Preschool Games

 It seems like I have taken a lot of photos at preschool but don't get around to posting them very often. Here are some scenes from a couple (few?) weeks ago. The kids were really intrigued by this game where they put the shapes into spaces, then set the timer and wait for it to pop up.

The little girls cooperated for a bit with a puzzle. I like how they are both holding other things with their non-puzzle hand.

In other news, we did a major clean up of one of our sheds today. I didn't manage to take any photos, but we did manage to throw away tons of stuff. Well maybe not tons, but I did get a good workout. My husband also leveled the building so it doesn't have one corner a foot lower than the other. That's quite nice. We found three little chalk boards, so we decided that the shed is now going to become our own little school. Desert Boy can't wait to get started. We'll have to find some chalk first, but hey, why sweat the little details?!

Moon Answers

So in my last post, I asked where three things are on the moon:
1. Copernicus Crater
2. Mare Tranquillitas
3. Oceanus Procellarum

Kudos to John for getting Mare Tranquillitas!

Here are the answers:

 I found the answers on this website. I liked it because it was fairly simple. There are lots more features to learn on the moon!

A bit more info:
Copernicus Crater is one of many craters on the moon caused by meteorites crashing into it. It's estimated to be about 800 million years old.

Mare and Oceanus mean Sea and Ocean. They really aren't filled with water (hopefully you know this!) They are covered by lava, though, that's what makes them look dark.

Mare Tranquillitas means Sea of Tranquility in Latin, and as John pointed out in his comment on the last post, it's where Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

Oceanus Procellarum means Ocean of Storms and it's the largest of the lunar marias (seas and oceans). Several lunar probes landed here, as well as Apollo 12. Crater Copernicus is near its eastern edge.

So go take a good look at the moon and see what you can find. There are mountains up to 5 km (3 miles) high on the moon, lots more craters, maria, and other fun stuff. And if you're really lucky, maybe you will even see a cow jump over the moon!

Cows and the Moon

 Last night we happened to be outside as the nearly full moon was rising. The heifers were nearby, so we went out to visit and enjoy the peaceful high desert evening.

 The colors are muted in winter, with no leaves to cover the brown branches of the trees, no verdant grasses emerging from the ground, nary a wildflower peeking from a pile of manure. But it is still so beautiful.

The kids wanted to say hi to the cows. The cows were willing to entertain a distraction--from a certain distance.


Then it was time for a different distraction--some snow. I love how Desert Girl is checking out her big brother.

Tonight is the full moon. It seemed to take forever to rise, but by the time I came out of a meeting, it was obvious. While we were waiting for the full moon, we could see four bright objects in the sky: to the west were Venus (the brighter light) and Jupiter. They are getting closer together every night for the next few nights. To the east was Mars, with its reddish tinge. And to the south was Sirius, the dog star in the constellation Canis Major. Before long the stars making up Orion were twinkling at us. It was fun showing the kids a few objects in the sky.

One of the things I want to learn next is about the moon. So here are three things to look for in the photo above (and I must say it's a much better photo than some of my recent attempts!).
Where is?
1. Copernicus Crater
2. Mare Tranquillitas
3. Oceanus Procellarum

Answers coming soon!

Desert Boy's First Skiing Adventure

 Last weekend I found myself dangling in the air. Fortunately I was sitting on a seat, in a chair, on a ski lift. It's been about six years since I've been on a ski lift, and it was fun to get back.

 We went to Brian Head, Utah. Even though it was a Sunday, we had the slopes mostly to ourselves. My husband said when he used to go as a teenager, there were ten times as many people there. We spent a fair bit of time on the lift discussing why people might not ski anymore (and feel free to leave a comment so we can see if we were right!)

 The views were outstanding, much better than my husband's point-and-shoot reveal. The weather was great--it actually felt a little too warm in the afternoon.

 The main reason we went was to get Desert Boy skiing. I wanted to take him last year to the three-year old class, but we never made it. So this year I was determined that we would find a day to go. He was in the Tiny Tracks class for 4- and 5-year olds. There were four kids in the class and two very patient instructors (although Desert Boy later said he thought they were bossy-ha!).

 I tried to spy on the class a little without Desert Boy knowing I was there (he's on the far left). The little skis were adorable. The kids were learning how to make their skis into pizza wedges or french fries.

 We bought new sunglasses for both the kids, and Desert Girl was really styling with hers. She wouldn't let us touch them at all. She knew how to put them on. Obviously.

 After lunch we spied on the class again and saw Desert Boy falling down numerous times on a tiny little hill that we wouldn't really have even called a hill. Uh oh. Maybe this wasn't money well spent.

My husband and I left and skied awhile and then came back to the beginner hill. We were riding up the lift when I spotted some little tykes. I looked hard, and sure enough, that was Desert Boy and his class!

 That meant they had taken the ski lift and were going down the "big" hill. I was so excited to see this progress.

 The kids snowplowed down the whole way. It was really cute.

 We picked up Desert Girl from the day care and my husband and I took turns watching her.

 She was thinking she wanted to give skiing a try!

 Maybe next year, Desert Girl!

Desert Boy thought it was great fun taking turns going up the ski lift with his parents and skiing down. We were delighted with how much he had learned in his first day of skiing. When I asked him if he liked his ski lesson, he said, "I didn't like it; I loved it!"

Here are a couple videos:

The Grand Unveiling

I have good news to share. I am going to have a book published! Great Basin National Park: A Guide to the Park and Surrounding Area will be released by Utah State University Press in April or May. I am very excited (and also a bit nervous!).

Here's how it all came about.

Seven years ago I started work on a book, a non-fiction book, about the area where I live. I decided to write the book because my husband told me things that I had not read anywhere. When I asked him how he knew that stuff, he said he had just listened to stories or observed things.

Some of the things he said were really cool and I didn't want them to be forgotten, so I started writing them down. Since I'm an ecologist and love exploring the area, I decided that I wanted to write a natural and cultural history of the area. We went on drives every weekend, checking out canyons, hiking up mountains, learning to read geologic maps. I interviewed lots of people, getting their perspectives on the area. I read everything I could find and was lucky to tap into a couple people with extensive libraries.

Two years later, I finished my manuscript. I sent off a query to an academic press and they responded right away that they wanted to see the whole manuscript. So I sent if off and about a month later got a very nice letter back. They liked the book, but said it was unpublishable in its current form--it was too long and detailed. If I would cut about 50% out, they would be happy to take a look at it again. They also said that I should be sure to put a copy of the current form in a library so that it would be available for people who liked the really detailed local history.

Well, I didn't want to cut 50% out, but I could see where I could trim it down. So I edited the whole manuscript. I sent a query to a second academic press, and they soon responded that they wanted to see the whole thing. I sent it to them and then waited and waited. I waited some more, and finally got a one-page form letter rejection. I was not happy!

The silver lining was that I had waited long enough that I could look at the manuscript with fresh eyes, and I reedited the whole thing, cutting more out, tightening up my writing, and updating information. Then I sent a query out to a third press, Utah State University Press, and they wanted to see the manuscript. So I sent it in and heard that they were quite interested. Then I didn't hear anything more for awhile. I had gathered some new information, a friend had helped me with editing, and I again went through the whole manuscript, word by word. I figured I had cut about 40% from the original. I contacted the press to find out what was going on, and they had had a long freeze on new books due to budget cuts. But they were almost done with it and were now interested in my manuscript. I sent them the revised one.

They sent it out to two outside reviewers who made very helpful comments and I reedited the manuscript again. Then the editor took it to the Board of Directors for Utah State University Press. They voted to approve the publication, and I signed a contract. After more edits, copy edits, indexing (and a few more edits), (plus a couple title changes) the manuscript was sent to the printer. (The process I mentioned in this paragraph took about two years.)

Now we're just waiting for it to come back!

What's a little more waiting after two years of writing and five years trying to get it published?

You can see more about the book at its very own page on the Utah State University Press website. It's the first item in their spring/summer 2012 catalog, which is very exciting!

I've made an author website (which feels a little strange to do, to be quite honest). I've always been semi-anonymous on this blog, but now you can find out a little more about me at: http://gretchenbaker.com/. You can also see the Table of Contents of the book. Part One is an overview of the area and the natural and cultural history; Part Two is about Great Basin National Park; Part Three is about all the really cool places around here, from Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge to Gold Hill to Crystal Peak and much more.

The book is available for preorder from USU Press, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Western National Parks Association outlets at the Great Basin Visitor Center and Lehman Caves Visitor Center will also be carrying the book if you want to wait to see the hard copy.

To any of you who are reading this that I interviewed or who helped me proofread the book, I will be giving you a signed copy. This book really wouldn't have been possible without the help of so many people. I am very grateful for people sharing their stories, photos, editing skills, and supporting me in this grand effort. I hope you will find it worth it.

Thank you!

The Volcano Experiment

 Desert Boy has been asking off and on about volcanoes, so when I saw this All About Volcanoes activity at the thrift store for $1, I decided it was time. The activity was to paint a volcano landscape and then mix baking soda and vinegar and have the volcano erupt. I have very fond memories of making volcanoes when I was a kid, and since I'm still a kid, I was ready for an erupting volcano.

 The first step was to put on painting clothes and paint the volcano terrain. It had already been painted once, but that didn't matter. There was still plenty of paint left.

 The kids got along better than I expected. They each had their designated volcanoes to paint, and they did well sticking to them.

 Desert Boy was working hard at painting his volcanoes just the way he wanted.

 Desert Girl was just glad to get the paint applied; she didn't care how it looked.

 Here's the finished product. Now came the hardest part: waiting for the paint to dry so we could do the exploding volcano part.

We played games, ate dinner, cleaned up, and finally declared that the paint was dry enough.

The kit was missing the directions (of course), but it had most of the parts pictured on the front. That included a mixing bottle for the baking soda and vinegar. We couldn't quite figure out how to mix it in the bottle, but what could go wrong?

 We decided the kitchen floor would be an appropriate place to do this experiment, with a box and a baking pan under the volcanoes (since we couldn't quite get the supports to work). I had put the vinegar (with red food coloring) into one of the chambers of the bottle and was adding baking soda to the other.

Then it was time to shake the bottle and put it under the volcano. That part didn't quite work out right, and we ended up with a volcano spurting 'magma' four feet into the air. It was quite impressive. And extremely messy. It's a really good thing that our volcanic eruption wasn't hot, or we would have had some problems. As it was, we got more of the kitchen cleaned than we had intended.

Unfortunately we weren't able to capture any of the massive explosion on camera due to the utter amazingness of the event (and the necessity of grabbing towels to try to save some stuff from getting red and wet) . We will have to try again. And I've already decided that next time we're going to bury a two-liter bottle in a pile of dirt. The kids can sculpt the dirt how they want. Then we'll pour the vinegar and baking soda into the bottle and it can erupt outside. Somehow that just might work out better.

Chasing Shadows

A few weeks ago I had the idea to go up in the mountains late in the afternoon and take photos of the mountain shadows extending over the valley. I really liked how the mountains reached out and stretched farther and farther.


The late afternoon shadows highlighted all the gullies and arroyos that break up the landscape, showing how rugged it is.


The kids were with me and wanted to hike, so I wasn't going to say no. Anything to burn off energy is a good plan in my book! We drove to the end of the road and the kids ducked through the gate.

Desert Girl thought this was great idea.

She started off enthusiastically, happily making little footprints in the skiff of snow.

 

It didn't take her long to figure out that this was an uphill hike, and suddenly she wasn't so thrilled.

The mountain shadows continued their invasion of the valley.

Some of the peaks looked exaggerated, almost like daggers piercing the air.

I made it up to the curve, where there was certainly a lack of snow at 8500 feet for early February. (It has since snowed, thank goodness, and the road is covered in white.)

 

Desert Girl started realizing that the walk downhill was more fun than uphill. She was fascinated by the yellow line, running down it.

The temperatures quickly plunged and we retreated to our van. We were glad we didn't have to spend the night out in the frigid clime.

At our next overlook, we saw that the progression of shadows had nearly terminated: the mountain shadows were now on the mountains across the valley.


The play of light was magical, with the twilight dancing over the mountains and valleys.

Good night, beautiful mountains.

Snow Survey

 Yesterday I helped do a snow survey up in the mountains. The snow survey measures the amount of snow at three snow courses. It's been done since the 1940s so there's a nice, long dataset to see how the years compare.

The snow survey is done twice each year, at the end of February and the end of March. Last year I went up to the first site in February and did the whole course in March. In March we could drive a couple miles up the road, which made for a shorter course that we all appreciated.

 The forecast was for 90% chance of precipitation and windy. We hoped that it would snow enough to cover up the crusty snow on the road and we would have some fresh powder for the ski down.

Five of us headed up to the first site.

 We made it off the road, knowing we weren't far from the first course. The snow wasn't all that deep, so we had to negotiate around bushes.

 Here's our group (except for me). It's still early in the day so we're looking strong!

 Jennie is fairly new to skiing, but she did an awesome job.

 We finished the first site and set off for the next site just before noon. We were able to travel fairly quickly because there wasn't too much snow. We took turns breaking trail and trying to figure out where the trail was.

This is an avalanche chute that had a major avalanche in 2005. The young aspen are now a few feet tall. As you can see by the lack of snow at the top of the chute, we didn't have any avalanche concerns on this trip!

My fancy skis. Like the duct tape? The skins just wouldn't stay on without them, and skins were critical to add extra friction to go up hill and slow me down going down hill.

Here I am with the snow tube on the third snow course. We use the tube to measure the depth of the snow and the water content. The snow wasn't super deep at any of the sites, but we'll have to wait for the numbers to see what percentage of normal we are.

We left the uppermost site at 4 p.m., which meant that we finished our ski in the moonlight. Yep, moonlight. That 90% chance of snow gave us a few flakes, but nothing measurable, and the snow clouds blew right over us.

We were all whooped by the time we got back to the vehicles. I think that's the longest ski trip I've ever been on, and my body felt it in many places! Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable day and I'd do it again.