Under a Moonlit Sky

 It's springtime on the ranch, which means my husband is spending a lot of time irrigating. He usually can't get everything done he wants to during the day, which means that the kids and I spend some time in the evenings going out to various places so he can move water. If I have my camera and binoculars, I'm a happy camper, because I enjoy photography and bird watching so much.

On this particular evening I asked my husband to just let me walk around. I found a cool sign with an almost full moon just above it.

I am fascinated by the moon, and keep trying to figure out good ways to get photos with it. I still have a bit to learn, but hopefully practice really will make perfect!

We moved to a different part of the meadow. The orange irrigating dams really stood out in the fading light.

The wind is often blowing, so it was nice to have a calm evening. It was taking awhile to move the dams, so I started wandering again.

I came across the gravesite of "Hockman Hand, Rest in Peace."

Not much further down the road is the Hockman Cemetery. I can't remember the whole story (it's in Graham Quate's book), but I think the Hockman hand shot at someone in the Hockman family, so he wasn't allowed into the family cemetery.

These old family cemeteries are found all over the area, little time capsules of what life was like and who used to live out under the vast open skies. I bet the moon looked the same to them back then, too.

Snow Survey 2014

We woke up yesterday to fresh snow in the mountains, and it reminded me of the snow survey I did the end of March that I never posted.

Snow surveys are conducted throughout the western U.S. to help predict stream flows. The Natural Resource Conservation Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, runs the program. In Great Basin National Park, three snow courses are found along Baker Creek. They were established in 1942 (when the land was managed by the U.S. Forest Service), and almost every year a snow survey is conducted at the end of February and the end of March.

Mark and I started near the Baker Creek campground on a snowy morning on April 1, the last day we could do it to be in time for the April 1 forecast.

By the time we walked/skiied up to the trailhead at 8,000 feet, the precipitation had stopped. But there was barely enough snow to ski on, and soon we were walking again.

Fortunately after the first site at 8250 ft, we found some nice snow. The sun came out, making a beautiful day. When I first started doing the snow survey about three years ago, it seemed so long. Now it just seems like a pleasant outing. (I still am sore at the end of the day, though!)

A smile from Mark, despite the skis picking up too much snow. It was right around freezing, and the snow was sticky.

The second site is usually cold because it's shady and down near the creek. This year it didn't seem too bad. At each snow course we took five measurements.

Here's Mark getting the tube ready to push into the snow. How far down will it go?

We measured the snow depth, how much snow was in the tube, and then weighed the tube to get the snow water equivalent, or how much water is in the snow. That's the most important measurement for forecasting.

I couldn't help but snap a few photos on the way up to the third site. The snow was deep enough to make some interesting patterns right near the creek.

It's a really cool feeling making fresh tracks in fresh snow. It had snowed the night before, and the trees still had lots of snow on them.

This slope had a huge avalanche in 2005 that went all the way down the side of the mountain, across the creek, and part way up the other side. I'm always fascinated to see who the vegetation is growing.

Finally we made it to the third site. This is the prettiest site, a large meadow. I could hang out here for a couple hours.

This site has an extra orange marker, which is an aerial marker. In the old days, a plane would fly by and an observer would get an estimate of snow depth by how much snow covered the marker. Today the NRCS has installed a network of Snotel sites that give them much more accurate information than the fly-by method.

Once we completed all the measurements, we headed back down the trail. The snow was melting faster, and we had some extra rocks to traverse. It was not the easy downhill we were hoping for.

And then the snow ran out. We had to take off our skis and hike. Boo.

We were really hoping that someone would have opened the gate and driven our vehicle for us up to the trailhead, but no such luck. We still had more hiking to do.

The silver lining is that we got to see a couple marmots! They were actually seen in late February this year.

It's cool to have such a long dataset to see how the snow depths and snow water equivalents have fluctuated over the years. Over the whole period, there is a slight downward trend, even though the overall precipitation record shows a slight increase. This indicates that we are getting more snow as rain than snow, which changes the timing for peak stream flow and how much water is stored as snow into later into the summer. Looks like times are a'changing!

Here's what the snow survey looked like in 2013 and 2012.

Desert Boy's Birthday Bash

 Desert Boy recently turned seven, and we decided to live it up with a trip to town with friends to go swimming. Before we left, Aunt Tana came over and gave Desert Boy his first lassoing lesson. He's got a little ways to go, but he thinks it's pretty cool.

Then we loaded up and headed to Delta, with the first stop at the playground. The kids immediately migrated towards the water. Wait--the swimming comes later! They didn't get that memo, they were ready to play in water!

We were able to lure them out with some pizza. Before long they were back on the playground equipment. I didn't have to plan any activities for this birthday, the kids took care of entertaining themselves!

I did want to head over to the Great Basin Museum, as my kids love it. It's only a short walk from the playground.

The model train fascinated some of them.

I think Isaac enjoyed the dress up box more!

Everyone was fascinated with the old foot x-ray machine from the shoe store. They didn't quite understand how they could keep seeing the x-ray of a foot even when someone put in their hand. Ha.

I was impressed with the trilobite display. Millard County is a world-class trilobite location, and trilobites that are found in souvenir stores around the country come from here.

Then we went into the rock room, and the volunteer turned off the overhead lights. Then she switched on other lights, and suddenly the grey-looking rocks suddenly looked much different!

Some of the kids weren't that excited to go to a museum. But once they got in it, they didn't stop finding things that caught their attention.

 Old typewriters and telephones were a novelty to them.

Then it was on to the main attraction: the swimming pool! The West Millard swimming pool is huge, with a kiddie area, main pool, and diving area.

Even the youngest member of our group got in on the action!

A couple of the intrepid went off the high dive.

We brought some floaties, which the kids loved.

Afterwards it was time for more snacks on the patio. What a fun day!

I think everyone slept well that night. Happy birthday, Desert Boy. Thanks for a good excuse to go have some fun with friends!

Our Chicks--a Sad Tale

 We moved our chicks out of the house and into the chicken coop (an old shower house next to the garage) when they started pooping all over the house. They took to it well. So did I. I don't like poop.

We also finished the chicken tractor. My husband adapted an old swing set.

The chicks liked the chicken tractor okay, but they really loved free ranging. The first night wasn't so great, though, with us running after them, trying to catch them to put them away.

We read up about how to put chicks away and the next night turned on their light early, had treats ready, and had a big red rake to herd them. We went out, and they were all in the coop already. We thought they were brilliant. Well, almost. There's a reason there's a term 'bird brain.'

The following day we put them in the chicken tractor for awhile, but it was so hard to catch them. We hoped they would be hard for predators to catch too. We left them for awhile free ranging, and they did just fine. They stayed close to the coop, went under things when they felt threatened, and headed into the coop if they spotted a hawk.

I felt good about them free ranging, having their freedom, being tough and strong birds. But I also figured we might lose one or two, so we made plans for my husband to get three more from town today while he was doing errands.

Then calamity struck. It was not a good chicken day. This morning my brother shared news that all ten of their chicks had disappeared. I felt so sad for them.

This afternoon when I got home I saw our three chicks were doing fine and smiled to myself. Seeing them peck the ground, eating all those ants made me happy. (I sure enjoy it when the simple things of life make me happy!)

We went inside for a bit, and not half an hour later I went out to check on the chicks. I went over to the coop and found just one. Not a good sign. Then our dog brought one up to the front steps, dead, in plain sight of the kids and me and our friends. The other one was still missing, and I figured its chances were slim to none. While the kids hunted for it, I called my husband to tell him to pick up some extras, but he told me that the two places that had chickens had stopped selling them. They could order 25 for us. We're not ready for 25.

Our chicken adventure hasn't turned out quite like I was hoping. We only have one left, and it's the one we think is a rooster.

We're not sure what we're going to do at this point. Hopefully those of you reading this who have chickens have much happier stories! And if you don't have chickens, we hope you have better luck than us if you ever get them.

Backyard Bird Bonanza

As expected, springtime has been an excellent time for some backyard bird watching. We really got lucky last Saturday when the wind held still and we had lots of outdoor chores. We added mallards (flying by our yard), barn swallows (I love seeing them eat insects in the air and watching their acrobatics), a grackle (Desert Boy and I couldn't agree on which species), a bullock's oriole (pictured above--a wonderfully colorful bird that I had Desert Boy figure out), a house sparrow (not very exciting, but the first time this year we saw one in the yard), Brewer's blackbird (their relative red-winged blackbirds are near, but still not seen or heard in the yard), broad-tailed hummingbird (so fun to hear fly over), western kingbird (a true sign of summer), and yellow-rumped warbler (a favorite). We're up to 29, with a goal of 50 for the Desert Survivor Backyard Bird Challenge.

Both Desert Boy and Desert Girl are getting better at identifying the common birds, and some just by sound. I'm hoping we can go to some bird events this summer to fuel their fun.

What are you seeing in your backyard?