canyon. We checked out one campground along the way, but it wasn't too appealing, so we headed up to Navajo Lake. It's late in the season, so they only had part of one campground open, but it had spots available.

So while my husband went off to scavenge wood from the woods, I borrowed a can opener from nearby campers (bean soup was part of our menu--Desert Boy's favorite food). Those campers thought we looked in a pretty sorry state, so they gave us some of their wood, too. We did manage to get our tent up just fine. The campground had been nearly clear cut due to all the beetle kill, so all the campers could see each other quite well. We could also see the lake really well, and I had to keep taking trips down to it to enjoy the changing colors.

For the kids, I think the highlight was the fire. Like how Desert Girl is trying to get into the match box?

Desert Boy can't resist throwing in an extra stick.

Desert Girl was willing to put up with a hat because it helped keep her warm. Navajo Lake is up fairly high (maybe 9000 ft?), and I was concerned that it would get cold that night. Maybe Desert Girl was a little concerned too. She has that eyebrow furrow down perfect.

We had a beautiful sunset.

Then we sat around the fire for awhile and talked and roasted marshmallows. When we decided that no one actually liked the marshmallows, we had fun tossing them into the fire and watching them burn.

The next morning the kids had us up before it was even light. It was really cold, and there was mist coming off the lake. As we made breakfast, we found frost on the picnic table.

So after eating we went for a walk, where we found some folks fishing. We wished we had brought our fishing poles! We saw a lot of fish rising.

On the way home we took a detour by Cedar Breaks, with the beautiful cliffs. The trees weren't as colorful there, so we headed back to the canyon. It was a quick trip, but such a nice getaway, and there were so many gorgeous trees along the route. Welcome, autumn!

Desert Girl and a Puppy

2011-10-01T05:16:00.000-07:00

When I went to pick Desert Girl (and Desert Boy) up from the babysitter's, Desert Girl couldn't resist picking a pretty yellow flower.

Then she got distracted by one of the Chihuahua puppies. There's one of the litter of five that lets her pick it up and carry him all around.

Desert Girl is really possessive of the puppy. In case you're wondering, no, we're not bringing it home. No dogs in our house, plus Henry would fell left out! We really enjoy having a dog, but we also like it a lot that we have a low maintenance dog. It is particularly handy that Henry has even trained himself not to poo on the grass. My last dog never pooed on the grass either, and I never thought I would be so lucky to have two dogs like that. It certainly helps that we have lots of brush around.

So we are grateful that Emma can get her puppy fix. Like how she's still holding the flower?

Corn

2011-09-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

While I was out walking last week, I saw a corn field and couldn't resist the urge to go mingle with the corn. I suppose it might have something to do with growing up in the Midwest surrounded by corn fields. I love corn!

According to my husband, our fields are about a month behind the fields in the Midwest (or at least those in northern Illinois, which we got to visit in August). We are hoping that hard freezes will be delayed so that the corn can fully mature. This last week has been absolutely beautiful, but the weather folks are saying we're in for a change this weekend.

This is field corn, which will be used for feeding cows. I've already harvested most of the sweet corn out of my garden.

Since the corn fields out here are mostly in pivot circles, it's hard to get a photo of a long row of corn!

I feel like I should say more about corn, but I can't figure out what to say. If I were feeling more ambitious I could research the history of corn, talk about all the varieties of corn, the use of roundup ready corn, corn diseases, where corn is grown, how corn is used, etc. But it's really early in the morning and I'm not feeling that ambitious, so I'll just have to leave you with this: I love corn!

Public Lands Day 2011

2011-09-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

We ended up being able to go to Public Lands Day on Saturday at Great Basin National Park. We got there a little later, but just in time to meet up with a new friend, Evan. Evan and Desert Boy quickly formed their own group to go visit the educational stations. They started with grinding corn in a mano.

Then we checked out the sun through the solar telescope. We could see several sunspots and also some flares and a prominence. I learned that a prominence looks similar to a sun flare, but has a very different origin.

Next we visited Ranger Joseph and learned about soundscapes. Desert Girl was willing to participate here, and she was awestruck by the neat sounds that he played.

The kids had fun trying to guess what the different sounds were.

Then we met up with Archeologist Eva and found out how Indians hunted and how they made their hunting tools.

The whole group was enthusiastic.

Nearby Melyssa was at the pictograph and petroglyph station. Desert Girl had so much fun with the stamps.

We listened briefly to the wildlife talk, but the little ones were having a hard time sitting still, so we didn't last long. I wanted to touch the furs they had with them, but will have to do that another time!

The station to make seed "bombs" was just what the kids needed. We put soil and seeds on some clay and rolled it up into a ball. We'll toss it in the yard and hope to see some flowers and Basin Wild Rye next year in a new spot.

School kids were bussed in from Ely, and some folks were cooking up hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. Yum. It wasn't time to eat yet, so we could go over to the last station, snakes.

This was a favorite station of lots of the kids, as Bryan let the kids hold the snakes.

Evan really got into it, and eventually Desert Boy was ready to hold a snake.

Evan looks so comfortable with his new neck accessory!

It was a fun morning, and we look forward to spending more time with Evan and his mom. Hurray for new friends!

Wheelathon--Will Desert Boy Make It All Eight Miles?

2011-09-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, the local schools held an annual fundraiser called Wheelathon. The Kindergarten through second grade kids ride eight miles, and the third through sixth graders ride sixteen miles. I had called the elementary school teacher to make sure it was okay for Desert Boy to ride, and she invited us to come to her classroom a little early. We took Ernesto and his mom, too, and the preschoolers had a fun glimpse of what school will be like next year.

Finally it was time to start. The kids all got on their bicycles.

Then we had to take a couple photos.

These girls don't seem to sure that this will really be a fun event. But the wind was at our backs and we had a slight downhill, so I was feeling optimistic, despite the overcast skies.

Getting into position!

Some of the kids were so ready to go!

And then we were off! I was really wondering if Desert Boy would be able to make it the whole eight miles. There is a snack stop every mile, where all the kids stop and eat and drink and wait for the entire group to arrive. I knew that would be a big motivator.

But I also knew that we took the training wheels off Desert Boy's bike only about a month and a half ago. He's been riding okay, but not super. He often would get distracted and crash. And he didn't know how to start very well by himself. And he kept begging to have the training wheels put back on.

I had talked Chandra, who has four athletic kids, and she advised me to bring the training wheels, but see if he could do it without. "He can learn to ride in eight miles," she said.

I liked that advice, so we went with it!

Desert Boy made the first mile just fine.

After snacks, we got back on and rode some more. Desert Boy wasn't fast, but he kept pedaling his tiny bike with the 12 inch wheels. That's a lot of pedaling!

We eventually met up with the older kids coming the other direction. They were riding into the wind first, and it was slowing them down a lot. We all assured them that riding the direction we were going was really nice, and they would have an easy ride back.

The bigger kids also had a variety of bike problems. Some of the bikes get taken out of the garage once a year, for the Wheelathon.

John had volunteered to be a chaperone. He said it was harder riding slow than fast!

Ernesto did a great job of plugging along. His biggest problem was he got so warm from riding. He took off his sweatshirt but still was so warm.

Bill and Marj were volunteers manning one of the snack stops. They had a lot of free time to read and relax while they waited for the older kids to get back to them.

Even though there are mountains around, the road is straight and flat, making it easier to ride. There also are a lack of trees along the route, and no houses or buildings, so restroom stops are nonexistent. Fortunately that didn't turn out to be a big deal.

As we approached one snack stop, we saw a structure up in the air. It turned out to be an orchard ladder, and we enjoyed some freshly picked peaches.

The peaches revved up the bicyclists, and they were ready to go again. They had collected pledges for each mile they rode, so they were doing their best for the school.

Before we took off from the peach stand, I climbed up the ladder to get a fun shot of the riders.

Desert Boy riding with the teacher. We were a bit of a parade, with the bus and a few vehicles following us.

Desert Boy showing his determination (and his shoes on the wrong feet, which he would not switch.)

Both Ernesto and Desert Boy made it! Good job preschoolers! They're showing off the marks they got at each mile. They think they are big stuff now.

It was a fun ride, and we're already looking forward to it for next year.

Mount Moriah

2011-09-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

After breakfast at Cleve Creek, we packed up our gear, headed across Spring Valley and headed up Fourmile Road to go join friends and family. Desert Boy really wanted to go play with his cousins. I wanted to see some of the beautiful northern Snake Range. We led the way for some friends who hadn't been up the rocky road.

I had to stop a couple times for photos. Yelland Dry Lake bed wasn't dry--it had some water in it, reflecting the clouds.

The rabbitbrush was blooming, along with a few other flowers, but the peak flower season was over by a long ways. The air was cool, but the aspens still all green.

When we got to the camp, we found that most of the adults had left to go hiking, but nearly all the kids (with a few adult supervisors) had decided not to go hiking, but rather hang around camp.

Sam looks like he's mastered the art of hanging out!

Desert Boy loved his hot chocolate--one of several that day. Then he disappeared into the woods with his cousins and friends to play shoot the animals and who knows what else.

Some of the teenagers emerged from the teenager tent for a short while.

Desert Girl managed to accumulate an impressive amount of dirt. Finally she conked out and Chandra and I left Brian in charge of all the kids and headed out for a walk.

Mount Moriah is in the background, and I had never noticed the neat looking ridge leading to a minor peak. I will have to get up there some time to do that hike!

Chandra and I wandered on all roads, across a meadow, and came across this road. It was so tempting to keep following it. I think it goes down into Negro Canyon and out into Spring Valley. Hmmm, another hike for another day.

We took off uphill and found this aspen grove. The medium-sized aspens all looked fine, but the young ones were all dead. We went a little farther and then took a short-cut back to camp, which really was a short-cut. (Some times my short-cuts don't quite work out right, but this one did!)

The kids were still all being good and Brian didn't even have to get out of his tent. :)

The kids were having a grand old time. They were making up all sorts of games, and Desert Boy came home with some new sayings.

After the hikers got back, we all gathered around the fire and then started cooking dinner. It was a nice, relaxed time, just what I needed!

Cleve Creek Canyon

2011-09-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

Friday night I took the kids to Cleve Creek Recreation Area for a night of camping with coworkers and friends. I was looking forward to exploring the area, as I hadn't seen much of it previously. It's located in the Shell Creek Range in White Pine County, Nevada. We accessed it via Spring Valley, off paved Highway 893. Then we turned onto a good gravel road for two miles.

The campsites were beautiful, with big shade trees, neat fireplaces, and the sound of the creek soothing our senses. It was time to relax and eat some delicious food!

I didn't try to take any photos, as the light was soon dim and the kids were a handful. At nine they wanted to go to bed, so I took them to the tent. Then they resisted going to sleep long enough that I was tired, too, and just stayed in the tent. It was probably a good thing, as Desert Girl started getting fussy at 3 a.m., despite the surprisingly warm evening. By 6 a.m., I had decided we had better get out of camp or everyone would be upset with us! So we piled into the truck and headed up the canyon.

The road forded the creek several times, so I was glad we had four-wheel drive and high clearance, as the creek was still running high. In fact, according to the nearby USGS gauge, it was about 13 cfs. The long-term record on this creek made it a study site for University of Nevada-Reno scientists to study the climate of the area, comparing pinyon pine growth to streamflow. You can see the interesting abstract for their article "A 550 Year Reconstruction of Streamflow Variability in Spring Valley, Nevada, USA" here.

I was very intrigued to see that most of the water in the creek was coming from the north fork of Cleve Creek. The road stayed to the west fork. I just had my Nevada atlas and not a more-detailed map, so I didn't know too much about what I was getting into. Sometimes it's more fun that way!

The atlas indicated pictographs, but we never could locate them. Instead, we did find an old cabin with tailing piles nearby. We got out to explore.

We wandered around a bit.

Near one of the tailings piles we saw an old mine entrance and this sign explaining about the importance of bats.

A bat gate and culvert had been installed above the old mine entrance. According to the Geology and Mineral Resources of White Pine County, Nevada (Smith 1976), the Cleve Creek or Kolchek District was small and centered around the Kolchek mine. Miners searched for gold beginning in 1923 and found enough to construct a 4-ton amalgamation-concentration mill. Mining didn't last long, and the 15-person district soon was forgotten. In 1951, when tungsten prices were high, miners returned. They didn't find a tungsten ore body until 1953, but they did make a few shipments of gold in the meantime. The total recorded production of the district was 234 tons of gold ore containing 86 ounces of gold and 363 ounces of silver and 32 tons of tungsten ore.

The single cabin was the only building we saw in the area, and the sun was just rising high enough to light up the canyon beyond.

The kids were taking their time, which gave me the opportunity to shoot some additional photos as the first rays of sun light touched the cabin.

It would have been a beautiful place to have been a miner, at least for a few months each year. The rest of the time it would be beautiful but cold!

While I was searching for other angles, I noticed some bees clinging onto this grass. I'm not sure what they were doing.

One more cabin photo! I liked the old trees nearby. Most were poplar, but there was one locust.

Then we continued up the canyon on the rough road, rarely reaching 10 mph. It was 6 miles from the campsite to the end of the road. I hiked up what looked like the most-used route (it couldn't really be called a trail, as it was fairly indistinct and there was no trailhead, sign, or map). I soon reached the wilderness boundary marker (but it didn't say what wilderness).

I'm guessing this area is used by hunters more than any other interest group.

I scampered up the hillside to get a better vantage point. Two other vehicles were sharing the parking area with us, and one had passed us as we had been exploring the cabin.

Here's part of the road, where the tributary creek has jumped its channel and flowed down the road for awhile.

On the way back down, we stopped at the Kolchek Trail 078 trailhead. I'm guessing the trail goes back into the side canyon behind the Kolchek mine, but there was no map at the trailhead and my map didn't show a trail. If you know, leave a comment!

There were several side canyons that looked fascinating. A good excuse to go back and do more exploring. The fishing is also supposed to be good, but we hadn't brought any gear.

While some of the rock looked metamorphic, I also noticed quite a few limestone cliffs, and some had holes in them. Hmmm, caves?

The zoom showed that these holes might go back a body length or more. The kids weren't interested in checking them out. I don't know why not!

By the time we got back to camp, everyone was up (and some had left). We went over to join them for breakfast.

The kids and I had grits for the first time. I have learned to appreciate that camping is all about the food, and I sure enjoyed the culinary experience!

Desert Boy and Erik had a serious conversation. Desert Boy was certainly serious about how many marshmallows were in his hot chocolate.

Nice hair, eh?

The adventures continued soon after...

The Morning Commute

2011-09-08T16:07:00.000-07:00

Traffic report this morning:
Watch out for some bovines cavorting on the ranch road. Especially beware of the young'uns, who are unpredictable and well, let's be honest here, a little dumb. They like to play dodge-vehicle, which really isn't the best game for longevity.

And now on to the weather report...

Off in the Underground

2011-09-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend! I'm not quite ready for it to be over. And somehow the cleaning fairy didn't get the message that the entire house was supposed to be spotless by the end of the weekend. Or at least a little bit cleaner.

Well, I guess one of the reasons I don't sweat having a super clean house is that I keep going into holes in the ground and getting dirty. The past week I've had the opportunity to visit a bunch of those underground abodes, varying from giant holes that suddenly drop into darkness (like the one above) to fairly mellow trips with some good humor (like the one below).

I'm hoping to post more photos soon, but my Picasa is acting really strange and not showing me all my folders.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with another four-year old nugget:

"Mom, don't get those baby carrots, I don't like baby carrots."

"Okay, what should we get then?"

Pointing to a bag of regular-sized carrots. "Get the adult carrots. They're better."

Kid Stories

2011-08-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Desert Girl's babysitters do amazing things with her hair. She got her first braids and first French braids last week. How cute! She doesn't sit still quite so well for me. I figure a clippie barrette is a good effort on my part.

So why is Desert Girl so upset? And what is she holding in her hands? And why is her mouth smeared with chocolate?

Ah, well we were trying to find fun zucchini recipes, and I found a zucchini-chocolate chip muffin recipe. The kids helped me make them, and I put the pans on the counter to cool off. We got busy doing other things, and the next thing I know, Desert Girl is walking into the living room with muffins clutched in her hands, leaving a trail of crumbs.

I wasn't so upset that she was eating them, it was the trail of crumbs I didn't like! So I promptly set her outside and started cleaning up the kitchen, where I found that she had pulled the entire muffin tray onto the floor and most of the muffins were lying upside down.

The next thing I hear is Desert Girl bawling outside. I go and look and find that she is extremely distraught that Henry has been helping her eat the muffins. She doesn't want to share!

One more quick story, before I forget it:

One evening we were driving home and saw a beautiful rainbow, ending in one of our fields. Desert Boy noted it.

He said, "Mom, see that rainbow?"

I answered yes.

He said, "Do you know"

And before he finished, I was already grinning, expecting him to say, "where it ends?"

I should know better than to try and outguess a 4-year old.

Instead he finished with, "how to climb up the rainbow?"

Help, please!

Bat Flight from Rose Guano Cave

2011-08-27T01:18:00.000-07:00

One evening this past week I had the opportunity to go to Rose Guano Cave in eastern Nevada to watch the bat flight. This cave is an important migratory stop for Brazilian free-tailed bats (also called Mexican free-tailed bats; Tadarida brasiliensis), with over a million using it each year. They usually stay for one to four nights, heading out to feed on insects that are especially prevalent over the nearby agricultural fields.

From the highway, the cave can be seen, near the base of the cliffs (left-center of photo above).

The road towards the cave is rough and definitely requires high clearance and four wheel drive. We parked next to a trailer that is being used by graduate students to study the bats (more on that later), and then hiked the old road towards the cave.

The late afternoon sunlight was superb against the limestone. The first attraction we noticed was a huge limestone arch. Then we could see the gaping mouth of the cave. The old road ended at the base of a tailings pile. This was from an adit built in the 1920s to mine guano out of the cave. The guano is rich in phosphates and nitrates and was used to make gunpowder. Because the adit upset the natural airflow in the cave, it was sealed in the 1990s.

Inside the cave mouth it says "Positively No Trespassing. Rose Guano Mining Claim."

It's steep to get up to the cave, and a rope was installed as a handline to make it a bit easier. We could smell that guano as we got closer to the cave.

On the way we passed a thermal-imaging camera. This was installed earlier this year to record the bat flights so more accurate counts can be done. The bats in the cave have received a lot of attention in recent years due to nearby wind farm proposals.

A sign outside the cave entrance provides more information about the bats (click on the photo to enlarge it).

Below the cave entrance, sitting in a chair with a camera by his side was Peter, one of two field technicians helping two graduate students learn more about the bats. The two graduate students had spent the previous summer counting the bats every night, and they liked it so much that they decided to do further studies and return again. They work closely with the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Management to not only count the bats, but also find out where they go. One hundred transmitters were attached to bats over the past couple of years to track where they go and how long they stay in the area.

Even though there is a camera that records the entire bat flight now, they are continuing to count the bats nightly to compare the past method counts to the new counts.

We climbed up to a rock next to the cave entrance. From there we could see that the cave entrance had some special lights in it (that we couldn't see when they were on) to help the camera images.

Jason, an NDOW wildlife biologist, came out to explain to our group more about bat biology and their use of the cave. As he was talking, we saw the first bat come out of the cave--and then turn around and head back in, presumably to tell the rest that it was time to start heading out.

Then more bats started coming out. They looked a little like a stream, flowing by quickly. Then the number of bats increased, and instead of flying straight out, some swirled a bit--the stream was bigger and had some whitewater.

As it got darker, we found that our vantage point was a bit high because the bats blended in with the rock behind them. So we moved down next to Peter and saw the bats silhouetted against the sky.

Jason pulled out a camera and showed us a video of the bats from inside the cave. They come from a deeper chamber in the cave and swirled around twice to gain elevation before they flew out of the cave. It looked really neat.

He also had a thermal-imaging camera with him. Using that, I thought the bats looked like fish swimming in a fast current in the ocean. Jason estimated that about 2,000 bats per minute were flying out of the cave.

By 8:20 p.m., it was too dark to see the bats with the naked eye. Jason said they would continue until about 11:00 p.m. The bats primarily use the cave from July into October.

I couldn't get a photo of the bats flying out, but you might be able to see them in the video below. They are really amazing animals, and with such strange life histories. I can't wait to learn more about them.

Mud and Dancing in the Backyard

2011-08-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend getaway, off to the Midwest for my youngest brother's wedding. Now we're back, enjoying the end of our desert summer. That means lots of outside time.

And playing in mud.

Desert Boy asked me so politely, "Mom, may I play in the mud, please?"

Of course I had to say yes.

Then he went on to other activities, and Desert Girl took her turn in the mud.

Here's a little video of some of the backyard fun:

Tractor Kids

2011-08-19T08:45:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since we've played on tractors, so it was time to head down to the lower shop and give the kids a chance to "drive."

Desert Girl looks a little alarmed while Desert Boy gets into some wild driving scenarios--at least in his mind.

Desert Boy shows Mom what's going on inside. Then he takes off and heads to other equipment.

Desert Girl is ready for her turn. Even though she has to stand on the seat in order to be able to reach the steering wheel, she's ready to go.

Look, Ma, I'm doing it!

Afterwards she has a special bounce in her step.

A Walk to the Lakes

2011-08-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we joined some friends to do the lakes loop trail. It starts at nearly 10,000 feet elevation and is about 2.7 miles long. Our goal was to make the three- and four-year olds walk the entire way.

The first destination was Stella Lake, and although Desert Boy is usually a good hiker, he didn't eat enough for breakfast and complained almost all the way there. I was wondering if we were going to make it!

Fortunately we did! The photo above shows some of the historic dam that was built to increase Stella Lake's capacity.

It was warm and we wanted some shade and other hikers had claimed spots in the nearby shade, so we decided to go for an "adventure walk" and go to the other end of the lake.

The clouds were so neat!

We finally made it and found a nice spot under these Engelmann spruce. I had visited them in April and May to put a camera up to photograph the lake and help determine when the ice melted off it. Do you see the camera in the photo? Look about halfway up the bigger tree on the left. Yep, it was 15 feet off the ground. I managed to climb up to it, but I didn't have a very good purchase so couldn't stay there long.

Meanwhile the kids were having fun seeing how far they could wade into the lake before they got yelled at. Fortunately they could be redirected by throwing rocks in the lake. Then it was a game of throwing rocks while you were as close to the lake's edge as possible (or in it).

After consuming copious snacks, the munchkins were ready to continue. They were oh-so-cute as they joined hands and headed up the hill.

Desert Boy had chosen to wear one of Desert Girl's socks, which wasn't working out so well for him. Charlie didn't mind an extra stop.

Desert Girl loved hiking with Nomi. She held her hand for a long way.

We found lots of trees that had fallen, and the kids liked looking at the roots. Even though the trees are so tall, they sure have shallow roots!

Desert Girl liked hiking the downhill bits best.

Then it was time for another adventure--crossing a log over a small stream.

This led to another camera high up on the tree.

It was overlooking Teresa Lake. I had never seen it so high and aquamarine-colored in August as that day. It was absolutely gorgeous.

The datalogger we have in the lake and are scheduled to get the end of September might only be reachable by snorkeling. I'm not sure if any one is ready to volunteer for that!

After more snacks, it was time to go again. Charlie liked driving his motorcycle down the trail. Desert Boy interrupted the normal forest noises with his loud train whistle. Brandon was the best hiker, never complaining. All of them hiked the entire way.

When we got back, the kids found instant entertainment in the water fountain. Even though we hadn't let them swim in the lakes (which they wanted to do), they found a way to get soaking wet!

Caption Ideas?

2011-08-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

This is what Desert Boy chose to wear one day this week. I didn't know what to say. I'm not sure he did either. I think he has on two different shoes because he couldn't find two of the same kind, but I'm not totally sure. His clothes are on backwards more than frontwards, but somehow he managed to get the shorts on sideways. And he really likes to dress up, hence the turtle tie.

If you have any insights into four-year old thinking, please share!

Things in Caves

2011-08-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

I've been lucky to go on some caving trips lately, often with a biological focus, so I couldn't resist testing the limits of my cave point-and-shoot. Above and below are a pseudoscorpion, Microcreagris grandis Muchmore. They're the top of the food chain in many of the area caves.

And they're only about a half-inch to an inch long. Such an ecosystem, where the top predator is smaller than the size of a quarter!

Deb and Gerry helped me download data loggers along with place bait. They hadn't done much caving but were amazingly agile and moved without any problems.

This tiny spider was really, really tiny, like about 2 mm long.

My caving group after the cave trip. Notice how clean they all look. We visited a clean cave. (Spoiler: muddy cave to come.)

This is a dipluran, and we may never know the species unless someone decides to become a dipluran expert and take on some work describing new diplurans! (Young readers, please take note of this. If you're the only dipluran expert in the world, you could get a lot of work heading your way.)

Notice what the dipluran is on--wet, gooey mud.

If you're wondering if this is a different cave, you're right!

The above photo really isn't of nothing. In fact, there are five cave critters captured--a mama and four little babies. The babies are less than 1 mm long (very sorry for mixing English and metric systems, I end up using both for work). They are Arrhopalites springtails, and I watched them jumping on the surface of the water.

Those Arrhopalites springtails were on the top of the water, but at the bottom of the little puddle was a white planaria. Maybe we can find someone to identify it.

Anyone know any planaria experts?

It would take a special kind of person to be a planaria expert.

Just saying.

Phew, on to something almost warm and cuddly. At least it's bigger than two inches long and easily seen. This is a harvestman, this species only found in caves, and a relative of Daddy-long legs. It belongs to the Opilionid family, which means it is a cousin to the spiders (Arachnid family).

So long, harvestman!

No cave life in the above photo, but something surprising--running water in this cave! I had never seen that in this part of the cave, and I was terribly excited. The cave wasn't sumped, so we could follow the water and see a cave forming process in action!

Nicole and Jennie negotiating the mud slope down to the water. See, I'm not the only crazy one who enjoys getting covered with gooey mud in a cave!

We headed downstream, towards the canyon passage. The water was moving swiftly. We had rubber boots on, but we managed to find a pool deep enough that we all flooded our boots.

Then the water sounded louder, and we rounded a corner and found:

a waterfall! Sweet! A two-foot waterfall in the cave. We saw the water continuing down into the narrow canyon passage and chimneyed above it for a bit, but it was apparent that the rest of the cave was sumped and the walls were extra slippery, so we turned around and headed back.

On the way I spotted this little cave-adapted millipede, Idagona lehmanensis Shear.

There was also this little rose-colored creature, perhaps a mite.

Here's a photo of David after the cave trip. Originally his entire cave suit was yellow.

Jonathan exiting with a smile.

And we all gasped when Jennie pulled down her cave suit to reveal a pristine National Park Service uniform shirt. She takes her uniform seriously!

The next day we went into another cave. (Okay, I know this post is getting long, but if I stop now, I won't get started again till next week! If you need a break, just stop here and come back in the next few days and read the rest.)

I saw a couple ants at the bottom of the squeezy vertical entrance. It's so tight, though, that you don't use vertical gear, you just wedge yourself through it. Going down wasn't too bad.

Numerous cave crickets hung out at the bottom of the drop along the walls and ceiling.

We also saw several of these fungal beetles.

This is David taking serious photographs. You can see some of his work by clicking here.

We found lots of small bones in the cave, scattered in various locations.

Nicole holding up a pelvis.

After we finished our trip in the walking portion of the cave, it was time to head out. That was easier said than done as we tried to shimmy up the tight vertical section. A piece of webbing helped a bit. Finally we all made it to the surface, although with a few new scrapes and bruises. I think most everyone sighed in relief to be back on top.

Sometimes I appreciate the sun a lot more after a caving trip!

Bioblitz 2011!

2011-08-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

I've been out Bioblitzing the last few days, which has been awesome. Okay, Bioblitzing really isn't a verb, but it should be! A Bioblitz is a short event to document biodiversity.

This particular Bioblitz was to find Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants) at Great Basin National Park. In addition to the scientific focus, the Bioblitz had a strong outreach/education component. Ranger Robb led an afternoon kids' hike to a harvester ant mound and explained it. The kids thought it was absolutely fascinating!

In the evening graduate students studying Hymenoptera gave a campfire talk. They talked about their projects. Then they entertained the crowd by changing the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to "Head, Thorax, and Abdomen." They had everyone in the crowd do the movements. It was fantastic.

It was a good turnout, and some of the folks at the campfire talk signed up to be Bioblitz participants the next day and spend some time searching. Two little boys even collected some ants on their bristlecone hike and turned them in.

One really fun part about the Bioblitz was meeting the other participants. This is Sarah, and I loved her vial bag. I think it may have to become the next fashion accessory.

Cecilia came from Brazil to study Hymenoptera at Utah State University, and Juanita came from Columbia.

This is Ken, a retired entomologist who was so gracious sharing his knowledge. In another post I'll pass on some of what he taught me. His binoculars will focus on things only a couple feet away, giving a whole new dimension to insect watching.

How do you like this bee?
If you say, That's not a bee, you're right. It only has two wings and no waist, which makes it a Diptera (which means two wings). Diptera are flies, and this fly's coloring imitates a bee.

Students, visitors, and entomologists enjoying a patio talk by another graduate student.

It was neat seeing the specimens being brought in. This couple had signed up at the campfire program to collect Hymenoptera. They came in so excited. They had found a few cool things. Plus, they said that the Bioblitz experience made them look at the national park in a whole new way. Their peripheral vision was expanded as they tried to locate the insects they might want to catch. And they realized that as they walked, they paid attention to things they had never really noticed before.

Just listening to them brought tears to my eyes. How cool to have a transforming experience and have your horizons broadened and be helping science at the same time!

A school group from Colorado came and participated the second day, and Desert Boy couldn't resist joining them. With all those nets sweeping the vegetation, they were bound to find some neat things.

They found this beautiful green wasp, a cuckoo wasp.

Two of the students examine their catch.

Here one transfers a find into the baggie. They were so professional, and even though it was the last field day of their 14-day trip, they went after the task with energy.

I sure want to go on a high school class trip like them!

A big part of a Bioblitz is managing the data, and Sara helped enter the datasheets from the specimens coming in one morning. Even though it isn't one of the funnest tasks, Sara managed to have a big smile. She's going to go far.

Near the end of the 48-hour collecting period, some of the experienced entomologists from the Nevada Department of Agriculture pulled out their microscopes to start sorting the specimens. So many were collected, especially from the light traps and malaise traps, that they wanted to make it a little easier for folks in the lab.

Dr. James Pitts, the lead entomologist for the event, helped Becky preserve the specimens she had caught in her bowl traps--colored bowls filled with soapy water. She had a good number.

Melissa made sure her datasheets were complete before she turned them in. She included a little of the vegetation in her sample, since some hymenopterans can be very particular about what vegetation they use.

Grace and June were a delight to meet, as well as their fun mom. They did a super job collecting in various locations and I hope we get to spend more time with them!

The Bioblitz was lucky to have two great sponsors, Western National Parks Association (WNPA) and the Great Basin National Park Foundation. They both provided lunches, at the beginning and end of the event. WNPA also provided some raffle prizes that made some of the participants extra happy.

Apparently if you're an entomologist, you don't want to get far from your microscope, even if it is lunch time!

The event concluded with the preliminary results:
Over 60 participants
Over 160 collections brought in
Over 25 families of Hymenoptera added to the park list
Over 65 species of Hymenoptera added to the park list

Dr. Pitts and his students now have a big job of sorting, pinning, and identifying ahead of them. We can't wait to find out more about what was caught. They will undoubtedly add some families and many species to the tally. It may take a few (or many) months to process the thousands of specimens collected.

Well that's the quick overview. It was super fun and now I'm ready for a good rest.
If you ever have a chance to participate in a Bioblitz, I highly recommend it!

Last of the Colorado Photos

2011-07-29T17:35:00.000-07:00

Last post of our Colorado trip! It's been fun to think back to it as since we've been back we've been sick and have had more routine work. It sure is nice to get away and have some fun memorable times.

On our last day we went up to the Maroon Bells, a really scenic area managed by the Forest Service. We took a rare family photo.

Then we managed to get a photo of our whole group. We sort of look like marmots, don't we, sunning ourselves on the rocks!

My brother Ed and I hiked the scenic loop and found the source for the lake water--a huge spring that started out of nowhere.

Afterwards we decided to check out Aspen and then head up to Independence Pass, the second highest pass in Colorado with a paved highway, at 12, 095 feet.

The wildflowers were at their peak, and I sure wanted to go hiking up to some of those mountains! Hopefully I will be back.

Desert Girl did a little hiking with her uncle.

Some random dude next to the sign. Note the bicycle--there were tons of cyclists on both this road and the Maroon Bells road. It sure would be fun to get in good enough shape to ride those roads!
I have a nearby road I should start practicing on.

Then it was time to see off the grandparents, who were traveling back to the Midwest via Amtrak.

I recognized the conductor from our train trip the previous year. The grandparents got to have some interesting train adventures on the way back, becoming misconnects. My brother got a ride from an old friend to Denver, and then we were headed west.

Our first stop was Rifle Falls State Park, which had a super waterfall. It also had another really fun attraction in its 100 acres: caves.

They were all small caves, and Desert Boy delighted in exploring. Okay, Mom did, too.

I found the water line in this cave fascinating. (and I tried to ignore yet more dirty clothes!)

We could see the falls from the entrance of one of the caves.

We took the trail and enjoyed the hike that goes up and around the falls.

Then it was back into the van and driving time.

I couldn't resist a photo of the Utah dinosaur sign. Desert Boy was very excited about seeing dinosaurs, as we had decided to take a roundabout way back so we could visit Dinosaur National Monument. As it turned out, the last shuttle to the quarry left at 1:15 p.m., so we couldn't see it. The main visitor center that is being built to replace the condemned one won't open until October, so we went into the small temporary one and saw a couple dinosaur bones on display.

Desert Boy also earned a junior ranger badge, his first one. We'll have to go back to see the quarry and explore the beautiful canyons and take a rafting trip in the national monument.

We had lots more driving to get home, with nothing noteworthy on the way. It was good to be back home, but we sure enjoyed our trip a lot!