YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

What a day – a long and productive day.

Got home tonight and was unloading my trailer when my landlord’s brother greeted me with “Hello Princess.”  Wonder if that is because I don’t like to kill mice or because I wanted the house clean?  How does one be an animal lover and kill a mouse after it looks you in the eye?

The morning began bright and early in Soda Butte Valley, looking for wolves on my last day of camping.

Might be hard to believe but after nearly three months of camping this summer I hated the thought of moving back home, despite still being next to Yellowstone, because I had been having so much fun.  And, talk about peaceful easy living!

But, first the wolves.  I went looking for the Lamar Canyons this morning and decided to stand in a place by myself where it was possible to see into the trees also.  I have been parking alongside the road in what they call the dirt lot, which has grown from people desperate for parking so that they can see the wolves.  I park on the north end of this dirt stretch where many people scrape the bottom of their cars, and walk about 20 to 30′ out into the sage until finding a level area that doesn’t have much for me to trip over.  And so I am 20 or 30′ to the wolves some times but that distance doesn’t mean anything when you are talking about 100s of yards away from the animals.  But, apparently there are some who seem to think that 500 to 700 yards from a pack of wolves is too close and they are not happy with my antics.  Too bad.

When I walk out into the sage I am getting away from the road and the constant barrage of people who stop to ask what we are seeing.  I work hard to be out there and they are welcome to stop, park and walk over to find out what is going on.  I am also concerned about being around too many trip things, because of my balance and so am choosing a safer place for me to stand that is usually a little more quiet.  You see, I love to enjoy those wolves, as well as photograph them and as a visitor it is my right to do exactly that.  I am not obligated to anyone but do share my sightings liberally and freely because it is my choice.

So, I was the one to find the first wolf pup this morning!  Yippee – that felt pretty good.  I was also the one to find 926 but only got to see her for a second.  And then there were pups that were coming and going that I missed so it all evened out.  I only saw 5 pups but Ricks says he saw 6.  Sounds good to me.

I was going to try to take some photos but actually could not get off of the road much today, due to several foreign couples who were anxious to see wolves.  They latched onto me as if I was the bread for their peanut butter and they took turns using the scope while I just stood back and answered questions.  One woman did come up and say, “Show me the wolves.”  No hello or anything, but we corrected that and then she told me that it was her dream to see wolves.  I told her that I would make sure that she got to see them.  Everyone was beyond thrilled with their view and the women all did that little high pitched delighted thing that I always do.  Loved it!

Since I did not get any photos once again, I left and went looking for photo ops but someone was having car trouble and so I went to help them instead.  Another day of no photos but believe I paid my way for another day in the park.

So, then it was time to move.  Put me somewhere, nearly anywhere, and I don’t want to do the moving things, especially in the trailer with the awning and all of the parts of everything.  So much to remember and so much that has to be done right!

When I was camping at Fox Creek, during the last two months (which was a bit off and on due to limits) I was on the river amongst some big beautiful trees.  The sound of moving water carried me through each night and the days were met with the sounds of hawk fledglings in the forest.  Though, I was gone most days before sunrise and did not return until after sunset.  Too bad because it was such a wonderful place to hang out.

I had electricity at the site but no water or sewer and so I had to be creative and conservative with my methods.  Not having hot water eliminated baths and minimized dish washing.  I kept those dishes and everything spotless but was clever about it all.

The campground was bad for mosquitos because there was no breeze to keep them at bay. But, we also had mice.  I had a mouse – could hear it rattling around at night so went looking for the sucker.  I can’t stand mice because they are so nasty and I don’t want them in my food.  But, I lifted up the board beneath the bed and that mouse came running out to see me!  Crap, it was so darned cute, so what was I going to do?  I bought traps but what if there were babies?  They would die and stink up the place.  So, what if I allowed them to get big enough to trap them.  I looked for a live trap but no one had them.  I found a new type of trap though but could not bring myself to set the thing.  Humans have been living with mice for a long time, I could live with mine for a few days.  Kind of a noisy bugger though.

After wolf watching I returned to the campground, said goodbye to the wonderful hosts and then began readying to leave.  I cleaned the underneath of my awning and that felt good.  And then I secured everything and headed towards home, going slowly through the park.  Did almost get it when I came around a blind curve and found someone parked in the road watching a bull.  He didn’t care but it was nearly pretty bad.  So, I went slower.

As I was washing the awning it occurred to me that I had not taken any photos of my site and so I grabbed the iPad and remedied that situation.

Stopped by my old residence to clean out the tanks and begin getting everything ready for winter.  Did not have enough antifreeze to winterize so must get some.

Got home to my dirty house, left over from the landlord’s stay and had to clean some before I began hauling things inside.  And then I had to clean the trailer some and set those traps!  I do hate killing that mouse but she had created quite a mess and I just can’t live like that.

So, if the landlord’s brother calls me Princess it is probably because they have developed a mouse removal program where the young guy next door sets the traps, checks them and disposes of the mice.  I have had to dispose of a couple and it was not pretty.

And, I am back home with my washer and dryer, hot water and most importantly, the internet.

But, I would rather be camping.