At the house winter is starting to loosen it’s grip.
Saturday – Livingston run day
This morning Leviticus was saying hello to his friends.
I call to see if both my car parts are in. I was very disappointed to hear that only one came in. They said they would order it again. I started getting ready to go to the indoor garage sale. Before I was ready to leave they called back to let me know they found the other part. Off to the trash dump, indoor garage sale and then Livingston.
Was hoping for snow gear at the garage sale. More books, movies, dishes, clothes and kids stuff. I did score two boxes of Girl Scout cookies. I also got a super soft Winnie the Pooh towel for the cats to sit on. Off to Livingston.
Hit Taco Bell on the way into town. Found a UPS store so I was able to send my Amazon return. Have to get a few more tools so Ace hear I come. Side note even the dogs drive trucks in Montana.
On to O’Reilly Auto Parts. I get my parts. While in the parking lot I check all the fuses and do some more research on the central locking system. Can’t figure out why it doesn’t work so I move on. I go over to Napa to see if they have anything that I can drive the car up on so I can work underneath. After a search by me and the salesperson we find some. Homeward bound to do some car work.
Good view of the mountains on the way back.
The elk are out in force at the house.
So before I use the ramp, which I am not so sure about on uneven ground I try to get under the car to find the O2 sensor. I am able to squeeze under the car without the ramps. Good thing I am not claustrophobic. It is tight under the car. I get the tools and start working on getting the O2 sensor out. It will not budge. I try to use my left hand, I try by right hand and I get a hammer to tap the wrench. Nothing works. Finally I get the tire iron and use the nut open to hook the wrench and I use all my worth to get it to turn loose. It takes forever with little turns to get it out. Once out I come to the great conclusion that I took out the wrong one. Very disappointed that I missed this. While I have it out I clean it some and put it back in. I do some more research and find that it is one under the hood. Turns out the car has four in all. I go from being under the car to being under the hood. This one is hard to get out as well, but not as bad as the one under the car. I get the new one in. I start the car to test it out. Not sure that I can really tell any difference. On to the second part. After much more research I find that I am in over my head for the second part. It would require taking half of the engine out. I think I need more than a video to do something that complex, so I call it quits for the day.
While eating dinner and listening to a book on tape a storm rolls in. If it had been Georgia I would have been bracing for a tornado, but they don’t really get those here. It was so bad that it knocked down about 8 power lines outside of town. That killed power for all of Gardiner and all of Yellowstone Park for a little over three hours. During this time I was full off-grid. I didn’t even have running water because the well needs power to pump. For awhile I watched a buck elk play with a branch by picking it up and throwing it with his antlers. Got a little chilly in the house. It was about 10:30 when the power came back on. Added bonus for me was that I had clothes in the washer when the power went off so I had to finish doing laundry before I could go to bed. By the time I was laying down the storm had moved from a rainstorm to a snowstorm.
The Mist
It has been warming up and the snow is melting. This is the view on the way home from work. Very eerie. It feels like Stephen King’s The Mist.
Wildlife changing some
Seeing more pronghorn antelope.
Also seeing more magpies aka Leviticus bird.
This one wanted to chat a little.
The door strikes back with a vengeance!
So after a long day at work I go out to the BMW for the ride home. I place the key in the lock and turn. Nothing happens. I turn forward which should cause the windows to roll down. I have been doing this a lot, especially when people are around. It looks odd when it is snowing. The alternative is to open the passenger side and crawl over or reach over and open the driver door. If I opted for opening the driver door through the passenger side I had to push the driver door out far enough so it didn’t just close back before I walked around. Now do you see why I go with the window down option? With the other option I can sell tickets for people to watch the show.
Now back to the story. The window doesn’t go down. I get nothing by turning the key either way. Now at this point I need to make it clear that the BMW only has one door lock where the key can be used. It is all or nothing so I am starting to panic. I try to open all the doors and the hatchback. No luck. I go inside to get some hot water to see if maybe the lock is in some kind of crazy frozen state. On the way back to the car I am praying hard for God to let the door unlock. I have my hot water and I press the unlock on the key. A miracle happens and it unlocks the car. I have to pause here and Thank The Lord and explain in more detail for you. The unlock on the key NEVER works. I have tried it so many times before this night and it has never done anything. I open the passenger door and try to open the driver door. No go. I climb over into the driver seat. I try to open the driver door again. Will not budge. The car does start and I am on my way home. It has been a bad day and this scare has put me in a bad space emotionally. I call and talk to Janet for a minute. I can’t begin to tell you how great it was just to hear her voice.
I stop at the Post Office. The driver side door now opens. I get out and while keeping the door open I try to use the key in the lock again. This time it locks. I can’t get it to unlock. I take the key out and reach in and press the main unlock button which should unlock all the doors. Nothing happens. I try again and still nothing. At this point I decide that it would be bad to close the driver door so I get back. Once in the car the alarm goes off. I put the key into the ignition and start the car. Now on every car I have had starting it with the correct key always turned the alarm off. Oh, not this time. I am sitting in the car with it running and the alarm going off. I start driving and the alarm is still going. Thank goodness as I pull out of the Post Office the alarm turns off. I get home and have to work each door open from the inside to make sure they are unlocked. Once all doors have been tested twice for being unlocked and opening them I close the driver door. I try pressing the unlock button on the key about 20+times with nothing. This just reinforces the miracle of the one time unlock so I could get home.
I go inside defeated and start getting ready for bed. Ready for this day to be over. Janet calls me back to comfort me, and I think to make sure I did make it home. Always makes me feel better to talk with her.
Hoping tomorrow is better.
Surprise, Surprise It Snowed Again
Had another snow storm come through. Looking out my kitchen window it looks like it should be Christmas time.
Looks like I will be taking the SUV today.
This is the view starting down the hill from my house to the main road.
Seeing snow covered bison never gets old to me.
I see this sign every day on the way to work. I finally stopped and took a picture. Feels a little closer to the North Pole today.
Wind blew hard in the afternoon with more snow. Close to blizzard conditions. This was the view out of my office.
Easter – He is Risen! – My first bear track!
First thing this morning Leviticus is saying hello to the elk outside the window.
Ready for Easter Sunday service.
I go to the Gardiner Community Center to drop off my cut up fruit. The doors are locked? I then go to the church and find all the doors locked. I dug out my last church program and found that service is at the Mammoth Chapel again. I head that way. So much for being early. Now I am hoping I will not be late. I have to park a good length away. I make it just in time, but I have to sit in the back. It was a good service. Jeff talked about it being April Fools Day and how some people feel this way about the resurrection of Jesus. He used a lot of location and history to talk about the truth of the resurrection. After service we went to the lower Mammoth Community Center. The food was great and they sent me home with a bag of ham.
I go home and change into hiking clothes. Off for a hike on the old Gardiner road.
The pronghorn antelope are coming out more.
The hike is giving a different view of my work area. It looks cool from up top.
This is Daryl and my other brother Daryl.
This looks like someone’s home. I found another like it near by.
The view is really nice. No one else around and very silent.
Until I saw my first bear track!
I thought this was big. Later I spoke with a Ranger and he said this was a smaller Black Bear.
Check out the claws!
I have my bear spray and I have my bear bell. Before seeing the track these gave me confidence. After the track not so much. The bell really started seeming like a bad thing. Since I was alone I started thinking that the bell wasn’t something that would help the bear move along. I really started thinking that the bell was really a dinner bell. I think this is telling the bear that dinner is here. Many times I look over my shoulder on the way back.
Going downhill in the deep snow was harder. I fell a number of times as one leg went into the snow to my knee unexpectedly. One time I went into the snow halfway between my knee and hip. This was a little hard to get out of.
On the way down I saw some bluebirds. They were very vivid and beautiful.
Back at the house the elk were there to welcome me home.
Time to recheck the check engine light
My morning greeting.
First task is going to the dump. These cats generate more trash than I do!
Off to Livingston. Need to have my check engine light checked to get the codes. Also want to have the transmission fluid changed. A lot colder as I get near Livingston. Down to 13.
Also crazy to see the snow storm wall.
I stopped at the place that changed my oil to see if they could change the transmission fluid. Well that would be a “no”. They gave me the name of a transmission place. When there and they were closed. Found two other places on my phone. Both were closed. So no transmission fluid change. That was just a guess anyway based on all I was reading online. Now for the check engine light. When to O’Reilly Auto Parts. The worked for a while to get the codes. Finally got the codes. Good news was that the codes I had before were gone. The work I did with the ignition coils and spark plugs worked. The bad was that I now have new codes. They looked them up and found I needed two new parts. Then comes the dreaded “we don’t have those in stock”. So I ordered them and said I would be back next Saturday to pick them up. Then it was off to Taco Bell. Ran into some people from work at The Bell. Went to the grocery store next. Needed to get some fruit for the after church meal tomorrow, also needed some more soup. Once I had my supplies it was back to Gardiner.
Good Friday Services
Went to Good Friday Services at the Mammoth Chapel. It was beautiful inside. The service included different people speaking for the different roles reading through the Passion. Service ended with the reading of the last statements of Jesus on the cross. After each one a candle was extinguished and part of the lights were turned off. The service ended in total darkness. It was very moving.
The moon was amazing. I stopped on the way home to take a picture of it over the mountains.
