I'm a Bit Jealous

Ok, so I must admit, I'm a bit jealous. Working in the office I find it easy to forget that we live in one of the world's most beautiful places. But Sonja doesn't have that problem. She gets reminded of it every single day. Take the above scene, for instance. That was Sonja's "office" today. Not fair.

I know, I shouldn't complain. All I have to do is step outside and breath the crisp mountain air and gaze up at the mountains surrounding park headquarters to remember that I get to live and work here, too. But I don't get to see things like that every day.

I also don't get to check out grizzly bear tracks, or watch Golden Eagles soaring overhead, or scan the cliffs for sheep and goats, or any of the other cool things Sonja gets to do.

It's not that I'm complaining about my job, really. I just have to work a bit harder to make sure that I can take advantage of the amazing resources this place has to offer.

And honestly, just knowing that Sonja gets to see goats standing on a snowy (and empty) Going to the Sun Road on a regular basis makes me really happy. I mean, seriously, check out the pantaloons on this guy! It's awesome!

Of Cuckoos and Careers

I spotted what will, in all likelihood, be my last Arizona life bird...at least for a little while anyway. I was walking to work yesterday morning when I encountered a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. I'd been trying to find one of these ever since I learned they nested here. It took me until four days before we move to actually see one. Fortunately, I had a video camera with me, so I got some footage of the encounter:


And speaking of our big move, it's looking very likely that Sonja will have a job waiting for her when we arrive at Glacier! She'll be working as a bio-tech doing wildlife observations along the Going to the Sun Road. From what her new supervisor says, the job focuses mostly on grizzly-road interactions, so she'll be spending most of her time looking for bears. Both of us are really excited for this really amazing opportunity for her! Everything just seems to be coming together perfectly for us.

We leave on Tuesday morning, and plan on arriving in our new, temporary home on Friday. I hope to post at least once more before we leave, but you know how I tend to be about that. Either way, I'll be sure to post some pictures of Montana as soon as we get settled in.