A Smoky Afternoon

 I was enjoying a little quiet time in the afternoon when the pager went off announcing a fire just a few miles away. I'm part of the Volunteer Fire Department, so after scurrying a bit to find my Nomex pants, fire boots, and fire pack, I made it to the station and jumped on the second truck to head up the hill. We could see the smoke in the distance, so it was easy to see where we needed to go.

 The fire was caused by a lightning strike (several people saw the exact one), and burning in sagebrush-scrub.

 We went to work on one side of the fire, trying to cool off the flames and keep the fire relatively small.

 Wind was not our friend, as it kept shifting. Soon we saw that we needed to move to another part of the fire.

 As the wind pushed the fire a new direction, it had more fuel to consume, and the flames shot up. We kept hoping that the extra engines on the way would get there soon, as it was more than our two engines and water tender could handle.

 The conditions got pretty smoky in places. A little of that smoke is good, but a lot is not so much fun.

 Law enforcement had the road blocked off, which made it much easier to work. Above, the first BLM engine and our water tender are checking in.

 We really like this old truck, but it has a bad habit of dying in inconvenient spots. We had to work a little to keep the fire from burning up the truck.

 We wanted to keep the fire from crossing the road, and we were successful in that, although the fire kept spreading on the south side of the road.

 The south side of the fire, which was the quietest when we got there, jumped to life and showed a big flame front that wasn't so easy to get to.

 I had to leave after a couple hours and go get the kids. This is what the smoke looked like from down in the valley.

 After some much needed snacks and ibuprofen, we went back up to the fire to see how my husband was doing. We saw that plenty of help had arrived, including two helicopters equipped with buckets. They had no problem getting to the back side off the fire.

 The kids had fun checking things out from the back of the van.

 More water drops.

 It is fascinating watching a helicopter at work.

 Meanwhile, the kids were busy making a meteor crater.

 Then they decided they were digging for gold. It kept them very happy.

 The Volunteer Fire Department tender was kept busy refilling the fire trucks. I had to go to a talk that evening, so we left my husband with the tender. He was supposed to watch the kids while I worked, but he couldn't get away. He finally left quite a bit after dark, and said that there were still some engines out there. Every time the wind shifted (which was often), more embers would burn and they had more smokes to put out.

We're crossing our fingers that too much cheatgrass doesn't grow on this site, but based on the elevation, it's pretty likely that cheatgrass will soon dominate. That's one of the toughest things about fires in sagebrush--at one time they were really beneficial, but now cheatgrass makes a spot even more prone to fire. The fire size was estimated at about 50 acres.

If you'd like to keep up-to-date with our fire department, you can like us on Facebook.

Topaz Museum Groundbreaking

We took a break from the Millard County Fair on Saturday morning to go to the main park in Delta for the Topaz Internment Camp Museum Groundbreaking. Topaz was one of several internment camps during World War II. Over 110,000 Americans of Japanese descent were taken from their homes and put into camps for years. They were never charged with any crimes, yet they had to stay in the camps, surrounded by barbed wire fences and guards. Over 11,000 were processed at Topaz, out in the Great Basin desert.

Jane Beckwith started the push to recognize Topaz about twenty years ago. Since that time, the Topaz Museum Board has accomplished a lot. They've bought 634 acres of the 640 acre site of Topaz. It was named a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. They also purchased property on Main Street for the Topaz Museum and received a NPS grant to design the exhibits. They've raised $1.6 million toward their goal of $2.3 million. They've also done a lot of outreach over the years, spreading the word about what happened at Topaz.

That outreach has been successful, as there was a very good turnout.

Toru Saito shared two songs with the crowd.

Willie Ito, a former Topaz Internee, spoke. He was a child during the war, and he practiced his cartoon drawing. Later he was employed as a cartoonist for the movie industry. It was good to hear something positive came out of the terrible idea of Topaz and the other internment camps.

Drummers from the Kenshin Taiko group performed amazing numbers on their huge drums.

The sound echoed all around the park.

Next was the groundbreaking for the museum. It will be located next to the Great Basin Museum on Main Street. Delta is sure getting classy with two museums on Main Street!

The rest of the day included tours to the Topaz site, presentations, more Taiko drumming, the showing of the digital mapping project of the site, and more.

To learn more about Topaz, check out their excellent website, which includes links in the Digital Archive section to photos and newspapers from the 1940s.

More Snake Valley Festival Photos

I was going to separate out the different events of the Snake Valley Festival, but that might take me forever to get posted, and I already have other things I need to catch up on posting. Instead, you can see some photos at the Festival website. But I can't just leave it at that. Here are some (okay, A LOT of ) different ones that are also a lot of fun. If you missed the festival this year, be sure to save the third weekend in June for 2013 and come out and have some fun!

 A yard sale!! That's reason enough for big excitement out here. This one is name-your-own-price.

 Jenna was sent out to round up some more business.

 We took a few plants home with us. And a few books.

 The kids got new water bottles and then we filled them with delicious lavender lemonade. The water bottles are only $3 from the Western National Parks Association bookstores.

 The parade entries were diverse and creative.

 Lots had a water theme, as the proceeds from the festival support the Great Basin Water Network.

 This Waterloo Boy was so cool! They brought it down from Gandy to show, and I'm so glad they did!

 We had a special appearance in the parade.

 The Garrison Fire Department showered the willing crowd.

 Brandon did a good job walking.

 The NCC Crew had a lot of energy, even after working on trails all week!

 As I was walking down the street I finally found the kids.

 They were hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Watch out King Kong, looks like you might get squeezed!

 I guess King Kong survived, because now it looks like he's going to get the trumpet player. Watch out!

 No Snake Valley parade is complete unless it has some farm equipment.

 I found the kids trying to talk Grandpa out of some money at the Carnival booths.

 Looks like they succeeded!

 Here's Desert Boy climbing up past T. Rex to King Kong.

 Then it was on to some painting. Kids love to paint!

 Somehow they managed to stay clean. I'm really not sure how.

These are some of the beautiful gourds they painted.

 
 They also played some games.

 Carol chatting with Mike Prince, a cowboy poet who provided some entertainment during the Festival.

 Hmmm...

 Lots of people browsed the silent auction.

 Then it was time for the water fight.

 Ava was drenched. So was everyone. Anyone who ventured onto the playing field got soaked.
It felt good.

 Desert Girl's first experience with cotton candy. She couldn't finish it all.

 More King Kong slide!

 Then it was time for a delicious dinner at the Border Inn.

 Isaac and Desert Girl hung out.

 Isaac really wanted Desert Girl's sucker and she wasn't willing to share. I love their expressions!

 The auction came next, and you-know-who was in attendance.

 There were some humorous moments during the auction.

 Then it was back to the Carnival. I don't think I can express adequately how much fun it was.

 Isaac was tuckered out.

 The ladder was a huge hit, and everyone in our family did it. Here's my husband.

 Desert Boy made it to the top.

 Desert Girl did quite well and wanted to make sure everyone was watching.

 Jenny.

 My husband and Desert Boy on the Scrambler. I rode it once and decided it had scrambled me sufficiently.

 Desert Girl went back to the ladder and ended up with some really static-y hair.

 The next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed to go run a race. At least I was planning to run, with my husband and the kids as cheerleaders.

 Helpers. Thank you!

 Beautiful sisters.

 Brandi and Ben. Brandi ran a really awesome race!

 And we're off!

 I quickly took my place at the back of the pack.

 Getting some water before I do the second loop to complete the 10k. I wasn't real fast, but I did it!

What a fun weekend! And if you made it all the way through this post, congratulations. Now take a well-earned break!