With my handy map by my side I spent the day in grocery and discussed with guests the best place to spy moose, bears and wolves (you don't get that kind of service at Walmart). Weekends are slower than weekdays so the pace is slower, which in turn makes the days seem longer. Most people are traveling back home from their vacations on Saturday and Sundays.
I really lose track of the days here. Saturday and Sundays mean nothing to me, they are no longer a weekend. They are just another day. However, Saturday and Sundays are nice days to have off as the surrounding towns have festivals that can then be taken in. My days off have been Mondays and Tuesdays but my supervisor, Jack, and his wife Rosie, wanted me to go with them to the Bar R Ranch for a cookout and show which only happens on weekends. So Jack went to the store manager and had my days off switched to Friday and Saturdays. That will be nice as I wanted to see the Pow Wow in Cody this summer.
The employee recreation department is having a talk about wolves and bears on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Everyone is excited and is planning on going. Last night they had a fly fishing demonstration but Carl already told me he would teach me so I passed on that one. The rec. dept. also has hikes and stuff. Tomorrow morning I am going to try and catch the ranger led hike down at the canyon edge.
After dinner tonight I got real wild and crazy and did my laundry. While my laundry was drying I headed off to Hayden and spotted a mousing coyote on the way. He was pretty cute with his ears perked up and his head tilting from side to side as he listened to rodents under the dirt. In Hayden I finally got to set up my new tripod and I got to watch a wolf trotting around in the distance. There seemed to be bear sightings all over the valley but I drove past them because parking was limited.
Wildlife is really moving into the Canyon Village. I was sitting at a picnic table outside the back of the store during a break yesterday and watched a pair of huge bison lumber down the road. Everyone needs to be super careful driving at night as the bison tend to walk down the middle of the road and they are hard to see in the dark. The hole in the dorm building was covered over so I don't know what happened to the Rocky Mountain Chickadees. I hope they found a new place to build a nest. There are lots of ground squirrels running around the meadow behind the dorm. They do a lot of chattering and chasing. It's quite a show.
Wildlife Sightings:
Grizzly: 25
Wolf: 12
Coyote: 4
Moose: 1
Big Horn Sheep: 2
Black Bear: 3
