| Tortoise Tales: Newsletter of the Hi-Desert Nature Museum |
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Grubstake Days 2010
 Join us in celebrating the 60th anniversary of Grubstake Days! The Grubstake Days Parade begins at 10:00 a.m. and travels along Highway 62 from Apache Trail to Dumosa Avenue. Following the parade is a community fair at the Community Center Complex including vendor booths, kickball tournament, beard growing contest, horseshoes tournament, ping pong tournament, and lots of family fun!
The Hi-Desert Nature Museum will be hosting an exciting scavenger hunt. Figure out the puzzle and win a prize! Also hands-on art demonstrations will be led by some of the talented artists from our current Yucca Valley High School Art Show.
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Brown Bag Lunch Lecture
Earthquakes & Volcanoes
 The surface of the Earth has been shaped substantially by earthquakes and volcanoes, and the plate tectonic forces that create them. With the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull Volcano in Iceland, these powerful and fascinating geologic processes are getting a lot of media attention. Professor Richard Hazlett, Pomona College Geology Department, will discuss the science of earthquakes and volcanoes and their impact on our environment in this interesting lecture.
Thursday, June 10, starting at Noon
FREE to the public and iced tea will be served |
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1st Wednesday Program
Morongo Valley and Covington Park
 The Hi-Desert Nature Museum is pleased to partner with the Morongo Basin Historical Society in presenting this lecture on the history of the Morongo Valley by 55 year resident Laurie Geeson. A few secrets will be revealed along the way!
Wednesday, June 2nd, starting at 5:30 p.m.
$5 donation to the MBHS at the door |
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The ABCs of Water
 Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency will be hosting "Water Management Solutions in the High Desert" at the Hi-Desert Nature Museum. Learn about local water supply projects, including the State Water Project. Speakers for this session are Marina West, Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency; Joe Guzzetta, Joshua Basin Water District; Ed Muzik, Hi-Desert Water District; and Manuel Benitez, Deputy Director of Special Districts Department.
Thursday, May 20, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
Refreshments will be served - raffle prize drawing
Limited seating available; deadline to register is May 14.
For more information or to register call Michelle Corbin at
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JTNP General Management Plan
 You are invited to participate in a process that will help guide the management of Joshua Tree National Park for the next 15-20 years. They are beginning the development of a new park management plan and welcome your involvement. Come and meet the planning team, learn more about the general management plan, and discuss your ideas and concerns for the future of Joshua Tree National Park. Open Houses will be held during the month of May, three of them in the Morongo Basin.
Wednesday, May 19, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Onaga Elementary School, 58001 Onaga, Yucca Valley
Thursday, May 20, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
29 Palms Community Center, 74325 Joe David Drive, 29 Palms
Friday, May 21, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
JT Community Center, 6171 Sunburst Street, Joshua Tree
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Davy Crockett
"Fall of the Alamo" by Robert Onderdonk | Davy Crockett (1786-1836) was a celebrated 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is referred to in popular culture as "King of the Wild Frontier." Crockett grew up in East Tennessee where he gained a reputation for hunting and storytelling. After rising to the rank of Colonel in the militia, he was elected to the Tennessee state legislature. Crockett was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1826, where he opposed many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson, most notably the Indian Removal Act. Crockett's opposition to Jackson led to his defeat in the 1834 elections, prompting his angry departure to Texas. In early 1836, Crockett took part in the Texas Revolution and was killed at the Battle of the Alamo, the pivotal event that led to the defeat of the Mexican Army and the end of the revolution. Crockett became famous in his own lifetime for larger-than-life exploits popularized by stage plays and almanacs. He was portrayed by Fess Parker in a Disney television series and the "Ballad of Davy Crockett" was a hit song in 1955.
Davy Crockett's Almanac printed the text of a speech Crockett supposedly made to Congress. While there is no evidence that this speech is authentic, it suggested the image Crockett promoted. "In one word I'm a screamer, and have got the roughest racking horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest dog in the district. I'm a leetle the savagest crittur you ever did see. My father can whip any man in Kentucky, and I can lick my father. I can outspeak any man on this floor, and give him two hours start. I can run faster, dive deeper, stay longer under, and come out drier, than any chap this side of the big Swamp. I can outlook a panther and outstare a flash of lightning, tote a steamboat on my back and play at rough and tumble with a lion, and an occasional kick from a zebra." |
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Upcoming Events & Temporary Exhibit Schedule
Exhibitions
"Yucca Valley High School Art Show" on display
April 27 - June 6
"Quest for Fire: History of Firemaking Tools" on display
June 12 - August 13
"Bells of the Saints: California Missions" on display
August 21 - October 17
"Day of the Dead" on display
October 22, 2010 - January 2, 2011
Programs and Events
Thursday, May 13: Mojave Desert Land Trust Spring Celebration
Saturday, May 15: Art Seminar
Thursday, May 20: The ABCs of Water
Wednesday, June 2: First Wednesday History Program
Saturday, August 7: Dino Day! Dinosaur-Themed Family Fun Day
Wednesday, September 1: First Wednesday History Program
Saturday, October 9: Starry Nights Festival
Saturday, October 30: Halloween Spooktacular
June through August, Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series
2nd & 4th Thursdays, starting at Noon
July and August, Art & Science Tuesdays, 10:00 a.m. - Noon |
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Roadrunners
Roadrunners are icons of the Southwest desert, portrayed in Warner Brothers cartoons being pursued by Wile E. Coyote. Roadrunners are members of the cuckoo family, genus Geococcyx. They are well suited to life in a harsh desert environment. Roadrunners are omnivores and opportunistic in their feeding. They will eat small animals including insects, lizards, snakes, rodents and other birds. Roadrunners forage on the ground and, when hunting, usually run after prey from under cover. Because of its quickness, the Roadrunner is one of the few animals that preys upon rattlesnakes. Using its wings like a matador's cape, it snaps up a coiled rattlesnake by the tail, cracks it like a whip and repeatedly slams its head against the ground until the snake is dead. It then swallows its prey whole, but is often unable to swallow the entire length at one time. This does not stop the Roadrunner from its normal routine. It will continue to meander about with the snake dangling from its mouth, consuming another
inch or two as the snake slowly digests.
* Roadrunners can run up to 17 miles per hour
* The Roadrunner is also known as the Chaparral Cock
* Roadrunners are non-migratory
* The Roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico |
Annie Oakley When it comes to famous women of the Wild West, probably no name shines brighter than Annie Oakley. Born Phoebe Ann Mosey in Ohio in 1860, she was an American exhibition sharpshooter who's amazing talent propelled her to stardom with a leading role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Annie was born in a log cabin, the 6th child of a Quaker couple. Her father died in 1866 and when Annie was 9 years old she was put into the care of a county poor farm. She began hunting to support her siblings and widowed mother. Her skill eventually paid off the mortgage on her mother's farm when Annie was 15. In the spring of 1881, she won a shooting contest against marksman Francis Butler, who she later married. Oakley continued to set shooting records into her 60s. She died in 1926 at the age of 66. Her husband was so crushed by her death that he stopped eating and died 18 days later.
Did You Know?
* Oakley was given the name "Watanya Cicilla" by fellow performer Sitting Bull, which translated means "Little Sure Shot."
* During her career she taught an estimated 15,000 women how to use a gun.
* Oakley promoted the service of women in combat and offered President McKinley the service of 50 lady sharpshooters to fight in the Spanish-American War, but her offer was declined.
* Oakley was badly injured in a train crash in 1901, but recovered after temporary paralysis and five spinal operations.
* Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst published a false story that Oakley had been arrested for stealing to support a cocaine habit. She sued him for libel and won.
* Oakley performed for Queen Victoria, and by special request shot the ashes off a cigarette held by the Prince of Prussia, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Click here to view a 2 minute clip of Annie Oakley in Europe
Click here to view Annie Oakley and her husband in an 1894 Edison film |
Thomas Moran Thomas Moran was originally from England, but became famous as a painter of the American West. Moran, along with Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill and William Keith are sometimes referred to as the Rocky Mountain School of painters because of all the western landscapes created by these artists. Moran's family emigrated from England in 1844 and settled in Pennsylvania. He began his artistic career as an apprentice to the Philadelphia wood-engraving firm Scattergood & Telfer producing illustrations and lithographs. In the 1860s Moran was introduced to the work of J.M.W. Turner which influenced Moran's later use of color and subject. Thomas Moran's vision of the western landscape was critical to the creation of Yellowstone National Park. Moran's field sketches and paintings captured the grandeur and documented the extraordinary terrain and natural features of the Yellowstone region. Moran's artwork was presented to members of Congress by park proponents. His sketches, along with photographs by survey member William Henry Jackson, captured the nation's attention and helped inspire Congress to establish the National Park System in 1916. (Shown here is A Showery Day, Grand Canyon,
Click here to view an online exhibit on Thomas Moran by the National Gallery of Art |
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