Friday, July 12th: Canyon Village – Yellowstone National Park, WY or … who is grunting in my garden?

It’s a duff day! We can sleep in… and of course my woman wakes at 5 a.m. and cannot fall asleep anymore. Those birds again… Still, my lazy boss takes her time and stays in bed – even for breakfast! But then, I tell her to go outside and go see the Canyon of Yellowstone. I’ll guard the cabin. My woman finds some new big smelly mushy droppings in front of the cabin… what kind of animal dropped this here? Everything seems very quiet at the Village. First of all, my woman wants to find out what “utility tax” is and to whom the money goes. Well, that seems to be a question no one has ever asked here. Each time you buy something sales tax is added but also a “utility” tax (about 1,5%). Not one person can give her an answer: the ranger and the manager of the store do not know to whom the money goes to. The latter one is so friendly and will look it up. I hope my woman does not get in trouble for this…She just wonders where her money goes to and she really hopes it does go to the National Park System! Next thing on the agenda: visit the canyon. With the two falls and the Yellowstone River running through it, this canyon is a delight to see.

 It’s a bit too busy to get emotional – but a look through some binoculars of a man makes my woman scream of joy: on one of the pinnacles in the canyon she sees a nest with a mama osprey and three babies in it. Wow, what a spectacular view! A walk along the North rim is just enough exercise for today. Later in the afternoon my woman comes back to the cabin to get her laundry. The cleaning staff reports her bison can be seen somewhat further down… No, thanks, we do not need a close encounter with those big brown fuzzy dirty looking animals. Doing laundry has become a calming activity. There you can meet all kind of people and it’s a place where talking is easy. Today my woman helped someone out, just by pointing out there was more than one machine  (the lady had taken one machine to wash and she had another load – she just sat down and was going to wait till the first load was done. But there were still so many other washing machines available! ) My woman had dinner and then came back to the cabin – all excited, telling me a bison was down the road! 

No kidding, I told her. But as she was getting ready to work, I suddenly heard some grunting in the garden. One look outside the window and there the big brown monster stood – grazing wild flowers and grass in our garden. 

Make no noise and be silent – no sudden moves! What a sight! 

It went behind the building and we could hear it all the time. What a warning for tomorrow morning: first check if Bison Bison is still in our neighborhood before getting Sweet Machine packed.