Desert Boy and his Tractor

It's been getting downright chilly around here, so we haven't been scampering up farm machinery quite as much, but Desert Boy has an alternative: his John Deere scooter tractor. His favorite thing on it is the steering wheel, which he can turn and turn and turn. 

It seems he does the best scooting when he goes in reverse. That can get him in trouble if he's not paying attention to where he's going. 

Alternatively, he will sometimes walk around and just carry the tractor with him. It's a hoot to watch.

Eventually Desert Boy gets off the tractor. What could be better than driving his high-rev vehicle?

Being a ham for the camera. 

Desert Boy and a Cat

Recently Desert Boy saw this cat and took off towards it. He's been around cats sporadically, and usually they don't like all his attention. I figured I would just watch and see what happened.

He's getting close and the cat is getting nervous, ready to take off. I expect the cat to dash away at any moment.

But instead something else catches Desert Boy's eye and he keeps traipsing past the cat. I can hear the cat's sigh of relief. Whew, no little boy to put up with. I can just relax and do my own thing.

All the commotion attracts some of the horses, who had been grazing out in the field. They like being around people and don't want to miss any of the action.

Here are a couple more coming in to see what's going on.

And for this horse, it's a good reward, a little nuzzle time with Desert Boy. He's not intimidated by these huge creatures, and he usually laughs when they nip his clothes--or Mama. He's growing up to be quite an animal lover. I just am not sure what I'll do when he gets to the stage when he wants to have more pets!

Fixing the Faucet

We had a freeze-proof faucet out by our fence develop a leak, and my dear husband went to fix it. As most home improvement projects go, it wasn't easy.

First he had to get the backhoe to dig a deep enough hole to get down to the freeze-proof faucet connection on to the water line. Of course the water line wasn't marked on the surface, so he had to guess where it was and try not to dig too deep and break it.

Dig, dig, dig.

It beats doing it all by hand. But he still had to shovel a lot.

Henry is excited about everything.

Time for the hand shoveling. That white pipe just above the shovel is the main water line--whew--it was still intact.

The new freeze-proof faucet is on the left, and the old one on the right. You can see the hole just on the other side of the fence.

When we weren't looking, Desert Boy wandered over to the hole and promptly fell in. He didn't get too worried, but grunted enough to let us know he was stuck. Mama had to take a picture before rescuing him.

With Desert Boy out of the hole, we could put the faucet in.

Then it was time to fill in the hole. Desert Boy was all about helping.

He wasn't making much progress, though, so we had to figure out another solution.

Dad gets the big shovel back and Desert Boy gets an appropriate-sized shovel.

He scoops up some dirt and toddles over to the hole.

Now he's carefully aiming.

And the dirt goes down. He kept "helping" for the entire process. He thinks it's so fun to help with projects, especially if they involve dirt and equipment. 

The Oldest Cowboy

I'd like to introduce Lee, the oldest cowboy in this area. He recently turned 89, and although he can't see and hear like he once did, he still works and loves to ride his horse and herd cattle.

Lee much prefers to be outside, no matter the weather, than sitting in the house in front of the TV. He became a cowboy at age 13, and has been one ever since. His wonderful wife has kept him well fed so he has plenty of energy to go out and keep the cattle in line.

Here's Lee herding some cattle just a couple weeks ago. He makes riding look so easy. I hope I can be in half the shape he is at his age.

Recently KSL news ran this short clip about Lee to celebrate his 89th birthday. Be sure to check it out--it's quite inspiring, and the comments are really fun to read!

A Bright Night Sky

Last night I couldn't help but notice the bright night sky. A crescent moon was out, but there was more than that.

Below it were two bright objects. My first photo was a little overexposed, but I've included it here so you can see the other two objects well--Venus is on the bottom and Jupiter is to the right.

Finally I have a somewhat decent photo. I need some practice with astrophotography (Bobby, help!). Our moon is only 252,000 miles away. Venus is 94 million miles away, and although it is a lot smaller than Jupiter it appears brighter due to its closeness. Jupiter is 540 million miles away. Although this grouping isn't considered a major astronomical event, I still think it's pretty cool.

Desert Destination: A Forgotten Cave

Every Monday we visit a desert destination.

This weekend I had the opportunity to meet up with a bunch of cavers from Southern Nevada and go on a caving trip to a small, infrequently-visited cave. To start our trip, we parked and put on our caving gear. Even the kids had helmets and headlamps.

Our first challenge was to find the cave entrance. We hiked through the woods and eventually found an opening in the rocks that led into a nice, dark hole.

We climbed down into the hole and split up into pairs, exploring different side passages. Then we all got together to go up a steep climb into another part of the cave.

This upper section was sort of like swiss cheese, with lots of holes in the rocks. In some places we could go up or down and end up in the same place.

Jonathan found a fun little hidey-hole to peer out of and watch people go by.

The other side of the hole was a big passageway. Well, big enough for Jonathan to stretch out in. Sometimes "big" in a cave is relative.

Here's his mom in action, climbing down a steep part in the cave.

We saw a few formations, like these soda straws and stalactites, but there weren't a whole lot of formations in the cave.

This little drapery, or cave bacon, looked really cute.

The cave kept going down until passages were filled with water. From the mud coatings on the walls, it was obvious that during some times of the year, the water rises higher. 

We weren't interested in getting wet, so we headed out of the cave. This is Ricki, who enjoyed the trip.

We could see the bright sun coming in through the entrance, and it took our dark-adapted eyes a little time to adjust.

Once outside, we made sure everyone was accounted for--and that we hadn't picked up anyone extra! We dusted off our knees and headed back to the trucks, happy to have gotten some time underground.

Sunday Fun: Desert Boy Pulls the Wagon

Aunt Tana had this fun wagon down in her zoo, and as soon as Desert Boy saw it, he scampered up on it and started playing with the handle. If it has wheels, he wants to be on it!

He started making his vroom, vroom noises as he imagined he was riding along. The goats bleated in the background, making for quite an interesting cacophony of sounds.

Even though Desert Boy didn't move the wagon anywhere, he was happy. He's generally a very happy little boy.

Later we decided to play another game--Desert Boy would pull his Mama sitting on the wagon. He grabbed hold of the wagon handle and pulled with all his might. There was a little too much friction to get the wagon going, so I gave a little push with my legs.

And that made him promptly fall down. He thought it was funny.

He got up and tried again.

And quickly fell down again when I gave the wagon a little nudge. This went on and on, with Desert Boy pulling and falling, pulling and falling, and he thought it was the best game ever. Fortunately I managed to catch some of it in video mode so you can hear his laughter. Have a great day!