{"id":78028,"date":"2021-01-19T06:02:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T13:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=78028"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:50:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:50:54","slug":"a-cooks-memorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/19\/a-cooks-memorial\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cook’s Memorial? Odd Things I Find While Looking For Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cook'sCook’s Memorial? – Nikon D300, f13, 1\/640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

As best as I can figure out what is in this photo is a cook’s memorial that I found 7 years ago today out on a range in Utah’s West Desert.<\/p>\n

When I am out in the field looking for birds I sometimes come across strange or even odd things and this pile of rocks, red bows, seashells, pottery shards, and wooden spoons was one of those things.<\/p>\n

I hadn’t been to this area in several weeks when I discovered what appears to be a memorial of some kind. The wooden spoons appeared to be high quality and not the kind that you can pick up at a dollar store.<\/p>\n

I decided that what I found and photographed might be a memorial for a cook.<\/p>\n

I spotted the cook’s memorial over the rest of the winter and into early spring and then one day I simply couldn’t see it anymore.<\/p>\n

I wish I knew the story behind the pile of rocks, seashells, pottery shards, red bows, and wooden spoons and how it came to be. Was this memorial for a woman?<\/p>\n

A mother, wife, sister, brother, husband, a ranch hand who liked to cook? I’ll never know.<\/p>\n

I did photograph some birds that day including a few Horned Larks perched on rocks not far from this little memorial.<\/p>\n

This cook’s memorial isn’t the only strange or odd thing I have spotted while out in the field looking for birds. Perhaps I should write about them more often.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Sometimes it is a mystery.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my miscellaneous photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As best as I can figure out what is in this photo is a cook’s memorial that I found 7 years ago today out on a range in Utah’s West Desert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10893,358,26,1314],"tags":[10896,10895,6804,4098,4109,6805,10899,10897,10901,6243,10898,4470,10900,373,10894],"class_list":["post-78028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-bows","tag-cooks-memorial","tag-curlycup-gumweed","tag-desert","tag-grasses","tag-grindelia-squarrosa","tag-memorial","tag-odd-things","tag-pottery-shards","tag-range","tag-roadside-oddities","tag-rocks","tag-seashells","tag-winter","tag-wooden-spoons"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cooks-memorial-in-desert-mia-mcpherson-5224.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-kiw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4564,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/29\/the-west-desert-of-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":78028,"position":0},"title":"The West Desert of Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I am one of those people who love deserts and the West Desert of Utah is once again beckoning to me. The weather here in Utah is very changeable right now, it can feel like spring one day and the next it still feels like winter but it won't be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Horned Larks"","block_context":{"text":"Horned Larks","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/larks\/horned-larks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Way out in the West Desert of Utah, Tooele or Juab County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-utah-mia-mcpherson-1914.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-utah-mia-mcpherson-1914.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-utah-mia-mcpherson-1914.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-utah-mia-mcpherson-1914.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8235,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/28\/female-american-kestrel-in-the-west-desert\/","url_meta":{"origin":78028,"position":1},"title":"Female American Kestrel in the West Desert","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago I spotted this female American Kestrel on the road to Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge, and I do mean in the road. 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awesome for Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) in Tooele County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alert Horned Lark male perched on a rock in the West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/horned-lark-alert-mia-mcpherson-3829.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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