Sunday Afternoon

It was Sunday afternoon, which meant a trip to do some irrigating. Due to our extremely low precipitation this year, there's extra attention to how winter water in the creeks is being spread over the land to try to get it as wet as possible before it gets warm and the evaporation rates skyrocket.

This is a fairly new field of tall wheat grass, and it's being irrigated by the old tried-and-true method of flood irrigation. Not too many fields are flood irrigated on the ranch anymore. Most have been converted to the more expensive but more efficient pivot irrigation.

Desert Boy was thrilled to have a chance to use Daddy's real shovel and set off to dig a hole. He's better than I am at using a shovel!

I was playing with camera lenses and enjoying the winter sunshine.

Meanwhile my husband was moving one of the irrigation dams to change where the water was spreading on the field.

I haven't spent much time with this fish-eye lens, so I wanted to try it out some more. I like how on this photo the sun flare extends beyond the circle.

Thick orange plastic is used for irrigation dams. the top is secured first, then the sides, and then the bottom. Generally rocks and/or dirt are used to secure the sides and bottom.

Meanwhile, Desert Girl enjoyed sitting on the bank and throwing rocks into the water. Little by little, she scooted closer to the water. (Can you guess what's coming?)

Here's another view of the dam. This one has some fence posts to help support it.

Desert Boy had moved to a different place to shovel, where the ground was a little softer.

The dam was almost in place.

And I was ready to do something different. So I went for a little walk and got Desert Boy to come with me.

What I like most about this series of fish-eye photos are the shadows. You can see how close Desert Boy is to me.

I was hoping he wouldn't walk right into me!

He stopped, fortunately. He thought the whole thing was pretty funny.

In fact, he laughed himself onto the ground.

He thought he was being so cute, sticking his feet up into the air. I don't think he ever realized that his irrigating boots were on the wrong feet!

I also found out that the fish-eye lens is good for making your legs look really long.

Next it was on to playing with some ice. With the dam moved, the water level in the ditch had fallen, leaving the ice hanging above the surface. Desert Boy couldn't resist grabbing some.

He was proud of his big piece of ice.

But then he couldn't resist chucking it back into the ditch.

A bit later my husband pulled up with a shoeless, wet, and muddy Desert Girl. She had managed to scoot close enough to the edge of the ditch that she had slid right in and was soaked.

She wasn't thrilled about it.

But when she saw her Daddy, she managed a little smile.

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

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!

A Walk to the Lakes

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!

Swimming Holes

 July has brought warm enough temperatures to go swimming, so we've been over to the nearby swimming hole a few times. Caleb really liked taking a ride on the back of the alligator.

 Desert Girl and Desert Boy cooperated for awhile, digging in the sand. It's always so nice when they get along!

 The California cousins were visiting, so Desert Boy made the most of being surrounded by females!

 Meanwhile Desert Girl was busy having a discussion with Grandpa.

There's some nice shade at that swimming hole, but sometimes the kids just want to go somewhere else. This year, due to a big runoff, we have extra choices, including this flooded gravel pit I had never visited before:

 It already had enough visitors to warrant a row boat! I swam back and forth in it a couple times and found that it wasn't too deep, and thus it was substantially warmer than the other swimming hole.

 The water feeding it has made quite a ravine.

 

It's also created a nice delta that is perfect for the kids to play in.

 Lola took Emma for a walk in the muddy water.

It seems like about everywhere we swim around here is muddy. I'm actually starting to get used to not being able to see my hands in the water underneath me as I swim. I don't like it, but I can deal with it.

 The kids were busy making canals, pools, and islands.

 And just skipping around!

 Most of the adults hung out at the water's edge, enjoying the shade the storm clouds provided.

 The older girls took out the row boat for a paddle. And the dog.

 Then it was back to more playing in the shallow water. This swimming hole really had great mud flats.

 Caleb and Ruby were busy with some kind of excavation.

The storm clouds were getting closer, so folks started leaving.

 It turned out it wasn't so easy to leave!

 This swimming pool was so fun that we went back another day, and it had a new, added attraction: tadpoles! The kids quickly started collecting them and putting them in buckets.

 Kayli on the tadpole dash.

The kids studying the muddy water intently for tadpoles.

 They eventually became quite adept at catching the tadpoles.

Lucky for the tadpoles, all were left behind. Perhaps next time we go we'll see little toads hopping near the water!