AirMed Visit to EskDale

 AirMed, the medical helicopter from the University of Utah hospital, recently came to visit EskDale. They have a new base in Nephi, which makes it the closest medical helicopter to our area. We were running a little late, so as we drove up, I told the kids to look for the helicopter. Desert Boy spotted it flying along the mountains. I had to stop and take a photo because it looked so cool.

After a circle around EskDale, the helicopter prepared for landing. We know the pilot, so that made it extra exciting.

We parked and walked over to the front of the center and everyone was waiting for the okay to come over. It's a two-minute shut down procedure on the Jet Ranger 407, so the flight nurse was gesturing for everyone to stay back. Once the helicopter was off, we all got to approach and take a closer look. There was a good turnout.

I've recently had training with AirMed, so I had heard most of the talk, but it was good to have some of the points reinforced. It's really nice to know that we have such a high level of care available in about 45 minutes, especially since the nearest hospital is over an hour away and most of our ambulances are just basic life support.

The helicopters are staffed with a pilot, flight nurse, and paramedic. They carry quite advanced gear on them, allowing them to act as a mini portable emergency room.

We wanted to stay longer, but had to leave as I had another commitment. But we sure enjoyed the opportunity to learn more.

The Home Basketball Game is Only an Hour Away

 A couple weeks ago we went to the home basketball game. That meant driving an hour on dirt roads to the West Desert high school, which must be one of the most remote schools in the country. It only has about nine students in grades 7-12. Because that doesn't give them many players for sports, they teamed up with their nearest rivals, EskDale, located an hour away. Somehow they've been able to make this split school team work well, having won several games.

West Desert has a regulation-size gym, and we eagerly shared the bleachers with family and friends, some who had driven an equal or longer distance from the other direction.

This was the first basketball game for Desert Girl and Desert Boy. They were interested for awhile.

 There was really good attendance, as you can see by the nearly full bleachers.

It didn't take long for Desert Girl to want to go play.

Meanwhile, I was having some fun trying to capture action shots as the Hawks and Eagles played.

The Hawks won the game. Then we went into the cafeteria and enjoyed a $5 dinner put on by the PTO. It was tasty, and much appreciated, since we then had an hour drive home.

The Deseret News had a long article recently about the West Desert basketball team that is a great read and helps explain some of the adaptations to living in a remote place.

A Tribute to Sheep (and the Sheepherders' Gathering Schedule)

Here's one of the traffic jams around here. These are the kind of traffic jams where you might get out and take a photo.

If you've been following my blog for long or read my book Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area, you know that sheep come to this area every winter. And we're not talking just a few sheep, we're talking thousands, actually tens of thousands of sheep.

Back in November I saw them eating leftovers off the fields.

Most of them were too concerned about eating to look at me, except for one.

The sheepdogs watching these sheep came over to see what I was doing, but when they saw I was just sitting on the ground taking photos and not approaching their sheep, they just laid down and hung out.

It can be a lonely life as a sheepherder, living in a small camp and following the sheep around to very isolated areas. So over a decade ago, Denys Koyle got the idea of having a Sheepherder's Gathering at the Border Inn to celebrate this vanishing way of life.

It's a fascinating gathering, and it starts today. Here's the schedule:

January 16th
5:00 pm Industry Appreciation Dinner
7:00 pm Open Mike Program with Emcee Hank Vogler 

January 17th
6:30-10:00 am Sourdough Pancake & Breakfast Buffet with Dave Okelberry
10:00 am Screening of "Operation Haylift" starring Ann Rutherford
2:30 pm Mary Kaye Knaphus in concert
5:00 pm Basque Dinner ($25/person)
7:30 Sheepherders Ball with the Silver Sage Family Band

For reservations, please call Denys or Gary 775 234-7300

See you there!

Unfortunately it looks like I've gotten sick, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to make any of it. I'm bummed, because the music and food are outstanding, and it's so interesting talking to people who are sheep experts and hearing about their way of life.

Here are links to past Sheepherders' Gatherings:

2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009

If you like sheep, you can see posts I've written about them over the years.

The Nativity Play--Dress Rehearsal

The kids will be in a Nativity play on Christmas Eve, playing an angel and King Herod. We had a dress rehearsal the other day, which is one of my favorite times to take photos because I don't have to stay in my seat. The play begins with Gabriel announcing to Mary and then Joseph what is to come. Then they sing O Come Emmanuel (with the help of the Innkeeper).

Meanwhile, the Wise Men were busy finding wise things on their smartphones. Ha, ha.

 The kids were really into singing. Desert Girl added a little stretching. She has a really hard time sitting still for 20 minutes. I'll just pretend she's fluttering around like an angel.

The little kids always add some comedic relief to the play. Thank goodness they have the older kids to hold it all together.

Of course, sometimes the older kids have their fun too. Mary decides her feet are sore, so she puts them up on the makeshift manger. I remember putting my feet up a lot when I was pregnant.

Later, Joseph and Mary had a little tussle over who got to hold the improvised Baby Jesus. It was funny to watch.

My angel!

The shepherds hung out on their hill, tending their sheep. Actually all their sheep were missing (the cast is a little small due to families being out of town), so they just played with their imaginary sheep.

And tried out some wrestling moves. The angels didn't approve.


Meanwhile, King Herod waited patiently on his throne, running shoes ready to make a mad dash if need be.

The three Wise Men came to visit him and find out where the newborn King was.

Later, King Herod died.

And the play ends with Joy to the World. It is so joyous to see the kids better understand the Nativity play and the true meaning of Christmas.

We'll see what interesting expressions transpire on Christmas Eve as they do the play with a big audience and lights and microphones. It's always good for a few chuckles. Thanks so much to Sharon for organizing it and directing the aspiring actors.

Wishing you a joyous Christmas!

2014 Turkey Shoot

 The annual Turkey Shoot was reinstated last year to the community's delight. It's a fundraiser for local causes. And as much as we'd like to shoot at non-native turkeys, we shoot at targets, and the winners take home turkeys.

This year the whole family participated (although we weren't so good at getting photos of everyone). Even Desert Girl gave it a try, and although she didn't hit her target, she said she liked it.
The temperature was great, but it was really windy.

Daisy showed her shooting prowess, winning a turkey. I hope I can shoot as well as she does when I'm her age.

I think this year was the biggest turnout ever, which meant we had some time for conversation. Sometimes it was a little hard to hear wearing ear protection, but we all managed.

Here's Jenny in the 50 yd rifle. I was really happy with how I shot in this competition, with two bullseyes, two in the black around the bullseye, and one just outside the black. It was good enough for second. The lady who won first place had five bullseyes. I guess I know what I need to do next year!

Here's me looking a little discombobulated (what a great word, right?) as I get ready for the 25 yd .22 contest.

In the afternoon a double rainbow appeared. If I moved in just the right spot, the end of the rainbow was right at the target.

A new addition this year was kids' archery. They had a blast trying to pop the balloons.

Desert Boy did some good shooting.

We ended up taking home a couple turkeys (fortunately my husband shot better than me) and a couple cornish game hens that the kids won. It was a fun day and great to see folks showing off their shooting skills. And to top it off, it was a good fundraiser.

Missing Planets

I had noticed that some of the planets along the road needed some TLC, so on my run on Sunday I took some baling wire and helped secure planets and their name signs. I made it up to Jupiter, but that was as far as I got (I haven't been running much lately, so a three-mile long run is now a longish run for me!).

On Monday I drove up the road and admired the planets hanging neatly: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres (a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt), Jupiter. But where was Saturn? I couldn't find Uranus or Neptune. And Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris (dwarf planets) were all missing too. What was going on?

Yesterday I stopped and looked for them. I found Eris and rehung it, but all the other planets are missing. What could have happened to six planets/dwarf planets? There was no sign of animals disturbing them or the wind blowing them down (it's done that before, and they don't go far). So my best guess is that someone took them down.

Why would someone take down six planets? My hope is that maybe they just wanted to improve them, maybe paint the signs with glow-in-the-dark paint. (But then why didn't they take them all?)
Or is someone trying to put up their own to-scale solar system and they liked this one so much they just couldn't resist? I also thought of some other reasons that someone might have taken six planets, but I hope people aren't that mean.

I don't know where the planets went. They are pretty far out there in the solar system. That was one of the cool things about seeing them on the road, is that you had to keep waiting and waiting to get to the more distant planets. It really made me internalize what a big place our solar system is. I asked an astronomer at last year's Astronomy Festival what would be at the end of the Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive. He said we would still be in the Oort Cloud, a massive area at the edge of the solar system where comets form. Wow. I am still processing that, it is so far out!

Here's the post about how we put up the initial planets, little facts about them, and the spacing, so if anyone wants to replace them, you know where to put them! Our Little Solar System

Lifeflight Training

Last week the Life Flight helicopter from Provo came out to provide an orientation and training for the services they provide. We (the local volunteer emergency squad) actually called Life Flight a few weeks ago to respond to a motorcycle wreck, and it was so good to know that advanced medical help was coming, as it's about an hour ride in an ambulance to the nearest hospital.

For our training, they landed in a parking lot and then we proceeded to a classroom, where we learned lots of useful things. They fly Agusta helicopters, with a 150 mph cruising speed in the summer, and 130 mph in the winter when they add the skis (they get a lot of ski resort business in the winter). They have hoist capabilities, but that takes some extra time to set up before they start the mission. It took them just under an hour to fly to our location, and it takes about 5-8 minutes to get into the air from the time they get a call. They have enough fuel to get to our location and part way back, but have to do a refueling stop on the return flight.

Life Flight flies day and night. At night they use night vision goggles, so they gave us some guidance of what lights they want on the ground when they come so they know where to go but aren't blinded. We also went over the landing zone criteria, especially for the backcountry.

They gave us a tour of the helicopter. The usual crew is the pilot, a paramedic, and a flight nurse. They have room for one patient on a gurney. Because of the high level of training of the crew, they are essentially operating a mobile intensive care unit.

The crew talked about how to approach the helicopter and other safety precautions. I've heard most of it before, but a refresher is good because I simply don't deal with helicopters that often.

After a couple hours they lifted off and headed back. They had been surprised on their way out here about the vast stretch of "nothingness." When you travel at 150 mph and think that, it gives you a good idea how remote we are! It sure is nice to know that even though we are remote, we have access to top-notch medical care, although it will take a little while to get here.

Here's a link to Life Flight's website if you'd like to learn more about their bases, aircraft, history, and more.

White Pine County Fair-2014

 White Pine County Fair is held in mid-August each year, usually right after school starts for us (which makes it a little challenging!). I took the kids in Friday to enter projects (it's a very short fair, just Friday to Sunday).  In the evening we went to the delicious Cattlewoman's BBQ and stayed for the dance. The kids had a super time dancing.

The next morning we got to the fair just in time to see the cousins showing their steers. They've put a lot of time and energy into raising these steers, so it was cool seeing how well they've done.

At 10 am they opened the exhibit hall doors, and Desert Boy couldn't wait to see how he had done on his projects. We had had a talk beforehand about ribbons, and he had decided he wanted Grand Champion. I told him very few grand champions were awarded, so he shouldn't expect one as this was only the second year he had entered projects in the fair, and only the best of the best got grand champions. His various arts and crafts projects (string art, pottery, legos, wall hangings) won blue and red ribbons.

Then we went over to look at how his photos had done, and were astounded to see that he had won both Grand and Reserve Grand Champion ribbons for the children's division! He was so stoked! I won a Reserve Grand Champion for one of my night sky photos, so I was delighted. Desert Boy made sure to let me know that he had beat me. I guess he might be a wee bit competitive.

Later we wandered around the booths, buying food, doing activities, and chatting.

Desert Girl was very excited to see Smokey Bear.

We went back over to the animals and watched rabbit and chicken judging, something I had never seen before. I learned that market rabbits are supposed to weigh 3 to 5 pounds each, and since there are three of them, they are all supposed to be the same size. These white ones won Grand Champion. While we were watching, I got into a conversation with the lady next to me about chickens, and one thing led to another (keep reading!).

 Another highlight of the fair was the climbing wall. I asked the climbing wall guy how he went to events, and he said he had to pay to take the climbing wall to the bigger events, but for small ones like the fair, they paid him to come. Plus he charged money for the climbers, so he has a pretty good business. Desert Boy loved scampering up.

I had to take a turn too. And one wall even had a timer so you could see how fast you went up. (Now who's being competitive? ha)

We had to stay until Sunday afternoon to pick up our projects. What sweetened the wait was that we had bought the grand champion rooster and a couple hens. Yahoo, we're back to having chickens! 

Hopefully we will be more successful keeping these chickens away from predators and maybe even get an egg someday! For now, we sure like hearing the cock-a-doodle-doos every morning and watching the birds.

We're already setting aside the kids' artwork for next year's fair. That makes it so much easier when it comes time to look for entries. They love it, too, when I tell them something they created might be good enough to enter in the fair.