KNPB Special Reports

There's a lot of publicity for the upcoming PBS Series The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Some of that publicity is spilling over to local parks. Here are some reports from KNPB from Reno about Great Basin National Park, one of our favorite hangouts. It also happens to be one of the least visited national parks. 

Great Basin National Park is home to Lehman Cave and 41 other caves, ancient bristlecone pines that started growing before the pyramids were built, a rock-glacier that manages to preserve ice under a thick blanket of rock, beautiful sub-alpine lakes, and virtually empty backcountry trails. It's a good place to get away from the noise of every day and look up at the really dark night skies and ponder your place in the world.

The reports were produced by Michael Hagerty, who happened to go to elementary school in the same town I grew up in. We both sure ended up far from our roots!

To listen to and watch the reports, click on the following link:

http://knpb.org/programming/local/knpb-reports/nationalparks

THE NATIONAL PARKS: My Parks

Desert Destination: The County Fair-Part Two

If you missed The County Fair-Part One, click here.

The White Pine County Fair has one exhibit hall, and when it opened its doors Saturday morning, it was full of people going in to see how their entries had done.

Of course I was no exception. Here's a flower arrangement I did with the theme of old bottles. We had no shortage around the ranch, and I figured with the interesting bottles I could keep the flowers simple.

I really enjoyed looking at all the talent on display. These model airplanes were quite impressive.

I've never tried making jewelry, but some folks who did had good results.

I thought this was a clever idea--a tractor made out of painted soda cans.

The crops section had lots of entries. It looked like many people are having good gardens this year.

A friend did this beautiful painting of a barn near her house and won reserve grand champion.

I could have spent a lot more time looking at all the exhibits. The handicrafts section with gorgeous quilts and afghans is always amazing--and a little intimidating. I don't think I would have the patience to be so exact. There were fewer baked goods than some years, but I saw that quite a few people were salivating over the donuts. 

On Sunday morning, the 4-H auction was held. For some kids, it's very difficult to part with the animal they've spent all summer caring for. For other kids, they don't have as much trouble, knowing that their animal is going to help them pay for their future college education. 

At the other end of the fairgrounds, an assortment of booths was set up, including the favorite classic "Texas Twister Drink," a sweetened drink with some fruit. After seeing so much deep fried food at other fairs, it's quite refreshing to see some healthier options!

If you look closely at this photo, you'll notice something has changed--the clothing! Sunday morning brought much cooler temperatures and scattered rainstorms. 

Entertainment played on a tarp-covered stage and included musical numbers, cowboy poetry, magic shows, and more.

Along with booths selling things, there were also informational booths, like this NOAA one that gave out information about weather and asked people to report strange weather events near their houses.

The Civil Air Patrol had a duck pond and fishing pond that Desert Boy liked. They also did some drills in the morning.

Here's Betsy MacFarlan, Executive Director of the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition, a group who works to restore Great Basin landscapes. I sat at this booth for awhile and handed out free weed books, newsletters, and weed tattoos. It was fun seeing the fair from a different perspective--and when it rained, it was nice to be under cover!

It was fun visiting the fair. Congratulations to all the participants and organizers for a job well done! And thanks to the buyers, spectators, and everyone else involved for attending. A fair is a great way to see what a community is like. 

Desert Destination: The County Fair-Part One

Saturday morning we headed into Ely for the White Pine County Fair, where we saw Cousin Clay leading his steer in preparation to show it. He had been preparing all summer for this weekend by feeding, walking, and taming his steer so that he didn't have to worry about a nearly 1,500 pound beast walking all over him. 

He was soon in the show arena with six other steers. They walked them around in circles so the judge could inspect them, then lined them up one way and then another way.

I was very surprised to find that only seven steers had been entered in the fair. My husband explained that there aren't as many ranches anymore. That's certainly true--Southern Nevada Water Authority bought nearly all the ranches in Spring Valley in the last few years, taking away the opportunity of many young kids to get experience with farm animals and showmanship. It's one of the many unintended consequences of a huge water grab.

Cousin Alyshia had better control of her steer than she did just a few weeks ago. She obviously made good progress, and all her hours with the steer paid off.

It might have helped slightly that Alyshia's steer followed Clay's around and around. They already knew each other and felt comfortable. The steers didn't bat an eye when they passed the bleachers, which were filled with spectators.

Although the morning started off cool, the temperatures soon escalated into the high 90s. It made it much more of a challenge to stay cool and calm, but Alyshia managed to get a Reserve Grand Champion for showmanship. Way to go, Alyshia!

Meanwhile, Cousin Caleb was getting some words of advice from his dad for showing his lamb, Tony. 

Desert Boy liked petting Tony's soft wool.

Then Caleb let Desert Boy help walk Tony around. Desert Boy was enthralled with the experience. It won't be all that long until Desert Boy has his own sheep. I suppose I should try to learn a thing or two about sheep before then. At this point I think my knowledge would fill a thimble.

Although there was just one class of steers, there were many more sheep entries. They were divided into juniors, intermediates, and seniors.

The pigs were shown in a separate arena. We didn't get a chance to watch them there, but we did visit them in their barn. I love looking at the pigs. Apparently so did Desert Boy and Cousin Kayli.

Hey, look Mama, I'm right next to a big ole' pig!

I think Desert Boy would have brought that pig home with him if I had let him. 

But there was a way to distract Desert Boy--

--the bouncy castle! Desert Boy begged and begged to go into it, and finally it was time. He and Kayli jumped and jumped, scaled the ladders to go up to the high level,

and went down the big slide! They had a great time and ended up all sweaty with big smiles. 

I'm out of energy today, but tomorrow there will be more about the exhibit halls, auction, and booths. Although the White Pine County fair is small, it was fun!

The Fair Begins

Today I took Desert Boy into town to enter some things in the county fair. Everything was sort of last minute, some flower arranging, peppers from my garden, and cookies. My zucchini bread kept getting big indentations on it, so we'll just be enjoying that at home. (And let me tell you--chocolate chips do not negate the beneficial effects of the zucchini!)

We had record high temperatures today, and the lines at the fair were long. To make matters worse, Desert Boy decided it would be really fun to throw some temper tantrums. So the peppers never got entered, but the other things did. I didn't manage to take any photos today, but hopefully I will this weekend. 

And fortunately by Sunday the high is supposed to be 80. I am ready for some cool temperatures. Fair weekend is always miserably hot--at least in my experience, although my husband remembers some freezing temperatures when he used to participate. 

What did you enter in the fair? Or what would you like to enter next year?