Sunny Sledding

 We celebrated when we got snow a few weeks back by going for a sledding trip with friends. We had enough snow that we could even sled in a gravel pit in the valley. Usually we have to go up in the mountains to sled.

Now the valleys are bare of snow, but I wanted to share these photos to send support to friends and family back East who are getting lots of snow right now!

 We had lots of smiles! It was warm enough that Desert Boy didn't want his coat anymore. I convinced him that keeping his gloves on was a really good idea.

 At first Desert Girl and Isaac were really cautious about sledding, only going down two-foot high hills. It didn't take them long to warm up to the idea, though, and their smiles made everyone happy.

 What nice teamwork coming back up the hill!

 The dogs certainly got into the action.

 Zeek thought sledding was a wonderful game.

 Desert Boy got some good instruction on turning a sled.

As the kids started showing signs of wearing out, it was time for the final moment:

hot chocolate!

What a fun afternoon.

Sneaking in Some Biking

 We are at the point where we're wishing some of those storms in the rest of the country would come and dump on us--it's been a paltry winter! Nevertheless, we have to admit that the warm weather can be nice, and we've taken advantage of it to get Desert Girl some bike riding time. She's hesitant on her own, but with friends, she gets into it.

 She even did some stunt riding one day--going down the curb. That's big stuff for a little girl with training wheels!

 Some of the faces she pulls totally crack me up.

 I caught Ava with a funny face. Her helmet is awesome.

 It's great to be outside!

Here's the line up. Let's go riding!

Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge--Check In Week One *Updated

*Updated bird identifications--see below

Western Scrub-Jay on feeder

Are you taking Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge? It's easy: How many birds can you find in your backyard this year? Keep a list (we have one in the sidebar now), and add to it each time you find something new.

The kids and I are having a lot of fun with the challenge. I'm impressed with how well they are learning the common birds in the yard. To help encourage birds to come to the yard, we've been putting out birdseed. Both kids love to spread seed.

The most common birds are pinyon jays, which come in a raucous and rowdy group, and the tiny dark-eyed juncos, which don't seem to mind the commotion and go about their business picking up seeds.

Nevertheless, we did get some different birds to our yard:

Cassin's *House Finch (Updated--thank you, kind birder!) The flash of red caught my eye and I couldn't help but do a little happy dance!

Then I saw the tiniest glimpse of yellow:

A pine siskin.  *I thought it was a pine siskin, but really it's a female house finch. Those tricky females! Pine siskins should be around, so we'll keep looking! Pine siskins live higher up the mountain in the summer, where they like to be in pine trees. But in the winter, they come down to the valleys to find food. Pine siskins are also finches, and they like to hang out in mixed flocks, which explains why I saw both these birds on the feeder at the same time.

We got some great close-up views of those pinyon jays. We enjoy watching how the birds move around and interact.

We started our challenge on February 1, and as of February 8, we are up to 14 backyard birds. We should add a couple more winter birds this next week, as we've seen and heard some close to our yard, but not in/from our yard yet. Keeping a list is helping us keep our interest up.

I'd love to hear in the comments or on the Desert Survivor Facebook page how your challenge is going.
Happy birding!

Traffic Jam on a Seventy-Mile Stretch of Road without Services

 When you're driving on a seventy-mile stretch of road with no services, no stoplights, no stop signs, and only one house, you don't expect to slam on the brakes. But that's exactly what I had to do when I saw that the road was blocked by traffic. It wasn't exactly the traffic you see most places. This was a huge flock of sheep.

Open-range laws are in effect here, where the sheep have the right-of-way. The open range goes back in history. Until barbed wire was invented in the 1870s, it was much easier to fence places where you wanted to keep livestock out, rather than to keep them in. Gradually practices changed, but there are still a few places in the American West where you can find open range.

 I didn't mind stopping and watching the sheep pass by. I think sheep are kind of cute!

 It was a steady stream of sheep crossing the road.

 Occasionally a brown sheep passed by. The sheep owner usually puts in one brown sheep for every 25 or 50 white sheep so they can be counted more easily. Also, an occasional sheep has on a sheep bell, ringing loudly as the sheep moves so that the sheepherder can follow the sheep by sound.

 One sheepherder, along with a couple dogs, can easily move a couple thousand sheep. Many of the sheepherders these days come from Peru and Mexico. About a hundred years ago, many of them came from Basque country in northern Spain, which accounts for the large number of Basque restaurants in places like Elko, Nevada.

After all the sheep had crossed the road, a large sheep dog followed casually. The sheep dogs help protect the sheep and are often a little scary, but this one was friendlier than usual. Still, I wouldn't want to get out of the vehicle.

Well, our little traffic jam only lasted about five minutes. I could easily live with that. Our quick stop also reinforced that you shouldn't go anywhere without your camera!

The Heifers are Calving!

 Last weekend we went out to the Circle Field on the ranch to see the heifers. Heifers are first time moms, and they are starting to calve. In fact, quite a few had already had their babies. I always feel a special connection with the heifers right around Desert Girl's birthday (also this last weekend), because both cows and humans are pregnant for nine months. We don't have too much else in common (oh my, that could be the subject of another post!).

We drove around, checking out the heifers and their calves.

This little calf--reddish in color, caught my eye. Most of the heifers are artificially inseminated with black angus semen, as the black angus do well in our climate. Some red angus genes may be mixed in with this calf.

 It was a cloudy day, and the whole scene was a little surreal.

 Many of the calves were nursing.

 We even found a newly born calf (no ear tag). The mama was licking the calf, cleaning it and stimulating it to breathe well and soon to eat. Those little babies (about 40 pounds) sure are cute!

 This older calf was a little frisky, running through the snow.

Run, little calf, run and play!

I was following along with my camera, not looking ahead, so when I saw this reunion between the calf and its mama, it caught me by surprise. The little calf knew exactly where to go!

Every few days the cowboys move the calves with their mamas to a different pasture so that it's easier to take care of the newborn calves.

Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge

Hello! Are you ready for a challenge? This is a fun one, doesn't take much time, no money, but is quite fulfilling. 

Join us for the Backyard Bird Challenge! 

Inspired by my friend Kevin, a serious birder in the St. George area, this year we are keeping track of the birds we see in our backyard (and front yard and side yard and over the yard). 

How do you do it? 

Just find a piece of paper, start making a list, and put it in an easy-to-reach place (we're keeping it on the refrigerator). We decided on February 1 as our starting date, as we wanted to keep track of the first date that we see a bird so that if we do this year after year, we'll know about when the spring and summer birds showing up and if they're early or late for the year.

Here's our list after two days:

 And we added three more on February 3: Great Horned Owl, European Starling, and Western Scrub-Jay.

Our goal is to get 50 birds this year. I think that's enough to be a bit challenging, but still doable.

For those of you enveloped in snow, yes, you can begin now! In fact, it's easier to start learning birds in winter because there aren't as many around!

 This Dark-eyed Junco is one of several year-round residents of the Great Basin.

Here are several websites that are great for learning more about birds:
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Audubon's How to Identify Birds
National Geographic's Backyard Bird Identifier
Common Feeder Birds

And for even more inspiration, the Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up February 14-17, and is a fun way to join others in a citizen science project from the comfort of your own home!

Good luck counting, and let us know what you find!

 Great Horned Owl mom and baby--in a tree near our house three summers ago! Maybe we'll get lucky again this summer.

Happy birding!

Desert Survivor's Tips to Eating Healthier

I've had some questions from blog readers about how we are eating now that we've given up a lot of processed foods and are eating more real foods. First, let me say that this is definitely a journey--we keep making baby steps towards a better diet. We sure do feel better when we eat better, though, so it's something we're going to keep working on.

In reading through various blogs and websites, it's become apparent that it's good to give yourself a little leeway. We try to eat 80% real food and allow 20% processed food (often breakfast cereals, an occasional frozen pizza, ice cream sundae, etc.).

Also, if you're curious about the difference between a real food diet, which allows non-processed foods from many categories, and a paleo diet, which allows non-processed foods from selected categories (no dairy, no legumes), this is an excellent article.

The only processing this crab received was boiling water.

Here are some of the things we do to eat more real food:

1. Read the food labels. This is simple, but really effective. If you don't know what the ingredients are, they probably aren't good for you! Things that I particularly look out for:
    a. Food dyes. Several food dyes have been linked to hyperactivity in children. I now use the ones we have in our house for science experiments and use natural food coloring as much as possible (see this post about coloring Easter eggs).
    b. High fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup may not be any worse nutritionally than sugar, but it is more highly processed. We try to limit the amount of any sweeteners we use, as our ancestors had substantially less of it, and the amazing amount we ingest today as a society is causing all sorts of health problems, like obesity and diabetes.
    c. Caramel color. Often found in cola and barbecue sauce, and sometimes in beer. Causes cancer.
    d. Monosodium glutamate or 'natural flavorings'. Can cause trouble for some people. Although it may be okay for many, it's a sign of highly processed foods. Found in many canned soups, top ramen, bouillon cubes, and other foods my kids seem to like a lot (sigh).

Vegetable and chicken Indian curry in coconut milk--I enjoyed it just as
much the next day for lunch, but didn't spend much more time doubling
the recipe.

2. Cook from scratch--and double the recipe! Yes, it takes longer to cook meals from scratch, but by doing so, you are getting a better tasting, healthier meal. To help save time, make double the amount and then freeze or refrigerator the leftovers. It will only take a little longer to make two meals' worth, but will save you quite a bit of extra prep and clean-up time. Some simple substitutions we've made to make our cooking from scratch healthier:
    a. Whole wheat flour - I can often substitute 1/3 to 1/2 of the all-purpose flour called for in a recipe with whole wheat flour and not notice the difference.
    b. Butter - we always use butter now. It's a natural product, nothing weird added, no extreme processing.
    c. Whole wheat pasta - here's a super easy switch--when you buy pasta in the store, opt for the whole wheat pasta. It usually just costs pennies more but has lots more nutrients.
    d. Brown rice/wild rice - another easy switch--white rice has had its nutrients stripped out of it, so buy the brown rice or wild rice and you'll be getting a much healthier option.

Strawberry with chia seeds

3. Breakfasts - You've heard it before, don't skip breakfast! I have to admit, my kids often preferred store bought cereals to the alternatives below. But we're working on it.
    a. Home-made granola - Here's a delicious granola recipe. But I will admit, I am still searching for the perfect recipe. Here's one I'm going to try soon. If you have a suggestion, let me know, because I love granola.
    b. Yogurt - I've experimented with making my own yogurt and it is pretty easy and so much cheaper! It also contains so much less sugar than most store-bought yogurts. If you do buy the yogurt, just read the label--yogurt ingredients can vary a lot.
    c. Eggs and meat - eggs are generally not processed, so they're a good real food. And bacon can be a great side, especially if you can buy it local without the processing much of the store-bought bacon gets.
    d. Whole wheat pancakes - here's a recipe we like. I'll make double the dry ingredients and store them in a jar so the next time we make them they're even faster.
    e. Muffins - our favorites right now are Banana chocolate chip muffins (okay, chocolate chips are a little processed, but hopefully all the healthiness outweighs that!). I'll usually freeze the extras so that I only have to make a batch once a week or so.
    f. Smoothies - green smoothies are delicious. I put fruit and greens into containers in the freezer so I'm more likely to take them out and dump them into the blender. Easy prep means more likely to eat!
    g. Fruit - don't forget the fruit! This is easy and fast: bananas, oranges, grapefruit, apple slices, berries, and more!

School lunch: leftover pasta and cheese, hard-boiled egg, strawberries and grapes, half a banana, and some applesauce in a reusable Nourish with Style container.

4. Lunches
Our lunches are often leftovers. I don't like cooking again, we don't exactly have a lot (or even a few) options for eating out, and pre-packaged food can be pricey. We usually have access to a microwave, so this works well for us.

Frozen 100% juice in cool containers has replaced popsicles for us

5. Snacks
    a. Fruit - my heart swells with my pride when my kids ask, "Can we have an apple or an orange for a snack?" We try to keep lots of fruit easily available. If it's easy to see and eat, that's the choice!
    b. Popcorn - microwave popcorn is convenient but full of weird chemicals so we make our own: buy regular popcorn, sprinkle the bottom of a lunch bag or small paper bag with kernels, roll over the top and microwave for about 2.5-3 minutes. Nearly as easy but healthier!
    c. Cheese - cheese is our go-to snack when we're a little hungrier
    d. Hard-boiled eggs - this is a simple, little-processsed food (heating is technically processing, but we're not concerned about that)
    e. Veggies - I can get my kids to eat veggies the best if we grow them in the garden. Sometimes if they pick them out at the store that helps. Instead of chips, I often give them carrots to munch on.
    f. Frozen juice - in the summer my kids love popsicles, but if you read the ingredients, they're often full of high fructose corn syrup and food colorings. So we freeze 100% juice in Silicone Ice Pop Makers, and it is now the special occasional treat that tastes even better.
    g. Applesauce - we only buy unsweetened applesauce now, and the kids like it a lot. If we put it into  special reusable Nourish with Style containers, they like it even better, and I am happy because the containers are reusable!

Making the food look appealing keeps the kids eating it!

6. Dinners
    a. Two veggies and a meat - We live on a cattle ranch, so meat is a primary part of many of our meals. We usually eat beef four times a week, chicken/lamb/hog twice a week, and fish/meatless once a week. We ideally have two veggies, or a hot vegetable and a salad, with the meal. Note that I said ideally--this doesn't happen every night!
    b. Carbs-sweet potatoes, brown rice - We've really cut down on the carbs with a meal, because we feel with the meat and veggies our hunger is satisfied. When we do want some extra carbs, we will try for sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes to get extra nutrients, brown rice instead of white rice, quinoa, or whole wheat pasta.
    c. Dessert? We all have a sweet tooth, so we often have dessert after dinner. At least two or three times a week we try to make fruit our dessert. Okay, sometimes we count chocolate-covered fruit as a fruit dessert. Other desserts are homemade cakes and cookies, and occasionally ice cream (sometimes homemade, but usually store bought.) Moderation is the key, just read the ingredient labels and find what you'd like to put in your body. And if you're willing to make the dessert, it's probably okay to have some of it.

Locally grown brussel sprouts

7. Where to buy?
    a. Grocery stores - Fortunately many grocery stores are catching on that people want healthier food, and selections are expanding. We often try to shop the edges of the grocery store, where the produce, meat, and dairy are located. My son told me that the donuts are also on the edge of the grocery store. He's thinking ahead!
   b. Co-ops - Food co-ops can be great places to get healthy food for a little cheaper. We're lucky to have Azure Standard available out where we are, and that's recently become available nationwide (or so I've heard). Bountiful Baskets is a wonderful option, although I find that since our nearest pickup site is over an hour away, I don't get to use it as much as I like.
   c. Farmer's Markets - If you have a farmer's market near you, use it! This is a wonderful resource! We don't have one near us, but we do try to buy from farm stands when in season and trade with friends who have gardens.

Health food stores are also a great option (unfortunately we don't have any near us). It's also now possible to buy good food from online, such as Abe's Market or even Amazon.

Elderberries are purported to have many health benefits, and since they grow
in my area, I'm going to try and use them more this next year.

Hopefully you've found something useful in this post. I'd love to hear more ideas of how to make simple changes to eat better. As I mentioned at the beginning, eating healthier is a journey. We are all at different points along that journey, but no matter where we are, each step we take in the right direction is something to celebrate.

The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, which mean if you click through them and buy something from Amazon within 24 hours (even if it's different than what the link leads to), I'll get a small commission for the sale, and you'll still get the same low price you would get regularly. That helps me keep Desert Survivor up and running, so thanks!

In Celebration of Snow

We have had such a dry January that we've been praying for precipitation. Wanting snow probably sounds crazy to those of you who have more than you know what to do with it, but we haven't gotten any all month. So when we woke up this morning to snow on the ground, we did a little snow dance. Then Desert Girl put on her snow gear and we went outside.

The first order of business was to catch some snowflakes on our tongues. We were successful!

Then Desert Girl couldn't resist making some snow angels. (and catching more snowflakes on her tongue)

Next it was time to look at tracks:

Ours

Our dog, Henry's tracks

And can you figure out these?

 These are snow tracks. Meaning snow left the impressions--after it fell off a power line.

 We had to include a little snowball fight.

 I love looking at the snow patterns everywhere, although they can be challenging to photograph. We have almost two inches of snow this morning, and it's supposed to snow all day, bringing us a couple more inches.  Let it snow!