Yellowstone aka Water World

I'm posting early today for two reasons.  One, I work until 10:45 tonight and just won't feel like talking to any of you, no matter how nice you are, and two, it's RAINING AGAIN! 

Planning a trip to Yellowstone Park?  Don't even think about coming here until July.

Here are the Yellowstone employees making their way to work.

O.K., I didn't take this picture.  I snagged it from the internet.

But it really does look like this.  I'm just not standing out there in the rain waiting for people on bicycles to go by.  Forgive me.

Here's the big news for today. 

I'm about 5 minutes from being famous.  Actually, I'm not going to be famous at all, but I had a brush with it.  Before I left on this adventure, I sent my story to "The Story with Dick Gordon" at NPR.  I love National Public Radio.  I want to write for them, hang out with them, make them all my best friends.

This is Dick Gordon.

Everyone at NPR is handsome/beautiful, intelligent, successful....guess that's why I'm not working there.

I only have 2 out of 3 of the qualifications. 

Anywho....the producer of the show, Christina Smith, called me to see if my story would be of any interest.

I know I won't have a chance if she discovers my fascination with bison poo.

There's no place on NPR for bison poo stories unless it has something to do with saving the environment.

Sorry, got side tracked a little.

But she called and we talked and bonded, at least on my side of the phone, and ......I don't have a chance in Hell of getting on that show.

I checked out their latest stories.  Here's my competition.

A 94 year old woman is running for the U.S. Senate.  When she was 90, she walked across the country to lobby for finance reform.  I walked two hours one day?  Does that count? 

The National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica is for at-risk youth and currently holds rehearsals in the danger zone.  I've walked in the woods where there might be bears and I whistled a little tune.  I could also be considered an at-risk senior citizen.  I could go bonkers anytime.

See what I mean?  I'm a 61 one year old social worker, working the front desk at the Old Faithful Inn who wants to smother her roommate in the night.  Touching, moving, life changing....?  I think not.

I couldn't come up with any epiphany to make the experience more memorable.  I didn't have a vision or hear voices telling me what my true mission in life might be.  I got nada, zilch, crapola. 

I'll let you all know when I get rejected.  At least I have talked to someone from NPR which really doesn't make me feel any better, but let a smile be your umbrella in soggy Yellowstone Park.

Now about that contest I'm having.  Two people.  TWO PEOPLE have responded.  I have no problem dividing the poo and the bookmark between them, but doesn't anyone else want a chance to win these valuable prizes?  Don't even worry about explaining why you want the poo ornament.  Just post a comment saying you want the damn thing. 

Gotta slosh to lunch, so Judy here in Yellowstone Park aka Water World, signing off.

Contest time in Yellowstone Park: Poo for You

Surprise, surprise!  It rained again today in Yellowstone Park.

I went for a walk around the Old Faithful Geyser Basin in between downpours. 

I noticed that there were some new trees down.

It would seem that the roots are very shallow as there isn't any real dirt here, just obsidian.  The wind blows, the ground is wet and thar she goes.

I know how these trees feel.  My roots are pretty shallow and damp at the moment.

No one warned me that May in Yellowstone is Winter, June is Spring and about the time I leave, Summer arrives. 

I did manage to see a few more geysers...











This is Grotto Geyser...

This is the Morning Glory Pool.

There is a sad story here.

The colors are fading because people are throwing items into it.

The pool is at the end of a path and not many people walk far enough to see it.

I guess that gives them the idea that throwing coins or rocks into it is acceptable. 

Sigh.  Humans are disgusting creatures at times.



Since I couldn't dig up much trouble today, I decided it was time to run my contest for the bison poo Christmas ornament.

Do I sense some excitement?

Let me read you the description on the back.  Ahem.

"Buffalo Poop Holiday Ornament"
This ornament is molded with real buffalo dung paper pulp, hand-decorated with two authentic "Jingle-Berries"and adorned with yarn made from real bison hair.  The defecation decoration.

Want to visit the web site?  www.dunganddunger.com

Isn't that adorable?  Dung and dunger.  Wish I had thought of that.

There is a runner-up prize.

A magnetic book mark with Old Faithful on it.

I'm sure you all want the ornament, but someone has to be a runner-up.


Here's the deal.  In the comments section, tell me why you deserve the buffalo poop ornament and reassure me that it will have a valued spot on your tree.

After I pick the grand prize winner, the rest of your names will go in a hat and I will draw for the book mark.

You have until Wednesday midnight to convince me that this ornament will go to a good home.

And nut lady...you know who you are...you don't have to enter cause I'm bringing you one anyway.

Let me know you're out there.  I know you're reading even if you don't comment.  I have telepathic powers. And I do want to hear from you.  It gets lonely here in the wilderness.

Time to wring out my clothes and brush the mildew off my shoes.  Ta ta for now.

Blue Skies in Yellowstone Park

It was a glorious day in Yellowstone Park!

Did you hear me out there?  It was a glorious day!

Look at those skies over this geyser and don't pin me down on it's name.  There are only about a zillion of them here.

My friend, Ken, came down from Mammoth Hot Springs and brought blue skies with him.

It didn't rain and I got out of the prison dorm for the day.

"I'm walking on sunshine....whooo oooo....I'm walking on sunshine..."  I hope some of you know that song cause if you don't I'm going to have to record my rendition of it and it won't be pretty.

My spirits were in fine form today.  It's amazing what some decent weather can do for a shut-in.

Look!  There are little yellow flowers growing by the hot springs.

I love little flowers.

I'll try to stop using exclamation points for a while.

See.....more of those yellow flowers right beside the bubbling water.

We stopped at the Grand Prismatic.

I've been there a couple of times, but it was particularly colorful today.

My goal is to take the hike up the hill beside this and get a view from the top.

There will be a great deal of panting and puffing, but it should be worth it.

This is a close up of the microbial mat at the Grand Prismatic.

Don't expect me to explain what a microbial mat is or my head will explode.  Not a pretty sight.

But what do you see in the mat?  Could those be bison tracks?

It looks liquidy and gooey, yet there are tracks in it.  Can bison levitate just a bit?

One more picture before we move on.


The next mission of the day was to go back to Old Faithful and pick up my co-worker, Judith, and drop her off in West Yellowstone.

She was picking up a rental car for a few days.

Her news made me even happier.  The computers went down all over Yellowstone.  My front desk friends were checking people in by ESP and paper and pencil.
Here's the happy dance part.  I wasn't working.  It didn't happen on my watch.  It was my lucky day.  One more verse of  "I'm walking on sunshine....whooo oooo..."

The three of us made a bee line for West Yellowstone and a good meal.  We dined on tuna salad sandwiches that were scrumptidelicious.  That may not sound like much to you, but you have no idea how deprived we are for something other than mystery meat and frozen vegetables.

We stopped in to chat with David at Yellowstone Traders. 

This rainbow was right over his store which I take as a sign of good luck for him.

His hot dog stand is opening next week and will be on the left of the parking lot in furious competition with the taco bus.

I plan to return for a hot dog with the works.

Ken and I topped off the day with Huckleberry Hound and Old Faithful ice cream sundaes.

So much for the Yellowstone Park diet.

I will pay for my sins tomorrow by walking at least 3 hours...in the rain if I must.

One more shot of the rainbow on my drive back.

My poor little camera just couldn't capture its beauty.  It was the most vibrant one I have ever seen.

Today was so brilliant (I keep forgetting to use that word) that I could stay here until October.

While I was floating on my little Yellowstone cloud, I started to think about the friends I have made here and the blue skies and the darling bison and West Yellowstone and I started to tear up just a little and....

Then I thought about 5 more months sharing a room with the jack hammer, eating the dining room food, worrying about my poor broken tooth and working 40 hours a week for minimum wage.

Sigh.  Hubby needs me, just a wee bit, and perhaps I need him, just a wee bit.

The adventure isn't over yet, dear friends, so stay tuned for more.

Yellowstone Ark Park

Yellowstone Park is now officially Yellowstone Ark.

This is the new lake that has formed in front of Old Faithful. 

What if it grows and grows and eventually puts out Old Faithful like a birthday candle?

I know it couldn't happen, but I like to fantasize.

Would it still be the Old Faithful Inn?

Would they just build a replica and pump the water out the top like an oil rig? 

Maybe they could have it go off every half an hour instead of every 90 minutes.  The tourists would love the predictability and more time options.

And they could put lights around it...maybe do a light show.  The guests have asked if it is lighted at night.

It's not looking like clear skies any time soon.

The guests always want to know what the weather forecast is for Yellowstone.

It's like giving one forecast for the entire state of California.

It may be snowing at Grant Village.  The sun may be out in Mammoth.  But, for now, it is raining every day at Old Faithful. 

Even the bison are looking water logged.

My lonely path to work.

Just me and the bison lurking in the trees.

This is the roof of the Old Faithful Inn.

Guests can climb up there with the bell staff in the morning to raise the flags.

You have to make a reservation with them weeks or months in advance.

Not so sure I am interested.

This place is over a hundred years old.  Those stairs look like the original.

I still got nothin' new folks.  I am going to do my best to find out some dirt about this place before I go.  I can tell you now that the Inn has some interesting wildlife inside the building.

Some rooms have complimentary mice.  You can't get that everywhere.

I have Saturday and Sunday off....my how the week just flew by.  I'm going to have some kind of adventure.  I swear.  And I do that often, so you have to believe me.

Until tomorrow, remember, you will never be homeless.  There will always be a job for you at Yellowstone Park.

Oops.  Almost forgot that one of my readers sent me a link that will give you more information about the new Yellowstone Quarter.  Here it is http://americathebeautifulquarters.gov/.  Thanks GaryO.  By the way, I did get quarters today.  They squirreled a few away for the employees.  I know you were all worried.

Yellowstone Quarter Day

I got nuthin' again today, friends.  Yellowstone Park is not cooperating with my schedule. 

But wait!

I found a pile of bison poo with a pen stuck in it.

Someone who thinks like me must have passed by.

And we  will never meet.

Sigh.

It continues to rain and I continue to work.

Because of the rain, the Yellowstone quarter ceremony was held in the employee recreation building, and I missed it all.

But I didn't miss the honor of telling 4,352 people where the ceremony was being held.

Bleah!

Those greedy, eBay fanatics, future Hoarders stars, swarmed all over the place and lugged baskets of the quarters home with them.

I could care less than less, but my friend Ken entrusted me with $10 to get him some quarters and the hubby wanted a roll and bleah again.

Rumor has it that employees can buy some tomorrow, but I work at 6:15 a.m.  I will give it the good old Yellowstone try.

Made a disturbing discovery today. 

If you are a woman over 50, you might want to skip this part.

Young people can't tell us apart. 

Really.  Cross my heart bra, really.

I work with Rose at the front desk of the Old Faithful Inn.  She's petite, perky, blond, cute, and has a killer Tennessee twang.  I am NOT petite, NOT perky, NOT blond and definitely don't have a southern accent. 

I left out cute.  I'm not that either.

But the young guests think we're the same person.

Another case in point.  Always wanted to use that phrase.  What does it really mean, anyway?

Going through the cafeteria line tonight, one of the young servers looked at me, and said "Debbie!" 

Sadly, I knew who she meant.  At least Debbie is my height, wears glasses and could sort of kinda look like me. 

We are gradually fading into the background.

We are the Cheshire Cat's smile. 

Just another senior citizen tottering down the highway of life.

Stop me now.

Might as well pack it up for now.  Roomy had a screaming night terror again last night.  Maybe that's it for another few days.  Pray for me.

My nerves are shot. 

There are deep pools here....a person could slip....

The News From West Yellowstone

 It's Wednesday in Yellowstone Park.  That's the news for the day.

I'm stuck, again, in my room, with roomy.

It's only 4:30.

It's drizzling and gloomy.  

This will start soon.

I'd probably use a pillow, not a club, on her.







All I can do is read to you from the West Yellowstone News and hope it amuses you for a few minutes.

The front page story is about a mama grizzly and her four cups.

You can't see much here, but being far away from a mama grizzly is a good thing.













Now that we have the important story out of the way, let's turn to the West Yellowstone police reports.
I am copying these word for word.  I am not taking any creative license here.

I can't help myself.  I gotta add my comments in parentheses. 

*  A caller could not locate their welfare check.  (Look under the empty Moose Drool cans.)
*  Five 800 mg ibuprofen tablets were found.  (Call the guy who lost the welfare check.)
*  Children were not allowed recess at school until the bison in the parking lot was gone.  (The bison ate my
    homework?)
*  A male in his late 70's was reported overdue, getting back late to the hotel.  (Bison in the way?)
*  A big bull bison was reported strolling down Madison Ave.  (He was looking for the male in his late 70's.)
*  A caller reported being bit by a brown weenie dog.  The owner of the dog was located and cited.
    (Only a weenie would report this.)
*  A bison was seen at Hwy 20 and Firehole Ave. headed towards the alley.  (Do bison make drug deals?)
*  The same bison was seen attempting to jump over a fence at the car wash to get to the highway.
    (Pole vaulting?  Bison Olympics?)
*  Dispatch received a call concerning three individuals engaged in disorderly conduct.  They took their      
    fighting outside.  (It's alright to fight outside?)

 You have to love a town that has this kind of news.

The police are armed with nerf guns and water pistols.  Oh, alright, I mean no offense.  I'm sure there is some serious crime in West Yellowstone. Sheriff  Barney Fife and his crew keep things in order.  Sorry again.  I'd better stop now before I hurt anyone's feelings.  Too late?

Let's hope for good weather tomorrow.  The new Montana quarter is coming out and the ceremony is to be held in front of the Old Faithful Inn.  Until then....Judy here reporting the news fit to report from Yellowstone Park.

Lightning Strikes in Yellowstone Park

Yellowstone Park threw in some new weather today.  I had forgotten about hail, but Mother Nature didn't. 

O.K., the hail wasn't this big.

It did pile up, though, in a very short period of time.

The lights dimmed briefly at the Old Faithful Inn, where I was bored out of my mind cheerfully waiting on customers.

We heard later that a guest was walking around the Old Faithful geyser basin and was struck by lightning.  Several people around him felt the effects also. 

There were ambulances and a care flight and I missed it all.

You know that I'm afraid of bears.  Now I'm afraid of lightning.  Worse case scenario...I'm being chased by a bear when a storm blows in and lightning is all around me.  Unless the bear is standing up, ready to attack, and the lightning gets him first, I'm seeing a double calamity.  Death by bear and electrocution. 

Other than the weather drama, it was just another working day at Old Faithful.  I worked the 9:30 to 6:00 shift today. 

You might be thinking that this is really a wonderful job, and I just don't know when I have it off well.  "Off well" is a phrase hubby used one night when he was half asleep and thought he was being profound.  He meant to huffily retort that I didn't know when I had it so well off, and he came out with "off well," and I guess you had to be there.

Let me show you just a small slice of my day.  I get my 35 minute lunch break and stand the rest of the shift.  I have ankles the size of watermelons now.  Here's my trip to lunch.

This is a horrible picture, but somehow reflects the cheer of the Old Faithful Inn.

I walk down this dark dreary hall, where there are guest rooms, by the way.  They should have braille numbers on the doors cause you sure can't see your hand in front of your face.

Or the mice.

Then, I gingerly walk down these steps.

They are much darker than this.

You can see the bottom of the steps in the background.

I walk through some kind of housekeeping area or secret torture chamber rented by the CIA.

I walk out the door to this.

Guest rooms look out on this also.

What charm, what ambiance...what a pile of mud!

I tiptoe through the mud puddles to the entrance of the employee dining room.

Charming so far?

It always looks better in my pictures, but the dining room is trashed.

The really elegant part is the dish area where everyone stacks their trays and dumps their food scraps.

You should thank me that I didn't take any close ups.

Just imagine all of the leftover food dumped into one trash can. 

This is part of the Yellowstone Park weight loss program.  Go in there first before you eat, gag, and run for fresh air.

Just wanted to share in case you were jealous.

It's 8:30 p.m. now, I'm in my cell dorm, roomy is snoring and snorting away, and I have to work at 6:15 in the morning.  What's not to love about this? 

I'm thinking a lot about the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption."  If I start digging a hole now in the wall of my dorm, I could possible escape in a month or two.  Oh that's right!  Hubby is coming to take me away!

Until tomorrow, Judy reporting from Yellowstone Park.