Labor Day Fun

 

For Labor Day we traveled to the gorgeous Heber Valley. We started the day with a refreshing, small town 5K. Mom and Dad ran while the kids cheered us on. Then it was on to a small town, BIG breakfast, complete with cowboy singing.

 

Then we all went to the annual Sheepdog Festival. It's so fascinating to see the skilled dogs lead the sheep through the course. We also saw a police dog presentation that was amazing and left us with a new appreciation for law enforcement and their K9 companions. The girls enjoyed seeing the sled dogs and the petting zoo!

Issue 173 Sheep Dog Championship by Whitney

Every year Soldier Hollow host a sheepdog trial competition. Specially invited world-class sheep dog herders from across the globe attend as they compete against each other to win medals and advance to the National Border Collie Association's World Championship. This year we attended and watched several pairs go at it. Racing against a twenty-four minute timer the handlers remain stationary as he or she directs their canine counterpart with whistles, directing them across the hillside. They must first retrieve two separate herds of sheep, directing them between two posts. Then the full herd is maneuvered across the hill and through two separate gates to finish in a marked circle. Then the handler, using a shepherds crook without actually coming in contact with the sheep, works with the collie to separate out five of the sheep that are wearing red collars. This is much harder than it sounds due to the herding behavior that keep the sheep almost inseparable. Assuming the timer hasn't already expired, the pair then direct the five collared sheep into a small pen on the other side of the hill, while preventing them from rejoining the remaining herd of thirteen standing by. Without the gate touching any of the sheep, the door is closed by the lucky shepard and the crowd cheers. The judges tally their scores while the exhausted and overheated collie plunges into the provided tub of water.
Along with the omnipresent bagpipers, camera crews filming a documentary entitled "Away to me" added to the atmosphere as the giraffe necked camera swiveled around to keep up with the contestants. Other exhibitors including the Salt Lake counties' K9 unit also presented classes and demonstrations. It was a fun-filled day of enjoyment that I would recommend to everyone.

Road Trip

Friday morning I got up at five-thirty, and then drove with my dad for six hours all the way to Kanab. My seventeenth birthday is in a couple weeks and it has become imperative that I procure my license before the beginning of my senior year of high school. Unfortunately I still had about fifteen hours left before Saturday so my dad and I went on a road trip to the Best Friends animal shelter for a visit. Best Friends is a humane society situated on a 32,000-acre (that’s not a typo) piece of land in the beautiful Angel Canyon of Kanab Utah. Any given day they house 1500-2000 animals in their up-to date and spacious facilities. Being well staffed with several full time veterinarians, countless interns and over 500 others on payroll (not to mention the thousands of volunteers that flood in year-long) most of the many animal that live there have unique and difficult physical or psychological difficulties. They are helped through them and then found forever homes. It is the largest no-kill shelter in the country and people from all over the world come to their workshops and seminars to learn how to improve their own shelters and animal care units. Having gotten our own kitty from a shelter is was great to tour the place on Saturday and see the best of the best.

After getting back to our motel we both crashed for a couple hours and then went to dinner at one of the many cowboys-&-Indians-themed restaurants in the small town. This morning we got back in the car and I drove the six hours to be back home in time for sacrament meeting to see Daniel pass the sacrament for the first time. It was tiring but I only have a couple hours of driving left now and I am comfortable passing semi trucks going 85 mph on the high way. Something my mom still hasn’t gotten used to. :)

Antelope Island

Steve took the little girls exploring on Antelope Island and taught them the finer points of birding. Janey and Ellie have been avid bird locators for years, but Saturday they learned to look up birds they saw in the field guides and identify and date their finds. They also got to play in the sand, collect rocks, and see real bison. I call that a good explore!

A long billed curlew.

A couple of cute rare chicks!

Baby Mollies by Whitney

My Dalmatian mollies had babies! My female, Cream, had seventeen baby fish! It's really awesome seeing them grow. They are two weeks old now and I can see their spots. It's really exciting for me to be able to breed such a classy looking fish.

Consequently, if anyone is interested in starting their own small aquarium these little guys will need homes soon.

Cougar in the Neighborhood by Whitney

On Tuesday, when mom and dad were on vacation, we were trying to find the library with Grandma. It was 5 minutes away from our house, but we looked up the wrong address of one 45 minutes away. Then we finally found the right one. Grandma was chatting with a librarian when the librarian remarked, “How about that cougar?”
Grandma, “Cougar?!?”

Turns out, wile we were looking for our library, a cougar had been spotted a few blocks from our house! The police had done a reverse 911, (or for you New Zealanders 111,) were a machine called about 600 phones, (probably including our house) and leaving a message, cautioning people to keep children and pets inside. Three elementary schools and one middle school had to keep all the kids indoors!

Later it was tranquilized and caught. It will be decided were it will be released later.

Sigh, I always miss out on the exciting stuff.

At least I didn’t let Cooper run around in the back yard while we were gone!