Good morning from the States! It is so weird being here but in a good way! The first thing I did when I landed in Miami was head straight to a Pizza Hut, then I made a b-line directly to a Dunkin Donuts were I downed two yummy raspberry jelly filled donuts and topped it all off with a big thick home made pretzel, it was great! I was like a kid in a candy store, one could just fly to Miami and never leave the airport, they have every kind of food and all kinds of great stores! The worst thing about the Miami airport is the INSANE amount of walking you have to do to get thru customs and to your next flight, I mean really it’s too much! I kid you not, I walked fast, in fact faster than anyone else and it still took me one full hour to get all the way down to customs and then to my next flight,maybe that’s why I was so hungry! And as luck would have it by the time I boarded my flight to Chicago that I rushed to make, the Caption came on and said “folks we have a problem with the plane and we are waiting for parts, it could be 30-45 minutes”.  This message stirred concern with so many travelers who had to make connecting flights and after 20 minutes of waiting the Caption once again came on and said “folks, I am real sorry but we are going to have to ask you to take your carry on items and get off the plane”, hearing this everyone started to panic and there was a mad rush to the American Airlines desk where everyone made a long line and tried to re-route their flights, it was the biggest mess I have ever been involved in! I finally got to Chicago hours later and then once there had to find another flight other than American to get me to South Dakota as it had already left, I can’t even begin to tell you how much walking I did that day, good thing I was in shape for it! Like I said before traveling just plain sucks!

I had another super fun day of hiking yesterday and even got pretty sun-burned, especially my neck! It wasn’t the greatest day of fossil collecting but still I wouldn’t have wanted to be any where else, the day was perfect! I had again started my day with photographing flowers after a wonderful breakfast and then set out by jeep to my collecting areas.

During my days out on the prairie I am constantly being watched and surrounded by Pronghorn Antelope, they are so cool! The males are more brave than the females and come pretty close and stand above me on a hill barking at me! Yes barking, it’s the weirdest noise you will ever hear. I have also seen two baby Swift Foxes,a bunch of rare Sage Grouse, an owl with a snake in it’s mouth, a mother Wild Turkey with it’s nine babies,  a coyote, deer and countless birds and butterflies, this place is great!

Last night we went on a lightning watch. Right now there is a lot of dry grass out on the prairie’s and if they get a lightning strike it could start a bad grass fire. So what we did is drive to the top of multiple hills and just sit and watch for any lightning that may hit the ground and start a fire. Then, if there is a strike and fire starts they race to the spot with a truck and trailer with water in a large container and put it out! Thank goodness last night was uneventful even though we did see some big lightning strikes but it was far away over other areas which other ranchers will have to deal with.

Here’s a beautiful Intermediate Queen Angelfish for your viewing pleasure today, they are one of my all time favorites, so graceful and colorful!

That’s about it, off to play, hope all is well, Barry