Sledding by Too Tall Tony

Another storm came and dumped more snow, and we got a call if we wanted to go sledding. Why not? It was beautiful and a great excuse to go outside! We went up to what we call the Too Tall Tony Hill, which is a pullout with a two-track. The south side is rocky, but once you pop over to the north side, there's a very snowy two-track.

Ava was ready to go.

And then we followed.

Did I mention this is a really long sledding hill? It's super awesome.

More kids were arriving, and they went to the actual Too Tall Tony Hill, a shorter but steeper hill up the road. So we went over to join them.

What's with Too Tall Tony? Oh, he's just a little too tall for his grave, so his legs stick out.

His grave is on an earthen dam that's nice and steep. Desert Girl loved it.

The clouds were drifting by, making the whole scene a little surreal.

Willow's expression is great on this one! She went up and down so many times. If this snowy trend keeps up, we'll be going on lots more sledding trips this winter.

After the Storm

 The morning after one of our big storms dawned with sunny and really cold temperatures. There had been enough melting the day before to make some nice icicles.

The snow-covered trees showed that we had gotten quite a lot of precip.

The school looked sharp in the crisp air. (This was before another storm that blew part of the roof off!)

It's a good thing this little trailer is used just in the summer, because it would be so cold right now!

The church looked good in the morning light with the snow-covered mountain behind it.

And even though the sun was shining, it was cold. Oh--have I already said that? It's been a cold January!

Even the rabbitbrush had a sizable amount of snow on it!

The winter does mean some extra pretty clouds and light on the mountains, with the snow to reflect it.

And drives up the mountain usually mean driving in some snow, as it takes the plows a few hours to get out to us. Even with all the storms, it's unusual not to see a little bit of blue sky every day.

Snowy, Snowy January

 This January sure has felt like winter! Lots of snow and cold temperatures. You'll see that theme in this and upcoming posts!

One afternoon we wanted to go sledding, but the roads were so bad we couldn't drive anywhere. So we went over to the nearby pond, which was now empty, and sledded into the bottom of it.

Desert Girl found a nice hill nearby and we all followed.

I love their expressions!

Desert Boy decided to climb a tree. Getting down was a little trickier.

Sledding party!

We decided to change our venue and go over to the gas station, which was being plowed. The old cabins looked very scenic with their snow coatings.

Looks like Ava wanted a snow coating too! This girl loves snow!

We trudged along in the snow, the colorful coats and sleds lighting up the afternoon.

You can see how deep the snow was by the spigots. Obviously no one was camping here that night.

Angie really loved the snow too, burying herself in it and running all around. This photo is bittersweet for me, as she was hit by a truck and killed the next day. She enjoyed her short life, but her bad habit (that we didn't quite manage to break) of chasing vehicles was a dangerous one that ultimately didn't work out.

At that point, though, we were ready for fun in the snow.

We saw the snow plows come by, at about 4 pm. They had been by at about 8 in the morning, then went back and couldn't get back to us until about 10-12 inches of snow later! The schools dismissed early and the kids still got home late because one school bus broke down on the road, another could barely move through the unplowed snow, and it all was a bit chaotic.

Once the plow came by, we had a semblance of normalcy and enjoyed walking down busy main street.

Oh my, this will be a winter to remember!

Magic Steve at the 2017 Sheepherders' Gathering

Every year in January, sheepherders and aficionados of the sheep industry gather on the Nevada-Utah line at the Border Inn to celebrate at the Sheepherders' Gathering. A musician (or two or three) are invited. This year, Magic Steve from the Salida Circus came and brought his banjo. Before the gathering even started, he went to the local school and entertained the kids, teaching them a little more about music. 

The kids enjoyed it a lot. So did the adults!

Then he said that since his name was Magic Steve, he better do some magic tricks. The first volunteer helper did great.

And Magic Steve obviously enjoyed interacting with him!

More helpers were needed in the make-the-pink-hankie-disappear-and-then-reappear-in-his-taped-mouth trick.

Desert Girl got called up to be a helper, which she certainly enjoyed because she's been doing her own magic tricks at home. She needs a bit more practice to master the sleight of hand that Magic Steve uses. His tricks seemed to go off effortlessly.

It was a very entertaining hour, and I'm glad I got to go, especially since I was sick the rest of the weekend so missed all the other events. But if you do a search on this blog for "Sheepherders," you'll find more about this unique annual gathering.

Fire and Ice 2017

Last weekend we went to the Fire and Ice Festival at Cave Lake, near Ely. This is a fun event that we've been to many times (with blog posts from 2009, 2011 (Day 1) and 2001 (Day 2), 2013, and 2016). This year we arranged to meet friends there and go ice skating. Desert Girl was eager to put her new ice skates to use and also met a new friend who was willing to help her out. She enjoyed it a lot.

Desert Boy wasn't feeling so well, so he didn't skate long. The ice was really bumpy, so I didn't either. But a couple other kids got to use his skates, so that was good.

Jenny and Meg showed off their prowess on skates.

And although it was cloudy, it was a nice temperature to be out.

We also had sleds so that was another activity.

We also took time to look at the snow sculptures. This was an unofficial one.

There were only seven entries this year, quite a contrast from last year when there were so many fantastic ones. The lack of snow made it a little more difficult for entrants to make big sculptures this year.

This was the winning sculpture, Hi-bear-nation. They won $1000.

Second prize was Quarter Size Charcoal Ovens. They looked really good.

This was a cute entry. There was even a guy ice fishing nearby and I even saw him caught a fish, making it even more apropos.

Watching this lady carve the snow in the 22 degree temperature made us realize how challenging it can be. The snow is definitely a lot more pliable when it's right about freezing. She came in third with this bobcat.

Another event was ice bowling. This became extra fun when we used a kid on the sled as the bowling ball. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. And now we are thinking, Should we enter next year?  If we had a big enough group, it would be a lot of fun and not so much work! What do you think?