First Day at New Location

Our first day at our new work location - Visitor Center at the Elk Refuge in Jackson - was a successful day. We met all the staff and learned about the differences from where we left at the Moose Visitor Center. It will be a smooth transition. There are some new responsibilities, such as selling fishing licenses, wood permits, and other permits, and raising the flag in the am, and lowering it in the evening. It should be a much less stressful environment for us.

We are still suffering from the effects of all the local wildfires, as this shot of our drive to work in the morning reveals:

Lots of haze.

Following work at 5:30 PM, we returned to The Lift again for Josie's birthday dinner. This time, we each had the salmon dinner and it was excellent. We started the meal with a couple nice birthday drinks:

Mine was the wine on left, and Josie experimented with a huckleberry and mint with vodka combination. We had the usual birthday dessert and decided to walk off some of our meal by going to the Fair down the street. We didn't stay long, and the skies were growing ugly from a storm that was approaching. We got this shot of the rainbow:

While driving home, we got a couple more shots of the mountains with the stormy weather approaching from the west:

We are off and running at our new location, and have 8 more weeks to go before ending another season in Jackson...

Grilling and Hanging Out

Our final day off before starting work at our new location was a stay home day - except for a short trip into town to look at soldering/welding solutions. We went to the ACE Hardware store where a salesman pointed me to a new product that eliminated the need for soldering or welding. It is called Bondit, and it is more like a super glue than anything else. The stained glass window didn't really need an expensive solution. Here is a shot of the window on our RV before the repair:

I took out the window and used the new product to put it together and reinstalled the window:

Good as new!

We stayed around the RV as Josie did some laundry and I took out the grill. We had a small BBQ with some corn we bought at the store and some naked beans to go along with our burgers:

It was kind of nice, and we enjoyed our last day of our weekend.

Today is memorable for a couple things. First, it will be the beginning of our working at the new location at the Visitor Center located in Jackson near the National Elk Refuge, and, secondly, it is Josie's birthday. Happy birthday to my wonderful wife...

Teton Fair Results

We made a trip to the Exhibit Hall at the Teton County Fair pretty early to discover the judging results. My entry - Indian Maiden - won the Best in Division title to maintain my streak of 4 years winning that title. I did not, however, win Best in Show this year as somebody beat me out of that title with a pillow, of all things, that was beautifully sewn. This is the shot of my entry:

We went from the Fair to The Lift restaurant to make a reservation for dinner with our friends and then went to Smith's for some groceries.

Our dinner with Ed and Eileen was scheduled at 5 PM and they came to pick us up at 4 PM. We parked at The Lift and walked two blocks to the Exhibit Hall at the Fair again as they wanted to see my entry and how it fared in the judging.

Our dinner was excellent, and we drove around the area surrounding our campground looking for some Bison. We found a herd, but it was off in the distance. Overall, it was a fun day. Oh, I also dropped off my hearing aid to be sent off to the factory and the Audiologist said that the "rush" notice that they will place on the device should ensure that I get it back in about one week. I sure hope so...

Great News

Our meeting with the Director of Operations this week has paid dividends. She was able to put together a transfer for us from the Moose Visitor Center to the Visitor Center where we have wanted to work in Jackson on the edge of the Elk Refuge. We will begin working there on Saturday, following our days off today and tomorrow. It will be a smooth transition and the work is basically identical to what we have been doing, with much less stress, which was our goal. That also means that we can cease all attempts to find another job in a different area (Malibu Beach Resort) and we can remain in our campground for the remainder of the season. We are hoping that it turns out to be a good move for us.

We are having dinner tonight with the couple that left last week for basically the same reasons - high amount of stress and working with a terrible manager. They will pick us up at 4 PM today, and we will first stop at the Fair to see the exhibits and then go to dinner at The Lift in Jackson. Hopefully, Josie and I will already know how my cross stitch fared as we plan to stop by during the day while we are in town for other chores. It should be a fun day.

The other piece of good news is that I converted to Windows 10 on my computer. I started the upgrade before going to bed to load during the night while asleep, and this morning - Wa-La! - it was installed. So far, I have had no major problems accessing any of my applications - including the blog - and all seems to be working fine. That is a huge relief.

Part of our action items today includes dropping off my problem hearing aid at the Audiologist for repair at the factory. I will attempt to arrange for a quick turnaround. That could be a challenge...

Management Meeting

Our initial interview at the Grand Teton Association was with a manager that was promoted to Director of Operations shortly after we started working here in May. All of the Visitor Center managers and supervisors report to her. We had sent her an email last week outlining concerns and problems that we were trying to work through at our location, and she scheduled a meeting with Josie and I for yesterday. The meeting went well, and she understood the situation we were facing at our location, and she - along with the Sales Manager for all of the Visitors Centers - are going to try to figure out a solution for us in order to keep us here for the remainder of the season. Worse case, they understand and agree, that if no acceptable solution can be found, that we could leave the area and still have an open door for returning next year. If an acceptable transfer can be worked out, we will stay. Otherwise, we will continue to pursue the option of going to Malibu Beach RV Resort within the next week or so. It should be interesting.

Following work yesterday, we went to the Fair Exhibit Hall and dropped off my cross stitch entry for this year. The judging will take place today. We have scheduled a dinner for Thursday with the couple that just left our work. They also could not accept working for the current manager at our Visitor Center so they gave notice and will just stay in the area to enjoy some hiking and rest before heading back to their home in Florida. Our dinner will be on Thursday, and we will stop by the Fair on the way to view the exhibits and see how my entry fared this year.

Our final day of work this week is today. It may also be one of the final days we will be working at this location. We will hear about potential changes by the end of this week, so things are really heating up. When we started this adventure, we agreed we would not stay anywhere where there was stress being felt at our work, so we are attempting to remove it at this point.

I'll end today's entry with a view of "our" mountains as they appeared yesterday after work:

Decisions to Make

There is so much happening right now regarding our work. We have pursued a couple options outside of our present job to see if they might be a better situation for us. One job - in Cooke City, MT - was eliminated as there were no cell services available in the entire area. The second one is being pursued as a viable option - Malibu Beach RV Resort - and we are still talking with them as a real possibility. There are lots of good features about it, but less money.

We have a meeting with our operations manager today to discuss possible transfers within the Grand Teton Association. That is another option we are looking at. The problem with that is there really is only one location that we would want to switch to from our present location. There are different problems with that location. Anyway, it appears that we have a choice of sticking it out where we are for the remainder of the summer, or leave and go to Malibu, CA. It is a tough decision.

The wildfires are under control in our area even though there is still some lingering haze. Hopefully, it will all go away soon.

One of the tasks for today is to take my cross stitch entry to the Teton County Fair after work. It is that time of the year, and I hope to defend my title that I've had for three years now. It is always fun to participate in that environment. I will know if I won again by this time next week...

Uneventful Day

It was a go to work, come home, watch a little TV and go to bed day. It has become a predictable and boring schedule with the times we have on our work days. We really miss the schedule we had at the Lodge where we had half days, every work day, to do things. We are also not enjoying the folks we work with as much. If only the Lodge hadn't gone through a major transformation with management.

We are close to making some decisions about our job. We did not sign up for the conditions we have now, and we will do something about it as we are "retired" and want to fully enjoy our working relationships. The whole idea is to have as little stress as possible with our jobs and, if we get stress, we will work hard to eliminate it. Hang on for some potential changes...

Working Through Issues

It's a shame that work has to interfere with resolving everyday issues. We have very little time to work through issues that involve contact with other businesses or making appointments. I have to try to coordinate the repair of my hearing aid with virtually no free time to coincide with the Audiologist's business hours. The problem now is that they do not open until 9 AM tomorrow, and I start work at 8:45. I feel guilty requesting more time off to take care of things, but I have no choice. I can't work without both hearing aids, so the options are nil.

We work the weekends with a late starting time of 10:45 AM and a quitting time of 7:15 PM which offers no flexibility for anything else. The schedule has been the culprit here since we started, so we are seriously looking at other options, including changing jobs. I have received some favorable inquiries regarding jobs in other areas, so we may just look more seriously at those. It would be difficult to change at this stage of the summer, but sometimes you have to do what is best for your sanity and well being. We'll see how far this goes...

Audiologist Issues

We took my problem hearing aid to the Audiologist office yesterday morning hoping to send it off for repair that always had taken one week turnaround time. I informed them that I wasn't going to spend the $700+ to insure my hearing aids, but I would be spending the $250 to send this one back to the factory for repair. They informed me that it would take 2-3 weeks before receiving it back from the factory. Wow. I don't understand what happened to the relatively quick turnaround time I have always gotten. The desk clerk said they might be able to put a rush on the repair which would cost more money. I left the office and told them I needed to check other options and would call them on Monday.

There really are no other options but to pay whatever the charge may be for the faster service. I mentioned to Josie that all electronics - TV's, computer equipment, etc. - have come down dramatically in price with newer technology, but hearing aids keep rising in cost along with the associated services. That is a travesty for seniors who are least able to afford them, and are the primary users of the devices. Enough on that subject.

We stopped in town following the Audiology visit and had a cheese steak for lunch at one of our favorite locations - the New York Sub Shop. It was very good, but not up to the quality we had come to expect at this steak shop. We suspect that the ownership has changed.

It's back to work today at 10:45 to begin another work week. The two days off just go by too quickly...

Winding Down at Home

We didn't go anywhere yesterday. It was a day of cleaning and organizing around the RV and a day of more prep for my upgrade to Windows 10. I acquired a backup software package that was highly recommended by Laptop Magazine. I have backup software that is part of my Seagate hard drive, but I don't trust it. It s too late if I have problems with the upgrade and I can't go back to windows 7 with all my data and original settings. Anyway, I'm still trying to get up the nerve to actually do the upgrade. I am getting closer.

I will take my hearing aid to the Audiologist this morning to have sent back to the factory. I decided it would be better to go that route than to pay a high amount of money to insure both hearing aids. I am frustrated over having these annual problems with one or the other hearing aid. They weren't even made in China!

We are bummed that we only have today remaining before heading back to work tomorrow. We are still looking at options to address that feeling..

More Power Problems

We were shocked when we arrived at work yesterday and discovered that there was no power in the Visitor Center. There was no explanation for that except that it was still part of the power outage from the day before when the big generator blew out in Idaho Falls. We had all gotten our power back the night before at the campground.

The impact of the power outage on business at the store was that all transactions had to be done manually. It lasted almost until noon before power was restored. It was an intense, busy, and very difficult day. Fortunately, it was our Friday, and when 4:15 PM rolled around, we were out of there and on our way to enjoying our weekend.

The smoke was still around from the local fires which were still burning and spreading. This shot is of the mountains as seen on our drive to work:

So far, the smoke has cleared out by the afternoon, but we hope the fires are extinguished soon so that the air can totally clear.

Our first day off today will be utilized to clean up around the RV. There are some areas that need to be reorganized, so today is the day. At the same time, we will be relaxing and enjoying time away from the sweat shop...

Power Outage

I (we) left work a half hour early yesterday so that I could discuss options with my Audiologist in Jackson. She indicated that the hearing aid was working fine all day but she indicated that she could still send it in for repairs at the factory, if I wanted to have it completely serviced. Of course, it should be under warranty for that to happen so that the cost would be reasonable. There is never any reasonable cost associated with hearing aids - any part of them - buying, using, servicing and insuring. I decided to try it for a day to see if it works OK before insuring it and sending it off.

While in the Audiologist office, we lost power in downtown Jackson. That ended our meeting, and we headed home. We stopped at the DQ on the way out of town and we lost power there while eating our ice cream. The next stop was home and, you guessed it - we had no power when we arrived home. The story we got was that a transformer blew up in Idaho Falls and power was lost between all of the Jackson area and Pocatello, ID. We sat outside until the power was restored at around 8 PM. Here are a couple shots taken outside:

The fire is still raging about 20 miles south of us. There are some nice areas that have been damaged and the road is closed to the area. It's a shame that some beautiful areas will take years to recover.

Our week ends today at 4:15 PM when we leave for our weekend. It looks like a stay-home weekend as we have chores to do around the RV...

First Fire of Season

It seems like every summer that we have been in Wyoming we get at least one forest fire to cast a haze over the area. This year's fire came early, as we have one about 20 miles from our location. There was so much smoke/haze in the area that we could barely see the mountains on our way to work. The wind changed direction in the afternoon, and by the time we got off work at 5:15, it had mostly cleared out. The news we had before leaving work was that the fire had grown during the day, but it doesn't look like we will get any smoke with the current wind direction. We do know that the area of the fire is one we like to visit - the Granite Hot Springs area - where the scenery is beautiful. Below is a shot of the fire in the distance as we traveled home:

I dropped Josie off at work yesterday AM and I took my hearing aid into town to have it rechecked and serviced once again before going to work myself. It only worked for a short time on Thursday last week, and this was the first opportunity to take it back. I hope they can fix it without having to send it away for about a week. I really miss it already.

The final word of the day is a not too happy one, as Mark's father passed away yesterday. He was suffering from a  long illness, but our thoughts and prayers are with Mark and his family at this difficult time...

Short Week

Our work week is only four days this week as a result of our swap last week. The eleven day work marathon over the last two weeks resulted in the change. It was tough going through the long stretch, but it evens out in the end. Anyway, we will be back on our normal schedule beginning this Saturday.

I am still having the problem with my one hearing aid, so I will drop Josie off at work this morning and take the hearing aid back to the Audiologist by 9 AM. I wish there were hearing aids that were made that can go longer than about six months without problems. I do all of the maintenance and cleaning that is recommended, so I don't know what else to do to prevent these occasions when I need to make visits to Audiologists for fixes.

We are now in the busiest time of the year and for the next six to eight weeks we will extremely busy at work. There will be a replacement couple for the one that gave notice nearly two weeks ago, so we are hoping that they work out. They are a couple that is transferring from a store in Yellowstone, so they should transition with little problem, although that is a different Association with different rules. The main thing is, they should be experienced with the main functions.

One thing that is always a constant here is the nice summer weather. We will get highs in the low 80's while we watch Phoenix suffering with 110+ every day. Also, the occasional rain we get is nothing like the vicious Monsoon storms that AZ gets each summer, so we are thankful for that...

End of Long Weekend

Our long awaited three day weekend is now ended. We really enjoyed the time as we included a terrific trip to Yellowstone in between two days of good relaxation around home. We did some more minor repairs around the RV and Josie did some laundry yesterday to keep up with that chore. By doing laundry often, it makes for smaller loads and quicker endings to the task. We also went into town to check out Produce at a couple other grocery stores as we have recently been disappointed with the Produce at our regular store - Smiths. We only go to Smiths to get the fuel points which give us a discount at the gas pump.

I also watched some of the British Open golf tournament and I'm excited to see Phil Mickelson playing so well. It should be a great ending to this tournament today which I will have to tape. He and Henrik Stenson of Sweden are far ahead of the rest of the field, so it should be a contest between those two for the rest of the way.

Our first day back to work today is a late start - 10:45 AM- so it also means a late ending to the day at 7:15 PM. The good news is that we only work four days before getting our normal two day weekend beginning Thursday. It is still a grind, but we feel like we can make it to the end of our commitment in September...

Wildlife Bonanza

We left right at 9 AM yesterday for our trip to Yellowstone. It was a wildlife bonanza as we have not seen as much wildlife in one day for as long as we can remember. It took forever to download the photos for this post which is why it is appearing so late. The day was spectacular and was clear and warm. Starting out with this shot of the Tetons taken on the road north to Yellowstone:

And this shot of the mountains looking over Jackson Lake while traveling north:

We didn't make it into Yellowstone before we spotted Bison herds in the distance and this cow Moose with her calf that were browsing in a lily pond on the side of the road:

It was a huge day for spotting elk. The first one we saw was a cow elk that was just walking across the road as we were driving north through the park:

Not long after that, we spotted this big bull just browsing along the side of the road:

He was still in velvet. We spotted a couple more elk, the largest of which is below who was just resting in the shade under a large tree:

 

 

There were bison herds all over. The first one was seen before we entered Yellowstone on the north side of the Teton National Park. That herd was seen close up on the way home which you can see later on below. There were several herds within Yellowstone one of which was close to the road and we got some close-up shots:

 

 

This one was REAL close:

 

 

 

We stopped for our lunch break along a gravel road that was in the Lamar Valley portion of Yellowstone. It was a quiet location with no traffic and we just sat along the side of the road and had our lunch:

 

 

There were more elk and bison on the way out of Yellowstone, but this one herd below that we spotted at a distance on the way north, was close to the road by the time we arrived there on the way home:

 

 



so close, in fact, that they started across the highway and held up traffic for quite awhile:

 

 

We made it home by 6 PM and had a wonderful day in Yellowstone. The wildlife experiences were excellent, and were a testament of the many opportunities that are presented in any Yellowstone visit. It did not disappoint.

 

Our final day of the three day weekend today will be spent locally. We have some things we want to do in town, so we expect to finish off the weekend with a low-key day that will get us ready to go back to work tomorrow...



First of Three Days

Well, I went to the Audiologist first thing in the morning (9AM) yesterday to get my hearing aid checked. I had to leave it as they do their cleaning and hearing aid checks between 10 and 11 AM. I went home to wait for their call. The call came at about 11:15 AM to tell me the hearing aid was ready for pickup. That was good news as there was also a possibility that they would have to send it to the factory for repair. It cost $20 for the cleaning which was a bargain in my mind.

Our schedule was already interrupted for our three day break from work. We did our local stuff that we had planned to do on our third day - I fixed a couple broken items around the RV and Josie prepared a stew for the crock pot. In all, we had a pretty relaxing day.

Our plan for today is to take our trip to Yellowstone. We expect to spend the entire day there, with emphasis on the Lamar Valley which we haven't seen in several years. That is actually the northeastern exit/entrance to the park and is the one where most of the wildlife is seen during the season. It will be a full day and Josie is now preparing our "eats" for the day as we plan to stop for a picnic sometime along the way. Hopefully, we'll have some good shots from the day...

Working with One Ear

Wouldn't you know, the final day of work before enjoying our three day weekend, that I would have a hearing aid issue. When I got up yesterday AM, my left hearing aid wasn't working. I quickly tried removing wax from the ear which usually causes the problem about every five or six months. It still didn't work. The entire day at work was spent with just one effective ear which made communications very difficult - especially in the noisy environment where we work each day. It was a long day, to say the least.

The hearing aid problem has impacted our planned schedule for our three days. I have to go to the Audiologist this morning to have the hearing aid fixed, so Josie will use that time to do laundry and prepare a stew in the crock pot which she was going to do sometime over our weekend anyway. What it means is that our "hanging out" day will probably be today instead of Saturday. We still plan to spend one day in Yellowstone, and another day driving to one of the nice areas where we haven't been for several years.

It is really nice knowing that we have this three day rest from work. If only we could somehow get our schedule changed to 4 days every week, it would be fantastic...

Beauty Returns

The storm that hid the mountains for almost two days is gone. The clear, crisp views of the mountains have returned and the forecast is for clear weather over the next 7 days. This is the view yesterday AM on our way to work:

And this was the view from our work location:

It looked like the Grand Teton (highest of the peaks) is having a volcanic eruption. It was the only cloud in the sky coming off the top. It was very obvious that the mountains received a new layer of snow.

The fact that snow can fall and accumulate any day of the year was proven with this storm that occurred in the middle of July.

One of the couples at work - the one that is experiencing their very first workamping experience - gave notice on Monday that they were leaving. It is tough work, and is a job that can turn any workamping couple against the lifestyle. For us, the experience at Amazon.com was the real test.

Our final day of work before our three day weekend is today - finally. After 11 days of working with only a single day off in the middle is coming to a close. We plan to do some driving to a couple familiar areas along with just relaxing one of the days. We are looking forward to 4:15 PM today...

Clearing Out

Almost the entire day yesterday was spent with clouds enveloping the beautiful Tetons. We felt sorry for all the people that came to town for one day and never saw the mountains in all their glory. Many of them came for the very first time in their lives, and most of those will never get another opportunity to see them. They will have to use their imagination and just be satisfied with photos of how the mountains really appear. It is always a roll of the dice when you visit for such a short time. We are blessed to get almost daily views of these fantastic mountains. It appears now that the bad weather is clearing out and we will return to sunny, blue skies again today.

Today and tomorrow will wrap up our marathon work schedule. We start today at 7:45 AM which means an early day getting off at 4:15 this afternoon. We are still trying to put together a schedule for our three days off, but we are getting close. Instead of going to Cody and to Riverton during our time off, we are leaning toward a day trip to Yellowstone, followed by a drive up one of our favorite roads locally, followed by a third day of just hanging out. We are both just too tired to schedule a lot of travel. I have also considered using the time to upgrade my computer to Windows 10, but I don't want to get too carried away with using our free time. That could create more tension and frustration which would be bad for utilizing the off days. Just knowing that we are only two work days away from our long weekend is satisfying...

Stormy Day

We didn't leave for work until 10:15 yesterday AM and just before we left we had a huge storm. The rains were heavy and they were preceded by some heavy hail. This was the scene outside our rig as we got ready to leave:

The entire day was stormy off and on, and there were times when the cloud cover completely hid the mountains. We felt sorry for the folks who were only in town for a day and didn't get any good views of these spectacular mountains. It's the luck of the draw, I guess.

The storms were present most of the day, and by the time we left work at 7:15, there was a brief clearing and we could finally see the mountains again:

The forecast is for more rain today, but clearing by tonight.

Our day begins at 8:45 AM today, and we have three more days this week before our scheduled three day weekend. We are still trying to put together a schedule for our off days, so we hope to have some news on that by tomorrow...

Early Fair

We received the brochure for this year's Teton County Fair which is being held very early this year - July 22-31. In the five years that we have been coming here, I can't remember any year that the Fair was held in July. I have an entry for the needlework competition, but it is one of the pieces I did several years ago. It will be due for the show on July 26, between 11 AM and 6 PM. I will have to make some arrangement at work to get the time off to submit the entry as our schedule doesn't leave any time to do these things during the day. I will work it out.

There was another gathering over the campfire last night at the same couples' site (Bill & Mary) that held the first one. We didn't go as we didn't get off work until 7:15 and went into town to get some items at the store. As we stopped and had a burger at DQ for dinner, we didn't get home until after 9 PM - too late to go anywhere. We'll go to the next one.

There is one day down and 4 to go before our three day weekend. I know we can make it...

A Full Day

Following a leisurely morning, we got in the truck and drove over the Teton Pass into Idaho. Our goal was to pick up some lottery tickets - some of which aren't sold in WY yet - and to price propane, if available, to refill one of our tanks. We also drove to Driggs to visit the nice nursery that is just outside of town. It is a first class nursery, and Josie wanted to find out about their floral capabilities. They do have a flower section where floral arrangements are made, but it is mostly a first class nursery. Below are a couple shots of the business:

Following the visit to the nursery, we went into downtown Driggs and stopped at a natural foods store to pick up some lemongrass tea for Josie and we spotted a Farmers Market in progress. We stopped for a short while, and took this shot of the local event:

Driggs is a very nice, small town that offers reasonable properties with some nice views of the backside of the Tetons. For being only about 35 miles from Jackson, it offers a nice option for the future.

We came back into Jackson where I filled the propane tank at our usual propane location and also took the truck through a car wash. Of course, they never get the job done right, so I ended up finishing the job at home while Josie did laundry.

We made the most of our single day off this week, so it's back to work today at 10:45, and we will work until 7:15 PM. Ugh!

Bison Arrive

Our final, and sixth day of the work week was yesterday and we were happy to see the week end. Of course, we only have today off before going back to work tomorrow for five more days. Anyway, we enjoyed the view, as usual, from our break area on the clear and warm day:

It was decided that we would probably not agree to do this kind of swap for work days again in the future. It will be nice to get the three days off next week, but it is a killer leading up to the reward.

The exciting news from yesterday was that, on our ride home following work, we discovered that the bison have returned to the area - in big numbers. This shot was taken close to our campground on the way home:

There was actually a second herd about 500 yards up the road from this one. It just isn't normal to be without some bison in this area. Maybe, the lone bison we saw a few days ago was really the scout for the herd (ha). I'm sure that they are here now for the remainder of the summer season - until hunting season begins in September.

With only one day to relax, we will most likely spend today close to home and try to get some chores done...

Fifth Day Done

Our fifth work day of the week was a typical, non-stop, hard working day. We both decided that we would not do any more trading off of work days with anybody as the week is long enough without adding an extra day - today - to accommodate somebody else. The bad part is that we only have one day off - tomorrow - before working another five days without a break. Oh, well.

We made our arrangements for our visit to Patty's house in Chicago for the Fall. It will be in late October - the 15th until the 25th - and will include one of Austin's football games. The game will be on Saturday, October 22, and will be a home game against EMU (Eastern Michigan University). We are definitely looking forward to that game as it will most likely be the last game we see Austin play in his college football career. It will be nice to visit with Patty and her family, as always.

With the final work day of our week today, we are anxious to get it done and get a day's rest....

Bear in Campground

We started our day at work on time at 7:45 AM yesterday. The couple from our campground that started at 10:45 AM called at 10:20 to tell us that there was a black bear in the campground and they may be a little late to work. Their space happens to be a few spaces down from ours so the bear was darn close to our RV. The bear didn't stick around and ran through the sites at the campground to cross the river behind us. It was the first sighting of a bear in our campground.

Our "marathon" work week of six straight days continues with our fifth day today. Our normal weekend scheduled to begin tomorrow will be delayed until Friday. Since we traded the day tomorrow with another couple, we have to wait until next Thursday for our three day weekend. Josie and I have talked about maybe going to Glacier National Park on our long weekend next week instead of our originally planned trip to Cody. It is a place we have wanted to go and have never been, so we'll see if we can make that happen.

Otherwise, the day was pretty normal and we move on to today...

What Fourth of July

For the first time that we have been in Jackson for the Fourth of July, we did not attend the parade in town, nor did we see fireworks at night. Our schedule did not allow time for either of those activities. We did, however, receive time-and-a-half pay for the day we worked. The crowds that we had during the day in the store would indicate that it was a normal day like any other.

We had a one hour lunch yesterday as we had to go into Jackson to the Pharmacy to pick up a prescription for Josie. As a result of the holiday weekend and our work schedule, the only time we could do that during Pharmacy hours was to take time from work. It is just another reminder that our schedule doesn't provide any time for some necessary activity.

Our manager brought in some sandwiches for the holiday as a treat for us. It was a nice gesture, and made it easy for us to grab something to eat in the car as we headed out to the Pharmacy. All in all, it was business as usual on the Fourth of July...

First Bison Sighting

We had been wondering what happened to all the bison that used to hang out near our campground. In years past, there have been entire herds of them roaming the area around our campground and we expected to see them again this year, but had not so far. Yesterday morning, on our way to work, the first one of the year appeared:

He was a giant and was traveling alone. Maybe he is the scout that was sent ahead to make sure the coast was clear for the rest of his family. We have never seen one traveling alone before.

Our marathon work week of six straight days before getting a day off continues today with our third day. So far, it isn't creating any problems for us. It may be tough by the time Friday rolls around, so we'll see.

It's time-and-a-half for today's effort, so bring it on....

Business Through the Roof

Our volume of business yesterday was nearly double last year's total for the same day. We did over $15K versus $8K one year ago. This fourth of July weekend - as most of the other days this year - will set new records for our location. While we were off this week, the Visitor Center did over $ 16K on Thursday. It's too bad that there isn't some kind of "bonus" arrangement that is provided to the employees.

Our late starting times on the first two days that we return from our weekend result in our getting home so late that there is no time for anything except a quick bite to eat, watch a little TV and go to bed. I still have to make some minor adjustments to my email conversion effort over the last few days. Now, I'm getting duplicate emails on the two systems - the old Live Mail system and the new Outlook system. I haven't yet had time to figure out how to eliminate the old system without impacting the new. I guess that's a problem I can live with until I get more time.

We are planning a trip for our three day weekend next week. We traded days with one of the couples we work with so that they could spend an extra day on their days off with some family that is coming to town. That gives us three days, and we are tentatively planning a trip to Cody to visit some friends and to see the town where we started working our first job in Wyoming back in 2010. It is also a beautiful drive from here to Cody, and south through Riverton on the way home. That gives us some nice thoughts to look forward to over the next couple of weeks...

Email Converted

Before getting into yesterday's activity, I wanted to show the photos of one of the beautiful fields that we saw on our trip to Idaho Falls:

It was spectacular, and we couldn't figure out what they were - they looked like weeds, but obviously, a farmer has some crop growing. As near as we can tell, it is Canola. It certainly was beautiful.

I spent nearly the entire day researching and performing the conversion of my Microsoft Live Mail 2011 to the latest version of Microsoft Outlook. In order to accomplish that, I signed up for a one year, free, subscription to Office 365 which includes the latest copy of Outlook. I should be good to go for the foreseeable future - at least with my email software. The response time was terrible on our hotspot from Verizon and it took forever for all the software to download and install.

Josie did laundry to keep up with that task while I was on the computer. It seemed like an off day that was kind of wasted, but we had to get those things done. Now, we have 5 days of working, followed by only one day off and then 6 days of working before seeing our 3 day weekend in two weeks. I hope we are "up" for this marathon working period...

Day in Idaho Falls

It was around 11 AM by the time we left for Idaho Falls. We both needed haircuts so we planned tour first stop at the Walmart to get those out of the way. The drive was again beautiful except for some thunderstorms we went through while going over the pass outside Jackson. We also saw some beautiful fields along the way, and we took some photos except that I spent all morning this morning trying, unsuccessfully, to download them from our new phones. For some reason, today they didn't want to download, so I will spend a good part of our day today trying to find out the best solution for that task. The fields reminded us of the Skagit Valley in WA during the Tulip Festival. So far, I am not totally happy with the new phones and I'm sure it is because we just don't yet know how to use them.

Following our "lousy" haircuts at Walmart, we made our trip to Sam's Club to pick up the items we had on our list. That job is done now for awhile. We again went through some thunderstorms on the way home, so I guess it was a good day for our Idaho Falls trip which didn't impact any other outdoor activities.

Today, there is another threat of thunderstorms so it appears to be a great day for doing some phone and computer stuff while Josie takes care of some inside cleaning and also some laundry. It appears to be a stay-at-home day to get things done that we need to do. We will enjoy this day, as when we return to work tomorrow, we will work 5 days, have one day off, and then work 6 days before getting a 3 day weekend. That is a result of accommodating one of our co-workers' schedule to spend a long weekend with their visiting daughters next week.

Happy 1st of July everybody...