Thoughts for election day….
"…it's not our politics that will save us, but our humanity and the smaller more beautiful worlds in which we love each other,"
"To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely."
"…such loveliness begins within the simple ordinary customs and small affections,"
more here
Hoping your weekend has drawn you in and surrounded you with peace and beauty.
Every year, come fall, they round up the bison on Antelope Island for a week-long process of inspection, medication, and culling. We did not get to the round up this year but had been planning this trip to see them working the herd for weeks. I was a little concerned when our normally sunny sky forecast called for rain that day but we moved forward with high hopes. When it still wasn't raining when we arrived I was positively giddy. Giddy still, as I swung that camera strap over my neck and went to adjust the settings on the camera. Giddy passed quickly when I saw that big "E" on the screen. Error message.
See, I was rocking this field trip thing. It was on the calendar way in advance. The little girls were up early packing lunches. We got gas. Camera card was downloaded and bag was packed. The misstep in there was forgetting to take the memory card back out of the computer. Insert sharp gasp and dramatic face palm. Not gonna lie, I almost cried actual tears. It takes 40 minutes to drive out from here to the island and they do this whole thing in a day or two.
Sooooo, I pulled myself together and pulled out the world's stupidest smartphone. You'll get the gist anyway. It's more important to just keep telling the story right?
Ok so bison are bovine and technically not buffalo which is apparently the term more correctly applied to the Asian water buffalo family. Nevertheless they ARE the same critter that roamed the open plains of the wild west. We've just been using the wrong name all this time.
These bison are part of a large herd that roam the island. In the fall they open up these feeding corrals to entice them in. When the medical staff and volunteers arrive they begin the sorting process. A few at a time are moved down the narrowing path towards the chute with this "turkey chaser" tractor.
One by one they are shuttled into the chute where the vet scans their chips (microchips, not buffalo chips ; )), assesses breeding status, and administers shots or meds as needed. This all happens in about 90seconds. I am not exaggerating. They actually move them through in less than 2 minutes each.
If the animal is not pregnant for two consecutive years or is not growing at a good rate or in some other way is not up to par they get routed to these holding pens to be sold. This year there was a fire started by lightning on the island that took out some 14k acres of grazing area so more stock than usual are being culled to prepare for winter.
Those that make the cut are sent on their way back out to the open range.
After watching for a while the children got to handle some artifacts from the ranch and roam around. Truly one of the best field trips we have done.
Even with a stupid-phone.
That's a wrap! Halloween 2016 was a good one. Given how hectic the last few months were Halloween loomed too large for me by late September. Big siblings we thought would be here also ended up with changed plans. We scaled back considerably though still mostly kept our family theme tradition. This year it was Grease, which is pretty funny really considering I haven't let the kids watch the movie lol. They've discovered Happy Days though and we just merged it all up. Our wonderful daughter in law's family loaned Tess her poodle skirt. Abbie desperately wanted poodle skirts this year. (expect to see an upcycle of her cheer outfit for her birthday next month)
It means the WORLD to me when big's are game to dress up.
You have to get into character if you want me to take pictures. It's just understood. Work it!
And Momma is NOT going to all this trouble and missing out on the fun. No wall flowers here! We had a fabulous block party at the neighbors' so there was some Pink Lady action goin' on. I realize I am waaaaaaay pushing the reality envelope as a Pink Lady but I am NOT ready to be the principal lady, ok? Just scroll quickly.
K-man had a costume party of his own this weekend. He was not game for dressing up initially til we landed on Clark Kent, who is sorta mid-century himself.
Back to the block party. So much fun! B shed his jacket to try that doughnut race.
What we brought. Candy Corn Cupcakes. A layer of brownie batter, a layer of cake batter, and frosting. Pretty sure the frosting comes out best when your 6yo neighbor girl is on hand to sprinkle for you.
Pumpkins. We got them more than a week ago. Maybe two. We can only be so awesome though and costumes and a block party funneled all I the awesome I had up until today. I think I may have grossly overestimated just how much awesome was left over however since it seemed like a good idea to start carving mid afternoon on Halloween day with Dad not available and, you know, a jillion costumes and people to match up and get out the door before dusk.
We pulled it off! Some people, however, thought pumpkin guts were really, really icky.
These two would be subtitled – Things that happen to you when your 11yo brother finds out you think pumpkin guts are really, really icky….. Gotta love 'em.
A healthy supply of Monster Munch is necessary for jobs like this. People, you don't getting a lot of recipes from me, but just know when I do share one it's good! Or at least hard to screw up.
Originally each kid got their own scoop. I also grossly overestimated how much gut scooping small humans can do. Abbie Rose really did give it a good shot. She caved early on though. When I pointed out she had been scooping for all of two minutes she said it was longer than she thought she'd make it because every other year she shows Daddy a picture and he does the rest.
It has been driven home to me why pumpkin carving has been so easy to date.
Dad.
Note to self: Do this job when Dad is off work.
A bigger brother got home in time to help finish design cutting which is really good because I had a bandaid by then and he was all fresh and enthusiastic still. : )
Look at her go.
And look at the empty Munch bowl. Sorry, I got distracted by the vintage-y bowl I found at the thrift shop.
And there they are on the steps. And probably still lit because I forgot to go check so am signing off and blowing out those candles. I hope you're having a wonderful, silly, and not too spooky Halloween.
Starry Sky Journal 