birthday boy

friday was jeremy's birthday,

we went to a local restaurant called the gun barrel

it's a really cool place with murals on the wall and
all kinds of westerny and cowboyish things.
including pelts, stuffed fish and old ranch tools

i didn't think too much about all the stuff on the walls
until i tried to eat my dinner which was elk.

somehow, having these guys staring at you
while you eat one of their friends
takes a bit of the fun out of it all.

saturday morning, we went to one of our favorite breakfast places.
if you ever get to jackson, you need to eat at the bunnery.
great food, great prices, great service.
they have a clown that walks around
and makes balloon animals.
we weren't sure what adelyn would do when the clown came up,
but adelyn just checked her out

and then grabbed the balloon toy and started gnawing on it.

we had a great time with everyone until saturday evening
when i had to take john to emergency.
he hadn't been feeling well all day
and once i found out he had had some jaw pain earlier in the day
plus didn't want any of the steak dinner he bbq'd
i packed him into the truck and hauled him off to the hospital in town.

there was no wait, so they took him straight back and hooked him up to an ekg.
everything came out fine on the ekg and all the blood tests.
the doctor determined it to be dehydration,
hooked him up to a bag of fluids and once that was done, released him.
i knew he was feeling better when he started wondering if any steak was left from dinner.
it was only about 2 hours and the care was excellent.
dehydration is a big problem up here.
you don't realize how high in elevation you are and it is very dry.
we heard of one person who was so bad,
he did not know who or where he was.
after 2 days on i.v. he was back to normal.

back to the weekend...

this morning we had to say good bye to everyone.
after breakfast
they piled into the truck,
waved goodbye,
and drove away.

the trailer is a bit more quieter now

but we can both still hear the echoes of

jeremy, courtney and john laughing,

me & jamie singing our rhyming songs to the baby,

and addy cooing and gurgling back to all of us.



but i think grandpa hears the the echoes of sweet baby adelyn loudest of all

she's baaaaack!!!

little miss adelyn is back in town!!!

oh yeah, auntie jamie, daddy, & mommy here too!.

we met them after work this afternoon and went for dinner.
this was all i was able to get because the memory stick is full.

but i have a brand new empty one,
so lots more pictures are in the future.

oh, i looked out my window & what did i see?

a big bull moose looking back at me!!!

this was taken inside the trailer and not on zoom.  this is how close he actually was.

as we were packing up and getting ready to head out to work,
i happened to glance out the window and about fell over.

luckily, my camera was in my hand.

this big guy was cruising around the trailer eating breakfast.
so of course, i went out and followed (stalked) him.

across the street and still sleeping in was his girlfriend.
she was having breakfast in bed.

i followed (stalked) the big guy for a few more minutes,
but eventually i had to drag myself to the truck
so we could get to work.

hopefully, these guys and girls are not spooked by all the construction equipment
and hang around for the rest of the season.

bob the bad(ger) ass

as i got out of the truck to get a picture of the barn on mormon row

i realized there was a tussle going on in front of the barn

i orginally thought it was 2 coyotes fighting,

but once they broke apart

i saw that it was 2 badgers


this picture is of the one that lives in the burrow
he wasn't very cooperative about posing
as he had other things on his mind

this is the one that was poking around the burrow
he stood on the mound and
scratched about, similar to what a bull would do.
he eventually ran off behind the barn.

i was able to get some video of them,
but was unable to get it to download.
i'll keep trying

can you canoe?

sunday, we took a drive up to colter bay.
john was checking out canoe rentals for jeremy when he comes to visit.

i was hanging out.
taking pictures.

moose jam 2010

sunday aug 8

you can be driving down a road in the park
enjoying all the beautiful scenery

come around a bend
and see this

it's what the locals call a moose jam, bear jam, bison jam.....
you get the idea
whatever poor animal is near the road is what the jam is named for.

people come to a screeching halt
hopefully on the side of the road,
but they actually stop in the middle of the road more than you would think.

they swing open their doors, usually as you are driving right by the car.
jump out, again usually as you are driving right by the car.
their kids jump out, yet again as you are driving right by the car.
and then they run across the road, right in front of you as you drive on the road.

i saw a woman running across the road in front of cars coming in both directions
with a small girl about 2 years old.
the little girl fell on the asphalt and started crying.
instead of picking her up,
the woman grabbed her arm, pulled her up off the ground and
kept running to see what everyone was looking at.

if it gets too out of hand
the park has to send what they call traffic control personnel.
it actually is human control personnel.
(you can see one in a yellow vest in the first picture)

you would not believe how stupid and ignorant people can be when it comes to these poor animals.
we have heard of people trying to pet the bison, put their kids on the bison's backs,
pose next to the moose, and try to get as close as possible (with their kids!!) to the bears for a picture.

friday night we came up to a place where everyone was stopped just to find
a mother moose on one side of the road
and her baby running back and forth on the other side of the road.
it was just about dark, the cars had their headlights on, and the people were really close to the baby.
the human control officer wasn't there yet, so we called it in.
they were already on their way.
i hope they got there in a hurry

this is what we came upon near colter bay on sunday.

the crowd was more interesting

 than the moose who was trying to enjoy a quiet sunday afternoon in the shade next to the pond.

loafs of hay or bales of bread?

sat aug 7

driving out of jackson on saturday
we passed a field of newly cut hay.

is it me or
do they looked like giant loaves of bread sitting in the field?

no pictures out of respect for the dead

wed aug 4

while i was working wed morning, nora came in to tell me
that a ranger had a wolf in the back of his truck.

before she could finish the rest of what she had to say,
i jumped out of my chair.
while i was grabbing my camera
she gave me the bad news.

the wolf was dead.

i sadly put my camera away.

someone had hit him and left him for dead.
unfortunately, he wasn't dead when they drove away.

luckily, penny, our postmistress in the u.s. post office at the headquarters
came up to the scene right after it happened.
she was able to call park dispatch for help.
she kept traffic and
the people who stopped to take pictures from getting too close.
he did not die right away,
but thankfully he was not struggling.

she told me later that he just laid there looking around without moving his head
his mate kept circling the area waiting for him.

i felt horrible that penny had to deal with that awful situation
but was glad that she was there to protect the wolf from whatever else the humans would have done to him
and to give him some peace while he died.
she told me he was missing part of his tail and it wasn't anywhere near him.
so either the tail was stuck in the vehicle that hit him or
some sick pathetic person took it from the scene.

he was a beautiful black wolf.

i hope the person who didn't stop after they murdered him is sleeping well tonight.

his mate and pack members probably aren't.

sista sista

mon aug 2 - tues aug 3

we had a special visit from kim and jeff

they drove in from hotchkiss, colorado
we hadn't seen kim since chris's memorial in october
she looks great
jeff is a really nice guy
since we had to work during the day,
we were only able to spend time with them over dinner each night.
tues night on our way to dinner, we were treated to a beautiful setting

the time went way too quick and we were sad to see them go
they were traveling on to montana but had no real set plans
except to spend the next 2 weeks relaxing and hanging out.
kim sent a text on thursday to tell us that unknowingly they had
stayed in a campground in an area
that had a pack of wolves and 5 bears
kill 150 (that's right, 150) sheep.
she said they thought the campground was pretty empty.
needless to say, they moved on to safer ground.

it was good to see kim doing well.
i know chris would want her to be happy.
we had a good time sharing our memories of chris.
john did not know that chris had tried to climb the grand a few years ago
but wasn't able to make it to the top.
there were as many laughs as there were tears over the two nights.

we hope kim knows that she is still a part of the family and
she will always be our sister.

da bumpa da bump bump

friday july 30 - sunday aug 1


i could not wait any longer,
time had come to get back to socal to rub this baby bump

so i hopped a plane on friday night
arrived in ontario airport
rode up to crestline in a brand new gmc pickup truck

hung out on the mountain saturday
went for pizza at lake arrowhead
ate ice cream and fed the ducks on the docks

went home and played scrabble which i totally lost at

went for soup and sandwiches at a small place in top of town crestline
woke up sunday

ran a couple of errands
ate lunch
gave lots of hugs and baby bump pats goodbye

hopped on a plane
and flew back to jackson

it was a very quick trip
but worth it

roundtrip flight from jackson to ontario - lots of money

working all day, rushing to meet the plane, waiting because it was delayed - exhausting

being back in socal after 4 months of being gone - weird

visiting a handsome daddy, beautiful mommy & sweet little baby bump - PRICELESS