Star Valley Pickleball, The Grand Opening of the New Courts

Besides lapidary and wildlife photography, we also play quite a bit of pickleball. It keeps us active and helps us to acclimatize to the six thousand foot elevation. It’s a great way to meet people and we look forward to playing the fun game.

Our club started with nineteen people in 2010 and has grown to three hundred and sixty members. With skill levels from 2.5, beginner to 4.5, (each level is 0.5 increase), and even perhaps 5.0. At first the founders, Mary, pictured at far right, and her husband, had taped the pickleball courts over the tennis courts. There were two which converted to eight. As the club grew we needed more courts and another four courts were added where a bumper boat pond had been located. It quickly became obvious that this wasn’t enough and another four courts were planned and finally finished this past week, (we now have sixteen courts). To celebrate the new courts opening the club held a grand opening event. To inaugurate the new courts members could put their names in a hat and if drawn be the first to play.

Renita decided to put her name in and she was drawn for the 3.0 skill level!

The President of the club gave a speech about the growth of the club which was followed by the ribbon cutting ceremony. After that it was game on and all sixteen of the courts, new and old, were busy! Thanks to all who worked so hard to raise money for the new coursts and to the park who agreed and provided the land! Game on and of course Clear Skies! Before the SVRR Park added the Pickleball courts new lots sales were sluggish at best. Now the lots sell almost as fast as they build them. Any rv part without them is at a disadvantage. Our park is the largest rv park west of the Mississippi!

Great Horned Owl

Our friends Fred and Becky drove up in their golf cart. They were excited as they had found the park’s great horned owl. Another photographer had posted pictures of it on our parks Facebook page and Fred had gotten pictures of it sleeping. He showed us the pics on his camera and gave us detailed directions on how and where to find it. Getting our camera gear ready we opted to walk over, we needed the exercise, but after carrying the heavy gear I started to complain as we got mixed up and took a couple of wrong turns, Renita looked it up on Google Maps and we found the reported location.

We looked at the wrong tree and couldn’t see the huge owl until a kind lady came out of her house and pointed at the owl. They have such great camouflage! It was sleeping and had its back to us. She told us that the owl had been there all day. She also said there were two others, but we never spotted them. As we took pictures of its back it woke up and started to preen.

She also told us that everyone had great feathers from its previous preening, (I didn’t have the heart to tell her that collecting feathers was against the law). Renita meanwhile found a great vantage point and motioned for me to come over as she could see its eyes. As usual she had found the best spot and directed me to where I could take a good full body shot. It had its eyes open and was watching us!

As we continued to watch, another lady came over with her small dog and asked what we were looking at. The owl then crouched and stared at us, or should I say it stared at the small dog. It was probably trying to decide if the dog would make a great breakfast treat!

Luck was with the dog as the Great Horned Owl decided that its intended prey was protected, and it didn’t swoop down. Losing interest in the dog, it turned away from us and we decided to head home. It was a nice break from rock work. Thanks Fred and Becky! Clear skies

Cabbing Time

It’s cabbing time and so in the cooler mornings we grind stones, (it reached 91 F for the past three days). A front has passed through, and the temps are now down into the eighties. Our humidity is usually about ten percent and so it’s pleasant without needing air conditioning. Each year, after all our shows, we make an inventory of what we have sold. Next we locate the rough rocks and saw them into slabs, (using a slab saw). From there we draw the shapes before using a trim to saw rough shape them into what we call preforms. These are now ready for us to grind into finished pieces, called cabochons, before giving them a finish polish.

To do this we select the preforms and then grind them on diamond wheels. The first wheel has a grit size of 100, wheel two is 220, and the third wheel is the special wheel that we think of as a magic wheel with 400 grit. Thie first two wheels are rigid, but the third wheel has a pliable backing that takes the edges off the preforms and cuts them into their final shape. we grind these by hand, as using dop sticks is unnecessary, (unless the stones are too small to grip, which are used for rings or earrings).

After washing the cabs, we inspect them for any scratches before finishing them. Wheel number four has a grit size of 600, wheel five is 1200 and the sixth wheel is 14000, (we also have a wheel coated with 50,000 diamond grit but it is rarely used.

Finally. we give them a final polish on a buffing wheel. The last step is to inspect them for any flaws or scratches before saving them in glass cases. We only finish about fifteen cabochons every third day, this gives us a few days for my back and hands to rest/recuperate). The cabs are then stored and taken on our winter travels. We turn them into jewelry when the weather is too bad for fishing, birding, or hiking. Clear skies and rock on!. I still enjoy making cabs even though we have made thousands. It’s still amazes me that we can take a rock and turn it into a stunning cabochon/piece. For safety all cabs are ground with water to minimize dust. We do not wear jewelry and also wear a N 95 respirator/ mask, a lab apron, and a safety shield. Our cabbing machine is a Genie, which was made by Diamond Pacific, a company in California.