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Icy…Icy

With the temp rising up during the middle of the day it has caused a lot of melting, which then freezes again at night. That in turn creates a lot of ice. Hard walking around. Had a few arm windmill moments to stay upright.

Monday and Tuesday were just long work days.

The bison can’t make up their minds. Last week they didn’t want me to leave work. Now they don’t want me to get to work.

After the two in the road moved off to the right and the road was clear I started off again. Right when I got up to the ones on the left one darted out onto the road and ran to the other side. Guess he was having his bison zen moment and it was critical that he was on the other side of the road just then.

 

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Long days

I am trying to through work that is being asked of me and put in place some of the things I want to have. To do this I need to put in some long hours. I get to work anywhere from 7:00 AM – 8:00 AM depending how fast I get out of bed. I work until 6:00 PM with a lunch break. At 6:00 PM I walk over to the employee cafeteria and have dinner. Then back to work until about 8:30 – 9:00 PM. Then I head home. Been seeing a lot of darkness.

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Who knew that Bison was so controversial?

Have started implementing some changes at work. Had the first morning stand-up with my team. Overall it was a work day. It started snowing really hard. Like an inch an hour. Went to a baby shower for a coworker. Really nice turn out and was fun. The cake was amassing to see and tasted very good. Sorry the picture is blurry. I am posting it anyway so you can get an idea of how great it was. Everything on it was cake except the baby rattles. The bear was made with rice crispy treats.

Went to the bison in winter discussion. It was really good and I learned a lot. Many groups with strong passions about bison. One group thinks that no effort should be taken to contain the bison. They want them to roam free all over Montana, even the major cities if the bison wanted to go there. Another group thinks they should not be contained, but that people should be allowed to hunt them once they leave the park. Another group thinks that the population should be controlled by taking some to slaughter.  Yet another group thinks that the extra or any that try to leave the park should be captured and given to a Native American Indian group in north east Montana that is building a herd with the plan to repopulate all Native American reservations across the US with bison herds. Given all that you have the biologists that are trying to understand what the bison want and how to provide a good home for the bison with the least amount of politics as possible. I also learned that it is very hard for a wolf pack or a bear to take down a bison and that more bison die drowning than from predators each year.  Seems the bison get used to walking on the lakes and rivers during winter and the when spring comes a few break through the ice and drown. The grizzly bears pull them out of the water to eat them.

Was “fun” driving home in the little scooter car. Missed the turn for my road again. Well didn’t miss it. Applied the brakes for what I thought was early enough and then slid past my turn. Made it up the hill fine. Weather calling for 40% chance of snow every day for the next week. Will be taking the BMW in the AM.

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A work day

Drove the work car today. The low tire pressure indicator came on. I did a visual check of the tires and all seemed well. Went on to work. Checked about self serve for air and was told it was at the transportation department in Gardiner (reminder my office is in Mammonth Springs).  I am having a run of luck with cars in Montana. I needed to get a gas card as well so made plans to go to the transportation office in the afternoon. Received my gas card and schooled on how to use it. They also had me bring the car into the shop. One of the mechanics checked the tires and gave them some additional air. I felt ridiculous. I asked them about how I could do it myself going forward. If I can’t check the air and add when needed in Montana I think they will take my “man card” away.

Work was a work day. Emails, meetings, phone calls were all to be done. I worked late and had dinner in the employee cafeteria so I could attend the cougar discussion. Well it turns out that the cougar expert was a government employee so the talk was canceled. What is the world coming too…..

On the drive home the tires were good. I did see a coyote and a huge fox on the drive home so that was a win. When I got close to home it started snowing hard. Will have to check the weather in the AM to see which car to drive tomorrow.