Summer at Yellowstone: June 2009

The blogging has been blogged down due to a full complement of employees- all 220 wanting to use the internet at the same time. As this is my day off, I am up early and in the second floor lobby in hopes of getting this completed before the other early risers all come to plug in.

Work- Joe is loving his, joking around with all the kids, keeping them in line, vacumning floors ( his favorite vacumn cleaner is "Sam", then he has "Little Joe", the portable and "Baby Joe", his bucket of cleaning supplies.

As for myself, I started on Monday, and was so happy to go to work after a week or more of hanging out. It was kinda overwhelming at the beginning but Patrick, my supervisor, a typical accountant who likes everything organized and in its place has been very patient with me and after six straight days I feel more comfortable and more than ready for a day off.

We have had little time to get far from home as our days off have not yet been synchronized, but soon they will. We plan a big day going to Cody, later this week and will be taking Khurtzbayer, from Mongolia, and his girlfriend, Keesa, from Singapore with us. They are beside themselves with joy. Transportation is difficult for them to come by so we are happy to have them along. Hurtz will be starting his last year of law school in his country and I don't know what Keesa is studying. We do not have near the number of international students as before. I think they did most of their recruiting in the US.

Weather-we have had snow or rain every day we have been here. Rain now, for the first week it was snow. We are not yet able to go out without a jacket. The skyes are unbelievably beautiful, filled with clouds of every kind. It is a continually changing tapestry of beauty.

A friend went to a remote area yesterday and spotted a group of bears, adults and babies and watched them play for an hour or so. We have not seen any, just tracks around the cabins which Joe has to patrol on a nightly basis so he gets a little leery sometimes.

We have not been getting our mail regularly, just a couple of magazines. Pete, can you check our box and see if ther is anything there. Thanks!

A word of warning to anyone with a kindle. If you are planning to travel with it, download your books before you leave home or check the map to make sure there is accessablitly where you are going. There is none here, the closest place being Idaho Falls. It would be possible for me to download them on the computer then transfer to the kindle but with the internet service being slow or non existant, I can't do that.

Pax

Pat

We were greeted at the park by the buffalo and elk. Picture of buffalo previouls posted. I can't seem to get the text and the picture in the same place at the same time. Tom, our friend from Douglas, will be here later this week; maybe he can help me.

We are so blesssed to have this experience. The sunrise over Yellowstone Lake is awesome and walking through the woods to the employee dining room we see elk, rabbits, squirrels and other small creatures. There were notices on the doors of the dorm when we arrived to be aware of three bears in the area and an angry mother elk.,, Have not seen the bears and I sing when walking through the woods alone, Michael Row the Boat Ashore.

That should scare off anything. Would like to see one but from a distance, like safely in a car.

The walk to the dining room is 3/4 of a mile so if you want to eat you must walk-mile & a half.

We were happy to see familiar faces. Lou, our personnel manager, from Yuma, is here; her 22nd year and she is 80 yrs. old. Lee, from the Navajo Reservation, who has worked here for several years in housekeeping has moved up to Bell Man, is so happy and finally making some money. He has bought a used bicycle and has some transportation. He looks so proud in his uniform and his limp is less pronounced.

Hope everyone is having a Good Summer, it has snowed every day since we arrived.

Pax (peace in Latin, my friend, Diana, taught me that, thanks, D. I will use it,)

Pat & Joe