THE BEAUTY OF GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING

Today’s photos have been taken over the past couple days here in Grand Teton National Park.  Mouse over any photo for a caption, or click to enlarge. 

7:21.  35.2.  71.5.  12.7.  Do I sound like a quarterback?

These are the all-important numbers I reported to Odel this morning when I got up and he lingered snugly in bed at 7:21 am.  The outside temperature was 35.2, while the inside temperature was a cozy and warm 71.5, thanks to Odel’s pinpoint accuracy with our Kozy World propane heater (he turned it up at 5:25 am, to bring the temperature up from 63 comfortable sleeping degrees to the warmer 71.5 time-to-get-up degrees). 

And 12.7?  The voltage of our batteries, comfortably high after a short workout of the generator last night.  Later, we’ll peek at our fresh water tank, to estimate how many of our 100 gallons of fresh water we have used since we arrived on Thursday.  That’s boondocking, folks!

However, the number I am most interested in is Odel’s morning report of mice killed. 

While I was reading late one night at Baker’s Hole Campground near Yellowstone, I was distracted by a quick movement out of the corner of my eye.  Twice.  Each time, I decided it was an odd reflection of my reading light off my glasses… until the third time, when it was very clear to me that a MOUSE was running back and forth across the floor between the driver’s seat and the kitchen.  ACK!

It was almost 11 pm.  With GREAT reluctance, I awoke Odel, the designated mouse killer in our family, and he went outside and dug our bag of five mouse traps out of the basement.  He set three, and we retired to bed together.

Twenty minutes later, I heard a few drops of rain falling on the roof, a soft pitter-patter.  As I raised my head to look out the window, Odel sat bolt upright in bed and yelled ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!  What I had heard was not rain, but the pitter-patter of little mousie feet crossing our mattress or headboard so it could run across Odel’s HEAD!  ACK, ACK, ACK!

As we lay in bed, wide-eyed, freaked out, we heard mice (yes, plural) running through our ceiling.  All we could do was make sure all our fingers and toes were under the covers, and hope these mice were hungry for the peanut butter snacks Odel had set out for them.   (We had a long conversation about whether mice could climb up under our covers… and would they?)  It was a fairly sleepless night.

I don’t know how many mice frolicked in Scoopy that night, or how many came along when we left Baker’s Hole.  What I do know is: 2, 1, 2 – the number of mice caught at Baker’s Hole Campground, Teton Mountain View Campground, and now here at Gros Ventre Campground!

And Odel’s morning report: 0.  Let’s hope it is the new trend.  :)