BEAR!!!!

oh wow! ok so we were driving down the road with luanne on our way to hike on Elephant back trail (dont ask why it was named that). suddenly something came out of the brush on the road just ahead of us. mama slowed down and luanne was like "oh what is that? is that another elk?" but it wasnt an elk. onto the roadside emerged a grizzly bear with two cubs! they were eating the dandilions and completely ignored the car. we were screaming and saying "OH mY GOD!" and stuff before we calmed down enough to take out the cameras. by then, several other cars had pulled up and ppl were leaning out. soon there were so many cars the road was thoroughly blocked and we had to call a ranger to see if traffic would get moving again. even after that, ppl kept turning around so they could drive by again (including us). we were close enough to touch the bears, and they didnt even agknowledge us. shows us how important we and our cameras are.

Job Description

Mama and i have been wanting to work with the horses more. So we signed ourselves up as volunteers. yay! not that it really means much; we will just keep track of how often we scoop horse poo rather than just doing it for fun... anyway, so i went to a horse training thing where they were teaching the rangers how t deal with the horses. most of the stuff they were saying was stuff i learned before my level 1 riding test. (im going for level 3 now, level 4 is the highest you can go). i ended up helping Bob teach and giving pointers and such, which made me selfconcious because i was a good 14 years younger than them. it was fun anyway, but i was really jealous about not being able to ride. it was so hard to watch Beth sit on Sage and have him respond to her cues. My own legs and hands twitched with yearning. Instead i stayed on the ground and helped. Eventually, all the rangers got called out and it was just Tim and Bob left. By that time, mama and mariah had come as well. at mamas request, tim started teaching us how to pack. which was interesting and very confusing. i eventually got distracted and sent mariah to go fill a water bottle with cold water from the horse trough. in that time, Sage had a little scare and uprooted the hitching post, but everyone was ok and Tim eventually got him calmed down and put away. as soon as he got back, i dumped the water bottle over his head. for a minute, he froze in that kind of surprised indignance, then he turned around and came strait for me. i squealed and tried to run into the brush, but it was slow going and he seized me and threw me over his shoulder, saying "into the water trough with you, you little punk." he had been threatening to do this for a while, so i let him carry me over there without struggling, figuring i should just get it over with. out of kindness (or fear of my mom) he let me kick off my boots and lose my cell phone as he marced across the pen. but when we approached the frigid water, i clung to him, figuring that if i had to go, he was going down with me. unfortunetly, i hadnt accounted for the fact that he was a law enforcement officer and hiked 18 miles a day on a regular basis. He pried me off without difficulty and i landed with a splash and a shriek. i launched myself out almost as soon as i hit the water, but not before my jeans and tank top were thoroughly soaked. i chased him out of the pen on muddy socks. he was laughing and hopped in his truck. "see ya" he said as i stuck my tongue out at him and retrieved my boots and phone. i had to ride home wet, but i guess it wasnt so bad. at least the weather was warm. i am wondering tho, is that how rangers treat volunteers? cuz i know dunking wasnt in the job description.

I survived!

phew! im still alive! i survived the training course! actually it was no big deal. im not claustrophobic so i didnt mind being strapped to a board and tied down and having my head held perfectly still by Tim and then having a neck brace put on and my head tied down. (i had a "spinal injury") the funny thing was that my phone went off and i couldnt answer it. i had to have mariah get it.

victim

ahhhh! im going to be the "victim" of a training. im scared lol. papa says theyre just gonna strap me to a board and stuff, but it still makes me nervous. i just hope they arent practicing CPR or IVs or anything lmao.

trail biking!

WOO i rode my mtn bike on a trail! yay for me! i cant really call it mountain biking since there was a trail wih like 3in of gravel and all trail. but it was kinda hard on the way up cuz of the wind and the gravel and the incline. we made it a good way tho. then my mom and i went off trail, leaving our bikes locked to an old log that looked about ready to crumble into dust (defeats the whole purpose of locking them, but wtvr) and hiked back to a hill we saw. it turned out to be a lot larger than it looked. we crossed a little stream, passed a little geyser belching its heart out, and followed a trampled bison trail up the slope. when the trail stopped, we kept going, up the steep crumbling rocks and around huge boulders. when we finally made it, we knew it was worth it. there was a fantastic view of the surrounding valley; we could even see where mariah and papa were by the Firehole catchin fish. it was so charming, i cant wait to return. we plan on taking a backpacking trip up that trail with tim, luanne, and beth, so maybe we can revisit it then.


to keep u up to date with the war, there hasnt been much going on. i bought a fake pack of gum that when u pull out a piece, it snaps on ur finger. guess who im testing it on?...


the new ranger horse came in today. his name is Cody. hes kinda built funny, but mariah insiists hes cute, and i guess shes right. he has a sweet little face, but his conformation is kinda out a wack. if i had to pick a mount, i think i would go with Sage, but you never know. i will try to get a pic of them both to put here.



missing u all. starting to think im talking to myself :(
COMMENT!!!

WAR!

so i showed Tim the tricks i taught the horses. he laughed. i laughed harder at the expression on his face. then luanne rose brent tim mama mariah and i went on a moonlit hike. it was very fun, we watched old faithful in the moonlight. the night be4, we had a bonfire at the neighbors. tim stole mariahs bike and took off and i went after him. i dont know what i was thinking i was going to do. anyhow i recked. apparently it was pretty spectacular. i was no worse for the wear, except that my legs are somewhat more colorful than they were. when i slipped on the trail i told tim it was a good thing i had recked my bike cuz it gave me practice for sliding on gravel. he scowled. then he hid by the trail and jumped out at me. today, we were walking home from the horse pen when he dumped his water bottle on me. if thats te best he can do, i have nothing to worry about. it was rather annoying to be wet tho since i went to get coffee with Callie afterwards and had to explain. tim keeps saying hes gonna throw me in the horse trough, but so far im ok.


to see pics from the trip, go to www.photobucket.com/kollaschyellowstone k?

Kittens!! For Sale!

Ok so one of our friends back in Colorado has kittens she needs to find homes for! They have five beautiful, cute kitties left, two white, two gray striped, and one solid gray. At 8 weeks old, they would be way fun to take home. I will try to get a hold of pictures, and you can contact Allison at- Allison.Carey@stmarygj.org



and i am very annoyed about the lack of comments >:

Fly Fishing!

I can now say i have learned how to fly fish and have fished in Yellowstone Natnl Park! woo! are you proud of me? I actually caught quite a lot: the tree behind me, some grass, a small fern, a floating log, and my sister's shoe. As mr cook pointed out, i have to remember catch and release. after all, mariah is an endangered species. (lmao)

I have finished teaching Sage (the ranger's horse) to answer several questions. His tricks delight the rangers, and i cant wait to show Tim. first, i ask sage if he likes me; he nods his head. then i ask if he likes tim; he shakes his head. then i ask how old tim acts most of the time; he paws his hoof to count out 6 or 7. then i tell him hes a good boy and he gives me a slobbery kiss on the cheek. unfortunetly, i will have to wait until wednesday to show tim since we will be in Jackson Hole. (lyndsay, i told my parents ur advice).

have i told u about my purple ribbon joke? if not:
ok so tim is a little color blind. he was out shopping for boots and got some black ones, and it wasnt til he got home he realized they were purple. his friends gave him a hard time about it, but he was eventually relocated by the park and it was forgotten. he made the mistake of telling me. so we bought some purple ribbon and as soon as we could headed to the horse pen. we braided manes and tails and tied purple bows wherever we could. then we waited. unfortunetly,we werent there to witness the discovery. but the other rangers said that tim was like, "oh boy," and acted amused. just like i hoped he would. he has been entirely too fun to tease.

so i am very lonely and disappointed. most of my msgs are from mr cook. not that thats a bad thing, but i think that 14 year olds should have a lot of time on their hands. why no msgs?

tim

oh wow tim has been entertaining us all. not only did he burp his abcs, he tried to teach me how(im working on it). then, we were watching a bison carcass, and i picked up a bone and jokingly threwit, saying "Tim, fetch!" i should have guessed, he took off after it and grabbed it in his teeth, returning on all 4s. when i took it back, he whined and panted. i have never met someone like him before; it has been quite the experience getting to know him.


TALK TO ME!!

bison and big geysers

oh im so sorry i havnt been on earlier. we have not had a chance to be at the office, and technically im not supposed to e here now. but i just had to tell you about how amazing all the geysers are. no matter how many i see, i never get tired of watching the steam curl and flucuate above the crystal blue pools. its hard to believe how bright blue they are! i will post a picture soon. its as if the sky fell into them. around the edge it is bright orange, but that fades to yellow, then green, then the most brilliant azure. if the wind pulls the steam back long enough, you can gaze into its seemingly endless depths. it just fades to blackness, forever and ever. it almost looks serene enough to dive into, but unfortunetly that would be certain suicide. the water is over boiling point at this altitude. once a man did dive in after his dog, which didnt know how hot it was. the man tried to scramble back out, and people helped him, but the water was so hot, it boiled his skin off. the flesh came off as they tried to grab his hands.

we have been watching a dying bison about 50ft off the side of the road. its been there at least four days, and my mom suspects a breached birth. it lays there heaving and then thrashes wildly with its legs. apparently there are no predators in the area. we pulled over in hopes that some may appear, but no such luck. instead, we got a whole lot of people to stop along with us. thats the funny thing about yellowstone; if one person pulls over, they wont be alone for long. thats a good way to look for wildlife too tho; if you see a lot of cars pulled over, somethings bound to be there

i gtg now. they need the computer back.

Yellowstone trip!

hey guys sorry there is so much old stuff here. i havnt figured out how to clear it lol. we have seen so much! just recently, we were up in hayden valley and saw 4 wolves! and just across the street was a grizzly! the weather is rather spazztic, raining in the morning, then sun, then overcast, then rain again. we met a lot of the rangers here, cuz there really isnt anyone else to know. one of them, Tim, is really nice, but he made a mistake. one of the nurses, April, left some pizza that she had gotten specially from a town a ways away out on the counter, planning to eat it for lunch. sometimes the nurses leave snacks there for the rangers to eat, so Tim came in and saw it. he asked a nurse if he could have it, and she said sure. so when April came back and found it gone, she flipped. she ran over and chewed Tim out for eating her pizza. my dad heard about the story, and, being my dad, he wont let Tim live it down. just yesterday, he and i built a bearfoottrap out of cardboard, covered it in tinfoil, baited it with pizza, rigged it to snap shut on him, and laid it on the counter. when we told him there was pizza for him, he was immediately suspisious, but he came when i threatened to eat the pizza for him. when he saw the trap, he cracked up. he went to pick up the pizza and it snapped shut. that really made him laugh. papa and i could hardly breathe we were laughin so hard. since then, he has been trying to get me back since i was mainly the one who built the trap. its really fun to tease him, cuz obviously he hasnt been teased enough. i do miss all of you tho, so please say hi and give me an update on life in people country.