Season Greetings!  Here is the 2011 recap at Zen Spit Hoof Farm!  The kids are now exclusively homeschooled with only a few outside classes. Myles continues piano, and has a talent for it. Zoe started English riding lessons. Kim has joined her, and now the two of them lease a horse, Tony. No jumping yet, but they are headed over that fence soon.  Myles and Zoe also participated in FIRST Lego Robotics where their team built and programmed a Lego robot to execute missions. They did so well at their qualifying tournament, they were invited to the Championships in January!

As promised, Kim and the Kids finally took an epic homeschooling journey last spring (hopefully the first of many).  With our partially converted Sprinter van, they went South to learn about The Ancients in Chaco Canyon, Walnut Canyon, Mesa Verde, and Canyon De Chelly.   Zoë was fascinated with all Rock Art, while Myles couldn’t get enough of the paleontology sites in Utah.  The loop went through OR, NV, UT, ID, NM, AZ and CO.  There was only one major car issue on the journey and we were happy to find that Reno had a Sprinter dealership (Not all cities do!).  They had blown the turbo boost, (the button on the dash KITT has).

We combined our family vacation fun with education last June. After studying government and early American History, we went to Washington DC for a week. We toured the Smithsonians, the Capital, the Archives, and the Library of Congress.  Doug was a obsessed shepherd, herding us to the museums at opening, and not allowing us to leave until 7 pm. It was agreed we could have stayed another few weeks and still not see everything.  We took Paw Paw with us, and she walked our feet off!  It made out trip even more special to share it with her. (tip: get tour tickets from your Congressman not Senator)

In August, Doug and the Kids went to Baja, which is the hottest month of the year (the water temp was even 90 degrees). While there, they fly-fished for tuna, bonita, triggers, ladyfish, jacks, pelicans, and roosterfish. The kids are on the “Wall of Fame” holding their tuna catches.  Not many kids take a trip with Dad to go after the big ones!

In October, Grandpa Hoff came out and went Chukkar hunting with Myles and Doug in Snake River Canyon.  Sadly, their car was hit and totaled on the way back in a head on collision. We love airbags.

This year, we had a lot of milk with Artie, Lilly, Iris, Belle, and Merci all milking.   Kim found out what being a veterinarian is like, as she had to manipulate Artie’s babies out.  The last kid was so stuck (pretzeled) that she and Zoë had to drive Artemis down to the vet at night.  Miraculously, everyone survived. Because of the surplus of milk, we now have a huge cheese cave full of feta, gouda, cheddar and blue…probably about 30 wheels.  The blue cheese is particularly stellar but chevre is still a favorite of most.  To keep the goats happy we bought and built a metal pole barn, built a 5 wire 10-acre electric fence (with the help of our friends Emma and Kurt), and are currently working on improvement to the two old barns/sheds.  It’ll probably be nicer out there than in the house soon. Doug built a sink room with running water. The new electrical allows for heated water, lights, and NPR. We added some Icelandic sheep to the farm for lamb, sheep milk (in the future) for cheese and their gorgeous fleeces (for spinning and felting).  The biggest addition to the barn is our new Anatolian Shepherd puppy, Vasi (Protector in Turkish) who came Dec 21st!  (who could ask for a better Xmas present?). Hopefully the equilibrium of the barn in the barn will return soon, after the puppy destabilization!

Doug’s Urology practice continues to expand, and he remains quite busy. His free time is spent obsessing over andromous fish and the least effective way of catching them, fly-fishing. 

   

4/19/2011-4/20/2011

            Yesterday we went to two museums. We went to a dinosaur museum and a Native American Indians. The dinosaur museum had some Cooooooooool fossils. The Native American was a little good but I already knew a lot. Today we went to two museums, a cool dinosaur museum and a museum that had some fossils but also other stuff. The dinosaur museum was cool because of all the fossils they had. It talked about different time eras. My favorite was a dinosaur called Superasauras. It was SUPER big, SUPER long, SUPER tall, and the paleontologist found SUPER little fossils. So that was funny [MH]. On the 19^th the second museum we went to [the dinosaur museum] had a few fossils. Did you know that triceratops skull is bigger than a t rex! On the 20^th I explained to my mom about how the Cyclops originated. A few Greeks found a mammoth skull. The looked and thought the hole in the middle of the head must be the eye. The two things on the side of the head were the ears! It’s big so it must eat people! They were wrong. The hole in the middle was where the trunk attached to the head. The things the Greeks thought were ears were actually the eyes! Oops!  The hutching museum had a bit of every thing there were fossils collection, shell collection, rock collection, fish, pioneer, Native American and a real jail [ZH].

4/18/2011

            Today was COOOOOOOOL. We got to go to College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. Most of all the bones had been found at Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. So now I understand why there wasn’t a lot of bones at the quarry. Now back to the museum. We saw some cool exhibits. We also talk to somebody who was excavating a bone. I asked him the MEGA QUESTION: what did he think happened to the dinosaurs? He answered, “ The tipping point.”  He said that he thinks more then one thing happened that made the dinosaurs extinct. Also we got SOOOOOOO lucky. We go to hold a REAL dinosaur egg that was not in an exhibit. Not a lot of people got the chance to hold an egg  from a dinosaur that was not available to public. We saw bones of: Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Mammoths, Dire wolves, and more bones. So that was fun. [MH] after we came out of a canyon on the way to Provo there were like more than 16 wind mills!!!!!! One was pulled down and was being fixed while it was raining! We are driving to Provo from Price[ZH]. So sad....we were going to hunt for more pictographs and petroglyphs....a last hurrah, in Nine mile canyon.  It is supposed to be fabulous, with granaries from the Fremont people, petroglyphs and pictographs, and buildings left by the early settlers.  However, once again it is on steep dirt roads.  Myles found out there were 60% chance of T-showers.  I called BLM and they said 60% today, 90% snow or rain that night, and then 20-30% for the next few days.  I decided I didn't want to be stuck in the canyon for a few days, so I sadly turned Big Red north!  No more Rock Art hunting for this trip! {KS}

4/17/2011

            We went to Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. I was expecting lot of fossils but instead there weren’t really any fossils. So I was a little disappointed. We also had a BIIIIIIIIIIIIG problem deciding where to sleep for the night. We went in circles many times until we decided to go and stay at a dreaded RV park. I will not enjoy it  . [MH] Before we went to Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry we went to Sego Canyon. Sego Canyon’s pictographs were done in Barrier Canyon Style (after Archaic but before Ancestral Puebloans.)  Some of the panels were really intricate. The guidebook we bought said it was 160 feet long! Mom didn’t believe the book , but it was right!

The visitor center at Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry had 18 SOLAR PANELS!!!! The solar panels supplied all the power for the lights. All the lights were dim florescent lights. As soon as the clouds came and covered the sun the light went out. I asked the man working there “Do the solar panels give you all of your power?’’ “Yep!!!!!” After we were done we drove 20 miles in to Buckhorn Wash. The pictographs were awesome! They were also in the Barrier Canyon Style and were HUGE.

 [ZH].  Although the drive to Buckhorn Wash was through about 20 miles of dreaded dirt roads, it was soooo worth it.  The panel had been defaced years ago and was recently restored.  Although not in pristine condition, they were beautiful!  I can see why some people interpreted these images as those of aliens{KS}

4/13/2011-4/16/2011

            Today we saw newspaper rock and it was COOOOOOOL. There were lots of figures all over the rock. It almost looked like it was being taken over by petroglyphs. After that, we drove to Moab and stayed at Ken’s Lake. After that, we set up for the night.  The next morning we decided what to do and we made friends with a kid named Olivier. The way we made friends with Olivier was when he got his kite stuck into a stinking tree. So we helped him and after we got the kite out of the tree, we were best friends. We went to a creek just down from his camp and we decided to make a raft. When we tried out a raft two kids came running down the trail probably because they heard me yelling out where the raft went. After that, I made friends with Samuel and Zoë made friends with Matisse and we both made friends with Chenille. The next day, we played tag with the kite but we called it MOCKER. Then we hiked with Olivier because his mom [Alison] knew the town well. We got lucky and saw some petroglyphs on the hike. After we got back, we drove to get some water and hunting for petroglyphs. The next morning, we played MOCKER with all of our friends. When we were done, we went petroglyph hunting with Olivier. We had a BLAST. We hunted all day. The next day, we hiked to a waterfall that we saw at the campsite. It was loud. Then we went to Arches National Park and saw some balanced rocks and arches. So we had lots of fun. Sadly we will leave our campsite to see some other things. [MH] When we were at Bluff we went to Fort Bluff. They had the original covered wagons and artifacts. We learned that Bluff was the original Mormon settlement and people moved out from there. After that, we drove to Moab and camped. We made friends with a few kids. On Saturday we went to Arches National Monument. Did you know that Arches National Monument wasn’t formed from water! It was formed when there was a shallow salty sea that evaporated and left a layer of salt 5 MILES DEEP!!!! Then after years a layer of sand stone grew over it. Then the salt pushed up the sand stone. Then the rain got into the cracks and dissolved the salt. When the rock above the salt fell in to create a valley it left fins of rock that were carved out to make arches but the erosion of wind and rain. [ZH]  We went Rock Art hunting in Moab and I found a push me pull me goat! At one of the panels there were dinosaur foot prints!  There were tons of people mountain biking, but the kids aren’t interested nor are they quite ready.  I was dying to get on my bike, but…..The Rock art was beautiful, and it is like a treasure hunt!  It was nice meeting someone who knew the area and could show us all the special spots!  Thanks Alison!{KS}

4/12/2011

            This morning we walked on a ruin trail in Hovenweep. There were some really well-constructed buildings. After we were done, we drove up to Bluff and stayed the night [ZH].  We went on a special hike in Hovenweep. We walked to the visitor center and a ranger asked if we would like to see some pictographs. We agreed and went on the hike. We walked down a path [that was closed to the public] and she showed us the pictographs. It was sooooooooo special. After we were done seeing the ruins, we drove to Bluff and got a campground right by some pictographs. It was a awesome spot. Tomorrow we’ll decide what to do [MH].   Zoë and I are becoming petroglyph and pictograph aficionados!  {KS}

4/11/2011

            There wasn’t much to see at Mesa Verde so we drove to Anasazi Heritage Center. I didn’t get new information because I got most of it at Mesa Verde but I still saw some COOL stuff. We went to Hovenweep Nation Monument and got a campsite for the night. Tomorrow we’ll go on the small ruin loop. [MH] Myles saw some petro glyphs and we bought a junk lasagna dinner[ZH].  Hovenweep is quite isolated and not very visited.  We are learning that while the cliff dwellers were living in their dwellings, there were many more ancient puebloans living in villages living on the mesa tops.   very similar to the pueblo people of today. One large settlement was in Hovenweep and was 5-10 times bigger than anything they have found at Mesa Verde.

4/9/2011

            Guess what we drove into, A SNOW STORM. We were arriving at a camp site when it suddenly started to snow. It started as a little snow. Then it snowed herder and harder and harder until we were driving in to a snowstorm. Luckily, we got to the campground and got a spot. On the way there, we stopped by a place that mom wanted to go to. We hiked to an over look and we saw a ruin. On the way up to the car, Zoe and I thought we saw a sign that said dinosaur footprints. We walked up and we saw some tiny footprints in the rock. Tomorrow, we’re going to Mesa Verde [MH]. After we left Canyon de Chelly we went through a windstorm then a snowstorm and then another windstorm! We got to Navajo National Monument.  We hiked to Betatakin over look. We couldn’t go down because it was too early… it opens on the 25^th but Belle [our goat] gives birth on the 26^th. Mom wouldn’t camp at Navajo National Monument. She proclaimed it was going to be too cold and that they didn’t plow the roads. The weather forecast said it was going to snow. So we drove to Mesa Verde[ZH].  Interesting to drive through a sand storm and then a wind storm.  I am bummed that we didn’t get to hike down to Betatakin.  It looks so gorgeous from the overlook….red sandstone caves with red sandstone buildings in a covering of snow!  We will have to put it on the list to return to. {KS} WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES!  We can't seem to upload our photos at the moment (the beautiful ones of Mesa Verde etc).  Please go to our facebook page (facebook.com/hoffsing) to access these.  I hope to fix the glitch soon.

Canyon de Chelly

4/8/2011

            Today we went on a tour in Canyon de Chelly and saw some cool stuff. We saw some more pictographs, ruins, and very few petroglyphs. We listened to Ron, our Navajo guide, as he told us about history of the Ancient Puebloans and the Navajo.  He explained what the pictographs meant, so that was very cool. Oh, It was VERY windy today. The wind would pick up the sand and throw it everywhere. I was happy that I brought my glasses. [MH] As soon as I saw the all day “modified” tour truck I was relieved. The truck looked like some one had strapped a HUGE greenhouse to the back of a pick-up truck.  It also ran on propane gas! At some of the ruins as I got out of the truck, the wind greeted we with guess what.… sand in the face! Ron talked about The Navajo not having electricity. He said. “The Navajo tribe bought solar panels but they have a lot of lightning”. My mom asked, “Oh, so the lightning strikes the solar panels and they die?” “No,” answered Ron.  “ The lightning is too much light and the blow out.”  The Navajo farm in the little canyons throughout the area.  The river runs right down the canyon.  Our tour went down 2 large canyons to lots of ruins,  and drove through the stream.  The Navajo still live down in the canyons and practice dry farming: they didn’t water their corn, squash and fruit trees. For corn they just rely on rainfall. For squash they planted it closer to the stream. The fruit trees they have adapted to the little rainfall.[ZH]  Canyon de Chelly is a beautiful red sandstone canyon.  The ruins we saw we all cliff dwellers.  The pictographs were extremely well preserved and were from both the ancient puebloan era, and the more recent Navajo past.  They were gorgeous   Although you could not go into any of the ruins, seeing them from a distance, tucked into the red flowing rock was still amazing! {KS}

4/7/2011

            Guess what? The weather forecast said that it would rain a little bit, but, instead it rained all night. Also, Mom almost got the car stuck from an accidental picture taking pull off…she drove off the road onto an unpaved pull-off, and didn’t realize it was REALLY soft dirt/sand. Big Red had a HARD time getting any traction to get back on the road! We mostly sat in the car because we were going to Canyon De Chelly National Monument. [MH]  We could have gotten here faster but we thought we were going to go to Mesa Verde. We changed our minds because we heard that Canyon De Chelly was beautiful.  The ranger told us to go a certain route, and it took is the scenic way, but up and over a high pass (9000 ft) which was covered with SNOW!  We heard the government shut down might include all national parks and monuments and may start at midnight on Friday night! We are trying to go to the monuments and parks before they close! We really want to get to Mesa Verde[ZH].  I didn’t sleep much last night.  The pitter-patter of the “thunder-showers” was a steady downpour all night.  I was worried about getting out on the notorious 20 miles of slick dirt road from Chaco, back to the highway.  Luckily, they have had a really dry winter, and all the rain was sucked into the ground in a manner of hours.  Big Red had very little problems negotiating the road.  For all those interested, it was determined that the transmission in the cold mornings needs to warm up to be able to distribute the fluid to the gears for Big Red to engage into gear.  So far that has held true!!!!  (We also started complimenting Big Red more, and he seems to respond in kind!) {KS}

4/6/2011

            Guess what! We saw REAL petroglyphs on rocks. Petroglyphs are pictures chipped into rock and pictographs are painting on rock. It was very COOOOOOOL. Oh, guess what the people said after the car was checked? They said NOTHING was wrong with the car. So that was a waste of our time. Even worse, the government might shut down this Friday and will close all national parks and monument. So that will be sad. So hopefully it won’t happen. [MH] WE saw petroglyphs on rocks, but some of the rocks were vandalized at Petroglyphs National Park!!!!!! We got lost on our way to Chaco Canyon, because the motonav was trying to take us the WRONG WAY!!!! Mom was smart enough to check the map. Remember KIDS DON’T PUT ALL OF YOUR TRUST IN NEW TECKNOLOGEY USE A MAP!!!!!!!!!! Okay back to the point. We got to Chaco Canyon and saw Pueblo Bonito {Village Beautiful}. It was GINORMAS!! It had around 36 large kivas* and lots of 3-5 story buildings. Each of the stories were about 9 feet tall, which they didn’t really need because men were usually 5 feet 5 and the women were 5 feet 2. The rooms were used for ceremonies and had the tallest ceilings. Other villages across the way were used for living quarters and had shorter ceilings [ZH].

* kivas were used for ceremonies.

{ } Spanish translation. 

4/4/2011

4/4/2011

            Guess what happened today, the car wouldn’t go in to gear. Mom thought what if this happened in the middle of nowhere.  We had stayed the night in Flagstaff, but found out the only place they could work on our Sprinter was in Albuquerque, so we decided to drive 400 miles to get the car looked at.  That meant we had to pass up going to see the meteor crater, and Petrified Forest National Monument.  But, we went to a cool museum at Walnut Canyon National monument, where they had ancient arrowheads {MH}.  At Walnut Canyon visitor center, there was an arrowhead straightener, which was made of rock.  We walked around the ruins that were in a canyon.  The ruins we built on multiple shelves around the canyon.  You could walk right up to some, and we saw evidence of their fires (black marks on the ceiling).  It was really cool!  Then we had to make the long drive to Albuquerque. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the mechanic early enough, so we have to stay here and take Big Red in tomorrow.  {ZH}

Where are they?

Sorry about the news blackout. Kim and the Kids went to Chaco Canyon a few days ago and  have no internet or cell phone coverage (sounds like a good vacation to me).  It was supposed to snow there, so they may be stranded a few days more. They will update when they get back to the 2010's.-------Doug in Oregon.

4/3/2011

Today we went to Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument. Wupatki has ancient pueblo ruins. Sunset Crater is a sacred volcano in AZ.  The native Indians (Hopi, Navajo Zuni) felt that the great spirits lived in the San Francisco Mountains, and travelled to the crater every year [ZH]. I finally saw some arrowheads and a stone hammer. We went to see some ruins in Wupatki National Monument. When we got there, it was SOOOOOO windy. Sometimes when the wind blows, you almost get blown off your feet. My clothes were flapping in the winds. [MH]. 

4/2/2011

            We biked A TON. Mom thought it would be down hill. Frankly it was mostly up hill so we got a good work. I still have not seen any weapons yet. But hopefully I will see some tomorrow. [MH] On the bike trail at the lowest was at 9,813 feet above sea level. We were riding right at the rim of the Grand Canyon. You would go down a hill and it would look like you were about to go of the edge but then it would turn. [ZH]  To all the Bike Friday people, the buses will allow 3 bikes on the front.  However, certain buses only allow 2 bikes.  We were going to have problems until we showed them how small the Bike Fridays folded up....he allowed us to put 2 bikes on the bus and fold the 3rd up.  There was a whole bus of amazed people! 

4/1/2011

            We arrived at the Grand Canyon and found a campground. After we set up camp, we drove around and went to the Grand Canyon visitor center and I FINALLY saw some stainable place. We’re going to bike a bit tomorrow so it should be fun to finally get on my bike. [MH] The sustainable things were a water catcher with a over flow spout, large over hangs, lots and lots of solar panels and not many windows on the north side. We didn’t use the car much so we used the buses and biked. [ZH]

3/31/2011

            Today, we drove through Las Vegas and it was 100 percent non-energy efficient. There was light on ALL of the building.  I was so happy when we left all the light behind us and went to see Hover Dam [MH]. The hover dam wouldn’t exist without Las Vegas, because Las Vegas pulls so much power every minuet. Hey kids I know some of you like McDonald’s, but check out how much power their using for advertising! On our whole drive we haven’t seen a single solar panel or good over hang on windows. {ZH}

DAY 1

3/30/11

Its BEAUTIFUL here at Walker Lake. The sun is setting and the clouds are orange. Theres no water so we have to wait for tomorrow to get some water but we can survive for today. Today was existing and beautiful. When we entered Reno, it was about 70 F but it felt HOT HOT HOT [MH]. We left home early and drove south of Shasta Mountain so we could get over the mountains without driving on snowy roads.  There was 20 feet of snow on the side of the road because it had been snowing so much!  It was beautiful. When we got to Reno we had to stop at a Dodge dealership, because a gadget blew and we were losing the power....Big Red, the Sprinter van, would only go up hills REALLY slowly.  Good thing it happend just outside of Reno.  We ended up having to spend 3 hours there, so we didn't make it down to Las Vegas, but ended up spending a beautiful night at Walker Lake. We are going to the four corners area to learn about the Ancient Pueblo people.{ZH}