Light Show

 

Wild Lights at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita wasn't a Christmas display, per se. But it was definitely an early Christmas gift for us.

I wish I could tell you that the display was still there and recommend that you take the family. But, we barely made it ourselves. Thankfully, we chose a weekday evening with perfect fall weather.

Wild Lights consisted of Asian Lantern sculptures from the Tianyu Arts and Culture, Inc., illuminating paths throughout the zoo. Jeff Ettling, the president and CEO of the zoo, said in a news story that it it took about a week to install the 47 elements. The 47 is kind of misleading. It took 13 semi truckloads to get the display to Wichita. 

One of the first displays almost looked like embroidery from a distance. 

 

 

Besides being beautiful, it was interactive. Kids were having a great time stepping (or stomping) on lighted circles in front of the display to make it move.

This was Tianyu's first display in this part of the country. In looking at their website, the Tianyu displays are patterned after Chinese lantern festivals. 

 

Lantern Festivals are traditionally part of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. Observed on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar Chinese calendar, the Lantern Festival marks the final day of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. Light festivals carry people’s expectations for a better life and prosperity of the coming year.

The Tianyu's displays have taken the beauty of the lantern festivals and bolstered it with modern technology, including electricity to illuminate lanterns and the use of LED bulbs.

The craftspeople who construct the huge lantern displays are still using the traditional lantern-making skills - just on a much larger scale. They come in many shapes and sizes, including animals, plants, sea creatures, Chinese culture, architecture and more.  

My favorite was the butterfly tunnel, which featured 230 butterflies.

 

Another of my favorites also featured butterflies (big surprise)!

 

 

 Randy's favorite display was the pair of swans. 

It was even more beautiful because of the reflections on the water. The water reflection of this display also caught my eye as I looked back across the pond.

But it was also gorgeous close up.

Changing colors in some of the displays gave an evolving viewpoint.

Traditionally, colorful glass and jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns. 

 

If we'd had the girls with us, I figure they would have loved the animal displays.

Another of Randy's favorites was the peacock. It generated quite a crowd, waiting on the plumage to bloom.

And, of course, you can't go wrong with flowers.

 

The Tianyu Arts and Culture has many different traveling units that travel the U.S. and all around the world. If one comes near your town, we highly recommend it!

But don't forget to look outside your own window, too. There's usually a pretty good light show there, too.

The Helpers

 

"Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

Fred Rogers

As we've completed our final cattle roundups and the associated tasks this fall, I've thought of the helpers more than once.

Even though farming and ranching may seem a solitary job, there are many others who quietly help get the jobs done. 

Sometimes, they are the people on your payroll, though we haven't had that for a couple of years now. 

They may be neighbors who help out with cattle drives or finish a wheat field when your combine breaks down. 

Dr. Bruce Figger preg-checking our cow herd, November 16, 2021

It may be the veterinarian who helps keep your herd healthy. 

Dr. Bruce, giving vaccinations, November 16, 2021

It may be the semi truck driver who, year after year, hauls your calves to the sale barn.

Darrell Harner with Harner Trucking, Sylvia - November 10, 2021

 

It's a bonus that he knew your parents, so you can stand around and reminisce while the air builds up ...

... then deliver the load safely to the sale barn.

It's the sale barn personnel and the auctioneer who get your cattle sold for the best price possible.

Pratt Livestock Sale, November 11, 2021 - selling our feeder calves (born during the winter of 2021)

It's the co-op employees who fufill so many tasks all year - from applying fertilizer, to delivering fuel, to weighing trucks to dumping trucks in the elevator (and so many more jobs).

And, of course, it's the family members who do whatever job needs doing at whatever time it needs to be done - sometimes in the shadows.

 - and who sometimes dodge "organic matter" from the business end of the cow while keeping good records.

This just scratches the surface. There are so many people and organizations that have made a difference in our lives and livelihoods throughout the years - from parts counter guys who know your name to the seed dealers. The list goes on and on.

Even though we are saying goodbye to some of the day-to-day work, there will still be "helpers" and partnerships. That's the nature of living in a rural community.

The end of an era - waving goodbye to our feeder calves.

I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world.

-- Fred Rogers

 

We are thankful.

The Ninnescah

  

We live in the shadow of many people who came before us. Our families both settled in Kansas in the late 1860s, not long after the 34th state joined the Union. Our great-grandparents, our grandparents and our parents all made a way that we continue to follow. I suppose I could say they "paved" a way, but in our part of the world, our everyday roads are more commonly dirt. 

But the shadow extends far beyond blood ties. Through the years, other families have given us the opportunity and privilege to care for their cropland and pastureland. Early in November, we were at one of those special places - the Ninnescah pasture owned by the Johnson family. Randy and his dad began renting the pasture in 1977, right after Randy's junior year in college. (Our house was originally owned by the Johnsons, too. We moved into it when I was eight months pregnant with Jill and bought it several years later. We are still grateful for that, too!)

This November was our final round-up there as active farmers/ranchers. We will retain ownership of our mama cows, but we've worked out an agreement with, Tye, a young neighbor who is farming with his parents. We will continue to provide our cows and the pasture, but he'll do the work of caring for the cows and then calving them out for a share of the calf crop. (As I wrote about the Big Pasture round-up, I won't be surprised if Randy ends up helping with future round-ups, if asked. Old habits die hard.)

The Ninnescah Pasture is a beautiful place ...

 

2019

... winter ...

May 2019

  ... spring ...

Ninnescah Pasture - June 22, 2020

  ... summer ...

... or fall.

Don't tell the boss, but it has never seemed like work to ride a 4-wheeler in a pretty setting. Well ... I take that back. A couple of summers ago, it was definitely work as we struggled to keep about five pairs in the pasture. We took way more 4-wheeler rides that summer than we wanted, and it was most decidedly not fun.

The Ninnescah River runs through the property. It's ideal for cattle.

Well, it's ideal unless they are playing hide-and-seek among the trees clear across the pasture when you're trying to get them to leave their summer vacation spot for a trip back to the farmstead.

On that November Saturday morning as we moved cattle, it was also a sanctuary for bird hunters (though we probably disturbed the peaceful vibe).

Eventually, we got the bulls, the cows and their calves moved into the corral. 

I could go on and on about the beauty of the pasture. And as we are facing the end of an era, there's that temptation. 

But there is a rest of the story. One of our trailers had a problem when the shackles broke. (... Whatever shackles are! I was driving at the time, but Randy says it wasn't my fault - whew!) So we ended up making a lot more trips, using just one of our trailers, along with Tye's trailer. We won't miss having to deal with the breakdowns and the myriad of other challenges that are the day-to-day minutia behind a successful operation. (The same day, we got a call from an oil field driver who happened to see one of our bred cows drop dead at a different pasture. It was a young cow in its prime, so we think it may have choked on a hedge apple, but we don't really know. I will edit myself and not share a photo of that.)

Instead, we'll look forward to summertime fishing trips to the Ninnescah, rather than chasing a few ornery escapees.