Irrigating, Bones, Cows, and More

 It was my husband's day off and he said he just needed to spend "a few minutes" irrigating. I raised my eyebrow--as much as I could raise just one eyebrow--and pursed my lips. "Plus driving time," he amended. I sighed and agreed to go. If that was the only way we could spend time with him, we might as well make the best of it. I grabbed my camera, as I figured there would be a good chance of some fun photo opportunities.

 The kids were happy to go on a little trek, Desert Boy in his new cowboy boots that are too big (but much preferable to his better-fitting gym shoes), and Desert Girl in her ladybug irrigating boots. She's been wearing those almost every day for over a week. The kids are getting pretty good at negotiating barbed wire.

 While my husband moved irrigation dams, I found myself interested in pollinators on the rabbitbrush. The huge eyes on the fly help explain why it can be so hard to get one with a flyswatter--they see it coming from a long way away!

 Here's a different fly. Although we often think of flies as pesky, most are actually really important to the ecosystems around us, helping to pollinate and perform other functions. If we could just put up signs at our houses and campsites for them to stay away!

 The kids trailed Dad, checking out the sprayed thistle on the way.

 At our next site I found some lovely sunflowers attracting a wide variety of insects.

 At our next stop (oh, yes, we had many stops and driving over bumpy tracks!),the kids spotted something that they had been looking for. It was across the ditch, so they needed help getting over.

 Daddy's hip waders made it easy.

What were they looking for?

 Why, bones, of course! We didn't find any at the first site, but we did find a couple at the second site, along with a dead cow that will be a good bone source in a couple of years. The kids occupied themselves with taking bones over to the edge of the ditch and matching them up. Some of them came home with us. Desert Boy still lists paleontologist as one of his top ten career choices. (National Fossil Day is coming up on October 17--we'll be celebrating!)

 My husband didn't want to carry me across the ditch (why not?), so I wandered down the track to the next stopping spot.

 I found a lovely cow out in the meadow.

 Then I came across a crowd of cows near some dead trees. This used to be a homestead, but has long been abandoned. Although the humans had fled to more populated places, the cows were happy hanging out there. Most of them took a break from chewing their cud and got up to take a look at me. Cows are curious creatures.

 As I watched the cows taking a few steps and pausing, looking at me, then taking a few more steps, I started thinking of them fashion models.

 Here's one sauntering through the meadow. Swing those hips, babe! Show off that eartag.

 They have the look down pat.

 Hello, ladies.

Before they could get really close, my husband came with the kids and the bones. Some of the bones were a bit on the smelly side and we had to leave them behind. Another year and we'll pick them up.

This turkey vulture may help clean those bones.

It was a fun morning. Even though it took a few hours instead of a few minutes!

School Photos

 We had school photos this week. It was Desert Girl's second year going--it's such an effort to get to a professional photographer, so I am grateful to get her photo done as a preschooler! I asked Carmela to come and help do her hair. I wanted a really simple style, and Carmela can do anything with Desert Girl's hair.

 We were the first ones there, so I had the kids pose while I took some photos of them out on the lawn.

 They are such cuties! (Naw, I couldn't be biased at all :)

 When I asked them to hold hands, they goofed around a bit.

 Some of Desert Boy's friends arrived, and that meant it was time to play.

 The kids ran and ran. They have so much energy. Every day Desert Boy says he wishes he had more time to play.

 Once inside the gym, we found the photographer still had a couple things to do. So I asked the teacher if we could get a group shot.

 Here's the K-1-2 class. And most are looking at the camera, which I think is pretty remarkable! The school is mostly boys, which is funny because the 3-6 is mostly girls, as is the preschool.

 We just had a few preschoolers show up, but they wanted their own photo.

Desert Girl had her photo taken in front of the screen, and then we asked the photographer if he would take shots of both kids together. He said yes, which made me very happy. While he took his photos, I couldn't resist snapping a few, too.

We had some funny ones, but I did get one I liked quite a bit. Hopefully the official ones turn out well, too.

An Interesting Walk

 We had so much fun at our beach out in the desert that we went back a couple days later. It was a hot afternoon, and usually I try to keep the kids out of the sun in the middle of the day, but since school was starting soon, it was time to make an exception. We lathered on the sunscreen, found our sun hats, and headed out.

 Big storm clouds loomed in the not-so-distant horizon. We kept a close eye on them, not wanting to be in a large body of water if lightning struck. Maybe it would just feel like a little tingle, but maybe not.

 When the water is high enough, the lake is a reservoir, storing water for irrigation. Gradually, the winter and spring accumulation of water is decreased due to agricultural use and evaporation so that water doesn't even reach the dam outlet.

 The lower water levels mean that there is plenty of sand for everyone. You can also walk out a long way from shore and still only be knee deep in water. During high water, the lake is high enough for my husband and me to flip our 15' Laser multiple times and never have the mast touch bottom. This time of year, it might be hard to find places you can't touch bottom.

 The kids and dogs were having a blast.

 Desert Boy and Sam hanging out in the big float tube.

 After swimming awhile, we decided it was time for an adventure walk. I love adventure walks, as we never quite know what we're going to find. I encouraged Desert Boy to collect some shells for a future craft project (which paid off with a blue ribbon in the fair!).

 This photo is for my friends Kris and Amanda, who love foot shots! Note how our feet are still relatively clean. Not all the sand was so kind to us...

 Just a little ways down the beach we found oozy, gooey mud. If anyone wants some, I'll go back and bottle it for you and sell it to you for $50. I'm sure it's good for your skin.

 Not all was beach. We also found rocks (with fun water lines).

 Ava and Desert Boy kept their shell buckets close.

 The cloud cover had cooled off the rock so it was bearable for walking on bare foot. Or scooting down.

 We did get a little hot on the walk, so we just waded into the lake and cooled off. Then we continued walking. I thought that was so cool.

 Ava had lots of smiles.

 Finally we got to the part of the lake I wanted to get to--the side with lots of California floaters. These are large mussels that are native to the area. They live in the mud, but when they die they float to the surface and the wind pushes them to the edge of the lake. The kids had a great time hunting for them. I managed to forget to take photos of them!

 Desert Girl was so happy sitting in the one-inch deep mud and spreading it on herself.

 Isaac soon joined her.

 Somehow the kids talked Jenny into carrying their shell buckets!

 Maybe it was so they could have a running contest!

On the way back we discovered something interesting--and by Ava's reaction, gross: a catfish head. That's one big catfish! Thinking about it makes me have some second thoughts about swimming in the lake!