Saturday, September 18, 2010

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. 

Teton Range and weathered buildings of Mormon Row in morning light.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. 

Bison on the move across Mormon Row 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!

Jenny Lake 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.  :)

15 comments:

  1. Hi I just found your blog today and enjoyed reading about your travels. Beautiful pics in this post! Mice, yikes! I'm pretty sure I'd have not slept a wink the night you described, eeeww!

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  2. What a great place. We decided to skip this area and went north. We missed a great journey, but enjoyed your pictures.

    we got snow instead!

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  3. It is that time of year again. Once those first cool nights appear all the mice seem to start looking for a warm place to hole up for the winter, and what better place than a traveling home that is headed for warmer climes. Maybe a little sign saying "Alaska or Bust" would stop them, but just in case we have a platoon of barn cats patrolling around our outfit and our traps ready for the onslaught.

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  4. Oh My Gosh mice in the rig would scare me to death especially if they ran across my bed while I was sleeping. Hope you can get rid of them soon.

    We were at the Tetons in July it is beautiful country.

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  5. We were in the Tetons in June. We hiked around Phelps Lake off Moose-Wilson Rd. Really nice light hike and beautiful. The Rockefeller nature center is nice as well a beautiful photo display and a cool "sounds of nature" display.

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  6. Did you ever have problems when your beautiful Luna was still with you? The only times I've ever had mice in a S&B were when I didn't have a kitty.

    Our Shadow-cat is an indoor/outdoor girl, and she is a MIGHTY hunter! Although she does bring all her kills to her family to share... she just cannot understand why we do not join in her delight! But she always gets extra petting and lots of "whattagoodkitty"s. She is fearsome... all 5.5 pounds of her!

    Beautiful pictures, as always. Lovely area. Glad you are enjoying yourselves.

    Safe travels!

    Kerri in AL :-)

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  7. I gotta tell you, Laurie, I literally laughed out loud reading this one. It is a very funny mouse (err..mice) story. I hope Odel got them all!

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  8. Perhaps a replacement for Luna would really be a good thing. I know she can't be replaced, but perhaps a stand in to replace her duties! And of course after only a little while, she would be in your heart.
    We have not gone after another dog, after the loss or our Bichon Brandy, but we talk about it all the time.
    Best of luck with your mouse hunting duties!
    Retired Rod

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  9. Ha Ha Ha! Funny post even though I know having mice isn't funny business! Love the picture with the barns. :)

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  10. ACK is right! I've never been that close to a mouse and don't want to be. I hope Odel got them all and you don't have a recurrence.
    I love the pic of Mormon Row with the Grand Tetons in the background!

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  11. 100 gallons of water! and TWO big batteries! Wow, that is the delight of traveling with your sweet Scoopy. Our boondocks average around 5 days max, but we love them. The sweetest boondocked ever was our visit to the Alabama Hills, so well recommended by you long ago. Thanks, Laurie! and good luck with the mice!!

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  12. OMG! Ran across Odel's head?! That is freakier than freak! I'm ACKing with you as I read it!!!

    Stunning picture of the barns and gorgeous sky there in the Tetons!

    We enjoyed that beautiful place last Fall!

    Stay toasty!
    Kathy
    aka Birdingrvers.com

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  13. HAHAHAH I had to read this one aloud to Steveio at my side. We both laughed hard, but also recalled our mouse battles and time to get out the mothballs. We have spread them on the ground under our rig when parked at home. Some folks hang them in mesh onion or orange sacks wiretied up to the frame underneath their rigs in strategic places. We buy boxes at the dollar stores where they are *cheap* (the tightwads that we are)

    We noticed a red squirrel kept crawling up into our Tracker engine compartment this weekend while camping. We had to keep chasing him out of there too. Guess we had better hang a bag in there too!

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  14. Beautiful photo of those barns! Breathtaking. I miss the life on the road...

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  15. Having mice run across the kitchen floor is one thing, but across your head! No thank you. We're in Bar Harbor, Maine right now and we have a hitchhiker on board too. We've got our traps out hoping to capture him and put him back in the woods. With 4 kitties in our MH, I don't think the mouse would dare come into the living area. It would certainly be a short lived decision if that would happen. I keep trying to get David to put one of our kitties in the basement area to hunt him down.

    Beautiful pictures. We look forward to hitting that area some day. I love the barn photo.

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