It's been a slow time at home with not much worth blogging about. I've decided to at least temporarily re-join the working world for a time, while the next trips are planned. I expect to be around here for the summer at least, but with some decent long weekend trips to break up the routine, and keep all travel systems in good shape.
We did chase one small grizzly bear out of town a few days ago, but he was not really close enough for any good photos. Keeping the bears and people from killing each other is basically what my job consists of, so it can be very exciting at times, with long periods of boredom!
He is a little guy that we collared and tagged last year when he was hanging out around the campground with his sibling.
I'm sure we will be seeing lots more of him over the next few months - with the real possibility for some overtime involved!

But there is some big news to announce - with lots of photo potential.
I have just started the long training process for my new travel partner, sidekick, model, co-pilot, companion, and chief mouse catcher.

Meet Hailey!

She was selected after an exhaustive process, where she demonstrated an innate ability to be extremely cute while ripping skin off my hands, running three directions at once, and springing straight into the air at random times, and terrorizing various stuffed toys!

She has very big boots to fill though. Any long-term readers will of course remember Harley, who spent years traveling all over with me, including all over the south-west US, Northwest territories and several trips down Baja. He often posed on signs of the places we visited, and certainly seemed to enjoy life on the road, as evidenced by the photo in the header, and one down the side where he was watching whales in Mexico!Harley has now been keeping cat-heaven mouse-free for about 18 months, so I thought it was time to perhaps find another photogenic partner to pose on all the signs and scenic spots on our travels. If she meets all the probationary requirements, as I'm sure she will, you will no doubt be seeing a lot more of her, and watching as she grows into a full size model.
She passed her first test with flying colours - a short road trip of 2-3 hours with hardly a wimper.

Stay tuned for lots more of Hailey!