Adventures in the Desert

Old Cowboy House

2012-02-16T17:51:00.000-08:00

Across the highway from where I live, there is an old cowboy house made out of mud (adobe?)! After looking at for a month or so, Dave and I decided to check it out. I wouldn't have gone over by myself.....but it ended up being pretty interesting.

We parked on the road and walked across the field to get to the house. I was surprised there are no fences around it but there are so many of these in the area people pretty much leave them alone.

We guessed that it's been here since the 1800s, since that's when this area was developed. My guess was 1850s or 1860s but I'd have to do more reading about Yerington to know for sure.

We didn't go inside, but Dave stuck his head in a window to get this picture. I'm too much of a chicken to even stick my head in. It does look like it was used "recently" like in the 1940s (again just a guess, I'll do more research) because it was retro-fitted with electricity. From the looks of things though we were smart not to go inside...hantavirus is an issue here and it looks like mice and packrats have been using the place for their own homes.

Another interior view...

Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area Part 1

2012-02-16T17:31:00.000-08:00

This will be a two-part post, because some of the pictures are on another camera. It could even be a three-part post. We'll see!

Dave got a new camera so today we went out to the wildlife area and looked for some birds/hawks/falcons to test it out. I took the binoculars too and had a good time looking around and being able to identify birds I wouldn't have known without an up-close look. I also took the smaller camera and took some pictures of my own. We learned that even though we see these birds all the time here, they only stand still when you don't have a camera in your hand!

I loved this view! I call them cattails. Here, they're called "tules" (as in tulies).

Here's another one. This mountain (I need to look it up again to remember the name) is one of my favorite views in Mason Valley. On my drive home from work I can see it the moment I come up over the hill and head towards Wabuska and Yerington. (There will be a later post on Wabuska...)

I love wetlands! This picture didn't turn out looking as bright as it did in real life, but I'm still happy with it.

Here's Dave with his new camera, trying to capture a hawk.

Great view of the Wildlife Management Area boundary.

Couldn't help it...one more view of the cattails!

The Rainbow Trail...Taylor Creek Watershed Area

2012-01-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Dave took me around Lake Tahoe one day soon after we got to Nevada. He remembered a trail he'd taken on a school field trip and wanted to find it. It is called the Rainbow Trail and is actually part of the Taylor Creek Watershed Area. It's a short interpretive trail that talks about what a watershed area is and why it's important. Some of the signs talk about the animals that live in the wetland area--frogs, skunks, birds, etc.

Dave standing under the sign at the head of the trail.

Taylor Creek

There was a bridge where we could look in the water and watch the bright red Kokanee Salmon swimming upstream. That brought back memories from the Escape Club (an outdoor club we had in junior high school) trip in Vernal going to the Flaming Gorge area to watch the salmon run. If I can find my old pictures, I should scan them and get them online. It was a great trip.

Taylor Creek

The last part of the trail involves walking down a sidewalk into a tunnel that goes under Taylor Creek and we could see the fish and a cross section of the stream bed. Dave taught me how to identify a brown trout! He also told me that the Lahontan cutthroat is native to this area. Lake Lahontan was a prehistoric lake covering most of this area. It's similar to Lake Bonneville in Utah, where you can still look up at the surrounding mountains and see where the various levels, or beaches, used to be.

"Who wants to go into the dark, scary tunnel first?" (National Treasure)

Brown trout on the right, Kokanee salmon far left. I think the fish in between may be a rainbow and a Lahontan cutthroat.

Brown trout...

It was a really cool interpretive exhibit inside and I wish I'd taken more pictures. The whole thing was made to look like we were actually inside the stream bed with rocks, more "fish" and interpretive exhibits. Next time I'll try to remember to take more pictures!

San Rafael Park near Reno

2011-12-27T10:14:00.000-08:00

This park is just outside Reno. We needed some exercise and to get out and walk around, so we stopped here and got some amazing fall colors! The Wilbur D. May Museum was closed for its winter hours so we didn't get to see it. I think we're headed over there again tomorrow. What I really want to see is the Nevada State Museum, but that will take at least a few hours. I went to the Nevada Museum Association's annual conference with a couple co-workers so I got to walk around the museum a little bit but I want to go back for the whole thing. There will definitely be pictures of that on here!

Squirrel!

We got there I think at the perfect time of year! It was warm and sunny and felt like fall.

More fall colors...

Fun little interpretive trail with old mining equipment

Stellar's Jay!

Lake Tahoe

2011-12-26T08:41:00.000-08:00

Last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Dave and I came to Nevada to visit his parents and his cousins. I also got to see Lake Tahoe for the first time! It's got crystal clear water and it's high in the mountains, 7,000 feet o so, and the mountains above it go up to around 10,000 feet. The lake itself is about 1,600 feet deep! It's even got its own monster, Tahoe Tessie (haven't seen her yet).

The lake covered in fog...

I love the beach! Lots of flat sand, with a few huge ponderosa trees growing out of nowhere!

I like taking pictures of pinecones....

I've got more pictures from this year, but they are still on the camera (of course!). We went there in September, before I started work. I think we spent more time in California that first week here that we did in Nevada! I'm excited to go up in the summer and do some hiking. We even got a book on trails in the area. I can't wait to try it out!

Questionable Pictures...(ghosts, or just bad lighting?)

2011-11-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

So in my previous post I said I'd never seen a ghost, just some questionable pictures. I took some, Louise Murch took some. Here they are! By the way, the "crypt" is a storage area that was used to store bodies from mining accidents during the winter when the ground was frozen...These have pretty much been debunked by our "ghost hunter" friend Fred, but I still think they're interesting....the night we got home and saw these, I was very creeped out, but later I decided that wasn't enough "evidence" and if ghosts really do exists we're better off ignoring each other.

This was taken with my cell phone, towards the doors of the "crypt." The image I was looking at is in the lower left corner on the door.

Orbs, or dust? There is a picture of a man with an orb on the wall....Louise took this one. The "orbs" I meant are below the chairs, to the right.

This one was....interesting....also taken by Louise Murch.

Still, I don't know if I'd pay another $2 to go back in there!

Old Washoe Club...and our own little ghost story!

2011-11-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

This place is creepy! Whether it's haunted or not...it's definitely cold and sooooo creepy in there! Louise and I are not real believers in ghosts, or easily "creeped out," but we both admitted to each other that we were scared in there and it was totally time to leave!

Back in the day, the Old Washoe Club used to be the Millionaire's Club. The upstairs was for an elite group of the few rich people in Virginia City. They were gamblers...and there was a lot of violence at the time. Murders were so common that only two people were ever hung for committing the crime. There was a secret staircase for club members to leave and come back without being seen...or for women to come and go without being seen! One of the most common ghost stories I've read is that the ghost of a woman (in a blue dress?) stands at the top of the stairs and pushes people back down. I can't help wondering if that's why the public isn't allowed upstairs anymore! (But logic says that it's an old run-down building...and the one staircase I did get to see looked so flimsy I don't know if I would dare climb it if I had the chance!)

Ghost Adventures (TV show) has been there twice and I think they're about to air a new episode of a 3rd visit. We just re-watched the 2nd visit--I've never seen the first and don't even know if it's an episode they had on the air. Anyway, if you go into the Old Washoe Club, you have to either buy a drink or pay $2. Inside there is a whole display case dedicated to the Ghost Adventures crew. Of course, they have Zach's shirt (the cute one), some of their equipment used and pictures taken. They play GA episodes on the TV and the other screens show other investigations where they've gotten things on camera.

The Spiral Staircase is the highlight (or it was for me). Like I said it looks totally flimsy and I would be scared to climb it! ...even if there weren't someone waiting at the top to push me back down! I didn't take this picture, couldn't find the one I did take, so I just did a google image search for the Old Washoe Club Spiral Staircase.

We were walking around in the museum area and Louise kept going back into the "crypt" for more pictures--she was curious because her camera kept being weird on her....I would have preferred to go back out into the bar section and look around...I went in with her because I wouldn't have wanted to go in there alone, curiousity or not!

As we walked back through the museum into the bar area, she stopped in front of the women's restroom and grabbed my arm--hard. "Kim! Look!" I looked into the bathroom and one of the curtains pulled in front of the toilet was moving--shaking and I kept hearing whistling. I asked Louise if she heard it and she said no, but later she told me she'd been lying and heard it, but wanted me to think she didn't!

Anyway, we were both standing there, staring at the curtain....staring....staring....I said, "It's got to be a draft." The curtain stopped moving. We looked at each other, then back at the curtain, and all this time the whistling's continuing. I'm thinking, "I hope she moves the curtain, because it's not gonna be me!" She was hoping I'd do it, when suddenly the curtain jerks back and a guy, about my age, jumps out, "booo!" I'm like, "YOU JERK!" We all burst out laughing--he and his girlfriend had come in with us and we thought they left while we were in the "crypt." The woman went back to the bar and the guy came back to hide in the bathroom. He had to have been there a while, because we kept going back for pictures...and he said he was about ready to leave--he was getting really scared in there waiting for us! (The women's room is also supposed to be haunted...along with the rest of the place.)

As we were all walking out, I looked at the guy and said, "There's no way I'd ever use that bathroom!" He said, "No way! Can you imagine...."

Virginia City Cemetary

2011-11-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is one of the prettiest cemetaries I've seen! (The one in Logan is my favorite because of the view, but this is close!)

Virginia City is one of America's largest historical landmarks and is supposedly the most haunted. While I've never seen any ghosts (except for a few questionable pictures), I love Virginia City's history. It was a mining town, full of people wanting to get wealthy from the "Comstock Lode," a rich vein of some of the purest silver discovered after California's gold rush died out. There were rich people (only a few...although tons of people tried), poor people (working in the mines, making a living on $4/day), gamblers, prostitutes, servants...and there was even a "Chinatown" for Chinese immigrants working in the mines. Opium was big in those days too.

Anyway, my friend Louise Murch from Vernal visited me and we decided to visit Virginia City for a few hours, then head to Carson City to see some museums and historic sites. We only made it as far as Virginia City....and still didn't get to see everything we wanted to! There's way more there than either of us thought and of course, there's never enough time to see everything. She was on her way to California to visit her brother and called me. I only had one day off with her and she needed to get going so she decided she'll just have to come back!

Here are a few pictures from the cemetary. Of course I didn't pay close enough attention to what "sections" we were in but....you get the idea. The view and history make up for it!

This one is at the very top of the hill. The man's last name is Storey (he was an important man...unfortunately I'll have to look up his history again) and his name is now the name of Storey County and Virginia City is the county seat. This one is in the Masonic section of the cemetary. There was a Firefighters section, Chinese section, Irish, etc.

Louise Murch, exploring the grave yard. Some of these graves date back into the 1860s, when the Comstock Lode was disovered....and it also matches the time period of Fort Churchill, where I work. In school I was never a history fan, but now that I'm living in the middle of all this history I'm lovin' it!

View of the city from the cemetary. If you blow up the picture you can see St. Mary's in the Mountains, the 1st Catholic churchh in the area. I've visited the church twice and still didn't see everything I wanted to! This church, along with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, is supposed to be haunted as well....both from prior leaders of the churches. I think they're old buildings that settle and make lots of noise....but then again, I don't live there so I don't know! I've heard and read that pretty much every building in the city is haunted in some form. If it is, it's because of the violent history--mining accidents, murders, suicides...you can't read anything about VC without encountering ghost stories!

Another pretty view of the cemetary. This is the last thing we got to see, as it was getting dark and we wanted to get back for dinner! We got "home" to the Wildlife Refuge and went through our pictures...comparing "ghost" pictures from the Old Washoe Club. I'll post about that one soon...but for the most part both of our ghost pictures were debunked. Sad and relieved at the same time!

Interesting Day...blood and cannon fire!

2011-10-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

Today's my Friday (yes, I know for most people it's Tuesday)! This morning before lunch was....interesting. Interesting is much better than boring but in some situations, boring sounds great! I have four restrooms/sites to check every morning--River Access, Scout Camp, Buckland Station and the Orchard. I check Buckland Station and the Orchard first because they're close, then head out to the Carson River Ranches portion of the park. When I get better, reliable internet I will post a map and pictures.

I parked at River Acess and headed for the bathroom. By the way, these are all pit toilets/porta-potties so usually they are really easy to clean: a quick disinfection and mopping if needed. Then I empty the trash and head back for the office. Today I walked up to the restroom and there was blood all over the concrete by the door. Enough so that it made me seriously not want to open the restroom door! I opened the door and peeked in...no bodies or parts anywhere but the whole floor, toilet and walls were totally covered in blood splatters. Not horror-movie quality or anything but there was a lot of it! I stepped outside and kinda thought, "now what?" I peeked around the restroom building and looked at the bushes (but didn't walk into the sagebrush at all...) but didn't find anything.

I called my boss, Paul, on his cell phone and described what I found. He had been trying to call me on the radio because he'd forgotten there was a tour scheduled in half an hour, so he told me to lock the restroom and head over to Buckland Station to open it and turn on the video, so that's what I did. He told me he would go over later and check it out, then clean it with bleach water.

The tour went fine, they all walked through the building and watched the movie, then headed to the main entrance for the museum, Living History Talk and cannon fire. Paul told me I could load and fire the cannon so immediately I was thinking "are you sure...?" I'd seen it done twice but had never done it on my own. I did it, and got a round of applause and a high-five from Paul. That thing is LOUD!!!!!

Paul cleaned the blood while I was arranging my office and getting organized. He said he had no idea and didn't even want to guess what happened. It is hunting season so it's possible someone shot a bird and was cleaning it..cut themselves....whatever. So...let's hope my next week is exciting, but not that exciting!

New Job!

2011-10-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

This is a repeat from my personal blog (30 and Counting) but I wanted to share about my new job as a Park Ranger 1-Interpreter at Fort Churchill State Historic Park in Silver Springs, NV.

Click here for the description!

Courting Candles

2011-10-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I know this picture is dark (another cell phone picture), but I wanted to share because it's a cute story. These are called "courting candles." A suitor would come to the girl's family's house and visit the girl he was interested in. These candles would be lit when he arrived and when the candle burned out it was time for him to go.

Notice anything about the candles? They can be rolled up or down. If the father liked the suitor, he would roll it so more candle showed and had more time to burn, so the suitor could stay longer. If the father did not like the suitor and didn't want him hanging around, the candle wasn't very tall and would burn out sooner. "Time to go!" I forget how many minutes/inch...I'll have to read the caption close next time, but I thought it was a great trick. I wonder if the daughters had any influence on how high the father rolled the candle?

These are inside Buckland Station at Fort Churchill State Historic Park, where I will be working, starting on Monday! When I find my camera charger (it's currently packed and still in the back of Dave's truck) I will upload more pictures and have more stories!

Desert Rainstorms

2011-08-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

I love thunderstorms! Especially when they keep going...the park today was surrounded by lots of individual thunderstorm cells that took turns hitting us. I am out in the entrance station, right out on the mesa top, in the middle of the action! I was treated to lots of good thunder and lightning and lots of rain--hard rain, like horizontal rain. Shortly after it stopped, I got a call from my boss letting me know the visitor center flooded (again) but they had it taken care of. She wanted to know about the condition of the entrance station...it wasn't flooded but for a while I got quite a show!

After the storm, I looked out the window...

It definitely cooled things off here! I cleaned today and it was very hot! It was a little humid too, because of the building storm so that added to the heat. Now it's calm, quiet and I am taking more pictures of the sunset!

Collard Lizard

2011-08-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Found this guy at Canyonlands National Park Island in the Sky District. I love them! I think it's cool that the get so big and are so brightly colored. They can also run on their hind feet, which I would LOVE to see!

http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Lizards,%20Miscellaneous%20IX.htm (Photo Credit)

But don't' pick them up! (They are only aggressive if threatened)

Pink Clouds

2011-08-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

I took this out the car window yesterday coming home from a L O N G car ride to Nevada and back.

The full moon along the road and pink clouds!

We started Wednesday and made it to Elko. I liked driving across Nevada--it looks a lot like Utah. I realized that Las Vegas (where I was born) is what I think of when I think of Nevada, when it's actually the opposite! Nevada is full of small towns and cities, and a LOT of farms!

The Great Basin is massive! Lots of mountain ranges and long, green valleys. We actually got a little lost, thinking we were on the Great Basin Highway when actually we were headed for a campground and hiking trail--Angel Lake.

Doesn't it look like Heaven? We thought so!! I didn't want to leave but we had to because we still had about 8 hours left to drive home.

The water was cold and clear and we could see fish swimming around down there.

The trip was fun and I will hopefully be able to post more on that soon. We did come home to a much hotter day than what we had there. Today at the park it's over 90 and I've been outside most of the day. Normally I don't complain about the heat but I'm really noticing it today! I have made sure to drink plenty of water! I have a full moon hike tonight and I'm looking forward to the sun going down!

An additional story about the drive home can be found here.

Ravens

2011-07-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Ravens are one of the most commonly seen animals at Dead Horse Point State Park. They are incredibly smart and good at finding food, and can usually be found near people. I remember sitting at Delicate Arch one evening eating a pop tart and watching a raven hop closer and closer, hoping I would drop something for it to snatch up.

They love campgrounds! Campers who fail to put away their food before leaving for the day often come back to find it gone--one camper even reported that a raven had stolen a steak off their grill one evening. They went inside their RV to grab something and came back to an empty grill. No wonder they have a reputation for being mischievous tricksters! They have been known to break into styrofoam coolers and pop-up trailers by ripping through the mesh. To avoid a mess and "stolen" food, use hard coolers and make sure all food is stored in a safe place.

As bad as it sounds, they also get into the dumpsters at the park! The wind blows the lids open occasionally, and the ravens get in there, tearing bags apart, looking for "tasty" morsels the humans threw away. Then, we get to go out there, gloves in hand, to clean up after them before the wind makes a real mess. I came up to one such dumpster this spring and immediately thought of the movie Over the Hedge. As I walked up, ravens, chipmunks and lizards all scattered like I had interrupted a buffet.

As the morning sun heats the cliffs below the park, air currents, called thermals, begin to rise. Ravens soar up and down, playing in these thermals that take them well over 2,000 feet above the Colorado River. Steep, fast dives and barrel rolls are only a couple of the exciting aerial maneuvers ravens perform. I saw them diving this morning as I came in to work at the visitor center. Death-defying vertical dives, right over the cliff, only to fly back up and do it again!

This raven looks like it's had enough of the fun for a while and is taking a break, enjoying the view.

Lunchtime Hike

2011-07-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today I have the late shift at work so I had an hour lunch. I ate my tomato soup and bagel, then decided to go for a short hike before I had to go sit in the entrance station for 5 hours. I chose the Basin Overlook, on the east side of the Rim Trail because it's short and there are a couple small hills along the way. I've been working hard to get more exercise lately and decided that was perfect for a long lunch break.

This is looking east toward the La Sal Mountains, named by Spanish explorers who thought the snow-covered peaks looked like piles of salt. There is salt in the area. The bright blue ponds in the distance are evaporation ponds for the Intrepid Potash Mine. There is a large salt deposit underground, which is responsible for shaping a lot of the landscape surrounding the park (more on that in another post!). Water is pumped into the salt deposit, where the salt dissolves. The salt water is then pumped out into these ponds and dyed blue. (I heard that blue absorbs more sunlight than any other color.) When the water evaporates, the salt is left behind. Then it is scraped up, refined and shipped across the country. It's potassium chloride (instead of sodium chloride, or table salt), which is a main ingredient in plant fertilizer. We use it at the park on the sidewalks in the winter as an ice melt. That is probably the most frequently asked question around: "What are those blue pools down there?" So, I use the previous explanation every single day at work!

Basin View Overlook, looking at the Colorado River. This is one of my favorite views of the river, but I don't make it out to this overlook very often anymore. I think, even when I lived at the park I only hiked out there once in a while. The Bighorn Overlook was my favorite hike then, because it started right behind the ranger houses and was easier to get to.

Just another view from the Basin View Overlook. One day when I was first working here, I hiked out to this overlook and sat for a while, trying to take it all in. After I had sat still long enough, a chipmunk came up to explore, and so did a desert spiny lizard. They poked around for a little while, getting closer and closer to each other, until they were finally close enough to look each other in the eyes! Then they each went their separate ways. It was one of the most fun overlook experiences I've had out here.

So now I am out here in the entrance station answering questions about the park and selling entrance fees. I'm also catching up on my blogs! Utah State Parks has a blog now... www.stateparks.utah.gov/blog. I am Ranger Kim (surprise!) and I'm one of the contributors.

Desert Potholes

2011-07-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute favorite things found here in the desert are potholes and the creatures living in them! Forgive me if I've already posted about these (I don't remember)--I don't know why I wouldn't have because I think they are fascinating! Potholes are depressions in the slickrock, and can be tiny to the size of bathtubs, hot tubs or tanks!

Here I am acting like I'm in a hot tub....

Deep potholes can hold rainwater for more than a month! These are an important water source for mule deer, desert bighorn sheep and many other animals.

Aquatic animals and insects even take advantage of this water source, including a couple species of amphibian (spadefoot toad and red-spotted toad), fairy shrimp, clam shrimp, tadpole shrimp and a variety of aquatic insects. When potholes are dry they don't look like much, but once it rains, eggs start hatching! The one I'm "sitting" in, but not touching, will be full of life when it is full of water. This one is up on the mesa top, close to Spring Canyon Point above the Green River.

Animals that have dried up, laying in wait, rehydrate and continue their lives. Some insect larvae can lose up to 80% of the water in their bodies!

Tadpole shrimp photo taken by a co-worker. I think they look like tiny horseshoe crabs.

Picture of a real horseshoe crab. We don't have those here but I'd like to see one someday!

Spadefoot toad, taken by Crystal, a co-worker. I've seen their tadpoles, but not the actual toad in real life, only pictures. I'm jealous!

It's fun to see and hear amphibians on the mesa top, because it seems like that's the last place they should be found! There are no permanent water sources, but these amphibians mature quickly (in less than two weeks) and are then able to leave the water source. Spadefoot toads mature from tadpole to toad, then bury themselves in the mud, waiting for the next rainstorm. Then they come up to the surface, mate, lay their eggs in potholes and the whole process starts over.

I took groups of 3rd graders to the potholes here in the park. It was fun, but hard for them to remember to not step in or touch the potholes. This year they were all dry, but other years they actually got to see the tadpole and fairy shrimp swimming around.

Utah State Parks

2011-07-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

Utah State Parks now has its own blog. You can click here to see it! I am a contributor once in a while--I try to do it often but that doesn't always happen! I like it because it highlights some of the coolest parts of our state parks and also gives you fishing/boating conditions, snow conditions and special events going on in the state parks of Utah!

I have been around state parks all my life, or at least most of it. I grew up in Vernal, UT. There are three state parks there--the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, Steinaker State Park, and Red Fleet State Park.

Red Fleet has always been my favorite. When I find my pictures I will have to add these to my blog! We always had birthday parties at Red Fleet and had many camping trips at Steinaker with my dad before he died in 1996.

I worked at the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum (the Field House) for three summers as a seasonal. I also volunteered there as part of a work-study program in high school. My aunt Linda worked at the information center that was attached so I "hung out" there even when I wasn't working.

New Blog

2011-06-27T14:39:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a new blog for things like everyday stories and things not strictly nature-related. Click here to check it out! So far it's only got one post and I'm going to do my best to keep them both up...and not double up on anything! Also anything Dave-related (except for hikes) will go there! I know I've been bad about posting on Dave!

Have a great day!

A Few Haikus and a 2 Hour Walk

2011-06-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

Instead of just writing about the walk I took last night, I decided to write a couple (or three) haikus, inspired by a fellow naturalist and blogger (Patricia Lichen)! I was at work in the entrance station with my notebook so this is what I came up with:

Heat waves shimmering,
Animals still and quiet:
Desert's afternoon.

The sun is setting,
Light falling on swarms of bugs;
A light breeze begins.

I walk the creek;
A startled skunk lifts her tail
and I hold my breath!

I also came up wtih: Even a swarm of bugs can be pretty in the right light! I wish I had my camera...I'm walking again tonight so I'll try to remember it!

A Day in the Life: The C Shift

2011-06-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

Lately I pretty much only work shifts--either cleaning, in the visitor center or collecting fees in the entrance station...so instead of "quietly going insane" (Edward Abbey), I thought I'd write about the shifts (and everything else!). Tonight I do have a sunset hike so I can write about that later. I actually forgot about the program later so I will work an extra 2 hours that I can take off tomorrow.

The C shift starts at 8:30 a.m. I drop off my lunch and everything at the visitor center, then grab the money box and head out to the entrance station. I will be out here until 12:30 p.m. when it's time for lunch. (I brought cans of soup...) After that I will work until 6 p.m. in the visitor center. We have a large gift shop, museum and art gallery. At 6, I will close everything up: lock doors, take down the flags and count the money. Then I will clean the visitor center restrooms. Normally after that it's 7 p.m. and time to go home, but tonight I will be here until 9 p.m.-ish.

The sunset hike starts at the main Point overlook and we will hike about a mile round-trip around the part of the mesa where the horses were trapped, giving the park it's name--Dead Horse Point. I carry a bag full of animal fur and skulls so I can talk about the animals that live here in the park. A lot of them are nocturnal because of the desert's heat and drought so that's what I focus on, mostly because visitors come in asking why they aren't seeing any wildlife. I think tonight I will be talking a lot about these little gnats that keep hanging around. The don't bite me much but visitors come in with welts all over their arms and legs! They are similar to mosquitoes--the females bite for blood that they will use to produce eggs.

A Day in the Life of a Park Ranger/Naturalist...The "B" Shift.

2011-06-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

Today wasn't a "typical" day at work but then, we don't have many typical days here ever. Our schedule is divided into shifts so that everything is covered, with an "admin" shift to do paperwork, pay bills, and anything else that needs taking care of. I thought it might be interesting to write about each shift as I am on them during the day. Today I am on the "B" shift. The shift names are pretty much arbitrary...it could be called the Z shift and I'd still be doing the same thing (I think...).

I would have left Moab around 10:20 a.m. to be at the park by 11 a.m. but I needed to stop by our region office to pick up some merchandise that had been delivered there--T-shirts and cards designed just for the park by a local artist, who happens to live around the corner from me.

Once I got everything picked up and ready to go, I stopped for "breakfast" at Wendy's (not the healthiest choice but I had run other errands and skipped a real breakfast). I got to the park after a 45 minute drive up Highways 191 and 313. I unloaded the boxes and a bag of my interpretive materials for a program I had given in May at Arches...finally returned it to the Dead Horse Point. Then I got down to my regular shift, which today is cleaning and collecting fees at the entrance station until 9 p.m., counting money and checking the park by 10 p.m.

I gathered my rubber gloves for cleaning and leather gloves for picking up trash and headed up to the Point to clean the restrooms. (I knew I wouldn't have everything finished by 12:30 p.m. when I was to cover lunch at the visitor center) Normally I clean both the men's and women's restrooms at the same time but I found that when it's busy it works best to clean one at a time. I cleaned the women's first, which went by pretty quickly. The men's....was a different story.

I won't go into detail because that's just gross, but cleaning the men's restroom was a little more complicated today than other days. I was about to go in and start cleaning but a group went in and I had to wait outside. One by one they came out and right away I could tell something was wrong. One man said as he passed me, "That's really gross, what someone dropped in that urinal." What?? Then more people came out..."Some people..." muttered under another's breath. Finally a German man came out, the last, and said "I'm sorry for you. Someone misunderstood the function of the urinal." Oooooh noooooo.......so I went into the cleaning closet and gathered up some cardboard, just in case. It was pretty bad, but thankfully, not as bad as it could have been and the rest of the cleaning went smoothly.

I covered lunch at the visitor center, then headed back out to finish cleaning. Our water is trucked into the park--because there isn't any on the mesa top--so we have to check water levels every day. There are four tanks in the park. The entrance station tank holds 1,000; the group site tank holds 2,000 gallons; the main tank for the visitor center, campground and ranger residences holds 20,000 gallons and the tank at the Point holds 6,000 gallons. I checked the water--all good--and headed back to the Point to empty garbages and pick up litter.

After finishing the Point, I headed to the group site. It's small and there are only two bathroom stalls to clean so it went quickly. From there I headed to the campground and cleaned the restrooms. I didn't have time to clean grills or do much sweeping but I got the important parts.

After lunch I headed out to the entrance station. This new one was built a couple years ago and it's really pretty nice. There is a restroom with a flushing toilet, drinking water and shaded windows to keep out most of the sun. My window for incoming traffic faces west, so I have to have my sunscreen, glasses and hat on all afternoon. At around 9 p.m. I start closing up and counting money, then I secure the money at the visitor center and do the late check.

During the late check we check bathrooms to make sure there are no big messes and that there is no water left running. If the water runs all night, the tank runs out of water and we are in trouble! We also drive through the campground to make sure no one has a wood fire, which is not allowed, check the restrooms for messes and running water, and make sure people are observing the quiet time, which is 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.

After that I will head home, down the dark highway into Moab. The drive isn't really bad, most of the time. Most of the year there isn't much traffic and the scenery is pretty. One of the ABSOLUTE BEST sunrises I've ever seen was on my way to work one morning. I wish I had been able to take a picture, but I don't think that would have captured it. Sometimes I get to see kit fox, mule deer, bats, owls, poor-wills, porcupine or coyotes. I swear I saw a skunk crossing the road up here one evening but I could have been wrong--maybe it was a porcupine? Anyway some evening I will take pictures of the drive home and post them here.

Interp Fun...

2011-06-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

While I was at home sick, a co-worker, Mike, changed our desktop wallpaper into a unicorn with a rainbow. Our assistant manager took it off, but the manager wanted it back up so I could see it when I got back to work. Apparently they were joking around about it, then Mike made the comment, "Kim should do a program about unicorns and rainbows!" I heard all this yesterday, so during my break, I sat down at the computer and came up with a program outline, complete with theme, goal and objectives. Even a conclusion! So....I thought I would share that here, in case anyone is interested in an interpretive program (slide show?) about Unicorns and Rainbows...specifically, the Desert Unicorn, or Unicornus albofurgoldhornii)!

Title: The Desert Unicorn (Unicornus albofurgoldhornii)

Theme: Unicorns can only be found on the Colorado Plateau during afternoon thunderstorms that produce rainbows.

Goal: To introduce and describe the rare Desert Unicorn.

Objectives:

Visitors will be able to describe a Desert Unicorn
Visitors will understand where, when and who will be able to view a Desert Unicorn

Props: pictures of the Desert Unicorn, its natural habitat and food that it eats; fossilized horn fragments, fur samples.

Program Introduction:

Welcome to Dead Horse Point State Park!
Park facts
Who I am

Introduction to the Desert Unicorn:

Unicorns have been reported in historical writings since the time of Ancient Greece.
Unicorns (other species) have been seen worldwide.
The Desert Unicorn is a unique species, only visible during summer afternoon thunderstorms that produce thunder, lightning and rainbows.
Legend has it that Unicorn horns have medicinal properties, but this has been proven to be false.
Leonardo da Vinci wrote about Unicorns, specifically, how to trap one.
Similar animals include the Narwhal, Oryx and Eland.
Desert Unicorns are endemic to the Colorado Plateau.

Relevance of Rainbows:

Desert Unicorns cannot handle the extreme heat of the desert during summer. The coolness of an afternoon thunderstorm creates perfect conditions for their arrival to the desert.
Thunderstorms provide valuable drinking water to most animals living on the Colorado Plateau, including the Desert Unicorn.
Desert Unicorn use rainbows as camouflage—their predators include but are not limited to: humans, mountain lion, coyote, black bear and mule deer. Gnats, or no-see-ums love to prey on Desert Unicorn blood.

Conclusion:

Desert Unicorns are rare, unique creatures that call the Colorado Plateau home. Very few lucky visitors will ever see one in their lifetimes.
Unicorns are common throughout history, but remain shrouded in myth and legend.
Desert Unicorns are similar to more commonly seen desert animals. They need water, shelter from the sun and love to keep them alive.

I didn't take this picture...I wish I did! But I found it on http://www.flickr.com/.

Thunderstorms!

2011-05-30T16:25:00.000-07:00

Thunderstorm over the La Sal Mountains (my view from the entrance station!)

I love thunderstorms! I don't like being out in them...sometimes at work I'm afraid to get out of the vehicle to walk across the parking lot, so I end up running. People scare me--they like to go up to the Point overlook to watch the storms. Not the best place to be if you don't want to be stuck by lightning! I think there is a actually a USU scholarship in the name of someone who died from a lightning strike at Dead Horse Point.

Out in the park's entrance station it gets a little scary sometimes too. A past seasonal swore he saw the ball on top of the flagpole get struck by lightning--I believe him! I did notice some black smudges up there...haha.

We don't get a lot of precipitation--most of it comes during summer thunderstorms where we get flash floods and waterfalls all over the place. I've only been able to be out during a few of the waterfall-storms but they are pretty cool. If I get lucky enough this summer I'll take some pictures :)

Talking About the Weather....

2011-05-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

It steals your hat, makes electricity and can tear down buildings. What is it? Wind, of course! ....and we've been getting a lot of it in Utah recently. I was curious about where it comes from so I looked up some information and decided to share it here!

Air molecules are moving constantly and are always bumping into each other. The more air molecules there are in a certain area, the higher the air pressure. Air pressure is just the amount of force (or weight of the air) that is hitting any given area at a certain time. Changes in air pressure over horizontal distances causes air molecules to rush from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure.

In other words, as the sun heats the air, it rises. Cooler air rushes in to fill in the space, making wind.

I was interested in looking up the wind because we've been having a LOT of it here! Yesterday at the park we had 60 mph gusts and steady wind all day of about 30 mph. The sky was brown with all the red/brown dust in the air. The last time I saw it that bad, when it rained everything was covered in mud. I sent my after school club kids home early so they wouldn't be caught in the storm! My roommate was riding her bike home at the time and came home splattered in red mud.

I like wind sometimes--like when I'm working or at home but I don't like hiking in it. Yesterday I had sunscreen on so that meant I was covered in sand by the time I got home. Also it's no fun setting up your tent in the wind...our group site campers left early because the wind destroyed their tents! That brings up another memory (sorry!)....last year I was asked to do some overtime at the park, so I had planned to just camp on top of the mesa at the Long Canyon road--I was supposed to work until midnight and didn't want to drive all the way into town and back. It was really windy when I was setting up my tent but I loaded it with pillow and sleeping bag. I decided it was time to call it off when I had to go get it out of a tree!

Work, work, work

2011-05-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted much lately...work got busy fast and I'm been getting out as much as possible on days off--trying to get some exercise and work off my winter weight...Dave bought us an exercise bike so even when it's really cold or really hot we can get our workout without a trip to the gym.

I am finally getting into a Master's program and USU Moab offers a Recreation Resource Management degree. I am going to a week-long field school from May 16-21 and have to give a presentation. I picked "The role of environmental interpretation in recreation resource management." Hopefully it'll go over well. The minimum talking time for grad students in this class is an hour. With the outline I came up with, it could last 3-4 hours...but I don't really want to take up the entire afternoon. It should be a fun class though. It's got LOTS of reading (even including Edward Abbey), an afternoon in Arches, the River Portal, Mill Creek...and an overnight camping trip down towards the Needles District of Canyonlands.

Another part of the Master's program is a project. Somehow this just happened and I fell into the middle of it, but Dead Horse Point State Park is now setting up a partnership with the Moab Charter School. I'm working on the schedule of events right now so I can meet with them on Wednesday. They want to move from an artistic program to more of an environmental education program. Anyway I can get credit for working with them. Now, all I need to do is take the GRE (oops) and officially get accepted to the college so I can continue. I'm thinking it should be a great program.

...Learning to measure use impacts. water quality sampling, surveying and a ton of other stuff...

Plus it's taking place here, which is a bonus. I'm taking the week off work and getting 3 graduate credits for it. I'll take pictures and post after that week is over!

Hiking in Arches: Park Avenue

2011-04-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

After a day of exploring by truck, we (I) decided to do some hikes. (I was really tired of Dave's suspension bouncing me around aaaaalllll day loooong) Dave's done a few hikes in Arches, but we (I) decided he needed to see more. He hadn't been to the Windows, my favorite, or Park Avenue, so that's what we focused on. Park Avenue is one of my favorite hikes because it's usually not crowded and it's a quick two-mile hike to get in on the way home from work or in a free morning.

View of rock formations along Park Avenue. Named for New York's Park Avenue, the canyon walls are huge, tall rock fins of Entrada Sandstone lining a narrow wash. (Entrada is the arch-forming sandstone in Arches, which is home to over 2,000 named arches)

Dark red fins in front of a clear blue sky.

Nefertiti Rock--looks like an Egyptian Queen. What I want to know, is "how did this happen?!"

Park Avenue is impressive enough looking up at those huge rock formations, but when you look closer at some of the smaller wonders, it's too much to take in all at once! This Newberry's Twinpod caught my eye in a sandy area of the wash. What usually happens is this: Dave looks at the rock formations and knows in what environment it was deposited and its time period. I look at the ground for tracks and scat, flowers and other cool little things.....

......like this! Crossbedded sandstone making fun patterns on the floor of the wash. Dave walked right over it, so I called him back to "look at the ground."

I've got pictures of some very "cute" tracks in the sandy places of this wash, but I'll save those for another post. Happy hiking!

Earth Day Clean-up

2011-04-25T14:04:00.000-07:00

I received a text from my friend Wendy on Thursday asking if I wanted to do a quick Earth Day clean-up along Mill Creek in the center of town. We did one last year and found lots of garbage and recyclable materials, so I decided it would be a good idea to get back out there--plus it's great exercise and the weather had been super nice.

A walking/biking path follows Mill Creek through the city of Moab. It's peaceful and quiet and we heard a lot of birds singing as we cleaned. I use the Mill Creek path to walk across town--it avoids the busy streets and passes under Main Street. It's the easiest (maybe not the fastest) way to get to the store and even across town. The part we cleaned was right next to/under Main Street and below Woody's Tavern. ...Not against the bar...except when people throw beer glasses and garbage over the fence and into the creek. Most of what we picked up was broken glasses, beer bottles and food containers (ew).

My friend Wendy who invited me along.

My friend Sara Melnicoff, who organizes these events! Yay Sara! Her website, http://www.moab-solutions.org/ is awesome--projects, green tips, etc.

Sara and her display about Moab Solutions. She makes portable exhibits out of recyclable materials. One can be seen at the Wabi Sabi Thriftique in town and she takes them with her when she gives presentations or holds events.

The group of us. Me, Wendy, Dean, Sara, Carole and Breezy. We all felt a little grungy after wading in the creek and mud, going after garbage and recyclables but it was worth it!

I know it's over, but Happy Earth Day!

Near Snake Experience

2011-04-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Dave and I decided to go for a hike, exploring some old dirt roads around the area south of Moab. We were walking up a road that was too old to drive on--had not been maintained for years. I'll add more pictures to another post about the old mine and houses we found, but today I wanted to share my rattle snake find!

We were on our way back down from the mine when I stepped over a rock and heard the buzzing. Dave later said it sounded like a cicada, but my brain registered what it was before I knew what was happening. I froze, trying to figure out where it was and if it was safe to step away from it. Dave registered it after me, saying "Don't move! There's a rattlesnake!" I heard him talking but tuned him out in favor of the snake. A few seconds later it crawled out from under a rock, moving away from me. I relaxed when I saw it was too far away to be dangerous.

Dave wanted me to move immediately so it didn't block his path behind me, but then he changed his mind. He said, "we need pictures!" I'm thinking, "what??? I want to get away from it!" So we both took a fast couple of pictures before we left the snake alone and continued our journey.

We have Midget-faded Rattlesnakes in this area. They are only about three feet long at their largest and their faded color helps them blend in to their surroundings. They are small, but don't let size fool you! They are still rattlesnakes with rattlesnake venom! I read that only one out of three strikes actually contain venom--they usually want to reserve their venom for their prey and they strike humans for defense, not because they're thinking of us as food. Venom is actually a modified saliva, that starts digesting the snake's prey before they even swallow it.

I've seen rattlesnakes before, in and out of the park, but I've never had one rattle at me from right under my feet! Quite an adrenalin rush, and took my mind off the fact that we had packed a backpack full of snacks and water...but had left it in the truck! We were ready for it by the time we got back!

Miles to the Moon

2011-03-26T11:46:00.000-07:00

This is just an observation I wanted to share...

I am reading a book called Interpretation for the 21st Century, 15 Guiding Principles. It gives some examples of interpretive exhibits and text and the one that stood out the most was about the blue whale. They have the longest migration route of any animal on the planet, roughly 10,000 miles in a year. During their lifetime, the distance they travel is about equal to the distance to the moon from earth and back. I thought that was amazing...maybe the moon in my mind was this thing that was too far away to comprehend.

Here is another observation:

The moon is, on average, 238,857 miles from earth (depending on which source you use!). Dave's 1997 Toyota Tacoma has over 200,000 miles on it--not sure the exact mileage, but it's got almost enough miles to have made it from here to the moon! I have no idea why I find that so fascinating, but I do...

Anyway, just a few random thoughts!

Learning to Mountain Bike...

2011-03-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

...with a "jalopy."

My mountain bike is a red, steel, Specialized Rockhopper from the 1980s. The staff at Rim Cyclry think they had it first and were the original sellers. I take it there for maintenance on the tires, etc. The chain probably needs some work but the gears shift and the brakes stop, and that's all I care about. I've only ridden a "newish" mountain bike once and that was in Washington two summers ago--I only used it for road biking though. I'm told when I ride a better one, like one with shocks and suspension, I'll fall in love with it and have more confidence when I ride--but the truth is that I love my bike! I bought it used from a friend in Moab for $100 a few years ago.

Raven caught flying from the bike trail down towards the ranger residences!

That said, I'm barely learning to mountain bike, on some beginner trails. I learned fast that "beginner" does not mean "easy." Dave and I rode a moderate trail (Bar M) that was easier than Dead Horse Point's beginner trail, so I'm thinking the ratings could be a little arbitrary...

The other night after work we rode the Great Pyramid Loop part of the Intrepid Trail System at DHP. It took us a little over an hour, so we got back right after dark. The trail is fun, with a few technical spots, so I have to walk my bike up ledges and through deep sand. Dave was left waiting for me a few times but it was worth the time. It's fun and definitely challenging for me!

Not me or Dave, but someone riding back to the trailhead!

Parts of the trail are slickrock, while other parts are loose sand and hardened surface. (A coworker actually took this picture!)

One of my favorite views from the trail. There are places to park bikes and walk to overlooks. Don't want any bikers falling off those cliffs! (Same coworker took this picture too...)

So it's been a great learning experience and we've been dying to get outside more now that the weather is nice. I love riding my bike anyway, whether it's around town, on an island or on a trail (even a dirt road works!) Next week we're riding down Gemini Bridges, so I'll try to get pictures of that too! Happy riding!

Uninvited Guest?

2011-02-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

This curious little guy (or big guy) either lives under the shed or under the house. They eat anything and everything, coming out at night to cause their mischief. Maybe that's not fair, and it's really "cute" but I'm not sure whether having a raccoon around is good or bad news for us living in the cottage. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

It all started when....it snowed a little and we started looking at animal tracks. There are lots of feral cats in our neighborhood (the humane society traps them, neuters/spays them, then releases them back into the wild) but some tracks definitely didn't fit in with those! I wish I'd taken a picture, but we looked them up online later, coming up with the fact that it was a raccoon. We borrowed the trail camera from work, setting it up between the shed and the cottage.

We also got this video footage:

It's only five seconds long, but you get the point!

Book Review #2: The Shack by William Young

2011-02-04T10:25:00.000-08:00

http://www.theshackbook.com/

The Shack

I picked up this book yesterday morning before sunrise, even, because I couldn't sleep. I sat on the couch pretty much all day reading, drinking tea and eating. I took my book with me to ride along and do errands while Dave was driving. I fell asleep at night on the couch with less than 10 pages to go and finished it this morning. My mom gave it to me over a year ago and I hadn't touched it until now, and I'm glad I did.

Combine an intriguing narrative with deep Christian spiritual concepts and you get a book I wasn't able to put down! Without giving away too much of the plot (because I highly recommend reading this book, whether you are or are not Christian--in fact I've just read that non-Christians often get more from reading this book than Christians do because...you'll have to read to find out why), Mack's youngest daughter was brutally murdered in a small shack in the woods after a family camping trip in the Pacific Northwest. Three and a half years later he receives a note, apparently from God, to spend a weekend with Him in the same shack. Mack goes to the shack and returns a completely changed man. I didn't feel a profound sense of change as I read this book but it does bring home the importance of love and forgiveness and the power of relationships in our lives.

Book Review: Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival

2011-01-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

From tiny golden-crowned Kinglets to insects with antifreeze, this book covers almost everything! That sounded like an advertisement, but it was a great book. I found it in our library at the park and read it when I needed a break from other projects. It didn't take very long--the reviews are right when they say Bernd Heinrich is a talented science writer. I've read another of his books, last summer on my own time...Mind of the Raven. That's also a book I would recommend. I liked it so much I took it to Washington with me, reading it on the plane and on the ferry rides.

This book explores the worlds of small animals, including insects and amphibians, to discover how they survive very cold temperatures during the winter to emerge in the spring ready to continue their lives. The Kinglets are the highlight of the book because they are so small, but are able to survive New England winters. They are tiny birds, weighing no more than two pennies (a few ounces), with nothing but feathers and body fat to get them through 16-hour nights in the freezing temperatures. They actually eat frozen catepillar larvae during the day, all day long, to build up enough energy to survive the winter and keep themselves warm. They, along with animals like squirrels and other birds, huddle for warmth and shiver to keep themselves warm.

Bats and mice enter torpor, where their body temperatures are very low, but not so low as to freeze to death. They can't be too warm either, because that would make them shiver, and that uses too much of their energy resources. Basically they would die of starvation.

Bears hibernate all winter without eating, drinking or using the bathroom. In humans, toxins build up too much for us to be able to do that. Also, it's thought that bears don't age as they hibernate...wouldn't that be great for us? Their cubs are born and the sleep right through it!

Anyway that's a small sample of the animals described in this book but I thought it was great. I've had fun this winter watching Dark-eyed Juncos and Juniper Titmice, wondering how they are able to hop around in just their feathers when I have several layers on and all I want to do is get inside and stay there! They eat all day and huddle at night--they also fluff out their feathers so there are extra layers of warm air trapped, to protect them from the cold.

I've just picked up another book from the visitor center to read--The Animal Dialogues by Craid Childs. I just started it but it looks promising! I'm also trying out a couple recipes from cookbooks we sell so I can write review cards on those...that's the part I'm really looking forward to!

Christmas Bird Count 2010

2011-01-21T12:49:00.000-08:00

This year Dead Horse Point was added to the annual Christmas Bird Count. I was nervous and Dave isn't too familiar with a lot of the birds here so we spent a couple days here at work quizzing each other and studying. We studied pictures, names and birdcalls. Dave can now look at a picture and say, "Hey! That's a White-breasted Nuthatch!" When I said "you're right!" He responded with "I know a bird!" This conversation took place at True Value when we were looking for a bird feeder. We ended up with a suet feeder and a black sunflower seed bell to start with.

We hiked the Rim Trail by ourselves and identified a Loggerhead Shrike, Juniper Titmouse, Dark-eyed Junco, Ravens and Crystal even spotted a Northern Goshawk, that we had to look up later. We used binoculars and watched the birds for a few minutes at a time. My favorite are the Juniper Titmice. They're so cute! ...and curious/friendly little birds that actually came up to us pretty close. One jumped on top of a cairn while we were watching it. Just as I was saying, "Oh look, it's sooo cute!" It took off toward Dave and flew into the tree behind him. I'm not repeating his reaction to that one!

Note: I did NOT take this picture, the NPS did, but I wish I had. I've got a picture of one but it's far away and still on my camera. This is the Juniper Titmouse. Isn't it cute!!

The NPS took this picture as well, but this is what ours was doing. Perched in a tree watching the world go by. Or watching for insects. Anyway we had to dig out the bird book and figure out what it was.

We learned a lot, had a good time and got some good hiking in. We also added Scrub Jays and Pinyon Jays to our list. Didn't actually see the Pinyon Jay but we heard it so it counts!

New Cottage

2011-01-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

This is the "cottage" I just moved into! It's got tons of trees, a big yard with a garden and a storage shed in the back that's almost as big as the "cottage" itself! It's all one space, with the kitchen, living room and bedroom all together. The bathroom has a door of course, and the bedroom is in its own corner so that helps, plus I can add a curtain or divider for a little more privacy! My cat also moved in. She likes it, but she'll be even happier when she gets to go outside in the spring. Due to the lack of bed, she had to be creative in finding her own hidey-hole. It's now either the closet behind the clothes or between the couch and the heater.

We decorated it up really nice. Took my old landlord's couch, entertainment center, coffee table, dishes, silverware and decorations. Ordered a bed and a kitchen table with chairs so soon there will be some furniture in there. I'm taking my sewing class again this winter and will hopefully be making some curtains. The carpet is dark green and the walls are on the yellow/off white side, so I think they should be maybe sage green. The kitchen curtains should be a little brighter with a Southwestern design to go with the other kitchen decorations I think.

Here is the "living room."

Sorry for the dark, bad picture. My phone isn't the best camera but it works. There's also not a lot of light in there, which is both good and bad. The only thing I would really change is the kitchen stove. I'm so used to gas stoves and I think they are easier to cook with because you can see how high the flame is. Electric stays hot longer and I tend to either burn things or boil them over. I'll have to get used to it and do some more experimenting. Our next recipe to try is going to be Pho--a Vietnamese noodle/broth dish so that may be the real test. I've also got stuff to make Miso soup--Japanese. We made egg rolls one night and ended up burning those--too hot of oil, and the oil was old.....

Christmas Day Hike

2010-12-26T12:37:00.000-08:00

Dave and I decided to do a hike on Christmas Day. He'd never been to False Kiva, so that was the plan. Wearing long pants, warm sweaters and coats, we headed out. Five minutes into the hike the sweaters were off and we were wishing for shorts--it was at least 50 degrees and the movement made us warmer. We had some trouble finding the site, because I coudn't remember how to get there.

This is what we found instead. Deep potholes full of water from last week's rain. The view (to me) suggested we were right above the site we were looking for...but how to get there? We got headed in the right direction and found the real trail. Down a steep grade into the canyon we went, only to have to climb back up into the alcove, and up into another alcove for the ruin.

The view is beautiful and the site is pretty interesting. This picture was taken Christmas Day, 2010. We were in direct sunlight, sweating. Dave started wishing he hadn't worn heavy dark jeans on this hike. I had light hiking pants on, but I think we both were wishing for shorts. --Dave took this picture. I'm nowhere near that good...or maybe it's just the scenery that makes it such an awesome picture! haha.

The hike out was long and hard--especially since we'd been couch potatoes for so long this winter. We'd both been on two hikes that week before this one, and I'd gone on one the day before so we were kind of warmed up...but not enough! I slipped and fell at least twice on the slickrock, Dave twisted his ankle and did a face plant into a blackbrush. OUCH! We limped to my car, drove home and watched a movie. It was a challenge we both enjoyed and needed. We admitted to each other we were both wishing for jet packs, helicopters....anything.

This is me hiking out of the alcove. We had to hike back down to the ledge to actually begin the climb out of the canyon. I asked Dave if he'd ever go back, and he said yes, with a helicopter!

More Wildlife Camera Pictures

2010-12-18T08:45:00.000-08:00

The wildlife camera has been out for about two weeks. We decided the less human visitation the better. We ended up getting about 30 pictures, but I'm going to only add my favorites. Last post was the kit fox. This one will have mule deer and a black-tailed jackrabbit. My absolute FAVORITE picture is the deer sniffing the camera; it's amazing! The camera is set in a quiet area of the park where people don't normally go. There is a historic cable site and lots of potholes with water in them for wildlife. We noticed lots of deer and bighorn sheep footprints in one area, so this is where we set up the camera. I'm excited to someday get a bobcat, mountain lion or bighorn sheep picture. There are lots of prey species in the area so it's possible!!

"You smell funny."

Another of my favorites. They look so peaceful!

Another close-up picture.

This was taken at dusk. The camera takes infrared pictures, and was set at its highest quality. I love watching deer, they're so peaceful and quiet wandering around grazing. They're also very curious, as you can tell.

Black-tailed Jackrabbit hoping an owl doesn't swoop down. It also has to look out for kit fox and coyotes. The kit fox picture was taken in a different area of the park, near the group site. They are also seen at the campground and Neck, near Dead Horse Point.

That's it for today! Hopefully we'll have more pictures soon! It's been really nice out and we've had pretty calm weather, except for today and the rest of this weekend it will snow/rain. These days we don't get many visitors, even on a Saturday, so we can get some work done. I've got grants to write and an article for the Moab Happenings due soon...so I should get to work!

Kit Fox

2010-12-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

Finally! I'm updating my blog...it's about time!

We set up a wildlife camera at the park, hoping to get pictures of a mountain lion or something equally exciting. We've found bobcat tracks and kit fox/coyote tracks so far, and some scat. There are lots of mule deer (will post those later!) and we've found bighorn sheep tracks and scat on the northern end of the park--that's the current camera location!

This was taken at the group site, a mile north of the visitor center. We don't get to see kit fox very often and it's usually during the night check around the Neck or the Point. Kit fox are nocturnal and eat small rodents and cottontail rabbits. I've found slides where park staff have had to trap them in the campground and release them elsewhere, because they were begging campers for food. These little guys (and girls) are so cute, the Naturalist's Guide to Canyon Country says they look like cartoon characters with their big ears, small bodies and long tails. Campers like to feed them because they are so cute...but they can't be dependent on human food...one, because it's bad for them and two, because when humans aren't around (like now, in the winter) they have a hard time getting back into the routine of feeding themselves. Same with birds, deer (though I did see a mule deer stealing something from a cooler at a campsite in Arches National Park once), chipmunks and all the other cute creatures we like to feed.

It's good to be back in the blogging world....and I will TRY MY BEST to keep it going!

2010-07-18T11:35:00.001-07:00

A Past Trip to Las Vegas and Points Between

2010-07-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Stacy posted pictures on Facebook about one of our trips, it was actually for my 26th birthday! We decided to make our way to Vegas for a few nights (since that's where I was born!). I also wanted to see part of the Shakespearean Festival so we planned for that too. The idea was the camp the whole way and then stay with my step-brother in Vegas for a couple nights over the 4th of July. After one very hot night of camping around Cedar City at Red Cliffs we decided to spend the money on a hotel room for two nights. It was worth it! We made our way to Goblin Valley State Park, Capitol Reef Escalante State Park, Kodachrome (where we camped the night of my birthday!), and the visitor center at Bryce Canyon.

Once we made it to Cedar City we visited Iron Mission State Park (now called Frontier Homestead) and swam at Sand Hollow State Park. It was hot, so we ignored the signs warning us against swimming because of "swimmer's itch," a nasty parasite that's not really looking for humans but....it tries anyway. We each had many mosquito bite-looking bumps on our arms and legs that itched horribly for a week or so. We didn't want to camp again because of the bites and the heat so we got the hotel room.

Here are pictures we took along the way:

Red Cliffs Campground...106 degrees at 6 p.m.!

Baby pheasants at our friend Mike's house in Boulder, UT.

Kodachrome Basin State Park

Stacy at Cedar Breaks

Fireworks Display

Dolpins at the Mirage

Step brother's pool!

Hiking with Wendy in Arches

2010-06-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in a long time, so I decided today was a great day to catch up a little bit. My friend Wendy and I decided to go for a hike in Arches a few weeks ago (that's how behind I am!). I was not thinking right and wore jeans, a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt, no hat and no sunscreen on my neck. Got my neck fried and my nose burned. If it had been any warmer I'd have been very uncomfortable but it ended up being a fun day anyway.

We parked at the Park Avenue trailhead and walked up the road to a social trail, which we followed to a crack we could climb to the top of the slickrock. We got some amazing views of Courthouse Wash and Park Avenue, plus the flowers were amazing. I think Wendy took more flower pictures than I did but here is what I have for the day!

A view into the heart of Arches.

Blooming yucca and lots of sand and rocks.

Rough mule's ears (Wyethia scabra) blooming.

Can you spot Wendy in this picture? She's tiny compared to the rocks! (middle)

A view at the top of Courthouse Wash.

We spent about four hours exploring up there. Most of it was slickrock so we didn't have to worry about crushing plants or biological soil crust where we were. We stopped to smell almost every new type of flower we saw, including fishhook cactusl, claret-cup cactus and cliffrose.

Needles, Arches and Negro Bill Canyon Hikes

2010-05-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am updating the last three major hikes I've been on. At the end of April, a friend (Louise Murch) brought down her friend Sally to hike in the Needles area. I was off the same days they were here so I hiked with them as much as I could. They'd been planning to hike up over Wooden Shoe and also to Druid Arch. I'd been wanting to make it to Druid Arch for a long time so I was really excited when they said where they were going. The hike was a killer, but we all made it. I was sore the next day, but during the hike I kept stopping to smell the wildflowers and take pictures of them. I also LOVE the colors and shapes of the rocks in the Needles, so I took too many pictures of rocks.

Below Wooden Shoe

Wooden Shoe Arch

,
The Needles District of Canyonlands National Park is about 60 miles south of Moab, visible from Dead Horse Point and the Island in the Sky. Instead of being up on a mesa looking down, we were inside the rock formations looking up at them. We could also see the high red cliffs of Wingate sandstone that make up the Island in the Sky. The weather was stormy for most of the trip, but there were periods of blue sky when we could see the La Sal Mountains covered in snow. It made a great contrast to the red rocks.

Inside a joint between rocks.

Louise Murch and me at Druid Arch

Isn't it amazing? Druid Arch, way worth the hike.

The Fiery Furnace is in Arches National Park. The name comes from the fins of dark red sandstone, rising up to look like flames. There are no trails in the Fiery Furnace but enough groups have been through and my friend had been there enough times we made it through pretty quickly. There are hidden arches and great rock formations inside, along with a flower--biscuitroot (Lomatium latilobum) that is endemic to the area--it grows only between fins of entrada sandstone.

Inside the Fiery Furnace

Fun places to explore.

Finally, the last hike I did on my own. I really needed to be outside but as I started late in the day, I only intended a short walk. I ended up hiking five miles, up Negro Bill Canyon to Morning Glory Arch, which is really a natural bridge. I loved the sound of the water and the birds singing, and the loads of wildflowers I passed. I took pictures of some of them but mostly concentrated on the hike. This is what I'd planned to do on my days off all spring, so finally getting out to do these hikes was a great start. That's why I started the blog in the first place! So here are some pictures to go along with the descriptions.

Blooming claret cup cactus in Negro Bill Canyon.

Hanging garden.

Morning Glory Bridge.

Sonoran Desert Wildflowers and More!

2010-05-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog I imagined myself being a lot more faithful to it than I actually am. Anyway, here are the pictures and some details from my last two trips to Arizona! The first time this year I went down was to visit my family--step parents and aunt and uncle from Anacortes, WA. We went for some hikes and played a lot of cards. The second time was in April and it was to see the desert wildflowers and visit the botanical gardens with my friend Arran from Canada. She's as much into plants as I am so we had a great time! We actually spent the entire day at the botanical gardens!

The family hiking in White Tanks recreational area. We hiked the Waterfall Trail. It had just rained so it was great to see so much water in that area.

Isn't this awesome scenery? I love the saguaros and chollas!

California poppy

Fairy duster

Arran stopping to smell the flowers.

Dove nesting in a saguaro.

I love this sign. I've been fascinated with flowers for the longest time. I love that they're only here for a little while, then they produce seeds to create the next generation of plants and flowers. Maybe my next post will be on the wildflowers of this area...or my latest trip to the Needles where we saw all kinds of flowers and very cool rock formations.

Desert spiny lizard. I followed it until it stopped long enough for me to take a picture.

So I know it's only 8 pictures of two very different, scenery and plant-filled trips but I didn't want to go on too long. As soon as I download pictures from the Needles I'll post that trip as well. I've got some half-days coming up at work too so maybe I'll get out into the Island in the Sky area more and have something to say about that!

The Jeep Saga

2010-04-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

I know this isn't entirely about nature, but it definitely affects my plans for the summer! I haven't written anything for a while because I've been busy and sleepy and looking for a way to work for the past two weeks. I went to Ken's Lake for a walk--it's one mile around the lake and it's beautiful and relaxing and I watched Canada geese swimming around. I was on my way home, turning left at an intersection when my Jeep stalled. I got it started after several tries, long enough to pull out of the intersection, and called a tow truck. The shop had the Jeep for three days before they called me saying I needed a new engine. I called the Jeep dealership in Grand Junction. They said they would do it for $7,000. I replied that I would not be doing that. Luckily my brother-in-law is a mechanic and is going to look at it sometime in the future (months probably).

If I'd worked in town it wouldn't have been much of a problem. I work 35 miles outside of town! I borrowed a friend's car on Saturday, my old roommate drove me to the park on Sunday morning, my boyfriend picked me up Sunday evening. Monday and Tuesday I rode to work with a co-worker in the water truck. A friend of a friend drove me to Price on Wednesday, I met my sister and she drove me to Vernal so I could borrow my mom's car. I had my mom's car all last week to get to work and back while I was researching and looking online for vehicles. A friend and I drove to Grand Junction Thursday. I found a good car--a Toyota Corolla--13,000 miles on it and 2007. More than I'd planned to spend but I think it will be worth it. It does get great gas mileage! Since I drive 70 miles a day for work, it's a good thing.

So I will miss my Jeep, it's served me well and has over 150,00 miles on it. I'm going to have to remember to be nice to my car and not take it on too many dirt roads! Most places I'd planned to visit this summer around Moab I can visit by mountain bike or hiking so it's only a slight change of plans!

A Great Reminder

2010-03-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

A footprint on a wall in a ruin on Cedar Mesa.

The Canyon we found it in.

I was busy at first aid training today and went for a walk tonight, but not really hiking, just wandering around the neighborhoods in Moab. Said hello to some old friends and wandered some more. I wanted to post something, but didn't have anything specific on my mind. I found these pictures as I was browsing on my computer (Yes, I took these ones!). Andrew and I found this ruin on Cedar Mesa. I looked inside one ruin and found this footprint on a wall. It made me think of a little kid lying on the ground when the mud was fresh and, placing his (or her) foot into the mud, leaving his (or her) mark on the dwelling. It was another cool reminder that these ruins and rock art were made by people just like us. There are several rock art depictions of pregnant women, and near Moab there is a panel of a woman giving birth (or that's the interpretation anyway). Giving birth in the desert, not in a hospital, in the heat or cold, having ceremonies for that baby and taking care of it--babies back then had the same needs as babies do now! I just think it's fascinating to think about.

I'm hiking tomorrow so maybe I'll have something more interesting to post but I wanted to share this thought.

Immature Bald Eagle

2010-03-12T08:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday as I was headed to Grand Junction to do some shopping, I saw an immature bald eagle circling above the river looking for fish. I was on a windy, curvy section of the River Road (Highway 128) but no one was coming behind me so I stopped for a second to watch it. It was huge! ...and I was so excited I got goosebumps! I reached for my phone to share it with someone....anyone....but there's no service on that road and I had to get going.

I did not take this picture, it's from a google image search...sorry!

In Grand Junction, Jennie and I went to the botanical gardens and then walked with her kids to the riverbank and took a short break. Then we shopped for a while and I headed home.

My last really cool bird sighting was a peregrine falcon (2 times now!) out near the park boundary. It was flying a little low, looking for rodents.

I'm so happy the snow's almost all gone!!!!

Sewing Projects

2010-02-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

These are a few of the things I've made since I dusted off my sewing machine a month ago. I'm working on a set of pajamas, and these are two pincushions I made for other people. The pink one is mine...one of the first, as you can tell!

This one is mine, stuffed with cotton balls, because that's all I could think of at the time.

This is one I made my step-mom for her birthday.

This I made from fabric harvested from an old state park uniform shirt. My friend volunteered at the park, cleaning out the very nasty uniform closet. She threw away bags and bags of un-useable uniforms, kept the nicer ones for the seasonals and cut the rest into cleaning rags. I made her this to commemorate her time in the uniform closet....by the way, I didn't know how to piece fabric together, so the first two attempts ended up in mangled pieces of fabric I don't want anyone to ever see!

These are my pajamas BEFORE I took them in a few inches. Cut the pattern out a little too big...but by the time they're finished I should be able to wear them!

I will post pictures soon!

2010-02-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

I have pictures of Phoenix but haven't posted them yet. Hopefully next month I will have more, but this time of wildflowers. It's still cold and snowy here (no snow in Moab, just a lot on the mesa!) and the campground snowman is halfway melted but still standing.

Phoenix was rainy the first day. It actually stormed on us but the next few days were great. We went to White Tanks to hike to the waterfall, and then spent some time poking around the desert exploring cactus. Norm (stepdad) brushed up against a couple cholla...his arm survived but his shoe was another story. I wonder if they even got all the spines out. My stepmom tried to take the spines out, got them stuck in her hand. I took them out of her hand and threw them on the side of the trail.

Anyway I will hopefully post pictures tonight or tomorrow!

I am thinking of goals for the spring (not getting too far yet!) and here are a few:

finish sewing my pajamas
start the canvas bag pattern I bought (and spent $20 on fabric for)
make some quilted coasters from a really cool design
find the articles on potholes I've been looking for
find my application for substitute teaching
be prepared for my after school club
get out a LOT more and see more of Moab!

A few areas I'm ashamed I've not been to yet are: Klondike Bluffs, Salt Valley Road, Murphy Trail and Lathrop Trail (Canyonlands), Druid Arch, Amasa Back, Hurrah Pass, Hell Roaring Canyon and hiking the Slickrock Bike Trail. I've decided that for my sanity I need to camp more and hike more, and get out here more in general, even if it's hot (don't worry, I drink lots of water!). There are more areas I need to get to but I'll save those for later! I'm SO ready for spring, (even though I know winter is important!).

Another snowy day...

2010-02-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

I took this picture this morning after I finished shoveling snow. Yesterday I shoveled everything in the park but it was only an inch or so. Today is a little different. I shoved the Point sidewalks while Crystal shoveled the visitor center. She is sick and my back has been killing me, so we moved pretty slow. I am tired of the snow (I looked forward to THIS in November...) but last night I found a great use for it--filling plastic bags for ice packs. My back hurt and I stayed at the park--I forgot any kind of pain killer except magnesium/calcium pills that relax my muscles but make me sleepy too. I used the ice pack for a while then got in a hot bath, then iced it again and I slept great! Yesterday I used some sick leave because the night before I only got a few hours of sleep. The chiropractor keeps saying I'm fixed but I'm really not. Tried a massage, and tomorrow I am going to another homeopathic-type doctor before I go to a real doctor. It will be $60, but after all the money I spent on chiropractor and massage....it may be worth it.

I am excited to go to Phoenix...not the long drive but the warmer weather. I heard there may already be wildflowers blooming so I'm taking my camera and computer, and camera charger. When I went to Washington I forgot the charger so I ended up with many less pictures that I would have otherwise. Maybe I'll have to go back......we'll see!

Today may not be a productive day at work. I want to go out and clean before tonight (I'm afraid of the road after it gets dark...ice and black cows, not a great combo) so I'll do that, maybe vacuum and clean the windows and stock a little. I've been reading some of the books on our shelves so I can help people buy them....and I'm becomming a fan of Craig Childs.

Slow, cold foggy days

2010-02-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

I took this picture with my phone this morning on my way through the campground. It's got a mohawk and a grass skirt...we had campers a few nights ago from a wilderness therapy class.

It's been very slow, foggy most days and cold, but so far it hasn't snowed. I saw frozen frost on my way to work this morning but I was warm in my Jeep drinking coffee so that made things a little nicer. The frost was pretty, we don't see that very often. There are always flocks of birds in the highway and I'm always afraid I'm going to hit one. I think they're juncos but I don't get a good enough look to really tell.

Yesterday a visitor came in and asked me if I get scared way out here and all alone. I told her there are really no people around to be afraid of, because in the visitor center in the park that's all there really would be to be afraid of! People are out of their normal surroundings here and it scares them. I'm sure if I found myself in a big city surrounded by tons of people I don't know with no idea of where I'm going or what to do next I would be scared. Maybe not, I kind of like things like that--I made it through the Seattle airport without getting lost and scared, but then I had plenty of time between flights.

I think I saw a dead porcupine on the highway this morning, but didn't stop to look closer....

Some "cool" birds

2010-02-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

At work I have been cleaning out the park library. I got rid of lots of books and lots of other things we don't need in the library. There are 18 empty slide carousels and some projectors, a bunch of blueprints and a dartboard. The dart board belongs to a co-worker who has promised to take it home. We also have a refridgerator and small kitchen with a microwave. Once I was finished with the library part of the room I tackled the kitchen. I started with the kitchen cupboards--gross! I threw out food that had expired in 2003 and lots of hot sauce packets and sugar packets, old tea and I washed about 10 mugs that had coffee stains in them from years ago.

Once I tackled the fridge and freezer...it got tougher. We have a collection of frozen snakes I use for my reptile programs but I weeded through those and kept the good ones, threw out the mangled road kill snakes everyone had saved because no one ever threw anything away. Ever. These snakes are in there because past and current employees had found them dead, wound them up and put them in the freezer. I also found a couple bags of dead birds--ash throated flycatchers that had flown into the building, died and been stuck in the freezer with blood still on their heads. I threw those out too--too disturbing to keep. So now the kitchen and library are in good working condition almost--a few more things to get rid of and make more space for working and developing programs.

On the subject of cool birds though, it's more fun to watch birds that are alive and running around looking for food. I went to my boyfriend's house in Blanding. He said he's got waist-deep snow and I wanted to see it! It is really that deep--he's got tunnels built from his house to the woodpile and his shop and the driveway is a tunnel too. I was looking out the window--he feeds his wild birds with seed from his shop--there are spotted tohees, dark-eyed juncos, scrub jays and pinyon jays visiting his yard. The pinyon jays this week were a surprise, he usually doesn't see groups o them down there. In the summer he's got oriols, that I like watching. I want to learn more birds but I have been really slow about it.

spotted tohee--from utahbirds.org.

Early Morning

2010-01-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

On the way to work this morning I saw a very cool shooting star. There was some light in the east, just before sunrise and I saw a large, green ball of light that looked pretty low in the sky falling from east to west. I was listening to a new favorite song by Josh Groban--"Weeping" and slowed way down to watch it. Last time I saw something like that I was watching it so closely I didn't notice there were mule deer in the road and had to stop very fast! I didn't hit any of them but it taught me to still pay attention to my driving.

The skies here are so clear we have a great view of the night sky. Once in a while I see shooting stars (or meteorites...but I prefer shooting stars) and we can see the Space Station. On a full moon night you can see the reflection of the moon in the Colorado River, 2000 feet below the park.

Long week of snow and rain is almost over!

2010-01-22T07:33:00.000-08:00

This whole week it has been either snowing or raining. We didn't get much snow accumulation and today most of it is gone because of last night's rain and warmer temperatures. I was afraid the rain was going to freeze overnight but it looks like I was wrong. I was headed home from work, thinking I'd go to the recycle center and the thrift store, but that didn't sound like fun in the rain so I went to the Diner instead.

I am going to help run field trips at Canyonlands National Park next week. Yesterday was the training, and the topic of these field trips is Changes in Matter--like physical and chemical changes. There is a 1/2 mile hike as part of the field trip, a station about the ozone layer (because Canyonlands has an air quality station) and a station about erosion and weathering. The idea is to break up a rock, which is physical weathering, then pour acid on it (vinegar, coke, or lemon juice), which is chemical weathering. I'm thinking I'd like to help with the hike to Mesa Arch, where we point out physical and chemical matter changes along the way. Should be fun!

Mesa Arch is one of my favorite places in Canyonlands. It's a really short, easy hike, but you end up at an arch--looking through the arch into the canyon is one of the coolest views around. You look at three towers; Airport Tower, Monster Tower and Washerwoman Arch--a free-standing tower with an arch that looks like a woman standing at a tub doing laundry. It's one of the first things I learned about this place, there are always surprises! Edward Abbey said we shouldn't give human names to these formations, we should just let them be as they are, but in the case of Washerwoman Arch, I think it totally fits!

Sunrise at Mesa Arch.

Can't sleep so I am online.

2010-01-17T03:32:00.000-08:00

I woke up around 3 a.m. and can't get back to sleep so here I am on the internet. My back is still sore so I think I'm having trouble getting comfortable. I went skiing with my friend Arran a week or so ago, fell a bunch of times and probably moved some muscle in my shoulder/back that didn't need moved. I'd gone to the chiropractor the previous day and I think I undid all of his work!

Anyway that part isn't interesting but the skiing was. We went cross-country skiing in the La Sals, and it was beautiful. Didn't see any deer, but there were some squirrels out chirpping at us and some ravens. We saw wild turkeys on the way up and down the mountain. Arran is from Canada and skis about as bad as I do, so I didn't feel embarassed when I fell, only when I fell standing still in front of a co-worker did I feel very embarassed. He was headed up the hill when we were headed down. I made it down a couple downhill parts without falling, and felt good about myself for that, but mostly I was concerned with looking for wildlife and enjoying the scenery. Next time I think we are going to head down to Gold Basin instead of Geyser Pass. There are somethings where it's necessary to work up to. I should go this week on my days off, just so I get to ski more than one time this year. It's not that we don't have snow, just that on my own I don't have a whole lot of ambition. It's supposed to snow this week again so I'll have a better reason to ski up there, or maybe even on the mesa in the desert!

I was also thinking of some cool wildlife we had in the park recently (by recently I mean November). We had a bear cub visit the campground. Bears don't really come up here much on purpose. This one went inside a tent trailer when the people were out hiking, ate some food and fell asleep. A camper saw it head inside the trailer, came to the visitor center and let us know. It had been getting into garbage cans, so it was time to call the wildlife people. They came, tranquilized it and took it to Elk Ridge down by Blanding.

The other cool thing was the release of a golden eagle. Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation came in one day in late November saying they were on their way into the park to release a golden eagle that had been after some prey, not paying attention and went through the windshield of a Jeep. It was awesome to see one up close, observe the sharp beak and talons (as big as my hand!) and then see the vet who treated it get to release it. That's the first one she's actually been able to release after healing it. I got a great picture of her as the eagle spread it's wings to take off, and her arms were still outstretched as she pushed it away from her body. I'll have to post that picture too, eventually. It's 4:30 a.m. so I should try and sleep before I work at 7 a.m. but I already tried for an hour without much success, so I'm here instead....

New to Blogging....but it sounded like fun.

2010-01-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, I got the idea to start a blog from watching the movie Julie&Julia. It sounded like fun and it looks like a lot of my friends have blogs too. So I thought I'd try it, and see if I can actually be faithful to my blog and post things when I have something to write. I live in Utah in the desert and love this place. It's very cold and snowy right now and looks awesome with snow on the red rocks. I am looking forward to spring. I have a project in mind for fun and work possibly. I've always been fascinated with potholes. Not the kind in the road, the ones hollowed out of the rocks by wind and rain and, when full of water, are full of aquatic animals including amphibians.
I am sitting at Eddie McStiffs listening to Gigi Love sing and wasting time on the internet. I was going to upload pictures to the internet but the computer connection is slow or something, and it's not cooperating. Luckily for me there is enough connection to post a blog. Lucky family and friends too! (haha, not!)
So today at work.......just kidding, it's not going to be a daily blog about work, unless something really cool happens, like the bear in the campground (that doesn't belong here) and the golden eagle release that was great to watch. If I figure out how to post pictures I'll post one of each here. Also funny tourist questions and comments will be game, if they're funny enough to share.
I'm going for now...have fun!