How to Find Water in the Desert

Your car broke down and now you're wandering through the desert (even though you should have stayed with your car, but we'll ignore that for now). You've run out of water and wonder what you can possibly do to find some to quench your overpowering thirst. You take out your laptop with your satellite connection and find this blog, which has the answer. Thank goodness, you will survive!

It's just a matter of becoming acquainted with the right plant. In this case it's a shrub called black greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus). Greasewood has a long tap root and reaches down to the water table. Sometimes this tap root can grow more than 20 feet deep, but often it's less than 10 feet deep, especially when you see quite a few greasewood plants as in the photo above.

Greasewood grows in many areas of the Western North America and is easy to spot with its bright green color. It usually is found in the cold deserts and on slightly saline soil. 

In this photo we can see the small staminate flowers on the greasewood plant, looking like little cones. The pistillate flowers are generally found in leaf axils below the staminate flowers, and wind pollinates the plant. Winged seeds can blow almost one-half mile away.

Not all is nice with greasewood, though. It has sharp thorns that can puncture a tire, so if you're driving near it, watch out. These thorns help protect the plant from overgrazing.

One of the neat things about greasewood is that the leaves are deciduous, so they fall off in the winter or when it is too dry. The plant then becomes rather dreary looking in the nearly monochrome desert vegetation community. If you happen to get lost in winter you'll have to look a little more to find this shrub. When you do, start digging. You probably think I'm just saying this for fun and it's all theoretical, but it really works. My husband has dug in several greasewood stands to develop springs for cattle, and nearly always he's found water. 

So I don't recommend going out and getting lost in the desert and running out of water, but just in case you do, you'll know what to do. Just make sure you have a shovel in your survival kit so you don't ruin your nails. Or even better, use a backhoe like my husband.

Desert Destination: The County Fair

This last weekend we went to the local county fair. It's not real large, partly because we live in the desert and there aren't that many people here, but it's still fun. We wanted to make sure that Desert Boy got to see some of the animals and to support the cousins who had entered several animals.

We went over to see one of the cousins get her sheep ready for auction. She won a blue ribbon the day before. 

When it was her turn, she took the lamb into the auction arena and walked him back and forth to show off his best side. I'm not quite sure what that best side was, but maybe the person who bought him knows. The ranch bought some animals from the auction to help support the 4-H program. Sometimes it's hard for the kids to say goodbye to their animals, especially after they've spent so much time raising them. But the money they earn from the auction often goes into a special account and helps them pay for college.

Other cousins and Desert Boy are in the stands in the auction arena. Desert Boy manages to get their attention. He likes attention a lot.

Later we get to see this beautiful cousin's steer. The steer didn't particularly like other people, but he was well-behaved for her.

Nearby were these goats, belonging to a different cousin.

She's so young that she's in the Cloverbuds, a  junior 4-H program. She was the only one to have goats at the fair this year, so when she showed one of them on Saturday she and the goat had the arena to themselves.

Nearby were some sheep in the pen. They look so soft. It's fun to listen to them go Baaa. I obviously don't know much about sheep. 

Then we headed to the pig barn. I think pigs are so cool. Well, actually they look a little hot here in the 90+ degree heat. But they've got nice places to lay down.

This was one of the largest pigs, probably over 400 pounds. I don't think I would want to get anywhere near it!!

Desert Boy checks out one of the smaller pigs with his cousin. She's encouraging him to pet the pig, but he's not too sure about it. He's never been this close to pigs in his life.

We'll end with a bit of piggy love. I always enjoy going to the fair and am glad that the cousins are getting such great experience. It won't be that many years before they're showing Desert Boy (and me) how to care for and show animals. 

Desert Boy Has Control

Look how happy Desert Boy is taking control of the TV. Please tell me, is this a male thing that is programmed into his DNA? See that grin on his face? He is delighted to be holding the remote control. He regularly grabs it while we are watching TV and changes channels, the volume, or turns it off. It's like he realizes how much control he has with that little black stick. 

Life at the Beach

A few days ago we were at the beach. Not a beach at the ocean, but almost as good, the beach just a few miles from our house at a nearby reservoir. The water level is down, so it made for good beach observing. One of the most common things we saw on the beach were these small shells.

This little shell was common too. The little girls dug in the sand until they found nice collections of shells. Then they put them into mounds on the boogie boards and compared what they had found. They spent hours doing this, with great dedication and perseverance.

Here's a dead crayfish, about an inch long, that washed up on the beach. The girls were fascinated with it. (The boys were out playing in the inner tubes.)

Not all creatures leave pieces of themselves, so we get to have some fun looking at bird tracks...

...and human tracks (guess who made this one)...

(yes, that's my sandal-tanned foot, isn't it a lovely foot?)...

...dog tracks (if you guessed Henry made this one, you're right and obviously a frequent reader of this blog)...

...and even some deer tracks. See, I got back to wildlife. It just took awhile. I was hoping to see more wildlife tracks on the beach, but didn't want to walk too far. 

And finally I get to see my favorite life on the beach--Desert Boy! What's your favorite thing to see on the beach?

The Golden Glow of Sunflowers

It's obvious that summer is coming to an end because the sunflowers are blooming. The yellow of the sunflowers will soon be seen in the yellow of the school buses and the golden leaves that will fall off the trees. The sunflowers, along with rabbitbrush, curlycup gumweed, and several other yellow-blossoming plants, make me feel a tiny bit sad because they indicate that the days are getting shorter.

On the other hand, sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers because they always seem to be happy flowers. No matter how their day is going, they look perky and ready for whatever is coming their way.

Their bright color and habit of following the sun across the sky while in the bud stage (called heliotropism) makes me smile. This flower is practically dancing the way it can move.

I had the opportunity to observe these sunflowers at a birthday party at a small reservoir near our house. I'll be talking more about the party in a later post. The sunflowers are growing above the high water line, so you can see that the lake has shrunk quite a bit. That's common every year due to evaporation and use of the water for irrigation.

Okay, I couldn't help it, I took a lot of photos of these sunflowers! The late afternoon sun illuminated them from behind, and the bright blue desert sky provided a good backdrop.

Here's a little pollinator on the sunflower (look on the right side of the brown part, and click on the photo if you want to see a bigger image). These late-blooming flowers allow many species to survive later in the year.

Sunflowers are part of the Aster family, the largest family of flowering plants in the world, with over 20,000 species. North America has 2,500 species, including some common flowers like daisies, coneflowers, and Black-eyed Susans. Marigolds, chrysanthemums, and dandelions are also Asters. Want to eat one? Try lettuce or artichokes, also members of this huge family.

One of the neat things about sunflowers is that each flower is actually a composite of many flowers (the family name used to be Compositae). The brown disk in the middle is made up of many individual flowers, and each of the yellow ray flowers that come off the disk is also a flower.

Okay, you've seen enough of my obsession with sunflowers. So what do you think of when you see a sunflower?

A New Tractor

A momentous event has occurred on the ranch. One that will be recorded in the history books. Well, the history books of the ranch, if we had such a thing. What am I talking about? We bought a new tractor. We practically never buy any new equipment, so when I opened the door and smelled that new vehicle smell, I didn't believe my nose. I asked my husband, "Is that tractor really new?" He said yes, and I looked closely to make sure he wasn't pulling my leg.

It's a John Deere 7230, and it's smaller than some of the other tractors on the ranch and more fuel efficient. Yep, we're definitely concerned about fuel efficiency. The price of farm fuel has increased six times over what it was ten years ago. The same with fertilizer, but the price of hay has only doubled, so we look for ways to save money.

Desert Boy got excited when he saw the tractor and couldn't wait to take a test drive. Or at least a pretend test drive. It's nice that he's still content to just pretend he's driving.

Once he's inside the cab, he's happy. He starts exploring everything and isn't shy at all about touching everything. I have to make sure he doesn't do something like the leave the lights on.

Desert Boy tries out the new seat, still covered in plastic. No dirt, no coffee stains, no manure. Wow, it's unbelievable. There's still cardboard on the floor. 

He's touching the plastic because it seems so unfamiliar. He is definitely a hands-on kind of kid and is always touching everything around him. 

He examines the gear shifter. You can see his stroller through the window in the background. These tractor wheels are definitely a lot more exciting.

And of course he has to do the requisite vroom, vroom noises while pretending to steer. 

The tractor is parked at the shop just behind our house, and Desert Boy keeps wandering in that direction, his eyes big with excitement. He can't stay away from the new tractor. I guess he knows a good thing when he sees it.

Desert Boy Plays with a Friend

What's cuter than one little tyke? 

Two! 

Desert Boy played with a little friend down the road. He was born in a baby boom year--we have five kids his age in town. When he gets to school, he will have a big class! I like to see how he plays with the other kids, even though he usually doesn't want to play with the kid but play with the kid's toys. These two almost look like brother and sister and they're a hoot to watch together.

When they get to kindergarten they might have to practice sharing. Desert Boy has taken his cute buddy's ball and wants to eat it. She wants it back. Neither one gets upset though, they still don't really know what to think of each other.

Desert Boy's friend shows off her pacifiers--one in her mouth and one in her hand. It didn't take long for Desert Boy to grab one. He doesn't use them any more, but it must be fun if another kid has one.

As they spend more time together, they start warming up and aren't afraid to touch each other. 

His cute buddy decides to touch some more. Playing is turning out to be pretty fun!

Desert Junk

It's just one of the facts of life when you live in the desert. There's nowhere to hide the junk. That's right, those old refrigerators, automobile carcasses, flat tires, and other random big things can't be thrown out behind the house and get swallowed up by the woods, because we don't have woods. We don't have enough rain to have trees grow on the valley bottom unless they are next to a stream or watered. We mostly have weeds grow up around the junk that gets thrown out. 

Yes, the junk could be hauled off to the dump, but when you live out in the middle of nowhere, you just might need that junk someday. It might have another use, like spare parts, or a place for Desert Boy to practice driving, or a place to stop the tumbleweeds,  or a good place for a cat to sleep. (Did you see the cat in the junker above?) 

Of course one person's junk is another person's treasure, and some of my favorite art pieces are made from junk. I figure it's a good way to support the environment. What do you do with junk?