A Sunday Ramble in the Burbank Hills

 A recent Sunday took us to a random road in the Burbank Hills, a set of hills that "only" gains about 2,700 feet elevation, topping out about 7,700 feet. Out here, that means the moniker of hills rather than mountains. (As a comparison, the tallest peak east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. is Harney Peak in South Dakota, at 7.242 feet.)

We drove until the road (a barely discernible two track, but one that had been already traveled this year) ended. Then we got out and hiked. The kids weren't super thrilled, but we promised them great views.

 When we reached the top of a ridge, we sure did get great views.

 The Burbank Hills aren't really known for any main attraction. They consist of limestones and dolomites, so the rain that falls on them seeps in and there aren't any streams or even any springs. In recent years, a number of roads have been designated as ATV trails (map here). With 98 miles of trails, it's a considerable network, but due to the remoteness and lack of a charismatic attraction, it is seldom visited.

It's nice to have places like that, where the plants and animals can be the dominant creatures. I was quite excited to see this early bloomer:

 Spiny phlox, Phlox hoodii

Then Desert Boy and I started finding some hints that these flowers hadn't been around all that long (at least geologically speaking).

 We found some fossils.

 The fossils were small, but good reminders that this area used to be part of a shallow sea.

 Desert Girl started enjoying the hike more and more. That's fairly common--we may have crabby kids at the beginning of a hike, but once something catches their attention, they forget about their previous attitude.

Then we reached something that made both kids very happy.

 A patch of snow!

 Our dog Henry really liked it too.

 Eating some snow made the kids so happy that even when Desert Boy fell and sprawled across some sagebrush, he smiled.

 The hillside had a number of stumps, and we found some burn signs on some of them. At one point a forest fire must have burned this section of Burbank Hills, but today, unless you know what to look for, you wouldn't know it.

We took a different way back to the truck and I was happy to find a mini-cave. No one wanted to pose for a photo except me. I guess it was time to go! There are still so many other places to explore in this one little mountain range. Hopefully we'll get back before too long.

A Little Greenery for St. Patrick's Day

 In honor of St. Patrick's Day and the traditional green worn on this day, here are two ways to add a little more greenery to your house. First, did you know you can grow your own pineapple? Simply slice off the top of a store-bought one and plant it. In about nine months to a year, it will look like the photo above. If you wait another year or two, you might actually get a fruit! Although we'd love to get a fruit, just the plant itself is quite beautiful. Pineapples are bromeliads and give us a flavor of a warmer climate. They don't need much water (about 20 inches a year), so my once a week watering schedule works quite well.

If you don't want to wait 2-3 years to get something edible from a plant, here's one that will work in less than a week:

Green onions! Green onions (also called scallions) are even more nutritious than regular onions, so we've been trying to eat them more. They also have the added benefit that if you put the roots in water, they resprout. This should work 4 or 5 times before the taste becomes too bland. Plus it keeps them from getting all slimy in the refrigerator, and they are right there on the kitchen window so we eat them more frequently.

Do you have favorite edible greenery in your house?

Desert Survivor's Backyard Bird Challenge--Mid-March Check-in

Have you seen any new birds in your backyard lately? We've added killdeer (two just outside the yard that we hear every few days), Canada geese (that flew over the yard early one morning), and Western meadowlark (flying across the yard and landing in a tree). The Western meadowlark are really singing a lot now. We've also been practicing the more common birds in the yard.


A pair of red-tailed hawks have been in the yard the last three days, and they've been fun to watch. The coloring on red-tailed hawks varies so much, but fortunately, when they fly, they always do have a red tail (at least that I've seen!). Red-tailed hawks are the most common hawk in the area.

Here's another view. As you can see, the trees are leafing out, so it will soon be a little more difficult to see the birds!

Migration should be continuing, so we're hoping to see some interesting birds in the next month.

Geocaching with Kids - A Great Reason to Go Outside

The weather has been super and we've been trying to go outside more, but we keep battling with the kids' desires to be on electronics inside. How can we get them excited to go outside? I stumbled across the mention of geocaching and decided this was the perfect time to explore it more.

Geocaches are hidden little treasures, with the locations shown online for free at geocaching.com (or in an app, which you have to pay for). You simply put the coordinates into your GPS or smart phone, and then go search for the geocache. Once you find it, you can write your name on the list, and if it's big enough, leave a trinket and take one of equal or less value. You can also electronically log your visit on the website or app to keep track of which geocaches you've visited.

When we checked online, we found a few geocaches near us so we went and looked for one. It was so much fun, we invited some friends to go with us to go back to it.

 The kids ready to bike to the geocache. The older ones were raring to go and soon were way ahead.

 The younger ones were so cute on their training wheels. The road was just steep enough that it was a little hard for them, but we told them they were getting stronger.

 The older kids had already found the geocache when the moms and younger kids had arrived, but then we took the time to sign into the log and get a snack.

 Then the older kids raced off to the next adventure (the playground).

 The next day Desert Boy was eager to search for another nearby geocache.

 This one was hidden a little differently. Desert Boy is already getting better with the GPS--of course it's a small, electronic gadget, which means kids will be natural with them. You should have seen his face when he realized there were games on the GPS!

One added attraction of geocaching is that signing into the logs may help his penmanship!

Desert Boy is also keeping a log of the geocaches he has visited. He likes it well enough that he is very excited to go check out two geocaches today. The map shows that there are several on the way to towns in every direction, so as we start visiting those, I think it will make the trip to town shorter, as every time we pass one, the kids will remember visiting that geocache. And in the towns, there are so many geocaches that it will be hard to decide which one to visit first!

Have you tried geocaching? What's been your favorite geocache? And if you haven't, here's the link if you're interested.

Spring Clouds

The spring clouds have been really scenic. The mountains are still snowy, but the valleys are showing more signs of spring each day (I'm listening to robins chatter outside my window as I write this). It won't be long until this field greens up. What's your favorite sign of spring?