My third week working had some interesting highlights. The first thing is our friendly store pine marten is still in the store and continues to eat my grocery items. He seems to have an appetite for cookies, chocolate chip and the sugar variety. On Thursday Ron, my boss, was at his seat in the grocery stock area when the pine marten came out from under our shelves and just looked Ron over. Ron made a couple of sounds and the pine marten went back into hiding. That day I found he ate some pretzel snacks and a package of peanut butter crackers. I have asked the store manager to authorize me overtime and a twenty two and I will stay overnight and eliminate the problem, but it seems the park frowns on that. Oh well, I am sure the adventure will continue until it decides to exit the store and find something better outside.
On Wednesday we had major sewer issues in the area. The Snow Lodge, a hotel next to us, started to complain that their toilets and drains were backing up. Then an hour or so later the toilets in the store and the drains in the fountain area started to overflow. Raw sewage was creeping into areas that the store really did not want it to be in. Dead mice started to float up the drains in the fountain and the toilet overflow was going under the wall and into the retail area. It was a mess. The park was called and it took a few hours to get someone in the know, about the sewer in the area, to get work started. We thought that the Snow Lodge issue was what was causing our issue, but it was not. The park personnel had to bring in a backhoe and bobcat to clear the snow off the parking lot to get to the sewer access. They manage to get the snow cleared and a man went down into the hole to investigate. After several attempts with a massive drain snake, they managed to clear the Snow Lodge issue and their drains started going again. They then turned their attention to our issue. They proceeded to snake every access they could until they found the obstruction. Once they cleared the obstruction, then the water started flowing in the correct direction. The obstruction turned out to be a diaper that was flushed down a toilet and several women's monthly flow items, I think you know what I mean. The fountain area and the bathrooms were closed for the whole day to get the cleanup done. A lot of bleach was involved. The manager made new large signs indicating to people that only toilet paper was to be flushed down the toilet. I am sure that sign would work for Americans, but not for all the foreigners we have coming. We even have a sign in the bathrooms indicating how they are to be used. See below.
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| Trying to find the sewer manhole cover |
My boss caught a person stealing from the store this week. The sad part is that the guy was one of our own employees. I think he got a few days off, but many are wanting him fired and sent on his way. I have to agree with them in that it is very stressful living in a dorm, but living in a dorm with a thief is adding more stress. I am sure he is going to be on a short leash and Ron wants me to keep an eye on him every time he comes into the store.
On the brighter side, the snows are starting to melt. I am hoping that within two weeks the trails will start to open. They opened the south entrance to Jackson Wyoming and that brought in many tourists this week. The pass from Canyon to Tower is still not opened, so you have to go to Gardner to get around to Lamar Valley. This just happened as I write this weeks post, they closed the south entrance again. It seems that someone was mauled by a bear. The park closed the entrance to investigate. I will add more to this story next week. Update 5/15/23. There was no mauling by a bear. This is the press release from the park:
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(News Release) On the evening of Saturday, May 13, Yellowstone rangers responded to an incident on Craig Pass, approximately 3 miles south of Old Faithful. Rangers observed a single vehicle that had been driven into a snowbank, with a male standing outside. They located a deceased female inside the car. The male was detained and subsequently arrested for drug possession and other traffic-related charges. Investigators are determining what led to the female’s death and attempting to complete next-of-kin notifications.
Additional information will be provided as the investigation proceeds. The investigation is being performed by the Nationa Park Service (Investigative Services Branch and Yellowstone Law Enforcement Division), with support from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Attorney’s Office, and Teton County Coroner’s Office.
The road between Old Faithful and West Thumb was closed for approximately 24 hours while the scene was processed and was reopened on Sunday evening.
To protect the investigative process, no additional information is available at this time.
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Today is my birthday and I decided to head around to the north entrance and then head out of the park to Livingston and then to Bozeman for a lunch/dinner at their Outback. I was hoping to see some bears, but I did not catch sight of any of them. I did see fifty or sixty elk and quite a lot of bison. If you did not know, last year the major flood destroyed the highway north of the park. So that no one could enter the park the normal way. The park redistributed money to expand and pave the old stage coach road that enters the park from the north. This road in has not been used by tourists for quite some time. The park really hustled to get the road expanded and paved and I was able to travel on it today when I exited the park. I can see why they wanted to replace it many years ago. It is a steep and winding way to get into the park. They did a great job on it though and I even stopped to look at the previous road that was destroyed by the flood, but I could not see the sections that were destroyed. They are trying to figure out how to put the bridges back and to make it more resilient to any further flooding by the Yellowstone River. A major undertaking for sure.
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| Gibbon Falls was roaring today. |
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| This is the road that was washed out by the flood last year. |
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| The highway that takes you over the mountain to Mammoth |
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| The falls at the pass to Mammoth |
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| Signs of Spring in Yellowstone |
You get all kinds of people visiting the store and my shot below is my customer of the week. The kilt looks good on him, don't you think?
On a personal note, today would have been my Father-In-Law Don's 96th birthday. I sure do miss that guy. I am sure today Norma misses him too. He was a good man who lived a long life and trusted Jesus all the way home to heaven. I just hope I can do the same. I know I will think of him a lot as time goes by.
This week I had 86,030 steps total. Roughly 40 miles of walking in the store. I am hoping to lose about 25 pounds while I am here and if the 40 mile a week total keeps up I may just be able to accomplish that. That is unless my knees give out first. Well that is about all for this week. Thanks for reading and don't forget to wish your Mom's a happy mother's day. Take care.
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