Getting Ready for Christmas

 We've been counting down on our Advent calendar and lighting candles on our Advent wreath (Desert Boy especially likes it this year because we let him light the candles). We've also had a visit to Santa, where Desert Boy told him he wanted "something good to happen to him."

What did Desert Girl want?

 She didn't say.

While we were in town we checked out Ely's huge Christmas tree, along with a visit to the Art Bank to see the ever-changing array of art for sale and on display.

Last weekend it was time for us to get our own Christmas tree. We got a $4 BLM permit and went up the mountain in search of the perfect tree. Except we were looking in an area without many white firs, the kind of tree we wanted this year. That just meant a little extra hiking on a very nice day.

We eventually found the tree. It was a little big. We didn't let that stop us.

We had to cut down the tree twice so that we could actually fit it into the back of the truck.

The kids did a great job decorating it. (Can you spot any of our solar system ornaments?) Most of the ornaments are on the lower part of the tree, but we managed to get a few higher up.

Last night we enjoyed a Christmas banquet with delicious food and outstanding music. And the amazing sunset is a prelude to a winter storm expected to arrive later today and bring snow. So it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Solar System Ornaments

 I've been thinking about the solar system lately, so when a friend posted a photo of Solar System Christmas ornaments on her Facebook page, I was intrigued. That would be so cool to have the planets on our Christmas tree! The only problem was that the blown glass ornaments cost $375. Ouch.

But how hard could it be to make our own? Christmas ornaments are usually in the same shape as planets, so all we would have to do is apply some paint. We found an assortment of ornaments, and although they aren't quite the right size, Jupiter is the largest and Mercury the smallest. (Sorry, Pluto, you got left out this time.)

 We found washable poster paint worked really well. Simple paper plates and paper towels helped with keeping things tidy.

We found an illustration of the planets and used that as our guide for how to paint them. having the hangar at the top of the ornament was a great help in keeping a little cleaner.

We let the planets dry on paper plates and applied some rings to Saturn (a stretch bracelet and hair band.)

Then we were all set: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Now we'll get to enjoy the planets both inside and outside our house! We may even try to line up the planets in order on the Christmas tree.

What's your favorite Christmas ornament?

Antelope Springs Cave and More

 It's been a number of years since I've been to Antelope Springs Cave, and I hadn't seen the whole cave the first time. The circumstances turned out right to go again, largely to a caver friend coming for a visit. We gathered three adults and two kids and got the permit and key to the gated cave and headed out on a sunny day (back in October--I'm a little behind on posting!).

 There's a small shelter cave just below the real cave entrance that provides very nice views.

Then we reached the main entrance, with a bat-friendly gate. The entrance drop is about twenty feet. The boys decided they wanted to be lowered into the cave rather than rappelling in.

The adults all rappelled into the chamber, which opened up.

We soon faced choices. Down a little hole in the floor, or down a slope that turned into a climb? We had a map from the BLM, but it was at a small scale so hard to decipher. I knew one passage I particularly wanted to visit, so we headed that way. A lot of Antelope Springs Cave consists of a tube with domes and floors that suddenly drop off.

We found some wonderful colors in the rock and formation.

We also found a lot of tight spots. We had to try some. Here's Desert Boy going through one. A couple adults went through this little hole too. The cave is warm, but when you're belly crawling, it feels even warmer.

There's not a lot of graffiti in the cave, but some. We explained cave conservation to the boys and how it is really bad form (not to mention illegal) to spray paint or write on the walls. We also explained how the arrows usually show the way out of the cave. However, sometimes the people don't know the way out, like shown below.

We spent a fun few hours looking around. This is a challenging cave, with lots of climbing, steep dropp offs, and slippery slopes. At one point I even made a webbing harness and we belayed the boys with another piece of webbing. Eventually we decided it was time to go, particularly when we got to a very slippery spot with a long, steep slope. I wanted to have the boys tied in for that, but we didn't have enough extra webbing or rope with us. So we played it safe and headed back. There are a lot of potentially dangerous places in this cave where it would be easy to break a leg, so we went slow. And as you can see from the photos, we all had helmets, multiple lights, gloves, knee pads, and some even had elbow pads.

To get the boys out we used a traveling haul system. This is a haul system that moves with the patient, and although it's not as quick as a haul from the top, it could be useful in some situations. Plus it's good to practice those rescue skills regularly! For the first boy, we had the boy push up the upper ascender (a Pantin). He could only move it up about a foot at a time, so we had a lot of resets. For Desert Boy, we put a webbing leash on the Pantin that could be pulled from the top, and that worked really well. The only extra gear used besides the regular Frog system were two pulleys and a piece of webbing.

Although Desert Boy enjoyed his free ride up, we'll be doing some vertical training soon to get him ready for the climbing contests at the 2016 NSS Convention in Ely, Nevada.

The light of day is always a welcome sight after a satisfying cave trip.

After we refueled, we went to the public land near U-Dig Fossils and spent some time looking for trilobites. We didn't find many, but we did see a few, including very small ones.

Breaking rocks was a lot of fun.

Another stop on the way back was Hermit's Cave in Marjum Canyon.

We found some supplies there for the Apocalypse. The mice had found them too, unfortunately.

We also noticed some climbing bolts in the area--something we may have to return and try out.

One of our group got a flat tire, so we had to go slow. That let us get some spectacular views of Notch Peak, the highest limestone cliff in North America.

During the whole day I think we saw only one or two other vehicles. These are remote places!

Simplifying the Morning Routine

My kids are really good with their nightly go-to-bed routine: brush teeth, put on pajamas, have one story ready to each of them, then lights out. My husband does it all in less than fifteen minutes.

But the morning routine? We were hurting when school began this fall. Desert Boy forgot his lunch a couple times, forgot his homework, didn't feed the chickens. He even missed the bus one day. Not to mention that he was often really crabby and he cried because he didn't think he was getting enough computer time.

Something had to change.

I decided to write out a morning list. What a difference it made! The very next morning, Desert Boy had everything done and was happily playing on the computer for fifteen minutes before leaving, proclaiming he had finished his list. And nearly every morning has been like that.

I made a list for Desert Girl, too, so she wouldn't feel left out. But she can't read, so I drew her list. You can see I need to work on my artwork!

I did make one addition after the original list, a five-minute clean up. Just that quick clean up helps make me much happier, as the kids pick up the obvious things they've left out.

Lunch has not been forgotten, and Desert Boy hasn't missed the bus. Once in awhile the chickens are still in the coop, but usually they are fine. And Desert Boy still has time to play on electronics, in fact more time than before because he knows exactly what he has to do each and every morning and has gotten into a routine with it.

In the morning, I simply ask, "Did you finish your list?" Sometimes the kids will double check it, but usually they enthusiastically reply, "Yes!" And I smile.

If only all my problems could be solved so simply!

2014 Turkey Shoot

 The annual Turkey Shoot was reinstated last year to the community's delight. It's a fundraiser for local causes. And as much as we'd like to shoot at non-native turkeys, we shoot at targets, and the winners take home turkeys.

This year the whole family participated (although we weren't so good at getting photos of everyone). Even Desert Girl gave it a try, and although she didn't hit her target, she said she liked it.
The temperature was great, but it was really windy.

Daisy showed her shooting prowess, winning a turkey. I hope I can shoot as well as she does when I'm her age.

I think this year was the biggest turnout ever, which meant we had some time for conversation. Sometimes it was a little hard to hear wearing ear protection, but we all managed.

Here's Jenny in the 50 yd rifle. I was really happy with how I shot in this competition, with two bullseyes, two in the black around the bullseye, and one just outside the black. It was good enough for second. The lady who won first place had five bullseyes. I guess I know what I need to do next year!

Here's me looking a little discombobulated (what a great word, right?) as I get ready for the 25 yd .22 contest.

In the afternoon a double rainbow appeared. If I moved in just the right spot, the end of the rainbow was right at the target.

A new addition this year was kids' archery. They had a blast trying to pop the balloons.

Desert Boy did some good shooting.

We ended up taking home a couple turkeys (fortunately my husband shot better than me) and a couple cornish game hens that the kids won. It was a fun day and great to see folks showing off their shooting skills. And to top it off, it was a good fundraiser.