4th of July . . . Gardiner, Montana

Good Morning Folks,


Happy Independence Day all! This day was important to our fore-fathers, and ultimately to us, for what it represents as an achievement other countries have attempted and failed. But, the holiday itself always leaves me a bit ambivalent, as do many we celebrate, especially the summer ones. All this BBQing, over indulgence in drink, fireworks, and such, really do not, nor have they ever, held much excitement for me. As a matter of fact for most of the last few years I have worked on the 4th. When a ranger I liked working because it meant double pay. From Memorial Day to Labor Day when you are working with Park visitors everyday is pretty much the same.


Today in beautiful downtown Gardiner, with the almost full-moon setting at the dawn of this holiday there will be no fireworks this evening. The fire danger has become extreme with temps in the 90s and hot winds blowing everyday for the last few weeks. Funny thing is that here in Montana and in Wyoming I have noticed they are big on fireworks. The booths selling them were up and running in earnest a week and a half ago, but with the ban on setting them off I am not sure how things will work. No one has shut them down so I expect there will be a lot of illicit activity regarding them this evening.


I am beginning to miss being in Flagstaff. Am glad that unlike working for the Park Service, where I was gone for almost 5 months, that this volunteer job has only taken me away for three. Having visited Bozeman several times on my days off I have determined that I could live there, and if I did, I might not miss Arizona as much. I think it is just that where my "stuff" is located is what pretty much defines "home"for me. It is not like I have that many friends in Flag (of course the same is not true for Prescott). Financially, and emotionally I could not move to Montana. I am pretty much stuck with my condo since housing values went down. Plus, the amount it would cost to move, even with my meager belongings, would be too much. On the emotional side, I could not move that far away from my family in southern California. As it is I have missed too much of my grandsons growing up.


As for movies: Yesterday I was in Bozeman again and saw People Like Us, featuring Elizabeth Banks, Chris Pine and Michelle Phifer (sp). It was a very good relationships film where the performances by the actors were excellent. Elizabeth Banks is a very underrated  actor. This movie is not recommended to "summer action movie males" (A.D.D. guys). They will find it slow and boring. Previously I went to see Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, with Steve Carrell and Kiera Knightly. Another "relationship" film posing the question, what would you do if you knew the world was coming to an end in just 3 weeks? It was an interesting and thoughtful film but not a great one, just pretty good. Prometheus was an overly long, and need of editing "fair" prequel to the Alien series of movies. Noomi Rapace took the place of Sigourney Weaver (before her character was born) as the female heroine and did an adequate job. However, she was much better in the Swedish version of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.



I am looking forward to the brief visit of my niece Kimberley and her family, husband Dennis, and great niece and nephew, Melissa and Kyle on their way through here on Sunday. They will have "bagged" three more, new for them, National Parks in the Pacific Northwest on this trip. I am just sorry that I have to work that day and will not be able to spend much time with them. They, next to my friend Marc, have been my most faithful visitors during my past 12 years, or so, working summers up this way. They will be staying at my favorite lodge cabins in Yellowstone, Roosevelt.  I hope they like it as much as I do.


That's about it for this go round. I have withdrawn from Facebook so this will be one of my only methods by which folks can follow my "exploits" from this point on . . . well, there is e-mail and the phone. In a future blog I will discuss this "Facebook" thing.


Cheers, and have a safe holiday!