2019 Sheepherders Gathering

 Every January it's time for the annual Sheepherders' Gathering at the Border Inn, located along Highway 6 & 50 on the stateline of Nevada and Utah. Sheepherders, sheep owners, and other aficionados of the sheep industry drive up to hundreds of miles to attend.

On Friday evening there's an Industry appreciation dinner (invite only) followed by Open Mic night. I really enjoy this, as you never know what entertainment there will be. Nephi Clark Allred "Red Clark" opened with a sampling of his musical repertoire (above). Check out the link to hear some of his tunes.

Thank Hank Vogel took the floor as emcee.

Denys Koyle started the Sheepherders' Gathering many moons ago, and it has become a huge success.

Next up were a variety of stories and tributes.

Recognize this little performer? It's Desert Girl! She sang and played (sort of) Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Her jokes were better than her playing (she needs some practice).
Q: What do you call a sheep covered in chocolate? A: A candy baaa
Q: What do you get if you cross an angry sheep with a moody cow? A: An animal that's in a baaaad mooood.

Next came more memories.

Melanie has been performing since she was just walking. It's been so fun watching her grow up and seeing her talent blossom. 

Waddie Mitchell, cowboy poet, was the headliner for the weekend. He certainly knows how to spin a good yarn!

We missed many of Saturday's events because we went into Ely for the Birkebeiner Ski Race. There was a sourdough pancake breakfast, film screening, and more poetry by Waddie Mitchell.

We got back in time so my husband and I could attend the delicious Basque-style family dinner. The crowd was huge, filling the whole cafe and events room. I managed to forget to take a single photo!

Then we were entertained by the Front Porch Pickers. They sounded fantastic, and it was a really great evening.

It's so nice to have a special event to look forward to in the middle of winter. Keep an eye on the Great Basin National Heritage Area website if you want to attend next year!

January Catch-Up

 I used to worry about January being a boring month. Hah! It flew right by. I managed a few blog posts, about the Birkebeiner ski race, Sheepherder's gathering, reseeding efforts, sledding and skiing, girls' basketball, the supermoon eclipse, a short cave trip, and a hike in the Burbank Hills. (That list actually makes me feel like I did okay with blogging!)

Here's all the rest. Above, Desert Girl was delighted to find a Snake Valley Rock. She rehid it for someone else to enjoy. Note the lack of snow! The Fire and Ice Celebration in Ely was cancelled.

The White Pine Public Museum held a very interesting presentation by Sam Baker about the discovery of the short-faced bear in a nearby cave. He gave an enthralling talk.

We held a trails work party one day, and the kids were big helpers. We basically move a lot of rocks on these days and get to enjoy some fresh air and socializing.

I got to go to a part of Lehman Cave I had never seen before, where I saw these really cool helictites.

Desert Girl lost a tooth!

One one early morning run I saw a Western Screech Owl. That was quite exciting.

I practiced with a drone that took photos. Here I am letting Desert Girl take the controls for a bit. I later crashed it. Oops.

We have monthly 4-H meetings with guest speakers/activity leaders. Here's Desert Boy concentrating on his cake decorating. I love how 4-H lets kids experience so many different disciplines. We've had a great volunteer turnout to help the kids.

Our monthly fire training included donning all our protective gear, including SCBA tanks, then blacking out our masks and following the hose out of the simulated house. That meant belly crawling under the fire truck. It was hard, but gave you a good sense of accomplishment.

Government shutdown. Blah! What a waste. Fortunately it was short.

Lint camp! Here are some of the tools we use to clean lint and dust off cave walls and speleothems.

And more beautiful mornings. I really enjoy my daily jog. On this particular day I stopped to get a photo of this delectable road art.

Now that it's almost March, I'll start working on blogging about February! 

Sledding and Skiing after the Storm

We were so excited by our one big snowstorm of this winter. So the day after the Ely Birkebeiner, we grabbed our sleds and headed up into the mountains to join some friends.

Maggie, our red heeler mix, was loving the snow. She was pretty-well behaved with Boomer, the golden lab.

The dogs weren't too savvy about sledding, though, frequently getting in the way!

We have a favorite sledding hill, a two-track road down a north-facing slope, so the snow doesn't melt so fast. We had to make some runs to pack down the snow.

It was beautiful where we were, but we could see the snow blowing off the peak over 12,500 feet high.

A friend was out cross-country skiing.

That inspired Desert Girl and me to get out our skis again. Desert Girl got all dressed up (who doesn't?) and we set off from the yard.

It is so incredibly fun to be able to ski right from your house.

We found it a little easier to ski in tire tracks. It warmed up fast, so by the next day we didn't have the right conditions. You just have to do it while you can!

We did get back to the sledding hill one day after school. You can see the bushes poking through the snow a lot more, but the sledding track was still in good shape. I even went down a few times, even though it terrorizes me (I keep envisioning broken bones). But there was still enough snow to crash and not hurt, so that was good!

We're back to a dry, warm period, which has its pluses. But we'd sure like some more snow this winter!

Grey Cliffs Cross Country Ski

 The kids didn't have school on Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the temperatures were in the low to mid-20s, so we headed up the Baker Creek road in Great Basin National Park to where it was closed. We pulled out the skis and headed up the road in ideal conditions.

Some snowshoers had been out, but we were the first skiers.

We headed down the incline towards Grey Cliffs campground. There was just enough of a hill to give us some glide.

We did pause to look at some of the numerous rodent tracks. We also saw deer tracks and maybe mountain lion.

Desert Boy really wanted to take a rest at the gate. He wasn't feeling so well, so he didn't continue.

But Desert Girl was ready to make some fresh tracks and broke trail for a bit.

This was about the only non-smiling photo I got of her. She was usually singing as we went skiing along. But she did ask several times when we were taking a break.

When we got up to Loop C, it was time for a break. We cleared off part of a picnic table and got out some snacks and our new JetBoil to try it out. The fuel canister was kind of empty, so we didn't get water to boil in two minutes, but we did get warm water...

...to make hot chocolate! Yum!
After a rest, I asked Desert Girl if she wanted to go on up to Baker Creek Campground and make the loop back down the road or if she wanted to turn around here. She chose to turn around.

She was immediately delighted with her decision, as it was so easy going downhill! In fact, she couldn't believe how fast we got back to the vehicle.

We did have to stop for another sit-on-the-gate photo. Then she followed me up the hill at a good clip. She will be ready for the Ely Birkebeiner's ski race this weekend!

It was so nice to have a perfect skiing day, with no wind, great snow, and beautiful vistas. We're already looking forward to the next ski!