New backpack

Those pictures are from amazon.com which is where I got my new backpack yesterday. It has plenty of room for my digital camera & laptop plus little pockets that I'll fill with a few odds&ends for my trip next week. I don't have the tripod though thats in the above pic.
The backpack looks bigger then I expected.

I'm only allowed to bring 1 camera onto the plane, which is ok...just means that I'll be changing lens often. I'm recharging batteries now to make sure they are ready. Someday I want to get another digital camera so that I won't have to keep changing lenses.

With my laptop & camera all in 1 bag....seems like I could live out of this 1 bag. Guess if I ever get fired and forced to leave or if I ever do decide to transfer to another park, this will be the 1 bag I will be taking with me to start over somewhere.

I'm assuming I'll be working the next 6 days straight, as my vacation starts on June 1st.
I fly out of PHX airport on the 2nd.
Course I assume that my mom will complain that I didn't bring enough clothes. Well I will admit there isn't much room in this backpack for clothes, but I would rather have the camera & laptop then a bunch of clothes...besides that's what washer & dryers were invented for.

Good Motto~

"No place is boring if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed memory cards for a digital camera."

Canyon Fairies

Sunday has been my day lately to hang out at Brenda's place. So I brought the new lens and took a bunch of pictures of the fairies she had made. (only posting 3 below)
I still think she should set up her own shop to sell them somewhere or go to someone elses shop and see if they will sell them for her.









Good thing these fairies aren't real people because they would of been complaining about posing so long. But it was fun trying out different lighting stuff while using the zoom lens.
Unfortunately it was to windy outside to take pictures of them outdoors.






















Winter Fairy~I liked this background best for this fairy. Made me think of the red rock wall that you come onto as you are heading to the 1.5 mile resthouse.



















This is her latest fairy. I call it the cactus fairy. I think its also the first completed fairy with hands too.

I LOVE this one...the wings, costume & cactus flower are terrific!

around the area

http://www.azdailysun.com/news/local/a65783f9-779f-58b8-b45f-35a5cd83e75a.html
a story about a new wildlife park called Bearizona. It opens today.

http://turquoisedeathspider.blogspot.com/
I still haven't really figured out who's blog that is, but they have wonderful pics of different spots within the GC park that I haven't seen for myself....yet

http://jasonhenrie.blogspot.com/
I don't know Jason either...but his blog is interesting even if I don't agree with his blogs about Phantom Ranch.

http://runningthetrails.blogspot.com/
I just came across this site...and it mentions their hike/run from the South rim-to-North rim-and back to South rim (R2R2R). I remember some guys eating at Yavapai Cafe about the time this was written....so it might have been them.
Hell I'll be lucky to get down to Phantom & back up.....but then Christine is going in October and maybe I'll go with her.


http://www.nps.gov/grca/parknews/2010-05-21_over_edge.htm
Yesterday, soon after I clocked into work...the manager thought she heard an alarm over
at the bank. When her boyfriend called and said that he could also hear it over by the
El Tovar, we knew it wasn't the bank. All the switchboard would tell us was that "They
were not at liberty to discuss it". I had to wait all day to read about it on the NPS website.

zoom lens

I ordered a telephoto lens from amazon and it took 3 days to get it...plenty of time to practice with it now before I go to NH for my son's graduation.

I stood near the ice cream foundtain, and was able to se the 3-mile resthouse down on Bright Angel trail. There was people walking around down there.

Now sure what this bird is, and its the only picture I got of it because it took off right after I clicked the camera.

Yesterday I went about halfway down on the red route. The buses were crowded, but what do I expect for a day with great weather.

ok, who wants to go down the river on a raft through those rapids. My friend Terri went river rafting last month.

Wildlife Day~birds

This pic below is a screech owl. There are 4 different owls in AZ that are smaller then this one. I've never seen an "elf owl" but was told it's about 4 inches tall. Not sure how tall this screech owl was.
Hummingbird display~my dad loved hummingbirds

Girl Scouts were enjoying the day.

Of course there were other animals around for wildlife day, and a bunch of ranger programs. I listened to 1 ranger give an interesting talk on different reptiles.

Goodbye

Nancy was waiting for the shuttle bus for her ride to Flagstaff on her way out of the park...After 2 years & 8 months here, Nancy is moving to Ohio. This was also Louis's last day of work here also. Louis is going to spend the Summer season working at Denali Park in Alaska.

The other day, Brenda made a comment that maybe Nancy had the right idea. See it seemed that Nancy's plan to leave the canyon was sudden...probably just cuz Brenda & I don't spend lots of time with her. But at first Nancy was going to wait until after Mother's Day to leave...obviously she changed her mind.
Guess there was no need to wait, once she made up her mind to go, besides the longer it takes to go...the more chance there is to change your mind.

Now Louis is going for a real adventure....a whole Summer in Alaska
Wow, I want to go to Alaska so much. But I couldn't go this year because I'm heading to NH for my son's graduation in June. If I had applied & gotten a job in Alaska this year then I would not be able to see him graduate.
But I will have no obligations after that for the next 4 years, so who knows maybe I will get up there next year. I have checked out quite a few different parks up there. I even found a website that hires for some airports...at least 1 airport in all 50 sates. In Alaska the job is in Anchorage.
www.hmshost.com
so Alaska could become a year-round job too. Now I'm sure someone would remind me that Alaska is cold & to far away. Well it's snowing, rainy, hailing & its been cold and windy all day here too.

Never listen to your watch

I babysat 4 kids last night and the title I used was words from 1 of them.

The youngest boy (3 yrs old) started crying when he woke from a nap because he missed his daddy. The parents had said they would be back at 8pm, so I told the boy that he had another 45 minutes to wait. One of his older brothers calmly told me "Never listen to your watch".

In alot of ways it is terrific advice that more people need to live by. It would drive me crazy to always have a set time to do everything, but some people do live that way. There is always some unexpected event messing up a person's schedule....a boss, bad weather, a phone call, traffic jams, car that won't start, misplaced your keys/shoes, or family member getting sick.

But don't listen to your watch....just go with the flow & accept whatever life deals you. People who have lived here at the canyon for quite awhile say they like the slower pace of life here. The kids I babysat for last night have lived their whole lives here at the Grand Canyon...which is probably how the young kid figured out such smart advice.
Later today there is a going away party for Nancy. She has decided to leave the canyon and move to OHIO. Party will start before I leave work so I'll catch a cab to go straight from work.

and now I have to deal with getting ready for work again. I need to catch a bus in 25 minutes.