Fun AT Canyon

June 27, 2013

We decided to try a picnic in Canyon today.  Since blogging is such a problem at Tower, this is a multipurpose trip.  We actually went to an area of Canyon that we cannot ever remember going to before.  We took some pretty pictures and then came back to the General store for our 30% discount on grocery items and free drinks.  (We were suppose to have a picnic lunch today, but the kitchen ran out of bread, so we settled for a pre-made sandwich and homemade cookie.)

I spoke with some of the employees  at Canyon and they are experiencing the same decrease in customers as we are.  It seems that the park is not busy as generally it is this time of year.  Hopefully, next week being the 4th of July we will see an increase.

Our cook came down with a bug it seems.  He thought at first it was food poisoning from a restaurant in Emmigrant, MT but his daughter ate the same thing and she is fine.  He has decided not to go to the clinic to be diagnosed for Norovirus so he will stay quarantined in his room for three days.  We have no idea what our meals will be over the next few days, but I think Bud and I have decided that cold cereal, toast and juice for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch and yogurt and fruit for supper will probably be safe for us for a few.

Three girls for Taiwan that came in today.  They seem very sweet and will work at the fountain.  Because we have had such bad luck with kitchen help and because everyone's hours are being cut back, some of the cashiers (young internationals) are switching over to work in the kitchen.  (Probably another good reason to stick with cold cereal, yogurt, etc. for a few days)

Visited Old Faithful today.  Bud saw many of the folks he worked with last year.  Everyone was so happy to see him - hugged his neck and said they couldn't understand why we weren't rehired.  They had a few other remarks too that I'll not publish!! 

Saw this beautiful array of yellow flowers today and Bud was kind enough to get out of the care and take this picture.  I am spellbound by the various wildflowers.

This is Gibbons Falls - one of our favorites.  We haven't stopped here in a few years because of the road work they were doing.  But the end reseluts is beautiful, wonderful and more safe than ever before.

 

Looking downstream from Gibbons Fall.  Straight down from this point is a large picnic area.



The next two pictures are from Mt. Washburn area.  I usually drive this stretch because it is so steep and curvy.  Bud was the photographer.  He took some great pictures.

Enjoying the day off

June 26, 2013

We have worked early shift this week(7AM-2:30PM)  Our hours are cut short this week by 1 hour each day.  Hopefully, next week the traffic into the store will be better.  We don't know if the road construction o the cold weather has been the factor in decrease of customers.  We continue to meet people from all over.  Last week a couple with their granddaughter from Cookeville stopped by the store.  The granddaddy had his and his wife's picture made with me and Bud and said they were going to submit it to the local newspaper --- Whatever!!  Look for us in the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.

Night before last they decided to strip and wax the EDR floors.  So the cleanup team parked their truck in front of the dorm right underneath our window.  Thank goodness for the sound machine.  About 1:45AM - 3AM there was noise that was disturbing and then having to get up at 5:30AM to get ready for work.

We took a trip to Lamar Valley, a very beautiful area of Yellowstone that contains two of the premiere trout streams.  The water is very high but Bud thinks next week we can make a stab at fishing.  I hope so.  The past two years we never got our rods out, so fishing would be a great step for us in making this year a solid experience.

We saw some pretty scenery and animals that I will attempt to post with this.  Blogging and downloading pictures is sort of like pulling toenails - slow and painful.

Here goes:

Wild Primrose along the side of the road

Not sure what this is called, but it looks a lot like digitalis.

A cow elk outside of a ranger's home at Mammoth Hot Springs

Momma and calf Elk up in Lamar Valley.

 The Soda Butte - lots of good fishing there.  This is an area where Wolves and Grizzlies are seen often at sunset.

 Along the Soda Butte.  Love the angle of the tree growing out and then upward.

Saw this scraggly Pronghorn on the opposite side of the road from his buddies.

Changes in our blogging

June 23, 2013

We are finding that trying to maintain a daily journal is next to impossible.  Between the hours we work and the availability of internet service when we are not working is frustrating.  So we are going to try to make a weekly entry.  This morning we are free until noon - so after writing this we will go to our "hot spot" and attempt to send it.  Downloading pictures takes the longest time, so we will save that till the very end of each blog.

Thursday was another day off and we drove over Dunraven pass (the steepest area of the park) down  to Canyon.  It has been interesting to go into the different YGS to see the variation in merchandise.  We have visit 4 stores other than our own and have come to the conclusion that we have the friendliest staff.  That may be due to personalities or the fact that we are not real busy and that allows us more time to speak to the guest.

We have had rain, sleet and snow the past 3 days mixed with a little sunshine.  Today the highs are in the 60's.  We pulled out the turtleneck shirts this morning to go sit out in the amphitheater for church service.  There were just 4 of us this AM not including the 2 who conducted the service.  They are good young men and try very hard to follow the format while speaking from their hearts.

We start Early shift tomorrow.  Because there are more workers than the need for service, everyone is having their hours cut.  We will work from 7AM-2:30PM with 1 hour for lunch.  Next week we will work the late shift 2PM-9:30 with an hour for lunch.  There is a mid shift that works 12PM-6:30PM with NO lunch and a 15 minute break.  We will rotate to that every once in a while.  All of this hopefully will change as the tourist increase.

We are enjoying the Fourth Season of "24" that Greg gave to us 3 years ago.  We are actually addicted to it.  One episode just doesn't do it for us - we usually watch 2, no matter how late the hour.

We never cease to be amazed at the beauty and wonder of Yellowstone Park.  The mountains, the falls, the terrain and all the excitement and grandeur of nature is breathtaking. The beast of the fields and the birds of the air along with other sights, sounds and smells is inspirational. Bud says that Psalm 104:10-25 was written with Yellowstone in mind. 

Following are some pictures just taken at random.  Because of the internet service, we will need to download these when we send this blog, so time is a factor.

Our days off are Wednesday and Thursday of each week - so we will probably blog again from Mammoth Hot Springs on one of those mornings and bring the journaling up to date.

This is driving over Dunraven Pass, the highest drivable road in the park.  There are still large patches of snow.

 Big Bison are everywhere.

 A pretty view of Lake Yellowstone. 

 Some of the lovely flowers that seem to bloom in the most unusual places.

When we took this picture, we pulled off the side of the road.  When I got out of the car I heard a strange noise of a huffing and honking.  We couldn't tell if it was in the trees or on the ground, but I didn't wait around to see.  I got back into the car and we rolled down the windows and we could still hear it.  We could never figure out exactly what it was.

Another trip to Livingston

June 19, 2013

Still needing a headlight, we took off for Livingston.  We stopped in Gardner at an auto repair place just in case, and sure enough they were able to replace both headlights.  We drove on to Livingston for a few items, one being an egg crate topper for my bed and cheap hairspray among others.

The ride is beautiful (I'm posting pictures).  They were doing road work this trip and we had a little delay - spoke with an interesting "flagman".  I'll let you determine" interesting"...just let me say that he has probably spent too many cold days out in the weather and then too many hot days in the sun!!
There is a wonderful little restaurant in Livingston - "The Homemade Kitchen" - everything is like the name says - Homemade.  Soup, salad, sandwiches (homemade bread) desserts.  Cash only!!  So, I took a little walk to the ATM - just a few doors down.  Rained on the way back - actually stormed.  High winds and small hail - weather turned cool - uh, cold!!  27degrees was the low on Wednesday night.

We have new kitchen help - one of the cooks was going to leave because the Head Chef sounds like a drill sergeant, but he has changed his mind for now.  Everything seems to have settled down.  Anyway, there is John the head chef, (does a very good job).  He is a widow of 5 years. Vicky the baker and assistant cook.  She is a widow of 3 years. Andrew, the second assistant.  He is a single Afro-American from Southern California.  And now,TJ, a server and dishwasher from Oregon..  He is young and is very glad to have a job.  Hope they all stay.  It seems like a good team.

There is an intestinal virus in the park brought in by a tour bus 2 weeks ago.  It is the Noro Virus.  We understand the outbreak has been on the news.   It is rampant in the Xanterra group so strict hand washing in observed and our food is being served to us, cafeteria style instead of buffet. 

Beautiful female Elk
at Mammoth Hot Springs

This is some of the road equipment we see everyday at Tower.  The other day one of the construction workers came in and we visited for a few minutes. He told us that one evening a big black bear came down and found himself a nice soft spot in a ditch they had dug and took himself a little nap.  Of course, all the work stopped for a little while until the nap was over.

A Surprise Birthday

June 16, 2013

We have had a heavy frost the past three mornings with snow in some of the higher elevations.  The days warm up nicely.  It seems there is rain in the area all the time, but we don't always get it.  Everything is very green and lush this year and we are hoping that we have a good occasional rain to keep the grass healthy and green so the animals will not wander too far up in the high country. 

We have seen more black bear this year than ever before.  The area is full with them.  There is a momma and 2 cubs in our vicinity.  She was on the roadway down to the store this morning when one of our managers and his wife saw them.  They stopped and she paid them no attention.  They had their bear spray ready for us and just kept on walking and talking and she didn't mind them at all.  We probably would have backed all the way up the hill and got in our car and driven down the exit to the store.  We are not "one with the bear".   There is one bear that shows up each evening right across the road from our store.  He always has a "following" - silly touristers!! 

We went to chapel services up in the campground amphitheater this morning.  Three very nice young men led the services.  They did a real good job.  It was vey cold but there were 10 people present.  The young men have varying positions at Xanterra during the week.  They came into our store for ice cream this evening and we had a good visit with them.

One of our headlights is out and we took a quick trip into Gardner this morning to try to find some place open so we could fix it but everything was closed.  But on the way we saw two yearling cubs playing in a grassy field and a few miles further we saw a female mule deer with two fawn.  Of course, we had left BOTH cameras in the room.  Lesson learned.

Can't do any fishing yet.  The snow melt is still in progress and the rivers are high and muddy.  It should take  another few weeks for things to settle then we will begin to do some serous fishing.  The timing is good in that we are still acclimating and we are working afternoon/evening shift.

Tonight at supper one of our kitchen crew made me a special cake for my birthday.  He had been working on it for two days.  It was delicious.  White cake with a fresh pineapple-coconut filling.  It was iced with whipped cream, sprinkle with coconut and drizzled with chocolate and topped with a strawberry fan.  So thoughtful and sweet.  A young lady from Columbia had a birthday today and she got a cake, too.  They were both big enough to share with everyone at our table.  It was a nice touch to my birthday.  One of the nicest gifts I received this year is the gift of new friends.  Everyone is very nice.

We heard from Jill and Greg yesterday and today wishing us a happy birthday and Father's Day.
Miss them both very much - as well as the grandkids.

These pictures are of a black bear that we saw yesterday morning about 1.3 miles from the dorm as we traveled to get good cell phone and internet connections.  Enjoy!!

 

Our little home away from home

June 15, 2013

We've had a few days off from work to rest and set up our room.  The internet service will probably cause both of us to stroke or have a heart attack.....it I so slow.  We have a book close by so when we are trying to logon or post, we read while we wait.  (I visualize us standing in line like at Walmart waiting to be the next to be served.)  So hopefully the pictures will download quickly and we'll all be happy.

This is the entrance to our dorm.  The roads are a mess.  We hope that before the summer is over they will at least fill in the potholes with some of the asphalt they will pave the roads with. 

This is the front of the dormitory.  Our room is on the second floor and we are the first set of windows to the right of the entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the view of our room from the door way.

 

This is the view of our room facing the door looking from the window side of the room.

 

This is our little table area where we use the computer, watch movies,  have our devotions and where I plan to sew this summer and Bud will study.  Our coffee station is close by on the laundry hamper.

 

I did not take pictures of our little bathroom, counter space with sink and closet.  They all are on the wall that our beds face.  Very cozy room with lots of space.  We are very pleased.

First trip to Bozeman

June 12. 2013

Even with the car packed to the top we still found that we needed some things in our room.  Today is our first day off since arriving at Tower and after breakfast we decided to head to Bozeman.  We saw a beautiful black bear as we were leaving our area of the park and pretty soon after we saw a young buck elk on the roadside (looking a little scared).  We have threatening weather for today and as we drove north toward Livingstone the clouds began to move in.  Paradise Valley is known for it's wonderful fly fishing, and this picture does not do it justice, s with the low lying clouds we thought it just too pretty not to try and capture it on film.

Storms are predicted for this evening and we are really trying to make this a quick trip and be back to our room before the storms start.  As we travel we have 4G networking and I'm to do as much as I can as we drive to Bozeman.

Still loving our job, even though Bud doesn't have a security log on to work a register yet.  Meeting great people - many love the Lord and share our desire of ministry.  Looking forward to a wonderful summer.  Met people from Germany, Italy, Poland and Hendersonville, TN yesterday.  LOVE IT!!


This is our new little
black bear friend.

Our sweet little scared
buck elk.  (In velvet - beautiful)

Clouds over Paradise
Valley near Livingstone

A lot of the charred stumps
look like bear, but truly
in the middle of this
picture is a momma
bear.  Her little cub was up in the tree that is slanting toward her.
The rangers were scooting us along  so I could get them both.

 Just another pretty picture to share.

 

 

Living in a Dust Bowl

June 11, 2013

GOOD MORNING FROM YELLOWSTONE,

Waking up to another beautiful but cool day.  These are probably some of the shortest nights we have in our year.  The sunsets around 9:30 PM and at 5:15 AM our room is beginning to lighten up .  The air is so cool coming into our room, but we don't complain because by mid-afternoon it get just a little warm up on the second floor.

We worked yesterday - a very slow day for customer service.  Bud still doesn't have a security log-in and password, so he is watching me (really?) and hopefully we are both learning by each transaction I make , whether good or bad.   There is some merchandise that is marked incorrectly and we have to override it in the register.  Of course, any discounts take time, too so honestly to have a slow customer day is good in that we can slow down and both learn at the same time how to do process each transaction.  But as for Bud, just standing around talking to customers and restocking gets pretty boring and I actually think he gets more tired than I do with not a lot to do in the store.

We are truly enjoying our experience.  The people we work with are just great.  Mostly there are retired couples here, but we have a few single ladies and men - some widowed, some divorced, some young college kids (some of the kids are from Columbia) and some school teachers on summer break, but the relationship between  all of us is great!!  Bud told the school teacher from Texas that he and I do everything together and she has had so much fun teasing us about that.  She loves to laugh and have fun and really is a character - you just can't help but love her.  One of our Floor Managers and his wife are from Iowa.  She is our facility co-ordinator and bless her heart, trying to keep the dust off the shelves and floor is a huge job.  She is a retired Pediatric Surgery Nurse, so we enjoy spending time when she is in my sales area talking "shop"  about the medical field of today.

The road outside of the store is torn down to dirt for about 5 miles.  So people traveling are delayed about 15-20 minutes either way by a flagman from 7AM - 9PM.  They make the road one-way during the day and shut it down completely at 11PM-7AM at night.  The dust and dirt just fly in the air, in the store, in your eyes....you just feel like you're choking all the time.  We have 4 bottles of water yesterday in a 4 hour period just to keep from coughing, but if the doors are shut it gets way too hot.  So we drink water, dust shelves, try to guard the clothing from too much dust accumulating and put on a welcoming face, because we are the only stop in that area and people need refreshment and after all that is why we're here ---- to meet, greet and serve.  There is a big water truck that sprays the road several times a day but when the wind is blowing hard, it dries quickly - but it is a temporary relief.  We had a wonderful rain last night, so we're hoping the road got pretty saturated and maybe the dust will be better today.

Doing laundry this morning.  We have 3 washers and 3 dryers and it is suggested that we sign up for a time.  So I signed up for 1 1/2 hours this AM.  One of our washers is new - Woo Hoo.  It is a nice laundry room and across the hall from it is a library with so many books to borrow from.  When people finish their books they can leave them, so there is quite a collection.  I finished one on the way out here traveling and finished another last night so they will become a part of the collection here.

Breakfast served from 6:15-8AM so I' getting dressed next and then the day begins.  Off tomorrow and looking forward to doing a little traveling.  There are black bear and grizzle bear within a mile of us - tomorrow evening we're hunting  "the Grizz" and maybe even see a wolf up in Lamar Valley.

Pictures didn't download this AM - Will try again...another day, another time.

TOWER FALL - Home for the summer.

June 9, 2013

Well, we've been in Yellowstone since Thursday and everyday has been full.  Classes, travel, new dorm and a new store to work in this year.  Our trip out from home was uneventful - just straight driving, good weather and nice hotels to sleep in.  We really enjoyed Jackson, WY and West Yellowstone, MT.

Our classes for Yellowstone General Stores were informative but there is nothing like getting in and actually doing the job.  Bud doesn't have his password yet to work a register so he shadowed different people yesterday, learning all about the store, merchandise, etc. 

We have a lovely room and when I can take pictures, I'll describe our new "digs" then. 

We work with really nice people.  Everyone is so unique out here - US included.  So much fun meeting and working with great retired folks and some school teachers off for the summer.  Our Dining room is nice and our cooks are fabulous.  I'll write more about them later, but to say that keeping off the 26 lbs. I lost is going to be easy is a joke.  We have our own pastry chef - just a good ole lady that knows her stuff.  More to follow.

We have pictures, too but time doesn't permit me to do a lot this morning.

Hope you'll follow the blog.  I promise, it will get better.  Just real busy and real tired right now.