Run Like a Goose at the Delta Snow Goose Festival

Delta, Utah holds an annual Snow Goose Festival late every February. Thousands of snow geese congregate as they rest on their migration from the Imperial Valley in California to northwestern Canada, near the Anderson River. In Delta, they forage in the nearby agricultural fields and also rest on the open water. To our surprise, there wasn't much open water, but fortunately enough near the reservoir inlet to allow them to have some space.

Although we like birds, I have to admit that what attracts us the most is the Wild Goose Chase, a 5K/10K run. The last two years the weather was miserable, and I decided that we weren't going to sign up until the week of the race, and only if the weather forecast was good. Fortunately this year the weather cooperated.

 Desert Girl did her pre-race dance moves sporting her princess running outfit (complete with light-up glitter princess shoes, apparently what every princess runs in.)

 After the 5k race, we posed for a family photo. I'm not sure why we can't all look at the camera at the same time!

 Several other folks from our area also ran (and did very well!), and we took a group photo by the edge of the reservoir. An excavator had moved away the thick ice for the upcoming Dunk, Dunk, Goose.

 Before that started, though, it was time for the kids race. They could do either 1/4 mile or 1 mile. Both our kids chose the 1/4 mile race. Desert Girl stood by herself and waited patiently. Desert Boy went up to the other boys, and I was amazed to hear them all trash talking:
"I'm going to win the race." 
"No, I am." 
"Well, I'm taller than you, so I'm going to win." 
"I'm 6, so that means I'm going to win." 
Oh, my!

 The shirts were adorable. Desert Boy sported the shirt from last year (the red "baby goose chase"), while runner #474 had on this year's shirt, a nice tech shirt.

 Desert Girl came in dead last, but had an awesome time running. She was so much into the spirit of things. She is still running whenever she can, because she knows she is a super runner, and she wants to get ready for her next race (whenever that might be!).

 We saw the Dunk, Dunk, Goose participants from afar--it made me cold just to watch them!

Then we went in search of food. First we went to another part of the reservoir, where we found a paltry three booths, and only pizza and donuts as food offerings. I guess the cold and wind of years past scared off vendors. So we went to the fairgrounds, where we found the quilt show and quite a few vendors, but only one food booth. We bought some food and headed outside as there wasn't anyplace to eat inside, and ate in the parking lot.

After a stop at the playground, we went to the West Millard Swimming Pool. I had called ahead but had gotten no answer (or answering machine), so we were sad when we found a sign saying the pool was closed to be replastered. (Swimming after the Wild Goose Chase has become a tradition, and is such a nice way for the kids to have fun and the adults to work out sore muscles!) To try and quench the kids' tears, we went to McDonald's and redeemed the ice cream coupons they had received in their race packs. While I was in the restroom, a nice lady from Tooele who had come down for the festival asked if I had seen the geese. I said just from very far away, as so much of the reservoir was covered with ice. She gave me directions to a spot that was close to the geese, and we had a great viewing spot!

 One photographer was at the edge with a lens nearly as big as him!

We hung out in the warm sun and watched and listened to the geese for awhile. They are truly spectacular.

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.

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.

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!

Outside Time

 We recently went to one of Desert Girl's friend's houses for a birthday party, and with the weather being so mild, enjoyed playing around in the yard. Even Jenny got into the swing of things. (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

 The kids thought the tire swing was the best.

 The birthday girl. She was content with short sleeves.

 The moms got into the action, and the dogs were so grateful!

 Desert Girl's time on the tire swing.

 They also had a large rope tied to the tree that was fun for all.

 Ava discovered she could climb a tree.

 So Desert Boy followed.

 Later they discovered the bar swing and developed some tricks. I was a little scared, but they weren't. I think they're getting ready for the circus.

What a fun birthday party!

We're ready for some precipitation, it's been so dry here! But we'll try to enjoy the warm weather as much as we can.