Roaring Mountain
I got my new camera, a Canon Rebel. I decided to really upgrade and replace my Canon Rebel 35 mm with a new digital one. I can use all my attachments that I already had. I wish I would of dropped my digital camera back in May because I'm having a great time with my new one. This is a picture of Roaring Mountain, my first picture with my camera. Actually, I took my first picture when I was messing around with the camera and I captured a great image of the dashboard of my car. Twenty seconds later I broke in the delete button.
Pouncing Coyote in Elk Park
I took this picture this morning of a coyote mousing in Elk Park just south of Norris (the road is closed 4 miles south of Norris). I watched the coyote for quite some time as he moved from the south end of Elk Park to the north. He was on the move looking for a meal and when he would cock his head, I would aim and gently place my finger on the shutter button. Then he would bound up into the air, I would snap a picture, and he would pounce down on his prey. He would munch away and then move to another area and repeat the whole process. It was a beautiful morning and I had all of Elk Park to myself to watch him.
On Tuesday I had to head to the airport in Bozeman at 7:00 am. I was giving Hoa (from Vietnam but studying in London) a ride. Also along for the ride was Neil (France) and Sam (Egypt). In Mammoth we saw 2 coyotes trotting along just below the Lower Terrace. I had no camera for this most fabulous of sights. In Bozeman I brought the guys to the mall for some shopping. I had an hour to kill so I wandered into Barnes & Noble. To my surprise I ran into 4 of my co-workers there. On our way back to Canyon as we came through Mammoth we found the huge herd of elk laying by the hotel. The big bull elk was carefully watching over his harem. Sam started to count the females and made it all the way up to 30 before we lost sight of them. There was still more to be counted and we estimated at least 40 of them were there.
The Magnificent One appears to be doing some male bonding. I spotted another male hanging out with him the last couple of times I've passed by him.
We have guest artists in the store on occasion. One of my favorites (besides Connie, our resident writer and my co-worker) is Dung & Dunger. They make paper that is colored using bison dung (collected outside the park). I know it sounds nasty but it really is very interesting and the items they make are really unusual. I always laugh about them because their motto is "Proud to be #2". And when I ask them how business is they always answer "It's crappy". They have quite a sense of humor.
We have gone to shorter store hours now. We open at 9:00 and close at 6:00. I still work 12:00 - 6:00 in the store. It gets dark so soon now that I barely have enough time to drive the north loop at night. I hear the elk bugle every night and sometimes into the morning after the sun rises. The temps during the day have been very nice (70's) but Wednesday morning it was only 18 degrees.
The internet has been an issue lately. It has been down for quite a few days with sporatic spurts of working. I hope all the issues are over because I plan on taking some fantastic shots with my new camera and I want to share them.
