Easy come easy go

As quick as my Internet came, it went. I awoke yesterday to a burning desire to do some web surfing and kill a couple hours (killing time has become rather hard and stressful now that I have been at it a few days). Alas, my internet connection was down for the count. To make matters worse, I actually had some important things to accomplish via the Internet that I could no longer get done. The situation was very annoying to say the least. I had almost slipped fully back into the 21st century but was then stymied by a finicky connection. Fortunately, the connection is back up and walking. I say "walking" because in no way, shape, or form is this a fast Internet connection. I'm talking marginally faster than 1997 dial up. I click and wait, click and wait, etc... But when you have nothing but time on your hands, waiting isn't all that bad. I have put some of my time to more useful pursuits though, like watching movies, reading, hiking, buying Christmas presents, feeding the resident horses, keeping the wood stove burning hot, and learning more on the guitar. Much more of this though and I'm going to have to start busting out some video games.

Convenience!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! For the first time in seven months, I am sitting in the comfort of my own home browsing the Internet and writing a blog. Yes it is true, for the last seven months, the various structures that I have called home have all been devoid of an Internet connection. During those seven months I was required to use the computers at work after hours (Yuck), or pay an arm and a leg for a wireless connection outside the park (Yuck). I have recently moved just outside North Entrance of the park to a real house with a real Internet connection! And I actually signed a 12 month lease, Gasp! I have rediscovered the joy of browsing the Internet and wasting time. Of course I have a to-do list, but since I have to wait until the end of the week to receive news about some job applications I should have plenty of time to check my email every five minutes, look at YouTube, read news, and generally plug back in. And the timing is great. The temperature hasn't risen above 0 degrees Fahrenheit in the last two days so a little quality couch time can be justified.

Happenings

The start of the holidays have been going splendidly so far though I have a bit of a hitch in my get up. Thanksgiving went great. The turkey was an adventure in taste due to the use of a delicious array of fresh spices conveniently sold together in a bag labeled "The Herbed Bird." Of course the eating included much merry making - courtesy of my apprenticeship to an accomplished Bloody Mary mixer. In fact there was too much merry making for my old body to stand. On the day after Thanksgiving - or Five O'clock Somewhere Day as we called it - some spontaneous dancing went down. I attempted to execute an airborne dance move and lightly come to rest on my left foot. Instead, I came to land heavily on a left foot positioned awkwardly inward. The resulting movement was an uncontrolled crumple to the floor. Fast forward ten days... the crutches are gone, the limp remains, and my left foot is back to its normal size but roughly the color of an eggplant. I've thus made great use of the couch and foot stool. Fortunately my travel plans included an extended stay in ID, so I haven't been forced to accomplish big things with a lame foot. On the up side, it's really easy to get people to stop on the crosswalks and let me gimp across.

Let Winter Descend

The first Sunday in November came and went, a notable day here in YNP. The fishing season ends on the first Sunday in November. I managed to get out on my favorite river, but the fish just stared at my fly without actually taking it. Of course now the rivers look better than ever and about all I can think about is fishing. Then came election night. Going to bed happy and waking up with a sense of satisfaction with this country's politics was so novel that it got my mind off of fishing. I missed the election of '96 by a few months, so my first Presidential election was that of '00 and we all know how that monkey show ended up. Up until Tuesday night, very few people that I have voted for were ever elected. Well, I'm glad to say that has changed and if feels rad.

In the longer run, now that fishing season has ended, I welcome the snow back and hope it starts piling up. I retrieved my winter gear from SD last week so I am ready to start sliding on the white stuff. With the white stuff enters one of my favorite two month stretches of the year...it's eating season. It started with Halloween candy courtesy of my sweet ninja costume and will only build from there through the fourth installment of the O brother's Thanksgiving celebrations and on to Christmas. I'm trying to start slow and build up so I can peak on Thanksgiving and Christmas eve.

Kids

I officially lead/taught my first group of kids in the program that I am now an employee of. Basically, the kids come for three or four days and rangers take them around the park and teach them stuff...i.e. "Yellowstone is super cool because of (insert unique aspect of Yellowstone's ecosystem) so you should work to protect it and other places like it. I was skeptical at first that the kids would assimilate this attitude, but I've been very surprised at how large an impact both the program and Yellowstone have on them. Usually, the most wild/misbehaved kid ends up loving the park. Last week, one of them declared that he would rather be in Yellowstone than at home playing video games! Chalk one up for the home team. The kids aren't the only ones having fun. I've come to realize that I am having a really good time with the kids. Some of the reasons...

1. Kids always want to give hugs.
2. You never know what they are going to say or do.
3. The younger kids are really eager to participate - none of that "I'm too cool for school" b.s.
4. I get to wear my ranger hat.
5. Two nights a week I get to stay in the Lamar Valley. The Lamar Valley has been the wallpaper on my computer for 4 years because there's nothing else I'd rather put there.
6. The kids have to cook for the rangers (fortunately I like hot dogs and nachos).
7. Kids laugh at all my stupid jokes.

The respite of autumn

The summer craziness has finally left the park. I can now breathe a little easier and find time to actually blog once in awhile.

I am no longer working in the visitor center. I am staying in the park until Thanksgiving as an emergency hire in the education program. I will be leading 4th through 8th graders through the park on hikes and doing activities. It should be a fun job. Plus I will work 4 ten hour days, thus giving me some extra time. I've put some pictures up on flickr which will highlight the summer better than me rambling on about it. Overall it was a great summer. I stayed busy with work and trying to be outside as often as possible to enjoy the park. But the change in seasons is a welcome one.

Big List

I've finally found a little time to do a little blog posting. Instead of my usual claim of being busy when I'm really not, I actually have been busy the last three weeks. I'm getting settled into Yellowstone and the job. I've designed three programs, and have one left to design. I giving talks on bears, and bison, and leading walks on the geology of Mammoth Hot Springs and the history of Ft. Yellowstone. I'm really looking forward to the Ft. Yellowstone walk because, of course, it's history focused. Living in Yellowstone has been exciting. Even in Mammoth you never know what wildlife is going to show up. I've had herds of buffalo and elk within arms reach of an open window, a black bear hunting newborn elk in the neighborhood, and uinta ground squirrels in the yard. I've also watched from my living room window on three separate occasions, herds of buffalo crossing a road bridge to avoid having to walk down in a canyon and ford a river then climb back up the other side of the canyon. The rivers are really high and muddy so I haven't done much fishing yet. In fact, the snow melt in the high country has hardly begun. It has snowed off and on for the last few weeks throughout the park.

I've put up some Chile pics on flickr, but my internet connection isn't cooperating at the moment so some are missing and a few seem to have reverted to their original sideways orientation. Hope you enjoy the ones I did post.