Too Much of A Good Thing!

 This is the view of the Great Salt Lake, at Antelope Island, Utah from my bedroom window.  The sunsets are extraordinary.

You can't tell it here, but there is already a little snow atop the mountain.  It is such a beautiful and peaceful view.  Salt Lake is positively HUGE.  I will always remember my first glimpse of it as I flew into Salt Lake City last June.  It was amazing.

I have since learned quite a bit about this beautiful freak of nature.

It is approximately 75 miles long and 35 miles wide.  Like I said - huge. 

Great Salt Lake is Salty because it does not have an outlet.  As tributary feeder rivers bring their dissolved minerals into the Lake, and since there is no outlet and lots of evaporation, there is a great deal of salt.

The lake is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, a great Ice Age lake that rose dramatically from a small saline lake 30,000 years ago.

Great Salt Lake is too saline to support fish and most other aquatic species. Several types of algae live in the lake. Brine shrimp and brine flies can tolerate the high salt content and feed on the algae. Brine shrimp eggs are harvested commercially and are sold overseas as prawn food. The oft maligned brine flies do not bite or land on people and are the primary food source for many birds that migrate to the lake.

The Lake is ringed by a wide area of wetlands and is an important resource for migrating and nesting birds who feed on the brine shrimp and brine flies.

I couldn't help but think about how too much of a good thing can be a very bad thing.  The much too salty water can not support any type of fish or other wildlife...much too much salt.  But an interesting note is that there is a fresh water spring on Antelope Island in the middle of Salt Lake and that supports the over 200 American Bison and wild Antelope which can be seen roaming the island.

As the Holiday approach I can't help but think of so many times that we have too much of a good thing...the amounts of food consumed at Thanksgiving pile on extra pounds that none of us need for instance.  As in every area of life, moderation is the key.  Too much of a good thing can cause harm.  Too much salt in the Great Salt Lake makes it uninhabitable for fish, and therefore no good for catching fish to eat.  I must wonder what the Mormons thought when they came upon this huge body of water and decided to settle here, only to discover later that there were no fish in the Lake.

We are surrounded by beautiful mountains here...we live on the Wassatch Front where skiers come to play in Winter.  I am looking forward to the snow, and hoping that once again I don't get "too much of a good thing!"  Snow is beautiful and yet treacherous.  Some is beautiful - too much is, well,  too much!

Can you think of times when you had too much of a good thing?  Cake, Candy, Ice Cream and even boyfriends!  It is never good to have too much of a good thing!

PEACE - LOVE & JOY