Life on the High Plains

Today I had to venture up to Denver to have my fingerprints taken at the Denver Federal Center for my upcoming job with NPS.  To my surprise I found out that I really don't have many fingerprints, but that's a story for another day. Afterwards Irv and I headed to the Denver Art Museum to view the Edgar Degas exhibit (also a subject for another blog). Since it was a beautiful spring day in Denver with no wind, we took a walk over to the capitol. The rotunda has spent a lot of time in scaffolding lately so it was nice to get a complete view of this beautiful building. When you climb up the capitol steps you will come across a medallion that is exactly one mile high.  So many visitors have touched it that the engraving is pretty much gone. Looking across from the capitol there is another beautiful building--the Denver City/County building.  You can't really see it in this picture, but they had the park area between the two buildings fenced off in prepara...

It's already been a year since we went on our trip to Europe starting in Iceland. It was a really great trip, I love going overseas.  Now there's another international trip on the horizon. Who can guess where this is? Yep, it's Israel coming in May 2019.  Trip is booked and now I just have to wait for 12 months to go by. Can you imagine walking where Jesus walked?  I can't.  

Something pretty exciting happened last week.  Way back in November I applied for a National Park job in Yellowstone.  After a couple months they sent me an email saying I was qualified for the position.  Then a few days later I got another email saying that although I was qualified, I wasn't being referred for any of the open positions.  There are only 60 positions available with hundreds of applicants so I wasn't too surprised. At that point I went ahead and found myself a job with one of the concessionaires in the park. Then last week I got a call from the Park Service asking if I was still interested in the position.  Initially I turned it down because I felt guilty for backing out on the job I had already accepted with the concessionaire.  The lady from the Park Service keep calling me though and asking me to reconsider.  I eventually agreed realizing that working for the Park Service has been a long time dream so turning it down would be craz...

I'm really behind on my blogging so let me try to catch up by starting with Easter. We had guests for Easter this year because Mary's water heater went on the blitz and it took a few days to get fixed.  Mary and our favorite grandson, Mr. Beans, had to spend a few days with us. Actually this is not such a late post because at our church we are still celebrating Easter and our risen Lord. He is risen! At our house nobody is ever too old to color Easter eggs. While Mary was here we played our favorite board game every night.  It's a National Park game called Trekking and it is a whole lot of fun.  The unwritten rule is that Yellowstone is always mine! On Easter morning when you're 17 you have to work for your Easter eggs.  Mr. Beans had to solve clues to find his eggs that were hidden all over our property. He was a good sport about it even though I'm sure he thinks the adults in his life are pretty lame. The lilac bushes are...

We have a new neighbor.  He (or she) moved in last week and seems to like hanging out at our place. Our new security camera has snapped a few pictures of him.  He is a Canis Latrans or coyote also known as the Prairie Wolf, Brush Wolf, and Song Dog.  He is smaller than a wolf and is distinguished by his smaller, slender frame, large ears, bushy tail, and slim pointed muzzle. That's a cloud covered Pikes Peak in the distance.  Beautiful as usual! Day and night he seems to be out there.  No doubt he's looking for something to eat. As long as he doesn't try to have my little dog for dinner, he's welcome to hang out here. He may be a little coyote, but he's still pretty cute. Below is a coyote I snapped a photo of in Yellowstone a few years ago.  That guy is definitely looking healthy and well fed. Happy Skywatch Friday!