The Smokey Mountains of Yellowstone

August 19, 2013

We have five fires burning in Yellowstone presently, the largest being down near the Lake area.  It started out at a 3 acre burn and yesterday had grown to over 3000 acres.  Firefighters are in at Fishing Bridge setting up their headquarters,  They will go in and start containing the fire there.  The other fires will continue to burn since they are not endangering facilities or people.  It is nature's way of cleaning and thinning out the over abundance of trees, disease and insects.  New tree life will immediately begin with the pinecones burst and seeds pop out to be sown in the rich soil produced by the ashes, dead grass and animal feces. 

Last week while we were out photographing the bison in their "rut" the lens on our Canon camera got stuck.  A new one is on it's way, in the meanwhile the pictures we have taken are OK at best. 

We got up at 5AM last week and headed to the Petrified tree which is less than 5 miles from us.  We saw two bull moose - one was very large and the other was young and a little shy.  There have been as many as 4 large bull moose there over the last two weeks.  They travel between there and Elk Creek and the Floating Island site.  There is also a cow moose their with her calf.  Hope to see more of them next week when Greg comes to visit.

We left the tree and traveled to Lamar Valley where the Bison have only one  thing on their minds - REPRODUCTION.  It is so interesting to watch the males choosing a female, fighting for her and then being an obnoxious nuisance to her until the time comes to mate.  The poor girl has no space of her own - he cuts her off at every pass. He is very adamant that another male is NOT going to come close to her etc.

We had two more people to leave early.  Our dishwasher got a better paying job with good benefits in Silver Gate, MT.  Our dorm leader left -----just because. 

Today we drove to Bozeman to shop and take care of some business.  On the way up we saw Mountain Goats  and a few cow elk with their offspring.  Hope the pictures show up good.

 Our very large bull moose across from the Petrified Tree.

He is quite the big Bullwinkle!!

 A male in hot pursuit.

 Wherever she goes, I know he'll go. 

 Ok - let's go back where we started from.

 Love me - love my calf.

 Mama Elk around Mammoth Hot Springs this morning.

 A herd of mountain goat.  (Backfield in motion, says Bud in light of football season approaching.)

 

 

The sun coming up through the smoky haze over Paradise Valley.

Hanging in there~~~

August 12, 2013

It's been a week since posting last and much of our schedule and activities remain unchanged, however it has still been exciting.

We had a fire inspection on Wednesday. due to the fire alarm going off a few weeks ago.  We have been unplugging  everything from the wall before leaving the room.  Not really a problem except for having to reset the clock.  So we made an executive decision and leave it plugged in.  There will be a report on each room forthcoming and hopefully, we will have all past inspection.

We drove past Undine Falls a few days ago and took some pictures.   There was an animal skeleton on the distant mountain side.  We took a picture and hope it can be seen in the photo. We had Jean and Clara with us.  They had not walked the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, so we dropped them off there while going to Gardiner to do some shopping and picked them up 2 hours later.  They had fun. 

Our business has picked up in the store, especially on Sunday.  So more people have been scheduled to work that day.  Also, more people have left and will be leaving, so we think we will be picking up more hours (or at least another day of 6 1/2 hours).

Last week we drove out the Lamar Valley which has become our favorite place to drive to and enjoy and decided that since we were so close to Cooke City, we would continue on there.  It has been more than 10 years since our last visit there and I am thrilled to say  there have been some improvements.  We left there after a short visit and Bud going into the Fly fishing store and drove back toward our dorm.  Since the time would put us back there too late for lunch we drove over to Mammoth for lunch.  We have found a Kid's cheeseburger meal is just right for us and the price is good, too.

On our way back from Mammoth we saw a mountain goat right on the road.  He was just ambling along.  Noticed he had a broken horn - making him distinguishable for our next viewing.

The weather is cooling down, especially the nights.  It is in the upper 30's and lower 40's every night now.  So today the flannel sheets went back on the bed.  We are having late afternoon showers often now and that seems to cool us down for the nights.

Two weeks until Greg arrives and we are so excited.  Missing the family a lot and we know that seeing him will get us on through to September 19th.

Beautiful bison in Hayden Valley

Picnic area at the NezPerz on the Yellowstone River

 Picnic at the Nez Perz.  Use to fish here with Greg and James.

 Two Stellar Jays eating our crumbs.  They loudly fussed at us the entire time we were eating our lunch.

Silly Grouse crossing the mountain road stopping traffic both ways.  Honked the horn briefly and he kept time with the rhythm of the honks.

 Icebox Canton on the way to Cooke City.

Mountain goat near Mammoth Hot Springs with a broken horn.  They cross the road whenever and wherever.

Mama cow elk with one of her twins.  They came running across the road as we sat eating our lunch at Mammoth.

Talent Night

August 5, 2013

Tonight is Talent Night in our Rec Room.   It should be interesting.  Someone is signed up to sing, another to read some of her poetry, another will share "thoughts from a buffalo and Bud and I will contribute as well.  Bud will tell a few baseball stories and I will display some of the doll clothes I have been making since coming here.  (OK - friends and followers, you've got to KNOW they are hard up for talent when they ask us to participate. Some of the guys have heard Bud speak about fishing and baseball and he does have an audience at times.)  Really, it should be lots of fun - just being together and  enjoying the new friends we've made. 

Some of our friends are leaving already.  Miguel flew back to Columbia Friday and Ashley, one of the kitchen staff left today for Idaho.  More will leave at the end of this week.  Even more will leave after Labor Day.  Sort of sad to see the group part.  We will really miss everyone and would like to think they could and would come back next year.

Our days off were changed this week.  We normally are off Wed.-Fri. but this week we are off Mon.-Wed.  Greg is coming the end of this month and we will make for sure our days off are back to "normal" for us that week.  Today has been a lazy day - sleeping, sewing, eating and now sitting up on the hill so we can get good internet service.  It is about to rain - wind is blowing, sky is turning dark and there is a coolness in the air.  Love the mountain summer storms.  The berries are beginning to appear and the bears are hungry.  Our little black bear has become too friendly and comfortable around people so we have been asked to let the Ranger know when he is around so they can come and "bean bag" him to move him away.  They may even sedate him to put a collar on him and transport him away from the area.  He is still so young and naïve.  The bison are beginning to feel the urges of there hormones and are becoming territorial.  The males  stomp the ground, urinate there and then roll around in the mud that they have created, for (in their mind and culture) they believe that this makes them attractive to the females.  Really quite a sight.  Hopefully we can take some video and post it. The males  are beginning to challenge each other for priority rights of mating, so there's lots of "head butting" going on. It will get more intense in the next few days.

On the way home from Bozeman the other day we were fortunate enough to see a mountain goat with her young one nursing.  She was far away but hopefully if you zoom up on it you can see the little one under her.

A goodnight's rest in Bozeman

Bud and I traveled to Bozeman today and checked into the Holiday Inn Express.  When we walked in the door of our room  I said, "I may never leave this place."  It is beautiful and we're looking forward to a goodnights sleep.  

Our ride over was very nice and our day in Bozeman has been great.  Had a lot of little stops to make and some shopping to do.  There is a severe thunderstorm warning out right now and as soon as it passes we plan on going to Costco (across the street) then to dinner.

We are enjoying the 4 day work week at the store.  Seems like Sunday is our busiest day because there is no road construction and the traffic moves pretty good.  We really enjoy our work and enjoy the people we work with.  We couldn't be more blessed with the folks we spend so much time with.  Some of the international young people are leaving next week - sad to see them go.  The summer has passed by so quickly, especially July. 

Posting a few pictures from the last week or so.  Enjoy!!

We have had a little more rain this year in Yellowstone than some folks can remember.  The meadows and hillside look pretty green still.

 

Our little black bear yearling visits around the store still and comes to rest on the roof of the bathroom right outside of the store.  He really puts on a show.