Still a bit snowy up there . . .

This is Going to the Sun Road in Glacier Park as of June 17. Currently there's about 40 to 50 feet of snow on Logan Pass, the highest part of the road.

Reminded me of a little incident over Memorial Day weekend. Dean went into town to fill our grill's propane tank. At the gas station he ran into a guy who had rented one of those ginormous RVs. He was from Florida, taking his family on a "national parks tour," and asked directions for getting to Glacier Park. Dean told him how to get there, and the guy was really excited about taking his family over the famous scenic road he'd heard so much about. Going to the Sun Road.

Dean: "Uh, it's not open."

RV Guy: "What do you mean, not open? How can it not be open? It's Memorial Day weekend."

Dean: "It's high up in the mountains. There's about 60 feet of snow up there right now. It won't be open for about another month."

The guy was crestfallen. Memorial Day weekend here was cold and rainy, as it so often is. It doesn't really warm up here until mid-June, and Going to the Sun Road usually opens in late June/early July. So chapter one of his national parks tour was a bit of a bust. But he had chapter two planned for Labor Day weekend. He was going to rent an RV again and take his family to Arizona, to see the Grand Canyon.

Dean suggested that next year, he may want to switch that itinerary around -- Arizona in May and Glacier Park in August. I wonder if they'll enjoy sweltering Arizona in August any more than they enjoyed the cold, snowy mountains in May. 

Nice rack

We had another bear sighting in the back yard Wednesday, but alas, I didn't see it and the camera wasn't handy for Dean so we don't know if it was the same one or a new guy. So we're definitely on bear alert. This afternoon I looked out the kitchen window and saw something big and furry in the back yard. But it was just this critter, who's been hanging around for awhile now, and posed nicely for his picture today. Little blurry because I had to use the zoom. Nice velvety rack, huh?

Thank goodness the hearing room has WiFi

Testifying in front of Congress is boring. There’s all that “swearing in” business, as if there’s such a thing as “truth” anymore anyway. Then a bunch of guys in suits glare at you over the top of their reading glasses. At least Joe Barton had the decency to apologize to BP, but after catching some flak he backtracked. Congressmen used to have integrity. When they were bought, they stayed bought. 

Thank goodness there’s Twitter to help BP execs while away the question-dodging, finger-pointing, obfuscating hours:

Tony Hayward’s top five live Tweets from his congressional testimony:

5. Oh no, fail whale! Wait – not Twitter’s, just dead one in Gulf. Whew!

4. Made funny joke about adding vinegar, herbs to turn oil spill into yummy salad dressing. No laughs. Tough room.

3. We can blame this on the Dutch and Norwegians, right? @SarahPalin, DM me!

2. Asked to explain “small people” comment. Answer “Randy Newman fan” not well received.

1. Glad they keep showing picture of pelican, ‘cause it really makes our point. Hey bird, give us back our oil!

Poor Tony Hayward

Why is it always the CEOs who suffer when disaster strikes? Like the poor hedge fund managers who had to sell their summer homes and are now reduced to renting in the Hamptons for the season. The investment bankers who can no longer afford a wife, a mistress and a rent boy. And of course poor BP CEO and inept, tone-deaf spokesperson Tony Hayward, who only wants his life back. Is that any reason for that big meanie Ed Schultz to call him "Tony Baloney" and make him cry?

Top five ways the gulf disaster has affected poor Tony Hayward:

5. Not only is he missing the World Cup, he has to listen to all these stupid Americans refer to the sport as “soccer.”

4. Completely perplexed by all those oil slick jokes that refer to something called “the cast of Jersey Shore.”

3. Due to differences in currencies, he has to keep converting damage estimates from dollars to “metric tons of cash.”

2. Due to differences in currencies, he has to keep converting BP profits from dollars to “metric assloads of cash.”

1. The postcard reading, “The top bunk is mine. Bring cigarettes. See you soon. Love, Bernie Madoff.”

He's baaack . . .

This year we’ve had a cold, wet spring, so I’m late at getting anything planted. Yesterday I got a few flowers in hanging baskets and pots. I was just sitting down to enjoy my handiwork when a black bear showed up. He came around the side of the house and headed toward the stairs of the deck where Woody and I were sitting.

At least Woody was awake this time. He charged at the bear, barking like crazy, and it took off into the area behind the house. He lingered a bit in the scrubby bushes behind the house, looking back now and then as if he was trying to figure us out. Damn bears are very curious critters. But eventually he wandered off. He was about the same size as the bear who was getting into my feeders last year. He also showed up first on the day I planted my flowers, so maybe he’s just into gardening.

You can barely see him in this pic – he’s the black blob in the middle, turning around to check us out.

I took the sunflower seed feeders in last night, but left the hummingbird feeders up for now. We have loads of hummingbirds this year and I don’t want them to leave, so the feeders will stay up unless the bears start getting into them. Maybe Woody’s fearsome charge was enough to scare him away for good.