Sego lilies and goatheads

Last Sunday, my ward had a little "stroll" on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail where I frequently go. I was late, so if I wanted to meet up with the rest of them, I would have to run. That was the first time I've been trail running in church clothes (although I changed my shoes and took off my tie).

A few of us went down to a rock overlook where I went on Halloween. As we were coming up, I was delighted to see Utah's state flower, a sego lily! Since I work with Mormon history, I've seen lots of images of them, so I recognized it. However, before that flower, I had not seen a sego lily since September 1999, when I was just turning 11, and on that occasion it was dried up.

But that was just the beginning. As we were going back down the trail, I saw many more sego lilies. I just hadn't noticed them on the way up.

Then on Wednesday, I went on trails around where I got lost back in April. I have always thought sego lilies were rare, but they were all over the place! I had no idea they were so common. It's not like there were seas of them, but their simple white flowers were peeking up in the grass quite abundantly. In order to get to the places where they were most abundant, I had to go up some steep hills, but even in smaller numbers they were in more accessible places. But I didn't have my phone on that occasion, so I didn't take pictures of the flowers, or of the two horned lizards I saw.

In contrast to the delightful sego lilies, I also spent a few evenings this week trying to eradicate diabolical goathead plants. On Wednesday, I filled an entire grocery bag in the space of about half an hour. On that occasion, they were bigger plants that were easier to pull and that were, obviously, more massive.

 The other nights weren't as productive, since they were generally smaller plants. On Friday, someone in my ward saw me and asked what I was doing; when I told her, she said I was "making the community better, one goat plant at a time!" On Saturday, I was pulling them from a vacant lot on Bountiful Boulevard, and some little boys who lived next door came and talked to me while I did so. Picking the pernicious plants can be a bit of a daunting task, so if anyone wants to help me, you're more than welcome. :)

On Thursday, I just happened to be driving through Sugar House. (The reason is because I had gone to Best Buy to get my old laptop repaired, and while I was out that far I wanted to go to Shopko because they have the best selection of Fourth of July candy. Yes, I really went out of my way to get seasonal candy, since Bountiful's (and Provo's) Shopko closed.) Earlier this year when I was doing research for work, I had cited a Sons of Utah Pioneers plaque, since it was the only place that had the information I needed. I had found a picture of it online, so I didn't visit it in person. But as I was driving, I realized that I was passing the very plaque, so I had to stop and see it in person. 

I also had to look at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers plaque commemorating the sugar factory for which Sugar House is named. I was a little amused at the positive way they commemorated it, since the sugar beet endeavor of the 1850s was essentially a failure.  

I also liked the drain covers with the sugar beets. Sugar beets are Utah's state historic vegetable. Spanish sweet onions are the state vegetable. I question the need of having a state vegetable, but apparently we have two.