Cheese and Pickle Sandwiches

I am thankful for cheese and pickle sandwiches and how easy they are to make. I'm also thankful for homemade bread with which to make the sandwiches.

November 14 was National Pickle Day. It was also American Teddy Bear Day. I wanted to look for a teddy bear to put in a picture with a cheese and pickle sandwich to celebrate both holidays. One of my children mentioned Winnie-the-Pooh but I noted that Winnie-the-Pooh is a British teddy bear. I grabbed a care bear, which is an American teddy bear. 

Phew. Holidays celebrated. 

 

November 15 was Steve Irwin Day. I kept my eye out for wildlife as I was out running errands. First thing I noticed when I left the house was hearing birds in the morning. Not surprising. You know I love birds.

I am thankful for Steve Irwin's family and what they have continued to teach us about wildlife conservation even though Steve is no longer around. The Crocodile Hunter was a very important part of my childhood growing up as it was with a lot of people my age.

It was also Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day so we had leftovers. 

 

P.S. My friend sent me the Lucille Ball wearing the pickle costume video again like she did last year. 

A Little September Catching Up

September!

September 1 was Johann Pachelbel's Birthday. I watched something with Pachelbel's Canon playing in the background.

It was also Labor Day so I got a selfie with the American flag. 

September 3 was Skyscraper Day. Nichole very obligingly took a picture of a 10 story building near where she was for me because I wasn't going to get out to see anything taller. 

 

September 4 was National Wildlife Day. I took some time for myself to go for a drive and a little walk to see some Fall colors starting to turn and to look for birds. I saw some birds (nothing exciting), a squirrel, and lots of yellow jackets.

 

September 5 was Lazy Mom's Day. I tried to be lazy. I only succeeded a little. I decided to let myself sit down and watch a movie but of course I fell asleep during it. This was in the morning after the boys were off to school. I'm usually awake in the morning. Then again, I'm usually moving around and not being lazy in the morning.

Some September Holidays

September 3 was Skyscraper Day. I made a couple skyscrapers out of mini jalapeno popper egg rolls. So good.

September 4 was National Wildlife Day. Jet and I saw some scrub jays on our morning walk.

Since Nichole went back to school and I've been getting Jet up when I take boys to school or buses, we've been going on walks often. It's nice bonding time.

Later we made a balloon delivery to Jeremy who was working on something special (more on that later).

That evening with our dinner we had two desserts since it was Eat an Extra Dessert Day. To go along with Shelftember, we had salad bar so we could use up spinach before it got too old and we got out salad fixins which haven't been used in a while. Our desserts were homemade cookies and otter pops.

 

Speaking of Shelftember, Jeremy was given food while working on the balloon build, so he brought me home leftovers which worked well for lunch. Yumm.

September 5 was Cheese Pizza Day and Be Late for Something Day. They boys were helping make pizza dough but were late taking the dough out of the Bosch. Tee Hee.

Besides our morning walk, Jet and I went in the evening for another walk, this time to Bridal Veil Falls. Jet enjoyed being in the stroller but did not want to get out when it was time to head home so we were late getting home. I guess he was just trying to celebrate the holiday.

He just wanted to play in the stroller. "I'm wearing a hat."

Late Night Owling Trip

One of my birding friends invited me to go on a late night owling trip with her and some others. Of course I said yes.

We saw a couple flammulated owls, lifer for me (I did a toned down lifer dance this time- see my posts from April 2 and May 12 this year), and heard a bunch. Every time we stopped, we heard 1-3 flammies calling.

I couldn't get the greatest pictures but they are so cute and little. We also saw a whole bunch of moths (and felt a few in our hair and faces) which is what those owls like to eat.

We also saw elk, heard a male elk bugling, saw a snowshoe hair, and saw the moon shining through the trees. We also heard a common poorwill but it never got in sight for us (also small birds).

It was a great late night trip and I thank my friend for inviting me.

 

P.S. I have now seen 10 different species of owl in the wild in Utah. Whoa.

Kokanee Salmon

This year we wanted to see kokanee salmon at the fish trap at Strawberry Reservoir since we missed them last year (we did get to see a few last year at Jordanelle Reservoir but not as many as we usually see at Strawberry). 

We figured September 4 was a good day since it was also National Wildlife Day and Turkey Vulture Day. We definitely saw some turkey vultures while we were out. Here is a list of other wildlife we saw: osprey, red-tailed hawk, grasshopper, a fuzzy caterpillar who fell off a ledge while Jr. was trying to get a picture of it. It's okay. It fell to the grass below. The timing was just funny. We also saw elk crossing signs but I don't think those count as wildlife.

Unfortunately there weren't too many salmon. Not many in the stream going up to the fish trap. Only a few above the fish steps/ladder and we didn't see any swimming into the fish house. Some years we've seen a lot. This year the water level was so low in the stream- who knows? We did have fun spending time as a family, though.

After we saw a few in the fish trap, we went farther downstream and did see a few more (still not a lot, though).

It was also World Beard Day. I didn't get a specific picture of Jeremy showing off his beard even though we talked about it. Oh well.
When we got home we ate fish sticks because... fish.

Bison Day 2020

This year National Bison Day was on November 7. We'd never celebrated National Bison Day before and since we learned about it on our National Days calendar, we made plans even before our Fall Break trip to celebrate on Antelope Island.

Here we go!

On the way, we were stopped at a light and the vehicle in front of us had a sticker of a purple bison. Jeremy commented that it was "like the kind Atreyu used to hunt." Some of the kids got the reference and we started discussing that movie. I commented how surprised I was that we hadn't yet broken into song which of course started the kids singing "Neverending Story" which then turned into a medley with "The Song that Never Ends." Sigh.

When we got to the island, I started singing, "Bali Hai" from South Pacific since the mist/fog on the lake made me think of it, which is funny because in the movie, Bali Hai is almost an unattainable "special island," and the area I was looking at was the area we had already driven past to get to this island. Not so unattainable. Tee Hee.

 

There weren't any bison where we stopped for lunch this time. After lunch, the kids and I (Jeremy stayed in the van with sleeping baby) went for a little walk. It didn't last long when one of the children wouldn't follow directions. Grumpy Mommy came out but she only lasted so long, thankfully.

It turned out to be a windy day on the island. Nichole brought her kite she sewed in one of her classes at school... just in case. We ended up finding a spot where the kids were able to fly it.

At one point we were stopped and I had my window rolled down to take pictures of some bison. All of a sudden the wind changed and blew sand right into my window and on me- on my clothes, in my hair, in my mouth. The kids got a big kick out of my exclamations and sputtering.

Another time, we were parked to look for some birds. Jr. opened his window and stuck his head out. I love the result when he pulled his head back in.

We got pictures with bison statues. Again I love that the wind picked up for Jr.'s picture.

Look. It's a "sky" bison and Jr. Jr. is floating. He must be an airbender.

 

Jeremy shared some facts about bison such as... bison are adapted to cold climates. They can handle extreme cold weather as well as the heat. They can handle temperatures that would kill off cattle. Lucky pointed out that bison are herbivores.

 I love that we captured this picture with the bison's tongue sticking out.

 

As we were about to leave the island, we got to a pullout where a bison was coming up toward the road. We were able to pull over and just watch it for a while. It's always fun to watch bison up close (from the safety of your vehicle) amble along in front of the vehicle. I've enjoyed it on Antelope Island. I loved it on our trip to Yellowstone in 2017. I don't mind so much cars being backed up when it means there's wildlife to be seen.

So I'd say in general it was a pretty awesome (and pretty windy) Bison Day.