Owyhee Field day 2017

Karen and I  loaded up the entire group with the exception of the Chickens and made the trek to the Owyhee Dam Campgrounds for another Field day for the 5th graders of the area schools. Tiger the cat wisely decided to stay in the camper where it was a lot warmer and drier. 

The pictures are bigger this time, but they will still enlarge to full size if you click on them.

This year they had to hold it at the last campground of the area because the water was so high that the road into the dam headquarters was washed out.

This is called the "Glory Hole" and has the same function as the opening at the top of your bathroom sink. It keeps the water from washing over the top of the dam. I have never seen this much water in the dam before.

These are the normal water release openings and they are about four feet in diameter.

                                                                     This is the spillway for the Glory hole.

                                             The white water on the right side is the spill way for the Glory Hole.

                                                                       You can see how big it is over the guy's shoulder.

We got there a day early and set up camp in preparation for the onslaught.

Every thing was green as could be, but the lighting was really flat. I actually need a filter on the camera for decent pictures.

I have never seen this much water in the reservoir before.

Jessie and Hope were forced to endure the visit and in Hopes case the petting fingers of  about 200 kids

The first day it rained, and rained, and the wind blew. 

Someone at the station before us thought it was a good idea to give the kids ice cream. The kids were freezing and so unprepared to be holding a freezing cup of ice cream that much of it was wasted simply because they couldn't stand the cold enough to eat it.

We took the 50 inch TV from the house and set it up for the video's that I had loaded to show what falconry is all about. At least this time they could actually see what was going on.

Thanks to Les Schwab tire store, they all had rain coats.

The first day we left the dogs in the house simply because it was so wet. Brick was going through withdrawal, having had to watch all those lickable kids that were just dying to pet him. 

The station next to us this time was Charley the Steer, who is a test subject for feed quality. The round white spot on his side is a window into his rumen stomach. There is a rubber stopper in it when the kids aren't sticking their hands inside to see how cows digest food. They cut a hole in his side and stitched his stomach to it so that the contents could be examined.

The second day it was dryer, but the wind was bitterly cold. The kids were freezing, none of us was dressed warm enough to be sitting outside. We did let the dogs out and at least some of them got to get warm with Brick being the heater. He was like a movie star throwing himself into the Mosh pit. I saw him laying across three kids at a time licking each face that got anywhere close enough to reach.

The kids were all excited to see the birds, and perhaps that makes up for the set back in their molting that will inevitably occur. Of course they all wanted to pet the birds. Poor ole Hope drew the short straw as there was no way that Jessie would allow that kind of indignity. There was not enough band aids for that. I am afraid that Hope made a serious impression on a lot of the girls especially. One of her Alula feathers fell out and there was a scramble for it. The victor had a smile a mile wide.