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3.29 for bread

Yeah, I paid $3.29 for a loaf of bread tonight. Ah the joys of living in a small tourist town. I haven't had a chance to go up to Bozeman to go grocery shopping yet so I am at the mercy of the local market.
We also have the worlds slowest McDonalds too. I think they had to find, kill, and pluck the chicken for me to get my sandwich.
I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off so I will head into the park and go grocery shopping in a couple of days.

PS on the way home tonight I passed a Bison two houses down--I guess Bison are the gators of West Yellowstone

I made it

So I made it to West Yellowstone Montana. After several VERY hectic and stressful days of prepping for the move and the drive out here I am finally able to rest a bit.
But just a bit. I have already started my new seasonal job. The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center is a non profit nature center housing grizzly bears and wolves. (I know crazy, right?) Today was training and orientation and whatnot. I think it will be fun.
The drive out was long and tiring. Five days and 2800 miles. The last three days was non stop rainy dreary days. I had wanted to stop in Rapid City SD to see Mt Rushmore, the mammoth dig site and a few other sites but the weather was calling for 6-10 inches of snow that I did not want to get caught in so I drove on through to Sheridan Wy. I did drive through the Badlands which was pretty cool but since I had Fluffy the traveling fish and it was rainy, I didn't really do much hiking.
When I got into Bozeman I turned off to my last stretch of road to complete the epic journey. However, I was busy talking on the phone and as a result missed my route and ended up taking the longer way--Thanks Chris!
West yellowstone is a very small town--as in you can drive from one end to the other in about 2 minutes. We also don;t get mail delivered to the house--we have to pick it up at the Post office. The closest Walmart and Target are 90 miles away. I think Amazon.com will be my new friend!
So the plan for the blog is to chronicle my summer in West Yellowstone and the surrounding area.
Pictures will be part of it at least when I figure out how to post them!
Till the next time.....

Maybe this time

Well, after letting this blog languish I have decided to give it a slightly newer and broader focus. Originally I was going to have this be a pseudo portfolio blog of my career skills and animal info. Instead I think I will make it more personal and write about whatever strikes my fancy. This can include cooking, baking, decorating, crafting, photography, mental breakdowns, and of course animal stuff. This may not be of any interest but to me but oh well!

I think I'll stick with the grocery store!

The other day, I was staring out my window when some movement caught my eye. I looked closer and saw a Turkey Vulture. He (or she) had found a tasty tidbit and was pulling it away from the road and behind a tree to enjoy.
Now, Turkey Vultures eat things that you or I would not. In fact, they eat things that a lot of other animals will not eat. They enjoy dining on carrion, otherwise known as dead stuff. Some of this dead stuff can be really yucky! Now I am not sure what my vulture friend was dining on but I am sure I would not enjoy his dinner selection.
By eating carrion vultures serve a very important function in the ecosystem. They help clean it up. Without vultures and other carrion eaters there would be some seriously gross things hanging around!
Here in Florida we have two types of vultures, Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures. Black Vultures are almost totally black except for the white patches or "windows" seen on the underside of their wings while flying. Turkey Vultures, on the other hand, have a red face and head. In flight they are identified by the silvery trailing edge to their wings. They also soar with their wings in a slight "V" shape. Their flight can also be described at wobbly.
Vultures have some really cool adaptations to help them do their jobs. Have you ever seen a vulture up close? Some will say it is a face only a mother could love! Basically vultures are pretty much bald. There is a reason for this. Let's for a minute imagine you are a vulture. Its time for dinner and you spot a nice yummy rotting carcass of a deer. You come in for a landing and decide to eat. Well, as a vulture (or even a bird for that matter) you don't have arms or utensils. What do you do??? You stick your head into the animal and begin eating. Now, if you had a head full of feathers what do you think would happen? You would get a bunch of dead animal gunk in your feathers and no easy way to clean it off. Adaptation to the rescue--bald head!
Turkey Vultures also exhibit a behavior that would most certainly gross you out--they pee on their legs! Now they don't do this just because they know it will gross you out. Again, this is an adaptation that helps them. You see, vultures can't sweat like us to cool down so when they get hot, one way for them to cool down is to pee on their legs. Have you ever run through a sprinkler on a hot summer day to cool down? Its the same idea. Also, since the urine contains acids from the vultures digestive system it helps to kill off the bacteria on the birds legs that is gets from walking around all that dead stuff!
So, really vultures are pretty cool animals if you ask me! I hope my vulture friend enjoyed his dinner as much as I enjoyed watching him!

Well, Welcome to the 21st century. I have joined the blogger world! This blog really has no direction except the one in my head and that can be rather scary at times!
Enjoy!