Latest Yellowstone Update

Greetings to all. A lot has happened since in the last few weeks, not only with Mal coming and my proposal, but also with work. I believe on my last update I was headed in for my first backcountry trip. I was very excited about it and it lived up to the excitement. Our goal for the trip was to install a new hardwood floor(replacing the old plywood one) in one of the ranger cabins. We begin the week by hauling in all our supplies by the canoe-load. Once the supplies were in we began the tedious process of installation. The ranger I was working with is an admitted jack of all trades master of none, and I believe you all know the extint of my hardwood floor knowledge. Anyway, it was very hard work and took a lot of long hours to complete, considering we didnt have the luxury of using power tools due to our remote location. Their was also the added incentive to finish the job bc the cabin we were working at was the one were I planned to bring Mal and ask her to marry me. We ended up getting the majority of the project completed just in time for my weekend off and Mal's visit. I will post Mal's visit on another blog, this is work related. So, it took until this next work period until we finaly got the entire project done. What made the project a little more difficult was that we were living in the one room cabin with a loft as we were also trying to redo the entire floor, so it was a balancing act. The cabin by some campsites, as well a fairly popular trail, so we had lots of visitors while we were trying to work (some good visitors and some not so good). One of the visitors caught a large lake trout and donated it to the ranger and his hard working assistant(I guess we looked famished). Anyway, I cleaned it and it went from swimming in the lake enjoying its day to lunch in about a half hour. I cooked it in the oven with butter and onions and it was delicious! We ended that work period and I arrived at the ranger station at 4pm, just enough time to leave and pick up Mal by 5.

Skipping to my latest trip to the backcountry, we headed back in to lay the final floor boards and then begin the sanding and varnishing. Sanding wasnt the funnest task I've had while I've been here, but I got it done and the floor turned out great. While at the cabin, we had another visitor, this one a little more exciting than the others. It was just after lunch one afternoon, and I was washing dishes at the sink. I was looking down at the dishes, sort of daydreamin, when I notice movement outside. When I looked up their was a cinnamon colored black bear (not all black bears are black) with his face right to the window! It scared me to death. When it saw us move (or heard me scream) it ran off towards the campsites and trail. We had just seen a mom and 2 kids over there, so we grabbed the bear spray and ran after it. The ranger headed for the people and I headed for the bear. Luckily he was just passing through, and I watched him/her graze on the grass in the forest floor for a while until it was time to get back to work. It was soooo cool! It was awesome to see that and I never expected that at the cabin while we were working. The bad news is that now I cant even go outside to the bathroom without grabbin my bearspray. Haha, just kiddin. Anyway, so that last trip was split up, 3 days at one cabin finishing the floor, and the rest at another cabin doing trail-clearin. Hold on, I have to get off the computer.