Old Faithful Chat’s Chat Logs

December 2nd, 2008 View December’s Logs

15:48 kalamitykatie ah, now there's a site for sore eyes
15:49 Derek It's Carolyn on the cam right now. I'm off to bed.


December 4th, 2008 View December’s Logs

07:19 kalamitykatie Is that you, CC? I had to pop in and see how much light there was since you posted an OF at 7:07
09:47 bruce jensen Hi! I get a few minutes today...
09:48 kalamitykatie Good morning
09:48 kalamitykatie looks cold & quiet
09:48 Derek Hi
09:48 Derek I think there might have been a giant earlier
09:49 bruce jensen Good morning, Katie and Derek. Been awful busy around here...Giant?
09:49 Derek Yeah
09:49 bruce jensen It looks COLD there...maybe even a smaller geyser could send up a monster cloud...
09:50 kalamitykatie has it? I just popped in again... I popped in after Caroline posted that OF popped at 7:07 just to see how much light there was. We're not that much further north but it was still dark at my house at 7:30
09:50 kalamitykatie I was surprised at how much light there was at the UGB
09:50 Derek Jimbo said he thought it may be Giant so I zoomed in
09:51 Derek It was in the right place and the steam was rising fast and in a fairly narrow colum
09:54 bruce jensen Any other big events last couple of weeks?
09:58 bruce jensen Some pretty bright steam down by Grotto just now...
10:00 bruce jensen Well, it's 9 AM here - they get mad at us if we keep the stream on too long (blocks other users)...so i gotta get out. See you guys later maybe!
10:00 Derek Seeya
12:09 kalamitykatie Yay!
12:10 kalamitykatie How long ago did it start?
13:08 Derek I'm back again
13:08 Derek Hi Guest :-)
14:05 Derek Hi
14:05 Derek I am the cam operator :-)
14:20 Derek Hello
14:25 Derek Lion Geyser erupting
14:38 Derek Sawmill Geyser
16:59 Graham Looks like F&M 1651ie on 12/4
17:19 Graham Nope, just Riverside and cold making the steam clouds bigger


December 5th, 2008 View December’s Logs

11:10 kalamitykatie looks pretty dark there this am...!
11:10 kalamitykatie Is beehive about due?
11:10 Derek I don't know
11:11 Derek Yesterday it was 12:08 MST
11:14 kalamitykatie kinda sad to see it so ... empty
11:14 Derek The cam glass badly needs cleaning
11:14 kalamitykatie yeah... It's not as bad as it might be, though
11:15 Derek and the static cam is down
11:15 kalamitykatie I saw your posting on Ynet to that effect. I hardly look at that one anymore since this one is up.
11:15 Derek We operators monitor it
11:15 kalamitykatie I haven't looked at Mammoth or Mount Washburn lately. I saw your comment about the cam at Washburn. Might ahve to check that one out. brb
11:16 Derek It helps prevent us missing something while we're zoomed in to something else :-)
11:19 kalamitykatie that makes sense... and you do a good enough job that I can I just watch this and trust you. :)
11:19 Derek :P
11:19 Derek It's always nice to have someone in this room who I know is watching
11:20 Derek A little like an actor performing without knowing if there's any audience.
11:22 kalamitykatie :)
11:22 kalamitykatie well described
11:23 kalamitykatie I just popped over to see washburn
11:23 Derek Looks like Daisy just ending
11:23 kalamitykatie I imagine that one will be that way for a while
11:23 kalamitykatie looks there was a good horizontal snow storm there
11:23 kalamitykatie :)
11:24 kalamitykatie Stacy and Dad are headed to the Park this weekend.
11:25 Derek I thought it didn't open until 15th
11:27 Derek I'll be going downstairs soon for something to eat. As Carolyn is no at home the cam will not be moving until I get back.
11:46 kalamitykatie you must be back... :)
11:46 kalamitykatie The interior opens to over snow travel on the 15th --but it sure doesn't look like over snow travel is possible -- not enough snow!
11:46 kalamitykatie The north road from Gardiner to Cooke City is open year-round. That's where Dad and Stacy will be.
11:47 kalamitykatie Or maybe Carolyn is driving...?


December 6th, 2008 View December’s Logs

09:12 Derek Hi
09:15 Derek Tomorrow Gary is due to start at 4:30pm and Carolyn will be covering for me. However she said, if you get home before 4:30 and want to take the cam, would you please email her,
09:18 Graham hi there
09:18 Graham ok if I get home early I will email her. Hope you have a great day
09:19 Graham that should be fun
09:19 Derek Today was good fun too
09:19 Graham good. what time did you see Daisy?
09:20 Derek That was yesterday :-)
09:20 Graham what happened at the ****ens festival?
09:20 Graham oh, ok. Theres no time stamp here
09:21 Derek Marching bands, street entertainers and loads of people dressed as Charles ****ens characters
09:21 Derek Even some artificial snow
09:22 Graham looks like they need artificial snow at YNP now
09:23 Derek Carolyn said they're expecting some in her area.
09:24 Graham Yeah there might be flurries here tonight. Its in the 30's this weekend for daytime highs
09:24 Graham but the Yellowstone weather systems are different to ours on the East coast
09:25 Graham Did you see Castle yesterday?
09:25 Derek It was steaming heavilly
09:27 Graham ok. If it keeps having Majors its not too hard to predict it a double interval ~26 hours
09:52 Derek Yesterday there was a nice flock of 12 geese wandering around in front of the camera. They were there for quite a while.
09:53 Graham I saw them for a few minutes. Loks quiet out there now. Beehive bubblers are going so I guess it hasn't erupted for a long time
09:54 Derek I noticed them yesterday.
09:56 Graham Big Beehive splash there
09:57 Graham sometimes they erupt for hours and hours, but other times its a good sign for Beehive
10:18 Derek Sawmill quite lively
10:21 Graham very steamy and the winds not blowing it away very well though
10:32 Derek The media player stream is very jumpy here.
10:34 Derek Just restarted it and it's OK again
10:34 Derek brb
10:38 Graham the streaming was very jumpy for me too but it fixed itself
10:43 Derek I did catch a brief glimpse of a column of Bison heading way over to the left beyond Castle yesterday.
10:57 Graham I saw them too one day and they moved through pretty fast. Probably taking advantage of so little snow on the ground
11:09 Derek I downloaded a nice TV film last week. Christmas at Yellowstone.
11:12 Graham I think i have seen that here, shows people at the snow lodge right?
11:15 Derek Yes, and the cute fox hunting in the snow
11:33 Derek In relation to Little Cub, where would Big Cub and Lioness be?
11:38 Derek WOW! Humans :-)
11:42 Graham yeah not many people but some.
11:42 Graham From here, both are behind little cub
11:43 Derek Is that the other steam plumes I can see?
11:43 Graham lioness a bit to the left and Big Cub probably right behind it
11:44 Graham Yes, I think the right one is little cub and the left one is probably llioness but maybe big cub area
11:46 Derek Going downstairs for something to eat.
11:47 Derek I'll be back around 15:00 EST
11:49 Graham k see you
12:29 Graham Beehive 1222 on 12/6
13:19 Derek 15:20 because wife roped me into washing the dishes.
13:38 Graham hi there
13:39 Derek Just showing my video of todays festival to a friend in Bulgaria
13:41 Graham ok. we had Daisy at 1243 MST
14:08 Derek I am watching the cam on my old PC while I am videochatting to Bulgaria on this one.
14:09 Graham ok. I just went to get my mail and that looks like Oblong going now
14:10 Derek I did email Craig about the zoom problem. He told me he would look into it as soon as he can.
14:12 Graham I had problems when OF erupted earlier, I zoomed out and it focussed on the lense, not on the geyser
14:14 Derek Yeah, if the lense was clean, that wouldn't happen.
14:15 Graham you would think they could set it so it wouldn't focus that close too
14:16 Derek I don't think that any autofocus is too smart
14:17 Graham that looks like Turban
14:18 Derek It's amazing how close those geysers seem to each other on the zoomed camera
14:19 Graham yep, its hard to tell on the streaming cam. A little easier on the static cam though
14:23 Derek All that area on the distant hills. Is that all wilderness with not public access?
14:28 Graham There are some trails
14:29 Graham to the right is Observation point and Solitary - short loop trail
14:29 Graham down basin, theres a trail to Fairy Falls
14:29 Derek I know about that. I was refering to those hills way beyond Grand
14:29 Graham not many trails and a lot of forest in this area
14:30 Graham Theres one trail into the hills there but thats all
14:31 Graham There are a lot of trails in Yellowstone but the whole area is so big they are spread up but many link up so you can walk through routes a lot
14:33 Graham Plume
14:35 Derek I wonder if anyone has a video of Plume before it changed.
14:37 Graham I am not sure, that was pre-video but there may be some oldfilm of it
14:37 Derek Likewise for Lioness and Big Cub
14:38 Derek Somewhere on the net I once saw a picture of Giantess with its crater empty, but I loss the link and never found it again.
14:41 Graham They are so rare though. Plume was fairly active so theres probably some film
14:42 Graham I would think the Park web site may have that shot of Giantess empty
14:43 Derek I have searched many times but not found it.
14:44 Graham http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!40660!0#focus
14:44 Graham its not empty though
14:45 Derek I have seen one with it full
14:46 Derek Yeah I've seen that one
14:48 Derek Sprinkler
14:49 Graham Yep, looks like it
14:52 Graham Daisy
14:53 Derek Daisy must errupt quite high because it seems way above those trees.
14:54 Graham I think its quoted at 70' but its at an angle and often wond swept up on the small hill
14:55 Graham of course Grand wouldn't wait another couple of minutes
14:55 Derek :D
14:57 Graham bad wind direction too
15:00 Derek All that steam to the left of Grand. Is that run-off water?
15:01 Graham Could be from West Triplet, it often erupts around Grands time or runoff - theres a huge flow of water off Grand
15:02 Graham SOme nice water shots now
15:06 Graham 11minutes, probably just 1 burst
15:09 Derek I'm off downstairs now. Goodnight
15:10 Graham ok, have fun tomorrow at the christening


December 7th, 2008 View December’s Logs

14:17 Derek Hi


December 8th, 2008 View December’s Logs

15:14 Derek Hi


December 9th, 2008 View December’s Logs

10:52 kalamitykatie oh, yuck
10:52 kalamitykatie too bad the glass is so messy. Looks like quite a pretty day... snow on the ground, nice clouds & blue sky in between
11:21 Derek Brice Hi Kate
12:32 Derek Brice Hi
13:17 Derek Brice Hi


December 10th, 2008 View December’s Logs

09:26 Derek Brice Hi
10:54 kalamitykatie Starting to look like winter, finally!
13:37 bruce jensen Hi - nice colors and contrast today - the lens is a mess!
13:37 Derek Brice Yeah
13:38 bruce jensen How are things? Bene thinking about your guys...
13:38 Derek Brice Carolyn has reported it to Craig Johnson and sent a copy to Tom
13:39 Derek Brice We're busy with seasonal preparations
13:40 Derek Brice As well as the usual chores.
13:40 bruce jensen I'll bet - I wish we were - we hardly have time to sneeze.
13:40 Derek Brice Have missed quite a few hours on the camera
13:40 bruce jensen Sorry to hear that. Sounds like you had a christening for a little one?
13:41 Derek Brice On sunday
13:41 bruce jensen Cool! :)
13:42 bruce jensen Got your holiday card, many thanks!
13:43 Derek Brice Carolyn and Me seem to be doing by far the most hours on the cam as usual, in fact I think I do even more than she does.
13:43 Derek Brice Graham Meech usualy sits in this room when he's on the cam
13:44 bruce jensen I think you guys probably enjoy it the most. I'm glad Graham shows up - he's a good resource for anyone who wants to talk.
13:45 Derek Brice He wont be on today so Carolyn is taking over from me at 15:00 MST
13:46 bruce jensen I am still working on umpteen pictures from last summer's visit there - mostly of geysers, as usual. Carolyn's a go-getter, eh?
13:47 bruce jensen The bison have it tough in winter. Hideously cold, not much food - gotta be rough...
13:47 Derek Brice Carolyn is very busy with her job and family so she's quite often not available for whole days
13:49 bruce jensen Daisy worth a peek?
13:50 bruce jensen Looks steamy - maybe fixin'? hard to tell on a day like this...
13:51 Derek Brice Sprinkler is going well
13:51 bruce jensen Yepp, Sprinkler and Terra Cotta are both blasting away...
13:52 bruce jensen Terra Cotta gopt really steamy...
13:52 Derek Brice Whats' that beyond castle?
13:53 bruce jensen That is probably out at Black Sand Basin, if my connoitering is correct.
13:54 bruce jensen Black Sand has the several big pools that can erupt rarely, plus Cliff Geyser, Ragged Spring and a fe wothers.
13:55 bruce jensen People will be back in a couple of weeks...
13:56 Derek Brice On the 15th
13:56 bruce jensen Oh! That soon! Sometimes it's just a couple days prior to Christmas.
13:56 bruce jensen When you saw Dome, how was it? I;ve never see it.
13:57 Derek Brice Loads of steam. I never saw the start
13:58 bruce jensen I've stayed in two of those cabins you just zoome din on. Fun.
13:59 Derek Brice What are they like inside? Loads of spiders?
14:00 bruce jensen No, not at all - simple, clean, sink but no commode, small (not much room to rumpus), with lamps. Two small windows, fairly dark. Spiders and bugs do get in, and so does the occasional chipmunk, but no biggie.
14:01 Derek Brice I saw loads of chipmunks during my vacations in the Adirondacks
14:02 bruce jensen Yeah, quite a few of them anywhere outside the city. They like it either cold or high.
14:02 bruce jensen Well, it's 1 PM - got to go back to shirk, er, I mean, work...
14:03 Derek Brice ok
14:03 bruce jensen See ya...
14:03 Derek Brice Cheers


December 12th, 2008 View December’s Logs

13:15 Derek Brice Hi


December 13th, 2008 View December’s Logs

09:10 Derek Hi
09:37 Graham hello
09:37 Derek Not much to see on the cam
09:38 Graham Yeah, i figure its going to be a slow day
09:39 Graham but they need the snow, they say on the park web site that they may have to limit access to rubber tracked vehicles or vehicles with tires and chains as theres not enough snow
09:39 Derek Any idea who that guy is?
09:39 Graham no idea
09:39 Derek He's been there chatting on his phone for ages
09:39 Derek He must be cold
09:40 Graham Yeah, well he's waiting for OF I guess or has it erupted?
09:40 Derek It's a job to say. The last one I saw was 8:03
09:40 Derek Lion at 8:07
09:40 Graham ok
09:41 Graham its not cold there though, the static cam shows 24F at Lake
09:41 Graham thats pretty comfortable. Mondays high is supposed to be in the teens and below zero at night which is more wintery
09:41 Derek I'm just going downstairs for a cup of tea. Do you want to play for a while?
09:42 Graham ok. Looks like Lion may be trying again
09:42 Graham I iwll take the control
09:42 Derek Cheers
09:42 Derek I'll be back
09:47 Derek I'm back, with my cuppa and some digestive biscuits :-)
09:47 Derek Looks like you got O.F.
09:47 Graham Yeah it was at 943
09:48 Graham I think there was a plume at 942 as well
09:48 Graham looked like steam getting pushed up in bursts beyond OF
09:49 Derek He's gonna need a recharge on that cell phone soon :-)
09:49 Graham I bet he will. There should be more people there this weekend getting ready to open up on Monday
09:50 Graham I want lots of snow for the next month and then a week with sunshine and a little snow while I am there :)
09:53 Derek I just checked the webcam for my old haunt at Old Forge, NY. Temperature is 9F and a nice snowy scene on the cam with some snow mobilers
09:54 Graham yeah i bet. they had a bad ice storm in CT too so Carolyn may not have power
09:55 Derek She emailed me yesterday at 19:00 EST. She'd been out all day at a funeral.
09:56 Graham Monday high of 4, low of -15F
09:56 Graham  
http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/ge…
09:56 Graham oh, im sorry to hear that
09:56 Graham western CT got ice and there was a lot of rain in the rest of the state
09:56 Derek It's +3C outside here
09:57 Graham Thats -16 and -26 in C
09:58 Derek Whenever we have ice or frost the trains out back put on a sparkler display. They have trouble getting the 750 volts DC from the live rail.
09:59 Graham it's about +2C here now
09:59 Derek In sunny Virginia :-)
09:59 Graham Yeah i bet. We can get bad ice storms, the worst I have seen is 3/4" of ice on everything. Treas snap over, power lines all come down, it can be real bad.
10:01 Graham looks like the snow is dying down
10:01 Derek Just looking at a controllable streaming cam at Montana State University.
10:01 Derek The weather looks the same as at O.F.
10:02 Graham Yeah, theres a big storm over the whole of the northern rockies now but that's good, they need the snow
10:02 Graham no snow in winter = fires and drought in summer
10:03 Graham the trees look real pretty with their fresh snow
10:03 Derek Yeah
10:03 Graham Do you get the SPut?
10:03 Derek It would be nice to see some wildlife on the cam.
10:04 Derek No I don't get that. Only the Geyser Mailing List
10:04 Graham and some geysers too!
10:04 Graham ok. They have one of my OF winter shots in the December issue
10:05 Derek This is a strange question but have you ever seen the Moon on the cam?
10:06 Graham no, thats not a time when i am online
10:06 Graham i have seen the static cam moonlit Giant picture that Pat Snyder posted
10:07 Graham it was about midnight
10:07 Graham the moon was wonderful last night, as big as it gets
10:07 Derek Sometimes when I get in here first thing in the morning it is about midnight at O.F.
10:08 Derek I occasionally log in and swing round to the east
10:08 Derek I can only see that lamp over near the Inn.
10:09 Graham ok, thats west if its the Inn, the Lodge is east
10:10 Graham That maybe Turban there at 1010
10:11 Derek The moon is currently north of the equator and should be visible if it moves far enough to the west on a cloudless night
10:12 Derek Tom Cawley has put limits on the swing of the cam.
10:12 Graham yes, you could see it on the cam if the clouds cooperate
10:13 Derek He can move it further when he logs in with his admin password
10:13 Graham here comes more snow
10:13 Derek I once saw him swing it round to point at the static cam
10:14 Graham yeah a geyser! Little Cub
10:15 Graham oh really, that's interesting
10:15 Derek One day when he and Gary were working on the static cam, he held a card in front of the streaming cam with a note saying Hi to derek from Tom and Gary.
10:16 Graham Haha, thats good
10:16 Graham the cam is doing pretty well keeping ocus now through the snow
10:17 Derek I said to Carolyn, I wish there was some way that Tom could give us access to the wiper.
10:17 Derek Obviously we would only use it on a wet glass.
10:18 Graham that would help
10:18 Derek All my old security CCTV cameras had wipers.
10:19 Derek They were all switchable from the keyboard
10:19 Derek we also had a manual focus to overide the auto focus
10:20 Graham Manual focus would help sometimes
10:21 Derek It would be a great help on days when the cam glass is dirty
10:22 Derek I'm actually watching on the viewer rather than the media player right now.
10:22 Graham and its going to get more snow and ice on it through the winter too
10:23 Derek Our cams also had small built in heaters.
10:23 Graham i am going to get some lunch if you want to take over again
10:23 Derek OK, I'll be here for about 80 minutes before my next mealtime.
10:24 Graham might be a plume after 1040
10:24 Derek ok
10:24 Derek I'll take control now.
10:24 Derek I'm on
10:24 Graham i will leave for a bit and will be back within 80 minutes
10:24 Derek Thanks
11:12 Graham what's erupting?
11:12 Graham depression or indicator?
11:12 Graham Lion
11:12 Derek Yes
11:13 Graham it just had a minor earlier
11:16 Derek Looks terrible
11:16 Graham let it snow let it snow let it snow :)
11:16 Graham theres of and the plough
11:31 Derek Are you ready? :-)
11:31 Graham sure
11:31 Graham time to eat?
11:32 Derek I'll be back in about 90 minutes. Normally Carolyn would cover for me at this time of day except for saturdays :-)
11:32 Graham ok, well i was planning on being here starting at 1200 MST
11:32 Graham so now is fine too
11:33 Derek Great. I'll be here in 90 minutes until my bed time anyway, just to keep you company :-)
11:33 Graham ok. see you later
11:35 Graham i think the indicator is going now
13:06 Derek I'm back
13:07 Graham hi there
13:07 Graham Sunshine!
13:09 Derek Having fun? :-)
13:10 Graham Yeah. Beehive was at 1137 in the snow but not long after it was a whiteout. Then Castle was 1219ie (Major) and Daisy at 1303
13:10 Graham OF was 1247
13:17 Derek When do you next hope to be visiting the park?
13:21 Graham January 17th for a week
13:25 Derek Have you seen this:
http://www.mountainvisions.com/QTVR/YellQTVR/OldFa…
13:26 Derek Panoramic views
13:28 Derek I would be greatfull if you could take some specific pictures for me. I would like some views that look from the geysers in the UGB back towards the camera tree. Just to give me some more perspective
13:29 Graham hadn't seen it before. pretty neat
13:30 Graham ok I can do that. WHich ones in particular? Its hard to figure out which tree is which though but I can get it in the middle of the shot
13:32 Derek For example: Lion Group, Plume, Castle, Giantess. Not just Geysers but places that I can see from the cam.
13:33 Graham ok. From the panaramas, the camera is between the Inn and the Lodge, a bit closer to the lodge
13:33 Derek Try to put yourself in my position and show me the views that can't be seen from the cam. As I may probably never get there for real.
13:34 Derek Does your camera have a good zoom?
13:34 Graham Yeah I have a Nikon D70 with the 18-200mm lens
13:34 Derek wowie!
13:35 Graham the lens was expensive, it has vibration reduction too but it was worth it, it covers such a wide range
13:35 Derek Using the map in Scott Bryans book, try to locate the illusive Teapot Geyser that sits behind and to the left of O.F.
13:36 Derek As far as I know there are no pictures of it.
13:36 Graham Ahhh I have never figured out where that one is, you cant get close to it and I have not noticed steam from it
13:37 Derek Well, Scott shows it on his map.
13:37 Graham There are a lot of snall holes all around geyser hill, they are very hard to distinguish one from another.
13:37 Derek But I guess those maps aren't too detailed
13:38 Graham there may not be any visible sign of it now
13:38 Derek Do you ever get up to the observation point?
13:39 Graham I actually went up there last winter and have a picture of OF from the trail - I didn't get to the top before it erupted
13:39 Graham usually I dont go up there though
13:40 Derek If you can hold the camera steady enough, such as on a tripod, try maximum zoom on the area of O.F.s cone and try and spot the small steam vent we see just to the right og it.
13:40 Derek of
13:42 Graham I keep trying to get decent shots of that vent, I am looking through my pictures now
13:43 Derek Bruce Jenson says he's sure he saw real water coming out of it.
13:44 Derek I guess O.F. is a victim of it's own popularity. You can get closer to Giant and Giantess on the walkways.
13:45 Graham I dont think you can see the vent well, its over the edge and the trail drops off behind it, so its not really visible. Maybe from somewhere on the Observation Point trail though
13:47 Derek There's that place up there that I occasionally zoom in on. The wooden fence at the top of those bolders
13:48 Derek plate?
13:49 Graham I think its too far right
13:49 Graham maybe Boardwalk
13:49 Derek I have seen this before
13:50 Graham no, its Plate
13:50 Derek Nice catch!
13:52 Graham sometimes Boardwalk can erupt with Plate and plate stops, restarting after Boardwalk finishes but Boardwalk has been very infrequent recently
13:53 Graham Boardwalk should be a bit more to the right and probably a straighter water column but I have not seen it on the cam. Frequently gets confused with Plate in reports
13:55 Derek I'm going to close the cam viewer now and start the media player stream.
13:58 Graham ok
13:58 Graham snows coming back now
14:06 Graham notice how the temp has dropped to 14F
14:06 Derek I can't see that on the media player
14:07 Graham on the static cam page
14:08 Derek I only run the static cam while I'm controlling the streaming cam :-)
14:11 Graham ok, IE just crashed on me
14:12 Graham I usually run them both so I can see the rest of the basin
14:12 Graham The temps are dropping fast over MT, its in single digits
14:17 Derek That'll make more steam
14:20 Graham but the humidity is dropping which compensates some
14:20 Graham that was a huge series of splashes
14:46 Derek Those bench seats come in handy for re-focusing the camera :-)
14:52 Graham yeah and for measuring the snow
14:52 Derek Ahhhh
14:53 Graham I think this time last year they were completely covered in snow
14:53 Graham they stayed that way all winter
15:00 Graham nice little bit of sun there but its gone now
15:01 Derek I wonder where the bison are.
15:04 Graham There are some grassy meadows to the west, behind the Inn and out of view near the bottom of the hiiiside. Then there is a large area north of here that has good meadows for the Bison, around Biscuit Basin and to the north
15:04 Graham Of course they could be down by Oblong/Giant/Daisy
15:04 Graham plenty of places to be out-of-view
15:05 Derek Yeah
15:05 Graham Sometimes in winter they hang out near the Inn parking lot where theres a warm patch but its behind the trees on the left of the trail toward Castle
15:06 Graham behind those trees
15:07 Graham I have to watch out walking down the bike path in winter when its dark because they hang around the warm area which is right by the path
15:07 Derek Once, when I was on cam, a large herd started appearing from behind the lodge. There were lots of vistors around at the time so for safety reasons a Park Ranger car appeared
15:08 Graham yeah they wander everywhere - bison and park rangers :)
15:08 Derek I was sirprised to see the rangers use a car rather than a jeep or four wheel drive vehicle
15:09 Graham they nearly all have large sedans. Then if they need to pick someone up they have space to do it. They have some SUV's
15:11 Derek Yeah, that one looked like a police car
15:11 Graham They were racing up and down the bike path between the Inn and Castle in May trying to haze the Grizzlys away from the Inn parking lot
15:12 Derek If someone was taken seriously ill, way out in the basin somewhere, how would the rangers pick them up?
15:15 Graham they would drive down the bike path and walk from there on the boardwalk. The furthest is probably just over 1/2 mile from the paved paths
15:16 Derek Where's the nearest medical facility?
15:19 Derek daisy?
15:19 Graham Theres a small clinic at OF, behind the Inn. They will airlift people by helicopter to West Yellowstone and then Idaho Falls hospital. Serious burns cases go to Salt Lake
15:19 Graham yeah, it erupts as soon as i move the cam away :(
15:20 Graham nice wind direction and a bit of lught. I sent you a few may animal shots
15:20 Graham 2h14m interval.
15:20 Derek Already looking at them. Thanks :-)
15:21 Graham You have to tell me where they were taken
15:21 Derek I have no idea :-)
15:23 Graham the Grizzly should be something you can guess....its close
15:24 Graham one shot is pretty much looking at the cam
15:25 Derek There are too many cars for it to be near the cam.
15:25 Graham its north of the cam
15:26 Derek O.F. is north of the cam surely?
15:26 Graham Hum, the static cam has gone away
15:27 Derek I can still seee it here
15:27 Graham The pictures were taken a bit west of North
15:27 Graham ok, its back for me now too
15:28 Graham looks like Grotto going again
15:28 Derek I've never seen that many cars near the cam tree
15:29 Graham go further north and a bit west
15:29 Derek Don't forget, I've never been there.
15:30 Graham I know, but you have moved the cam in these directions :)
15:30 Derek I've only had a 2 dimensional view
15:31 Derek That's why I asked you to get me loads of new pictures :-)
15:31 Graham its probably further west than i thought.....
15:32 Graham they were taken from down there behind the trees - that the Inn parking lot
15:32 Graham the shot with the police car is looking toward the hill - the slop is looking up through the trees
15:33 Graham the bear thought about coming into the parking lot
15:33 Derek Those trees that just block the view of Castle. I was sirprised to find out just how far Castle is from them.
15:34 Graham the first lot of trees on the left are much closer and the Inn parking lot is behind them. You can park in that lot and look out over Geyser Hill.
15:34 Graham much closer to the Cam i meant.
15:35 Graham The trees on the right side of the path are much closer to Castle. The perspectie is all messed up on the cam
15:36 Graham the trees close to Castle block the view of it
15:37 Graham so.....what is behind the Grizzly in the other pic? you can see the geyser hill boardwalk and railing...where is that on geyser hill?
15:39 Derek The only place I can think of is somewhere near Beehive
15:39 Graham one thing you could do is look at the panarama shot from Lion and pan round - you should see the inn, parking lot, trees and Castle too
15:39 Graham yep, theres a railing just down from Beehive by Scissor springs
15:40 Derek Those panoramas are great, but terrible resolution
15:41 Graham you should see the Inn, parking lot, then the smaller lower hms and the gas station (thats where we all park), and then the trees by Castle and then Castle
15:42 Graham Lower Hams = Lower Hamilton Store
15:42 Derek It looks too fuzzy to make out much
15:43 Graham ok
15:43 Derek Maybe you can take some hi-def views for me. :)
15:44 Graham The bison is behind Turban up against the hillside and the Coyote was up near Canyon
15:45 Derek I was just looking at some screen caps of the old static cam. O.F. looked much better with the hill behind it.
15:46 Derek When Tom gets the streaming cam moved, he wants it down that way but on a metal pole between the trees and the boardwalk
15:48 Graham it looked good but you couldn't see anything else
15:49 Graham as long as we can still see down-basin that's ok but this location gives the best down-basin views
15:49 Derek He wants it the other side of those trees
15:49 Graham the trees block a lot of the view from the original VC location
15:50 Graham hum, that depends where it is. As you move around the trees block different things
15:52 Graham A metal pole that doesn't blow around with the wind would be good
15:53 Derek The reason the tree sways is the branches on the top act like a sail.
15:53 Graham not going to see much now!
15:54 Derek I think I'll take this opertunity to say goodnight. When I am likely to catch you again?
15:54 Graham Theres one picture i sent from the observation point trail. The parking lot is on the far right
15:55 Graham theres also a shot of the scisor spring railing close up
15:55 Graham I will probably look in tomorrow but will be on the cam again on Monday at 6EST
15:55 Derek Thanks for the pictures.
15:56 Graham ok.
15:56 Graham have a good night
15:56 Derek I should be on the cam from about 9:30am to 5:00 pm EST except for my tea breaks.
15:57 Derek Goodnight
15:57 Graham ok. see you


December 14th, 2008 View December’s Logs

09:06 Graham Looks like a quiet cam day today!
09:07 Derek It very difficult to focus on anything
09:08 Graham yeah. and its not going to melt either since its below zero all day
09:08 Derek I've been trying occasionally but I haven't even seen an O.F. erruption.
09:09 Graham I thought i saw it around 0720
09:09 Derek Maybe I was away from my desk at the time.
09:10 Graham the static cam is clearer
09:10 Derek I know you're not officially on today, but if you want to have a play, help yourself.
09:10 Derek I'll be right here anyway.
09:10 Graham At least the snow is good for opening day tomorrow, thery may be able to let the snowmobiles in
09:11 Graham Well right now theres not much we can do with the cam, so I will be getting some Christmas stuff ready
09:11 Derek I'm playing with my sat-nav
09:13 Derek I got this cheap one a few months ago and the maps were lousy. So I hit the forums and found it would work on TomTom maps but only up to version 6.20
09:13 Derek Today I found a way to get version 7.45 into it.
09:14 Graham ok, i dont have a nav system, i like being lost :)
09:14 Graham The pics I sent yesterday, there was the close up of the railing and Scissor spring. The shot of the Inn with the parking lot in the bottom right was taken from near Beehive
09:14 Derek This model is currenty for sale on Ebuyer for 49 pounds
09:16 Graham they have come down a lot now
09:17 Graham The Obs. Pt shot has the site for the Old/New VC on the left of the picture in the trees in line with the long line of rooms for the Inn
09:18 Graham The temporary VC is forther round the OF benches to the left
09:18 Derek Is the temp vc just behind the cam tree?
09:18 Graham and the shot with 3 geysers steaming is your mystery shot - what are they and where was it taken from?
09:18 Graham Yes, the temp VC and Cam are pretty much in a line to OF
09:21 Derek I don't recognise the view
09:22 Graham  
http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/interactivemap/ofd…
the Temp VC is near OF, in the area between the store and OF Lodge icons
09:22 Graham Well can you figure out the one on the right from its cone?
09:23 Derek Not really. It is shrouded by steam
09:23 Graham The one oon the right is not erupting but the other two are. All can be seen from the cam
09:24 Graham last eruption was October
09:25 Derek Sorry
09:25 Graham Its Giant's cone
09:25 Graham Enev tho its low-res you can zoom in and see some of the structure
09:25 Derek I would never have guessed
09:26 Graham Theres the viewing cage with the railing in front of it
09:26 Graham the steam to the left of the cone is from Bijou. Steam from the right is from Mastiff
09:27 Graham Photo was taken from the boardwalk half way between Giant and Oblong
09:28 Graham So now you have to get out your map and figure out the other two which are much more frequent and visible when its not snowing
09:31 Graham Need some help?
09:32 Derek Sorry but my brain isn't in gear today :):S
09:33 Graham ok...well if you see Oblongs steam cloud (comes up near Grand) and look to the right on the screen you see Giant, Grotto, F&M and Riverside
09:33 Graham on the webcam screen that is
09:34 Graham The trail from Oblong goes past Giant and then into the trees to Grotto. So the one on the left in the pic is Grotto
09:34 Derek Maybe I'll win the lottery one day and I can visit the park and learn the easy way :-)
09:36 Graham the boardwalk meets up with the path and goes on downhill.....theres a turn off to the right to Riverside (the middle geyser in my pic)
09:36 Graham and the trail goes on down to F&M and fortunately I dont have any pics of F&M from here, I have always been down there instead.
09:38 Graham The maps in Scotts book are fairly accurate, at least for this purpose. But i agree it muct be hard to orient yourself never naving been there.
09:39 Graham The mystery geyser photo's and now videos on the listserve are hard to identify too
09:39 Graham I should probably send a mystery pic in now too, good winter gazing fun
09:40 Graham i am going to get some coffee now, enjoy the snow!
09:40 Derek ok
11:27 Derek I'm going down for tea shortly
11:37 Graham ok, i just stopped by to chek if the cam had cleared. Not really anything we can do with the cam today. I am leaving again now too
11:37 Derek ok
11:37 Derek seeya
11:38 Graham bye
12:47 Graham looks like the ice has cleared a bit but still not much good
12:49 Graham It looks like you are not there Derek?
12:49 Graham I am going to grab the cam and see if it can zoom in at all
13:03 Derek I usually get back from tea about now.
13:04 Graham hi there
13:04 Derek I had a phone chat with Carolyn after you left. She is aware of the difficulties with the cam
13:04 Graham i thought since its trying to clear i would see what the cam can see
13:04 Derek Wife's calling again, back in a few minutes
13:04 Graham There was a plume at 1259
13:12 Derek Wife's got the hump over something and as usual, I'm on the receiving end of it :S
13:13 Graham Haha, that's your job isn't it?
13:13 Derek Are you married?
13:15 Graham nope
13:16 Derek Ha, so I can't count on any sympathy from you then :)
13:18 Graham static shot is quite nice
13:18 Derek I agree
13:19 Graham i had to zoom back in to get it off the lens ice
13:19 Derek I gave up my freedom just before my 31st birthday
13:22 Graham yeah its different when you get married i know from my friends, but they forget what its like when you are on your own too
13:24 Graham i am surprised how snowy it is down basin given the sun by OF
13:26 Graham most of it is lens ice i think thats making it look snowy
13:27 Derek Yeah, the static looks quite bad too. That would be much worse if it didn't have a fixed focus.
13:29 Graham yeah it would be goodto be able to force the streaming cam to longer focus
13:30 Derek Is your main hobby photography?
13:34 Graham yes, and geyser gazing
13:35 Derek I'm interested in many things
13:35 Graham hiking and opera
13:35 Graham those are my key interests
13:37 Graham most of my vacations are in the national parks
13:39 Derek One of my interests are tracing old railways
13:40 Graham yeah i think you mentioned that. Have you traced the line to West Yellowstone?
13:40 Derek Not yet.
13:41 Graham I think there was one to Gardner too by the North entrance
13:42 Derek They have started re-opening some of ours
13:43 Graham i left the UK before they split up british rail
13:44 Derek Now they have 186mph trains running from London to Paris
13:44 Graham yeah thats great, faster than flying!
13:45 Derek The trains on my local line have a max of 90
13:47 Graham would be nice if they had better train service here but its all slow really
13:48 Derek Some of my other american friends told me that.
13:49 Derek But you do have some nice scenic routes.
13:49 Derek Such as the D&RGW from Denver to Ogden
13:49 Derek I'd love to ride that
13:51 Graham yeah that would be through the mountains. I went up the WHite Pass railroad in Skagway Alaska in July, that was nice too but it doesn't go far, maybe 20 miles?
13:53 Derek I am also fascinated by those railroad loops you have over there. Where the track goes in a circle and passes over itself to gain height
13:55 Graham yeah those are neat although i dont know where they are
13:56 Derek I have them all marked on Google Earth
13:57 Graham mainly in the rockies?
13:57 Derek Hang on, I'll check.
14:00 Derek One is the Tehachapi Loop located S.E. of Bakersfield, Nevada
14:02 Derek Another is the Williams Loop, located S.E. of Quincy, California
14:02 Graham ok, so htey are west ofthe ROckies
14:03 Derek There is a famous horseshoe curve that is quite spectacular, just north west of Denver.
14:04 Derek I also have an interest in tracing famous movie locations.
14:06 Graham any particular movies?
14:06 Derek Many :-)
14:07 Derek For example, Back to the Future, Hello Dolly, Flight of the Navigator.
14:07 Derek Many more
14:08 Graham ok. what got you interested in that?
14:08 Derek Have you watched many James Bond movies?
14:08 Graham yeah i have seen a lot of them
14:08 Derek The World is Not Enough?
14:08 Derek Remember the boat chase near the start?
14:11 Graham i think so
14:12 Derek The first part was filmed in the Thames at London, but when Bonds boat jumped out of the water, that was down here in Chatham Dockyard.
14:13 Derek I have pictures to prove it.
14:13 Graham haha
14:13 Graham its amazing what they can do in the movies
14:14 Derek If you ever saw the movie musical Hello Dolly, Yonkers was actually a small town called Garrison, on the east bank of the Hudson River. The town is largely unchanged today.
14:18 Graham ok, they have trouble finding historical areas now with so much redevelopment going on
14:18 Derek I'll only be logging from 9:30 to 13:30 EST today. You can book up to 16:30 when Gary is due to start. I know Carolyn wont mind :-)
14:20 Derek Many of the movie locations can be found on Google earth
14:20 Graham ok. its been a slow day. Plume doesn't want to erupt either
14:20 Derek I am a keen fan of all Superman movies and TV series. Smallville being the latest.
14:21 Derek Most of Smallville has, and is filmed around Vancouver, Canada.
14:21 Graham ok, thats a nice city
14:21 Derek The Kent farm is a real farm
14:22 Derek The Tallon theatre where Lana Lang hangs out is a real place but with a different name.
14:23 Derek I have a friend there who I often chat with on MSN
14:24 Graham the internet has made lots of things possible!
14:24 Derek Video and microphone chatting on Skype and MSN is another of my interests
14:25 Derek Three of my MSN pals are Geyser gazers
14:27 Graham oh yeah, who?
14:27 Graham im still looking for Castle
14:27 Derek Katie and Stacy
14:27 Derek and Paul Thompson.
14:27 Graham ok. Not sure I know them
14:28 Graham there are a lot i dont meet because i tend to go in Sept when most schools are back
14:28 Derek Katie is known as Calamitie Katie
14:28 Graham Plume!
14:28 Derek Her and Stacey both live in the Billings area
14:29 Derek I understand that Plume makes some weard gurgling noises when the water falls back :-)
14:31 Graham I think the best plume sounds are when it comes up and fills - you hear the water sloshing rushing into the hole and then it explodes into the air
14:32 Graham looks like the snow is coming back
14:32 Derek Do Bison ever get caught on a geyser? They don't seem to care where they walk.
14:35 Graham a couple have fallen into Scalloped Spring
14:35 Graham but mostly they know where the ground is firm enough
14:36 Derek They could easily be walking over one of the coneless geysers when it goes off.
14:39 Graham yeah but they can feel the heat from the vent usually
14:39 Derek Haha, then they're not as stupid as they look :-)
14:41 Graham yeah, they are not as stupid as the tourists
14:42 Derek Did you see the time when there was plastic pylon shoved into O.F.s cone and the rangers had to remove it?
14:44 Graham i heard about it
14:44 Derek I was on the cam at the time.
14:44 Graham oh, i bet it was interested seeing them remove it
14:44 Derek I phoned Carolyn and she phoned the VC.
14:45 Graham you saw them put it in OF?
14:46 Derek No I saw Ralph Taylor and **** Powell remove it.
14:46 Derek It must have been put in during the night.
14:46 Graham ok
14:47 Graham yeah most things like that happen at night . too many people around during the day
14:47 Graham 2 years ago someone cut down the railing at Aurum overnight
14:47 Derek Cynthia Barwin reported:
14:48 Derek This latest act of vandalism just adds to the visitor wackiness we witnessed during our visit last week and what we've heard about.
14:51 Graham what gets me most isseeing kids allowed to go off trail by their parents or throwing rocks in the pools
14:53 Graham too steamy to focus
14:54 Derek Yeah
14:54 Graham need more wind to clear one side
15:00 Derek Back to movies again. Did you know the same steam locomotive has been used in several movies and TV series?
15:00 Derek Peticoat Junction; Casey Jones and Back to the Future 3.
15:01 Graham no, wow
15:01 Graham theres Castle
15:24 Derek Still no Gary?
15:25 Graham nope but thats ok, i am reading my paper and watching football
15:25 Derek Haha
15:25 Graham Carolyn gave me Garys email so I cand send him times. Do you have it?
15:26 Derek Yes and she sent me his address too. I don't know why.
15:26 Derek I emailed him a few days ago but he never replied.
15:27 Graham if he takes over i will send him the AOF time
15:27 Graham of
15:27 Graham Riverside?
15:28 Derek There can't be much daylight left there now.
15:28 Derek Could even be Grand
15:28 Graham maybe F&M. too far right for Grand, too big for Grotto
15:29 Derek There's so much steam over there.
15:29 Graham Its in the grey area between F&M and Riverside
15:29 Graham the big punch up through the steam bank indicated the eruption though
15:32 Graham Sure looks like F&M location
15:32 Graham Riverside comes up bu the lone tall tree spike
15:33 Graham F&M are in the V where the steam is coming up now
15:34 Derek It's a pity you don't have MSN messenger. If you did I could give you a guided tour of this room and show you where I operate the cam from.
15:34 Derek I use an old camcorder for a webcam.
15:34 Graham That sure looks like F&M and not Riverside. Have to wait to see how long the steam lasts. If it quite at 12-15 minutes and then restarts a minute later its F&M
15:35 Graham ok, you are fully wired
15:36 Derek Yeah, I got cameras, and also radio scanners, as well as the 2 computers. I can also play DVD videos to my internet friends.
15:37 Derek I can hear wife moving around in the kitchen below.
15:37 Derek She'll probably call me anytime now.
15:37 Graham ok now the steam looks like Riverside location...grrr I wish there was a webcam down there
15:38 Graham back in classic Riverside spot now
15:38 Graham well have a good night
15:38 Derek OK, seeya.


December 15th, 2008 View December’s Logs

07:46 Derek Hi
09:20 bruce jensen Hi, Derek - looks like you and Graham had a good conversation about the relative locations of Riverside and F&M. F&M a wee bit left of Riverside?
13:10 captbunzo hello?
13:11 Derek I had to restart the browser
13:12 Derek The cam's not so bad if it's zoomed in to something
13:12 captbunzo ah....
13:12 captbunzo actually, that is better...
13:12 captbunzo do we see many people nowadays?
13:12 Derek Pity you weren't here yesterday.
13:12 Derek I was in the room with Graham Meech
13:13 Derek We were sharing cam duties
13:13 captbunzo who's graham?
13:13 captbunzo just another cam operator?
13:13 Derek Yes and a gazer
13:14 Derek He frequently posts in the forum and mailing list
13:14 Derek He's a regular park visitor
13:14 Derek In fact he'll be there next month
13:18 captbunzo cool.
13:18 captbunzo very active, recently...
13:18 captbunzo as usual, I need to get the improvements to the page made :D
13:21 captbunzo there be people there!
13:21 captbunzo (cold people)
13:21 Derek I wish one of them would clean the glass :-)
13:25 captbunzo hehe
13:27 Derek Katie told me that MTGirl will be in the park.
13:48 Derek Graham is due to take over from me at 2300 GMT but he may well come in here first.
14:40 captbunzo cool
14:40 captbunzo hope to meet him
14:40 Derek We were both in here from about 16:00 to 23:00 GMT yesterday
15:04 Derek Carolyn's just taken over.


December 16th, 2008 View December’s Logs

09:30 bruce jensen Hi, Derek - the cam is a mess today!
09:30 Derek Yeah
09:31 Derek Thanks for card and photos
09:31 bruce jensen You're welcome - they got there fast! And thanks for your card as well!
09:31 Derek Got them yesterday
09:34 bruce jensen Things have been gruesomely busy everywhere. just now settling down. Over Christmas break, I wil try to post a few Yellowstone pix/Teton pix from last summer on Panoramio.
09:35 bruce jensen Well, that looks icky...
09:36 bruce jensen I trust that the camera will be occasionally cleaned now that more people are inhabiting OF.
09:37 Derek Maybe
09:37 Derek Tom Cawley wont be back until January and I'm afraid Craig Johnson doesn't seem to have the same enthusiasm
09:38 bruce jensen Shucks :-(
09:38 Derek Just going to help wife make the bed
09:39 bruce jensen Maybe we can get Ralph Taylor or somebody with some pull to encourage them to light housekeeping up there. We have a special way of making the bed - we don't bother unless company comes over ;-)
09:40 Derek Haha
09:41 Derek Didn't take long.
09:41 bruce jensen How are temps over there? We are having highs about 10C, lows about 4C here.
09:42 Derek Here outside right now it's 1.5c
09:42 Derek At 16:42 GMT
09:43 bruce jensen Chilly! We may get some snow above 250m on Thursday - some are even saying sea level, but I doubt it.
09:44 bruce jensen We live a few feet above sea level, BTW. Global warming is gonna get us, if an earthquake doesn't.
09:44 Derek Apparently we're having the coldest start to winter for 30 years
09:45 Derek No snow though
09:46 Derek Don't forget, we're warmed by the Gulf Stream so it's usually warmer here
09:46 Derek When is your next visit to the park?
09:47 bruce jensen Not sure when we visit YNP again. Nothing planned this year - have to scrimp a bit.
09:48 Derek Graham Meech says he'll be there next month
09:48 Derek And carolyn too I think
09:49 bruce jensen Not only that, but I have some relatives back east who I have not seen in awhile, and if I spend any $$$ at all on travel, I think I owe them a visit. I surely hope Graham and Carolyn can get there and enjoy their time.
09:51 bruce jensen I don't know if I'd enjoy YNP in the winter. I like cold and snow, but I think geysers are best enjoyed in warm weather (for visibility's sake) and seeing the animals suffering through a long winter would break this softy's heart.
09:52 Derek :)
09:53 bruce jensen Well, it ain't Christmas yet - I got work to do. I will try to get back after awhile. See ya...
09:53 Derek seeya
11:45 Derek Gone for tea. Back around 3:00pm MST


December 17th, 2008 View December’s Logs

13:11 bruce jensen I see peeps!
13:11 bruce jensen Then suddenly, I see snowflakes and vague shapes on the landscape...


December 18th, 2008 View December’s Logs

13:16 kalamitykatie any chance the cam has a thermometer?
13:16 Derek Why?
13:16 kalamitykatie just wondering
13:18 Derek I'm wondering when they're going to clean the glass
13:23 Derek Castle's steaming well.
13:24 kalamitykatie clean glass would be REALLY nice
13:24 kalamitykatie wish I was there!
13:24 kalamitykatie unlike our friend Bruce, I love Yellowstone in winter
13:24 kalamitykatie he's right about the steam making it harder to see thermal features, though...
13:25 Derek Inside the VC next to the cam server there is a telescopic pole with a sponge on the end. Tom Cawley uses that to clean the glass without the need for a ladder
13:26 Derek But it would have to be done when the temperature was above freezing.


December 20th, 2008 View December’s Logs

10:19 Graham Hi there
10:19 Derek Hi
10:20 Graham looks like a nice break in the snow
10:20 Derek Yeah
10:21 Graham i noticed Plume whan i logged on briefly at 0929
10:22 Derek I have to admit I have been absent from duty for a while. I went downstairs to grab a cup of tea and I got roped into cleaning the oven.
10:22 Graham ug
10:22 Graham seen anything else other than OF?
10:23 Derek We got one of those strange ovens that don't clean themselves
10:23 Derek I only got back in here 20 minutes ago
10:23 Graham yeah got to clean it before Christmas i guess?
10:24 Graham Nice to see the snow has built up now to allow more people in
10:25 Graham cleaning the oven is a nasty job. I will have to watch out for smokiness here on Christmas Day, I have a smoke detector close to the kitchen and it loves to go off when the oven is on even if its really not that dirty
10:26 Graham no bison tracks around OF yet
10:26 Derek Just between you and me, I think Carolyn is none too happy with Garry right now.
10:26 Graham you can send me an email about that if you want
10:26 Derek ok
10:27 Derek I can phone you if you like
10:27 Graham this morning would be a great photo time in the park
10:27 Graham ok
11:44 Graham I am back and ready to take over
11:44 Derek OK thanks. Help yourself :-)
11:44 Graham right. Did I miss anything other than OF?
11:45 Derek No nothing
11:45 Derek I'm going for tea now. I'll be back to keep you company at about 15:00 EST
11:46 Graham ok see you
13:02 Derek Back at my desk
13:02 Derek Did I miss anything?
13:02 Graham we had Daisy at 1203 and another OF
13:03 Derek I just watched an excellent documentary about Mount St Hellens
13:03 Derek Hi Guest
13:05 Graham that was an amazing eruption and the devastation around it
13:05 Derek Quite scarey
13:06 Graham yeah but they did have some warning
13:08 Derek I assume that's the only active volcano in the USA.
13:10 Graham no, there are a lot in the cascades and Alaska
13:10 Graham active but infrequent
13:10 Derek Although I did hear something about one just off the coast of Alaska
13:10 Graham yeah all the Alutian (sp?) islands are volcanic
13:12 Derek The one I was thinking off is Augustine Island.
13:13 Graham they are the most active volcano's along the plate boundary
13:16 Derek Gary lives only 100 miles from St Helen
13:17 Graham oh. its a beautiful place along the west coast and inland
13:18 Derek There are many beautiful places in the USA
13:18 Derek The one near you, known as Shenendoah
13:20 Graham yeah thats a nice park but the mountains are not very big
13:20 Derek I'm just looking at them in 3D on Google Earth
13:20 Graham I think they are mainil 3-5000'
13:21 Derek Huh, the highest hill near me is only 650 feet
13:22 Graham yeah. They are getting 1-2' of snow in the Cascades today
13:22 Derek Carolyn said she is expecting heavy snow.
13:24 Graham Riverside is going now
13:24 Graham yes, the storms are racing across the country in about 3 days
13:24 Derek It's turned mild here again at 10c
13:25 Derek But it will drop to zero again Monday night
13:25 Graham The cascades get a lot of snow, look at the Crater Lake NPS site to see what they get, its 500" a year average I think
13:34 Derek I just emailed you an aerial image to work on for me.
13:35 Derek Can you mark all the missing MAJOR geysers for me. Such as F&M, Oblong, Daisy etc etc
13:35 Derek I will then transfer them to pushpins on Google Earth
13:36 Derek Also, feel free to correct any mistakes I have made :-)
13:37 Graham ok. Will take me a while..not sure what editor to use for starters...
13:38 Derek I use Paintshop Pro normally
13:39 Graham F&M are a bit further north
13:39 Derek ok
13:40 Derek I could send a wider view
13:42 Graham Lion
13:44 Graham F&M are on the left of the roadway just after it crosses the bridge
13:45 Derek Just sent you a more northerly view
13:45 Derek Hi Guest :-)
13:45 Graham ok. Nice Lion initial now
13:47 Graham Now we want Beehive
13:47 Derek I wish all these guests weren't so shy :-)
13:50 Derek I just got a pm from the guest
13:53 Derek Hey guest, just type in the box bellow this message
13:55 Graham Hum. I have Paint but I hate that as an image editor. I dont have much else on my conputer...still searching for something to use
13:55 Derek Paintshop Pro is my favorite but I also have Photoshop installed
13:56 Derek If you have Google earth you could send me the exact co-ordinates of each geyser.
13:58 Graham I un-installed a lot because I was running out of disk space. I need a new puter
13:58 Graham Paint will work though
13:58 Derek ok
13:59 Derek That guest who was in here actually pm'd me saying he thinks Beehive is due soon.
14:01 Graham Yeah well it has been splashing a lot, and it looks like the bubblers are going - theres steam drifting from the left side of the cone....so yeah it could be due soon
14:02 Derek Just got an email from Carolyn
14:02 Derek I'm still trying to persuade her to pop into the chat room.
14:03 Derek Hi Carolyn :-)
14:04 Graham Grand i think
14:04 Graham yep
14:04 Derek Say Hi to Carolyn
14:04 Connecticut Car After I got your e-mail I decided to enter this chat room.
14:05 Graham Hi there
14:05 Graham Good time to show up!
14:05 Derek That's great
14:05 Connecticut Car Hi to both of you
14:05 Graham Nice Grand steam cloud on the static cam
14:06 Graham Hows the snow?
14:06 Connecticut Car We got about 12 inches and more to come tonight
14:07 Graham ouch, thats tough to clear away
14:07 Derek Send some over here. We hardly ever get any.
14:07 Connecticut Car Nice Grand
14:07 Graham I love that static cam steam cloud!
14:08 Derek All those people waiting for O.F.
14:08 Graham You can keep the snow Carolyn, thank you :)
14:10 Graham Yeah, it's the mid-day rush. The snowmobile and snowcoach groups on day-trips all get in for a mid-day OF eruption then head out
14:10 Connecticut Car Looks like a second burst on Grand
14:11 Derek Carolyn, I showed Beryl a picture of your quilt.
14:11 Graham Best time to get something warm to eat at the Geyser Grill is when OF is predcted, everyones out there but me
14:11 Derek I think she wants one :-)
14:12 Derek I think her exact words were "Oooooh thats beautifull"
14:13 Graham Theres the second burst
14:13 Connecticut Car Thanks on the compliment. I really didn't enjoy making this one but I completed it anyway.
14:13 Derek I didn't know if you were planning to mass produce them ;-)
14:13 Graham i dont think it stopped before
14:14 Connecticut Car I caught that second burst on Grand. May we can get a third.
14:15 Connecticut Car By the way Graham was your guess the geyser Sputnik?
14:15 Graham we are at 11 min niw so probably no more
14:16 Graham no, its much bigger than the Sputniks, wrong geyser basin too
14:17 Connecticut Car Oh, I saw the dark mud- like and thought maybe.
14:17 Graham bonus Plume
14:17 Connecticut Car Boy, I wish they would clean that lens. I reported it twice.
14:19 Graham Well its like being there with snow blowing in your face :)
14:19 Derek It's been like that for quite a while now
14:19 Derek Have you tried calling Tom yet?
14:19 Graham The sputs are real small in comparison though but I loved the way the droplets are all attached to each other
14:20 Connecticut Car No, I did call Craig though but have not heard from him. I did leave a message.
14:20 Connecticut Car Tom will be in the Park in January...maybe then
14:21 Derek I think Graham will be there too. So if Tom don't clean it, we know who to ask :-)
14:22 Derek Hey Graham, how are you at tree climbing?
14:24 Graham Hey I dont want the blame for breaking it....the gazers would kill me
14:24 Derek Hehe
14:24 Derek Carolyn would maybe hit you with a baseball bat :-)
14:27 Connecticut Car Singing off..got to think about what to serve for supper.
14:27 Derek ok
14:27 Derek Bye for now
14:27 Graham My next mystery geyser will be a winter one but it's not much of a mystery
14:27 Graham ok Carolyn, stay warm!
14:28 Derek That was great having Carolyn in here.
14:28 Graham thats the first time?
14:28 Derek Yes
14:28 Derek You haven't met Bruce Jensen yet have you?
14:29 Derek As well as being a good gazer, he's a comedian too.
14:30 Graham i have not met him here or in the park as far as i know
14:30 Graham but mymemory for names is awful
14:31 Graham You are the only person i have met here
14:31 Derek He usually only comes into this room during the week from his office PC.
14:31 Graham ok. I cant get to watch the cam at work for more than a minute or two
14:32 Graham I dont have internet access from my desk so i can only do it on shared computers
14:32 Graham Daisy again
14:34 Derek Hi Mtgirl
14:34 mtgirl Hey there. Thanks for the correction on the link.
14:35 Derek We even had Carolyn in here a few minutes ago.
14:35 Graham hello there
14:35 mtgirl Dang. Though I just got home for lunch 3 hours late. ;
14:35 mtgirl Hi Graham.
14:35 mtgirl This viewing is making me homesick. :)
14:36 mtgirl Graham, it you have met Katie I am her sister.
14:36 Derek Both regular park visitors
14:36 Graham not sure i have met her either
14:36 mtgirl She logs on as kalamitykatie
14:36 Graham i usually visit in Setember and sometimes May and winter
14:36 Derek They live quite near the park
14:37 Graham You miss the snow?
14:37 Derek Very convenient :-)
14:37 mtgirl I have gone every month this year. I am only in Billings.
14:37 mtgirl Lol's....not with this below zero with really bad wind chills.
14:37 mtgirl Homesick is parksick.
14:38 Graham ok, thats nice to be that close
14:38 Graham its a long haul from Va
14:39 Derek I visited the Adirondack National Park 4 times in the 1970s and I was park sick every time I came home
14:39 mtgirl That it is. I am hoping my boss will give me next Sat off so that I can convince Dad to go next weekend. It will turn 3 days for Christmas into 6.
14:40 mtgirl Most parks can do that to a person.
14:40 mtgirl :)
14:40 Graham So what will you do in the park then?
14:41 Derek Maybe she could clean the cam glass :-)
14:41 mtgirl Mostly watch the wolves and coyotes. But, it will depend on who goes. If Katie goes we will do some snowshoeiing. If just Dad and I maybe some skiing.
14:42 Graham You go along the North entrance road?
14:42 mtgirl Yeah. It is a three hour drive for Dad and I to meet in Gardiner.
14:42 Graham No geysers there though
14:43 mtgirl True. Hopefully this year we will take a snowcoach. I have never done that.
14:43 mtgirl But, the north end of the park is warmer even on the bitter days since there isn't the humidity.
14:44 Graham I think you can get to Norris on a snowcoach from Mammoth
14:44 mtgirl We would go to West and get to either OF or the canyon.
14:45 mtgirl Since they have done the OF I would think we would go to canyon.
14:46 Graham ok. You can do that from Mammoth too I think which might be easier
14:46 mtgirl Cool. I will have to look into it. This weekend is probably too short a notice.
14:47 mtgirl Have a good day. I have to get back to work. :(
14:47 mtgirl Nice meeting you Graham.
14:48 Graham  
http://www.travelyellowstone.com/winter-activites-…
14:48 Graham ok..thats the Xanterra link with snowcoach tours and there are probably others
14:48 Graham nice to meet youi too
14:49 Graham Here comes the snow again
14:49 Derek Now you've met 3 people in this room. :-)
14:50 Graham true and several mystery guests
14:51 Derek One of them MAY have been Jimbo.
14:56 Graham I am going to wrap some gifts now while i keep an eye on the cam
14:56 Derek OK, I may be going downstairs soon
14:57 Graham ok, i am going to sign off here. have a good night
14:57 Derek Goodnight


December 21st, 2008 View December’s Logs

08:21 Graham hi there
08:21 Derek Hi
08:22 Graham How are you this morning?
08:22 Derek Hehe, it's 15:22 here :-)
08:22 Graham or afternoon...
08:22 Derek I'm fine
08:22 Graham yeah i realized that too late tho
08:22 Graham anything happening?
08:23 Derek Just started watching
08:23 Graham ok. Looks like they didnt get much snow overnight
08:23 Derek I'm due to start at 10:30 est
08:23 Graham Was Carolyn supposed to be on earlier?
08:23 Derek Haven't had an O.F. report from Carolyn yet
08:24 Derek So posibly she hasn't been on.
08:24 Graham Looks like its 'parked' now
08:25 Derek Gary is no longer doing the late shift on sundays
08:25 Graham parked
08:25 Derek OK I'll move it
08:25 Graham Carolyn mentioned that in her email yesterday, I guess she is doing that shift
08:25 Derek Yes
08:26 Graham At leas tthe ice on the cam isn't as bad now
08:26 Derek No, but the dried sinter is still there :-)
08:26 Graham She asked me about it and i told her i didnt want to commit to Sat and Sun afternons but could probably do the occasional Sunday if needed
08:27 Graham What are your plans over the holiday?
08:27 Derek I wont be on at all Wednesday
08:27 Derek But may do an hour or two Christmas day
08:28 Derek On wednesday it all depends on what time we get back from my sons place
08:29 Graham I will be home on Christmas Day and Boxing Day so I might control it a bit if you are not on
08:29 Graham I will probably go out sometime then too
08:31 Derek I told Carolyn that my Mother will be here and she said she would like to see the camera view. So I may come up here for an hour with her, then later in the evening after we've taken her home I may get on here again.
08:31 Derek If you and me can be sure to have this room running then we'll both know what the other is doing :-)
08:33 Graham ok. I will stop in here and if you are not around I will take the cam if I want to. Is Carolyn on Thu/Fri?
08:34 Derek I don't know about friday but she did say she usually comes on Christmas day
08:35 kalamitykatie steamy...
08:35 Derek Hi Kate
08:35 kalamitykatie Good morning
08:35 kalamitykatie same weather here
08:36 Derek We had Carolyn in here yesterday
08:36 Graham Hello Kate
08:37 Derek Katie is usually busy fixing some sick computer :-)
08:38 Graham I have been looking for a new one myself. I decided doing upgrades was a waste of time/money as my computer is old
08:38 Graham there you go
08:39 Graham the cam doesn't do very well on lkow contrast shots does it?
08:39 Derek Does anyone have the VC number? They like the first OF phoned in. Carolyn usuallu does it.
08:43 Graham I dont have it. My guess is they will get it off the static cam. They have all the images on the computer there.
08:49 Graham They have the prediction posted now
08:49 Derek ok
08:49 kalamitykatie I wasn't off fixing a sick 'puter. I've got an oddball bird at my feeders today. I think it's a leucistic house finch.
08:50 Graham 10:08
08:51 Derek If you decide you want a play with the cam Graham just shout. There's not much interesting on there right now.
08:54 Graham I am actually looking for a computer online now and then have to go out to the store so I will stay off the cam for now
08:54 Derek OK.
08:54 Graham Looks like they will be getting snow on and off all week which is good
09:30 Graham I am heading out and may not see you before Christmas. So have a great time with your family. Merry Christmas. I will stop in on Christmas Day
09:30 Derek Thank
09:30 Derek s
09:30 Derek Cheers
09:32 Graham bye
0:47 Derek Hi
09:47 mtgirl Morning~ Though I think it is evening your time.
09:48 Derek 4:48pm
09:48 mtgirl :)
09:48 mtgirl Anything much been happening today?
09:48 Derek Not really.
09:48 mtgirl Looks pretty foggy.
09:49 Derek Had Graham Meech in here earlier
09:49 Derek and Katie
09:50 mtgirl I saw their posts.
09:50 mtgirl I just decided to pop in for just a few minutes. I am tempted to go back to bed for another hour before work.
09:52 mtgirl Have a great afternoon.
09:52 Derek Thanks
11:39 Derek Going for tea at 1:40 est
13:45 Graham hi again
13:51 Graham Was the map any good for you?
14:01 Graham is that the indicator?
14:07 Graham Beehive 1404 on 12/21
14:13 Derek Is that you on cam?
14:14 Derek I had to pop downstairs again to help my wife wrap an awkward present
14:17 Derek Graham is that you on the cam?
14:18 Graham Yeah it was me. I looked in and saw the indicator so I grabbed it
14:18 Derek OK, I didn't think you were coming back
14:19 Graham yeah well I have been cleaning and decorating and wrapping...
14:19 Derek Carolyn is stuck in Boston
14:19 Graham looking in from time to time but not here much
14:19 Graham ah i see. DO you want me to take over?
14:19 Derek She wont be back on cam until Wednesday
14:19 Derek OK, grab it again when it times out :-)
14:20 Graham i may be able to do a bit on Tuesday before dark if she is out but I don't know yet, depends when i leave work
14:21 Graham Beehive was hard t osee because there wasn't much wind to clear it away
14:21 Graham but I had the cam on it
14:22 Derek My "official" hours tomorrow and tuesday would have been 10:30 to 17:00 EST
14:22 Graham Have you seen anything else today?
14:22 Derek Only Old Faithfull and lots of people :-)
14:23 Graham when was the last OF? they didnt post the next prediction
14:23 Derek 13:17
14:23 Graham Thanks. I won't be able to help Mon-Wed except after 6 EST
14:24 Derek OK, just log into this room when you're ready.
14:25 Derek As I said earlier, I wont be here on Wednesday
14:25 Graham Well do whatever hours you feel like I guess, you contribute so many houirs
14:25 Derek :-)
14:26 Graham I am supposed to work all day on Wednesday otherwise i have to use leave which I want to save
14:26 Derek That's what Carolyn said
14:26 Graham Even though not many people show up in the chat room there are many gazers watching and i am sure other visitors too
14:27 Derek Carolyn said she will be on the cam "sometime" wednesday.
14:27 Graham ok, well i will email her and tae over whenever i get home
14:27 Graham I am glad Carolyn L got to see F&M this morning
14:28 Derek So tomorrow and tuesday I will stay on as late as I can without falling asleep. Just to keep the cam in focus :-)
14:28 Derek So just shout in this room when you arrive :-)
14:29 Graham it's the holidays though, you should do whatever you like :)
14:29 Derek I know, but I do like to see the cam in focus.
14:29 Graham most people will not be surprised if the cam is not being run all the time
14:30 Graham Yeah they should set a minimum focus thats far enough out
14:30 Derek It was OK before the glass got so dirty. Then we could leave it in the default parked position
14:32 Derek OK, what I can do is leave the number 2 PC logged in to the cam viewer and slightly zoomed in to O.F. Then I will just turn off my screen and go to bed.
14:32 Graham well at least i know nobody is running it when i see the ice
14:32 Derek You'll know I'm not awake if I'm not in this chat room :-)
14:33 Graham ok. maybe i will get Grand tonight based on Carolyn L email
14:34 Graham I pushed her email out in case you or Carolyn A wanted to know Grand and other times
14:35 Derek I can see sawmill
14:35 Graham and Spasmodic on the right
14:35 Derek Thanks for the picture. I'm going to transfer your markers to pushpins on google earth
14:36 Graham ok. They are the key ones you can see on the cam
14:36 Graham although Link hasn't had a major for a couple of years I think
14:36 Graham it doesn't last long though, <2m
14:37 Graham less than 2 minutes
14:37 Graham When it erupots water floods off and over the old roadway/bike path
14:38 Derek Is that the one near Daisy?
14:38 Derek I read that one near Daisy has been known to errupt much higher than Daisy
14:38 Graham No, Link is on the map near F&M
14:39 Derek So what's the one near Daisy?
14:39 Graham Splendid is the big one by Daisy, last major activity was in 1997
14:40 Graham Comet puts up most of the steam from the Daisy area now with its continuous splashing
14:49 Derek Just sent you an updated imag.
14:50 Derek image
14:51 Derek Hi Guest
14:51 Jimbo Hi Derek, this is Jimbo
14:51 Derek Hi Jimbo :-)
14:51 Jimbo Just have a couple of minutes; saw you guys were chatting
14:52 Derek Graham is at the controls right now
14:52 Graham hello
14:52 Jimbo Anything exciting today?
14:52 Graham left the cam zoomed in since its all white on white
14:53 Jimbo I was just looking at the static cam -- just had Old Faithful, eh?
14:53 Derek Yep
14:53 Graham Beehive was 1404
14:53 Jimbo I saw an article that said OF intervals have been lengthening -- less groundwater!
14:54 Derek Maybe.
14:55 Graham not sure i believe that, they have lengthened after some earthquakes in the past
14:55 Graham but now they are 90-91 min average for the last few years
14:55 Derek I always calculate O.F. with an average of 90 minutes
14:56 Jimbo BTW, I always like it when you catch Plate or Depression
14:56 Jimbo !
14:56 Derek According to George Heinz, if the erruption is less than 3 minutes then the interval is less
14:57 Derek Graham got the last Plate :-)
14:57 Jimbo Hey, sorry, I just had a phone call; I have to curtail this a few minutes early;; I'll be back next week and can chat longer!
14:57 Derek ok
14:57 Derek Cheers
14:58 Graham Yeah OF is bimodal but nearly all eruptions are long 3+ minutes
14:58 Graham but now and then it throws in a 2 min interval which is followed by a 60 min interval +_10
14:59 Graham You can see the data on the GOSA web site
15:00 Derek That was a rare appearance of the forum reporter Jimbo :-)
15:00 Graham i meant 2 min duration
15:00 Derek I know :-)
15:00 Graham ok. I guess I have met everyone this weekend?
15:01 Derek Except Bruce Jensen
15:01 Graham OF used to have more short duration eruptions in the past but now its only a couple a week I think
15:03 Graham Looking at the picture, Daisy is probably the dark spot at the bottom left of the D in Daisy
15:03 Derek I can easily change it.
15:04 Graham Link is probably the dark blob thats SSW of the pin - in line with Riverside text
15:06 Derek On the cam, Daisy looks so far to the right of Castle, but on the image they seem in line.
15:07 Graham Lion
15:07 Derek Yep
15:09 Graham Should add Grotto to the map too....if you follow the boardwalk up past Giant, it does a 90 degree turn left and Grotto is the faint dark spot north of the boardwalk there
15:11 Graham look at the snow coming in again
15:13 Derek Just modifying the pushpins
15:14 Graham You can add Spa too, north of Grotto, in the same white area by the roadawy theres a circular spot at the North end and the dark pool in the circle of white is Spa
15:14 Derek Regarding Groto, I can see a few spots near that boardwalk
15:15 Graham Yeah, pick one near the south. Hard to now what is what at this resolution. Theres Grotto, Central vents, and Rocket close together
15:16 Graham it's not the really dark blob thats half way up, its one of the dim blobs close to the East-West portion of the boardwalk
15:17 Derek I zoomed right in and emailed it to you
15:20 Graham ok. North of the boardwalk, there are two straight dark lines running to the NE.....see them?
15:20 Graham blobs really, two dashes
15:20 Derek Yes
15:21 Graham to the right of each of the dashes are feint circles
15:21 Graham the souythern one is probably Grotto and the Northern one is Rocket .. I think
15:25 Derek OK, I've put them in the place you said
15:27 Derek Strangely enough, I'm still not sure of Old faithfull's exact location as there are no boardwalks or other geysers near it.
15:29 Graham its probably close t othe pin point - you can see runoff channels from it
15:32 Derek Going for cup of tea. May be back in 15 minutes.
15:32 Graham SOmeone grabbed the cam...
15:48 Derek Wasn't me
15:48 Derek Hi Bruce
15:49 Derek Can't be Carolyn
15:49 bpnjensen Hi, Derek - 'sme, Bruce
15:50 Derek I know :-)
15:50 bpnjensen Who's skating around wiht the cam?
15:51 Derek Well, it WAS Graham when I went downstairs a few minutes ago.
15:51 Graham probably Gary?
15:51 bpnjensen HI, Graham
15:51 Graham Hi Bruce
15:51 Derek According to Carolyn he wasn't going on today.
15:51 bpnjensen Well, I know what we're looking ta, but not sure why...
15:52 Graham waiting for Aurum?
15:52 bpnjensen Maybe - could be awhile...
15:53 Graham well with this wind direction its pretty much the best shot
15:53 Graham too early for Lion #2
15:54 Derek It is Gary
15:54 bpnjensen Beehive?
15:54 Graham Beehive was 1404
15:54 Graham Lion ~1506
15:55 bpnjensen Well, not much els eover there - L'il Cub and Goggles..
15:55 Derek I just called Carolyn
15:55 Derek I was mistaken.
15:55 Graham Grand is in its window
15:55 bpnjensen Anyone get a Daisy today?
15:55 Derek Apparently Gary stops his sundays in January
15:56 Graham I am not sure we have met irl Bruce
15:56 Derek well, I have mentioned him many times.
15:56 bpnjensen I think not, although I've been seeing your name for years...lotsa nice photos!
15:57 Graham thanks. I usually go Labor day and occasionally around Memorial Day but not in peak summer
15:57 Derek I always refer to Bruce as an experienced gazer with a sense of humour :-)
15:57 bpnjensen I hjave Derek well-trained!
15:57 Derek Haha
15:57 bpnjensen <snicker>
15:57 bpnjensen whoops - (snicker)
15:58 Graham you have to have a sense of humor watching geysers, some people take it way too seriously
15:59 bpnjensen Man, it's gotta be fun or it ain't worth doing...
15:59 Derek I guess I must be a synthetic gazer, as I've only gazed via a camera.
15:59 Graham you can still get hooked on the cam though
15:59 bpnjensen You're the real deal, Derek - just need a break.
16:01 Graham you have to get out there when its below zero and blowing snow....
16:01 bpnjensen Spasmodic is simmering away...
16:02 bpnjensen I'm tempted to say that Rift is also going...
16:02 Derek I love some of the expressions you Americans use. Daryl Jennings told me "You are the man!!"
16:02 bpnjensen Ahem - correction..."you da man!"
16:03 Derek Sounds like affro-carabian talk.
16:03 Graham you have power over all the gazers with the cam control!
16:03 bpnjensen It might well be!
16:04 Graham I am not sure you are allowed to take tea breaks though Derek...
16:04 Graham maybe get a Dome initial......
16:04 Derek I get certain privelliges
16:05 Derek Because I keep in Carolyns good books
16:05 bpnjensen A cam op must be someone sensitive, with great generosity and patience, and excessive knowledge of tyhe subject. He/she should enjoy tea every afternoon at the appointed hour, and provide some for every other person watching the cam./
16:06 bpnjensen "With great power comes great responsibility."
16:06 Graham that would work. Much easier to get something hot to drink watching the cam than sitting down at Giant or F&M
16:06 bpnjensen 'specially this time o'year.
16:06 Graham Although I did have coffee brought to me at Silex one year....
16:07 Derek I'll show you some of the job requirements according to Mr Monteith: This is a volunteer in the park (VIP) job. It requires people with knowledge of the geyser basin. The primary goal is to catch all eruptions of Old Faithful.
16:07 bpnjensen Now THAT"S service!
16:07 Derek Secondarily, the operator is expected to try to catch other eruptions within view of the camera. This means the operator needs to have a good feeling for what is likely to erupt during their shift.
16:07 Derek Lastly, the operator should try to capture other items of interest to the general public, for example large animals in the basin.
16:07 Derek This is a job. To be meaningful, the NPS is looking for volunteers that can devote at least one four hour block per week.
16:07 Graham I quit
16:08 Graham too many rules!
16:08 Derek Haha
16:08 bpnjensen I'd say you guys have done a bang-up job so far, then...
16:08 bpnjensen I am perplexed by the constant close-ups here, though - is the lens ethta bad?
16:08 Derek Yep
16:09 bpnjensen (sigh)
16:09 Derek Tom Cawley is due back next month
16:09 bpnjensen There was a good puff off Giantess' left shjoulder - was that Aurum?
16:10 Derek He'll get things done
16:10 Graham I didnt see anything on the static cam
16:10 Derek This is the first time I've seen Gary at work. :-)
16:10 bpnjensen He seems - attentive!
16:11 Graham Grand
16:11 Derek I can always recognise Carolyns style of operation.
16:11 bpnjensen !!!!
16:11 Derek She uses the presets frequently
16:12 Graham You can always tell me, loking for Daisies
16:12 bpnjensen I'd be looking for Daisies too...
16:12 Derek Bruce would make an excellent cam-opp
16:13 Derek If he had time :-)
16:13 bpnjensen I'd get depressed...
16:13 Derek He already works 40 hours per day and 9 days per week
16:13 bpnjensen I guess I'm already depressed!
16:14 Derek For someone who's depressed you still keep your sense of humour :-)
16:15 Graham 40 hours in the basin isn't too bad though, you can catch more geysers each day
16:15 bpnjensen Humor - yeah, gotta do somehting! Well - we are fixing to do some caroling to disabled folks tonight, so I have some ready-getting to do. See you guys later...
16:15 Derek Seeya
16:16 Derek I just realised. It's 23:16 and I'm still awake.
16:16 Graham ok...night
16:17 Derek No problem
16:17 Derek I'm not tired yet
16:17 Graham now the crowd is smaller, just the overnight crowd from the snow lodge
16:18 Graham I thought Gary was going to Grand then...
16:19 Derek We do have a busy morning tomorrow. Up to check on the father-in-law at 10:30, then on to the shopping mall. Wont be time for the wife to cook lunch, so well grab some pie and chips.
16:20 Graham shopping mall? in England?
16:21 Derek The Chatham Pentagon Centre
16:21 Derek An indoor mall.
16:21 Derek Not one of the largest
16:21 Derek But it's our nearest
16:23 Graham theres a Pentagon near here, with a small mall inside it and a bigger one in Pentagon City
16:24 Graham Riverside is going too
16:24 Derek This one is about 30 years old now.
16:24 Derek Has only 70 stores inside
16:26 Graham well at least you missed the weekend rush there
16:27 Derek The largest mall is about 15 miles west of here near Dartford. Bluewater Shopping Centre
16:27 Derek Built in an old quarry. It's massive
16:28 Graham look at that steam on the staric cam!
16:28 Derek Damit. I just closed that down
16:29 Graham well a lot of white steam over the whole left side
16:31 Graham Thats a nice of now the wind has picked up
16:32 Derek Bluewater has 2 levels and a strange shape. The malls are like a quarter section slice of a round cake. 2 straight sides and one curved.
16:32 Graham well now that Grand has gone I will go and eat
16:32 Graham sounds like a lot of walking there.
16:32 Derek I'll disapear too. Maybe see you tomorrow evening?
16:33 Graham Carolyn L says Castle was 1504ie
16:33 Graham so maybe 1700 if there are no minors tomorrow
16:33 Graham i should be on at 6pm EST
16:33 Graham past your bed time :)
16:33 Derek ok
16:34 Derek It is now
16:34 Graham have a good night
16:34 Derek You too


December 22nd, 2008 View December’s Logs

08:29 bruce jensen Whay is Giantess doing?!!!!
08:29 Derek That's what I want to know.
08:29 Derek What do you think?
08:29 bruce jensen I think we sh9oudl watch it closely - it has the earmarks...'
08:30 bruce jensen Back shortly...
08:32 bruce jensen It looks like an empty crater - and IF SO, that means futher large bursts could be coming.
08:33 Derek I just phoned Carolyn
08:33 bruce jensen ALL the snow is melted off the cone.
08:33 Derek She's still stuck at boston
08:33 Derek She can't get the streaming cam on that computer.
08:34 Derek But she looked at the static cam
08:34 Derek She's going to try and phone the VC
08:35 bruce jensen I wish Little Squirt would calm done - but when Giantess erupts, that's what you get...extra stuff happening
08:35 Derek It's been like that since daybreak
08:35 Derek That's about 7:30 MST
08:36 bruce jensen typical - Giantess starst overnight and then goes for awhile...
08:36 bruce jensen back shortly
08:38 bruce jensen I just put out an e-mail on the listserver; if I am worng, someone can correct me. better to be wrong than to have an expert miss it.
08:39 Derek Trouble is, the list serve only publishes twice a day
08:40 bruce jensen I know - we do what we can. occasionally, a special event will get an "extra."
08:40 bruce jensen Where's Paul? he'd like this...
08:40 Derek Looks convincing enough to me.
08:41 bruce jensen If the first bursts were not long ago, we might also a Vault.
08:41 Derek I just MSM'd Paul but I don't think he's at his desk
08:42 captbunzo I was away for a moment...
08:42 Derek So you think that may be the late stages
08:42 captbunzo thx for the ping, derek!
08:42 Derek Hi
08:43 Derek Carolyn is trying to phone the VC
08:43 captbunzo is that Giantess we are looking at?
08:44 Derek We are fairly sure
08:44 Derek It was already like that at daybreak
08:44 bruce jensen yes! There are also peeps on tghe boardwalk paying little attention, apparently...
08:45 captbunzo so, how long are we talking about here?
08:45 Derek It could have started during the night.
08:45 bruce jensen Hard to tell, unless someone caught the start overnight.
08:45 Derek Just like the one early this year
08:45 Derek If this is an early phase, we'll soon know.
08:47 bruce jensen BURSTS! Giantess for sure.
08:47 captbunzo cool :)
08:47 Derek But only steam so far
08:47 captbunzo I think I may have to start recording......
08:47 bruce jensen I thought I saw some water spikes just a moment ago.
08:48 Derek Yeah, you may be right
08:48 bruce jensen Little ones...
08:48 bruce jensen SEE???!!! yay!
08:49 Derek That's me playing with the backlight button
08:49 bruce jensen Fiddlin' again eh?
08:49 Derek Hi Guest
08:49 bruce jensen Howdy guest!
08:50 captbunzo a guest! :) hi there.
08:53 Derek Is that Vault now?
08:54 bruce jensen Sure looks like it - extra bursts back and left of the Giantess.
08:59 bruce jensen Jimbo is communicating via private Y-Net mail :-) he was the guest.
08:59 Derek ok
08:59 bruce jensen Nice! Bursts
09:00 captbunzo I'll be popping in and out.
09:00 captbunzo unfortunately have things to do this afternoon. however, I have set wmrecorder up to record the stream.
09:00 captbunzo hopefully it's good :)
09:01 Derek Bruce, how does Giantess usually start? Gradually or suddenly?
09:02 bruce jensen That is a good question - I think it starts as a prolonged huge boil, and then goes pretty quickly into large bursting jets. I don't knwo for certain.
09:03 bruce jensen OF is palying.
09:04 bruce jensen OF is stuill playing.
09:04 captbunzo are you at the cam, derek?
09:04 Derek Yeah
09:05 Derek It'll be only me until Graham gets home about 15:00 - 16:00 MST
09:06 captbunzo k
09:06 captbunzo is it still dusk in YNP? or is that cloudiness?
09:07 bruce jensen Well, Merry Christmas, everyone! Look at those skiers who wont; go out there...doesnt; anyone at Y-Stone Know?
09:07 Derek Snow
09:07 bruce jensen yepp - pretty heavy too.
09:07 bruce jensen The column look good.
09:09 Derek Some nice bursts again
09:10 bruce jensen Does a closer view cuit the snow better?
09:10 Derek The focus plays up if I try to get closer
09:10 bruce jensen ok
09:10 bruce jensen This looks good anyway.
09:11 kalamitykatie Hi guys.
09:11 kalamitykatie Just saw your post, Bruce.
09:11 Derek Hi
09:11 Derek I tried to phone you Kate
09:11 Derek To tell you about Giantess
09:12 kalamitykatie Oh, shoot! I had two calls at the same time -- and the other was my husband. No caller id for you. Darn! Thanks for trying!
09:12 captbunzo hi kate!
09:12 captbunzo merry christmas :)
09:12 Derek I use Skype
09:13 Derek I should have texted
09:13 bruce jensen Hi, Katie! happy joy joy Christmas!
09:13 kalamitykatie Merry Christtas to yoy, too, cap!
09:13 kalamitykatie Merry Christmas, Bruce!
09:13 kalamitykatie Merry Christmas, Derek!
09:13 kalamitykatie Merry Christmas guest77189. :)
09:14 Derek Merry Christmas EVERYONE EVERYWHERE :-)
09:14 captbunzo is that jimbo again?
09:14 bruce jensen Probably :-)
09:14 captbunzo and derek, you sound like tiny tim from a christmas carol :)
09:14 Derek Yeah
09:14 kalamitykatie There are worse people to sound like. :)
09:15 captbunzo true! :)
09:15 captbunzo hehe.... turned on recording of the stream 20 minutes ago so that I could take care of other things, then I haven't left yet....
09:15 captbunzo hmmnn. I seem to be stuck...
09:15 captbunzo :)
09:16 Derek Why don't Giantess errupt on a bright clear day?
09:16 captbunzo somebody should let it know how inconvenient this is :P
09:17 kalamitykatie Just a bit hard to see.
09:18 bruce jensen Still well worth recording - thanks Paul! It would be worthywhile to post the best moments on Youtube or whatever you use thes edays.
09:18 captbunzo yep. will do eventually.
09:19 captbunzo unfortunately it records as a rather unwieldy asf file.... takes a bit of effort to disect later
09:19 kalamitykatie Whoo-hoo!
09:19 captbunzo so, are we getting steam or water bursts now?
09:19 bruce jensen Oh this is cool - look at those bursts!
09:19 bruce jensen looks like watre to maybe 75-100 feet
09:20 bruce jensen hard to see because 'tis chilly
09:20 kalamitykatie there was clear spray, water in the wind, there for a few burts.
09:20 kalamitykatie Oh, to be there now!
09:21 kalamitykatie I just started recording, too, just for giggles.
09:22 bruce jensen Right now si abnout the best we've seen so far - you thinkl Derek?
09:22 Derek At times, it's a struggle to keep in focus.
09:22 bruce jensen back shortly...
09:23 Derek Has anyone posted this in the forum yet?
09:23 kalamitykatie Bruce did. that's why I popped in. otherwise, on a Monday am, before a vacation, I'd be focused on WORK. Thanks, Bruce.
09:24 Derek Hmmm, he said he put it in the list-serve
09:24 Derek I usually get an email notification if anything gets in the forum
09:25 bruce jensen I put it both places.
09:25 captbunzo this is gonna be a record chat day for the room here.....
09:25 bruce jensen Jimbo also mentioned it early on, but in the regular Streaming Cam thread.
09:30 bruce jensen Jimbo noted in the Forum that this is the Solstice. Connections, any of you Gaia fans out thar?
09:31 bruce jensen Actually, Solstice was yesterday, but today is very short...
09:33 Derek I just checked my settings in the forum. For some reason I never got the email.
09:33 bruce jensen ...and as Giantess started overnight, she may have begun on the Solstice (just to complete this meadering line of illogic...)
09:34 captbunzo hehe
09:34 kalamitykatie If you have a spam filter it might have got caught. Forum messages get caught in my regularly.
09:34 bruce jensen derek - do you mean the Y-Net forum or the listserve?
09:34 Derek Y-Net
09:34 kalamitykatie Y-Net Forum
09:34 bruce jensen Hmmm - I never signed up for those, so i couldn't help you there.
09:35 Derek More nice bursts
09:35 bruce jensen Which we'll se in about 15 seconds...
09:35 Derek But you do post in there
09:35 Derek No I'm also watching the stream
09:35 bruce jensen I post in the Forum, but I don't get the e-mails. I just check it a lot ;-)
09:36 bruce jensen Oh - I guess thre stream is a better view for you.
09:36 Derek I set the option "Watch this discussion"
09:37 bruce jensen Oh - maybe it's because I posted it under soemthing other than the streaming cam topic?
09:37 bruce jensen I posted it as a Giantess "extra"
09:37 kalamitykatie The server that sends the mail for Y-Net seems to get blacklisted with regularity then the messages get caught by spam filters.
09:37 bruce jensen That's too bad. So, we'd need to fuss with our SPAM filters then.
09:39 bruce jensen Man, I'd give $1,000 tgo be there right. I'd give more, but that's all I'd get for my house these days...
09:39 Derek Violins play
09:40 bruce jensen :-D
09:40 Derek Was it last May when this last errupted?
09:41 kalamitykatie Hah! My uncle flew from CA to Seattle on his way to Missoula on Saturday and is still there. :^(
09:41 Derek I know it was Carolyn on the cam then
09:41 Derek Are you all happy with the camera position?
09:42 Derek I'm shortly going for a quick cup of tea.
09:42 kalamitykatie Looks good to me
09:43 Derek brb
09:46 bruce jensen Derek - if you have the Geyser book handy, you might want to check Vault and see how soon after Giantess is usually plays - that will give us some idea of the time of Giantess start.
09:47 Derek ok
09:48 kalamitykatie I found a site that said 3-12 hours
09:48 bruce jensen OOh - a wide range!
09:49 Derek Scott says 6 hours
09:50 bruce jensen impressive bursting - so if we take 6 hours as "typical" then we can assume a start of "about" 0300 MST based on what appeared to be Vault at 0853
09:51 Derek So we've missed the part David filmed a few years ago.
09:51 bruce jensen Within the range Katie mentioned, of course -- with this unpredictable geyser, andy thing is posisble.
09:51 captbunzo who'
09:51 captbunzo who's andy?
09:52 captbunzo :)
09:52 bruce jensen I think David M. got some fairly early bursts, so yes, we probbaly missed those biggest bursts. Andy is one fo those weird inner inhabitants who mess with the circuitry between my brain and hands ;-)
09:53 Derek Bruce is too busy looking over his shoulder to see if his boss is approaching, that he don't watch the keys
09:53 Derek :-)
09:53 captbunzo hehe
09:53 bruce jensen You;re right! Actually, it's our computer network guy who give sus the grief. I may need to cut off the stream shortly
09:54 Derek If Kate was there, she'd give him a slap. :-)
09:54 bruce jensen ..and he'd deserve it too!
09:55 Derek Vault again???
09:55 Derek Yes it is :-)
09:55 bruce jensen I dunno - I thought Vault usually went once for about 10 minute sand then cut off.
09:55 Derek It's in the right area
09:56 kalamitykatie I'm having trble keeping the stream going all of a sudden...
09:56 Derek It's bursting too
09:56 bruce jensen Well, i think you may be right.
09:58 bruce jensen Well, it's about 9 AM here - I think I need to shut off the stream. I wil see you gusy later, as I am sure I wil check in...
09:59 captbunzo I gotta run to... christmas dinner shopping for the wife.
09:59 captbunzo ttyl - will leave the stream recording, just in case :)
10:01 Derek Just had another chat with Carolyn
10:08 kalamitykatie What did Carolyn have to say?
10:09 Derek She phoned the VC but they are too short staffed to send anyone out there to investigate.
10:10 Derek I guess we'll have to wait for Carolyn Loren's report on the listserve in the morning.
10:11 Derek Carolyn Aaronson is stuck in Boston with her family so she can't get on the cam herself
10:12 Derek So it's just me on here until Graham Meech get's home.
10:13 Derek It's looking good now
10:13 kalamitykatie yeah it is
10:14 kalamitykatie I wonder if this eruption registered as mini earthquake
10:14 Derek Hehe, we'll know in the morning I guess.
10:29 Derek More nice bursts
10:52 bruce jensen Back for a few - still cooking away, i see...
10:52 Derek Yep
10:52 bruce jensen wow, that looks good!
10:52 bruce jensen Did you catch the OF at about 10:30?
10:53 Derek No, I think I dozed off
10:53 bruce jensen oops
10:54 kalamitykatie OF pops many times a day, every day... Giantess is only about a semi annual event. We'll forgive ya for missing one OF. ;^)
10:55 Derek Damn focus keeps pumping
10:57 bruce jensen Is the VC at least telling people to get otu there and see it?
10:57 Derek I don't know.
10:58 Derek There's a couple on skis
10:58 bruce jensen Well, there's some folks out thar below it...
10:59 bruce jensen ...and on they wander...
10:59 guest Hi It's Carolyn just checking in for a moment as guest
10:59 bruce jensen Hi, Carolyn!
10:59 Derek Hi
10:59 guest So I still have not heard if it was a definite Giantess
10:59 Derek Have you seen the stream yet?
11:00 guest Yes
11:00 bruce jensen the evidence is pretty strong at this point... :-)
11:00 bruce jensen The evidence is pretty strong at this point...
11:00 guest I agree but may we will know for sure later
11:01 Derek I think the other guest must be Jimbo
11:01 guest Bruce, I am trying to remember if we have met in the park.
11:02 Derek You'd remember.... Tall, handsome, etc etc
11:02 bruce jensen Well, my son and I were there summer, and we met a delightful person named Carolyn Loren... :-) We also talked about radios about a year back...
11:03 Derek When you gonna pay me Bruce?
11:03 Derek :-)
11:03 bruce jensen When someone believes you?
11:03 bruce jensen :-)
11:03 kalamitykatie I think some of the recordings show a pretty good stream of water, too...
11:03 guest I guess not...Carolyn Loren is a great ranger...I am only a volunteer
11:04 bruce jensen Also, note the lack of snowcover over almost the entire cone...
11:04 Derek Is that Vault again?
11:05 bruce jensen So, this is Carolyn Aaronson? If so, then I think we did not meet...although the loss is mine, I am certain :-)
11:05 kalamitykatie "only" a volunteer?!
11:05 bruce jensen Nice to se epeople there!
11:05 bruce jensen Any volunteer is OK in our book!
11:06 kalamitykatie better than okay!
11:06 bruce jensen I'm trying to be subtle...
11:06 kalamitykatie oh. oops. :)
11:06 bruce jensen i know, it's a strectch...
11:06 Derek Is that Little Squirt nearest the cam?
11:07 bruce jensen I think that is li'l Squirt, unless it's another thing like Bronze or Silver getting feisty
11:07 bruce jensen little Squirt can be large when Giantess gets happy.
11:08 Derek It must be this side of the boardwalk because those skiers passed the other side of it.
11:08 bruce jensen Carolyn, wher are you right now?
11:08 guest yes
11:08 bruce jensen It's nice to see folks up there watching.
11:08 guest I am in Boston
11:08 Derek Sunny Boston :-)
11:08 bruce jensen pretty bad weathe rup there, I hear...
11:09 guest Iwillhome either tomorrow night or Wednesday morning
11:09 guest Then I will be back on the camera
11:09 bruce jensen My relatives live near Boston - haven't heard from them last several days. Godspeed your trip home!
11:09 Derek We heard on our news that flights from london to the east coast of USA were being delayed.
11:10 guest Yes the snow had finally stopped..thank goodness
11:10 guest We had snow, ice and sleet all day yesterday
11:10 Derek I wi***** would stop for a while in Yellowstone.
11:11 bruce jensen I gotta zap out again - back later...nice to speak with you, Carolyn!
11:12 guest I have to run also see you later
11:12 Derek ok
11:12 Derek I'm going for tea soon anyway
11:48 bruce jensen Well, it's 11:48 and it stil llooks impressive.
11:48 Derek Going for tea now.
11:49 bruce jensen tata!
11:50 bruce jensen We should have an OF soon...
12:31 Derek I'm back
12:39 bruce jensen As am I...
12:39 bruce jensen As is a guest!
12:39 Derek It's still going.
12:40 bruce jensen That it is! Giantess gives you some time to respond.
12:41 Derek I'd love to have seen the initial.
12:41 bruce jensen That would have been fabulous - but this time around anyway, cold and dark :(
12:41 Derek But I suppose it wouldn't be so good without actually hearing that steam phase
12:42 bruce jensen There could be some gazers in the park right now - maybe they'll report later today.
12:43 Derek Maybe one day, Tom will fix a sheilded microphone out in the basin and feed the audio into the stream
12:43 bruce jensen A devoted observer with the means could be helpful too! I'll volunteer you and me for the job...
12:44 Derek You go stand out there with a mobile phone and call me :-)
12:45 bruce jensen If I were there, it would have to freeze Beelzebub's fires to kepe me away!
12:47 Derek I wonder what determines when Giantess has to errupt.
12:52 bruce jensen In fact, with Giant, it often involves both another geyser (Mastiff), posisbly others like Feather, and big splashes in Giant itself.
12:52 bruce jensen Maybe with Giantess, LS is enough to give it the kick it needs, assuming other things are in place.
12:54 Derek I'm just watching that Tara Cross video of Giantess in 2004
12:54 Derek Makes todays look kinda tame
12:59 Derek and Vault looks quite near to Giantess.
13:00 bruce jensen Well - she was out there on a bright warm day, about 50 feet away near the base - that will make it look more impressive. Actually, vault is very close to Giantess.
13:01 bruce jensen Teakettele is comparably close - I wonder if it did anything?
13:01 bruce jensen Beehive wil be off its schedule, whatever that was.
13:01 Derek I do have the static cam running just in case I miss anything
13:02 bruce jensen A good idea - i may check it myself - back shortly
13:05 guest Hi Derek..I'm back for a few minutes
13:06 Derek Hi
13:06 bruce jensen The static cam view of Geyser Hill is overwhelmed by steam
13:06 Derek I had a shorter than normal tea today
13:07 guest What's been happening...I miss not being able to run the cam
13:07 guest I just talked to Craig and it looks like the camera lens won't be cleaned until middle of January
13:08 Derek Nothing much with that snow affecting the visibility
13:08 Derek Oh dear
13:08 guest BTW he has been on vacation
13:08 Derek When will Tom get back?
13:09 guest Tom comes back the frst week of January around the 9th
13:09 Derek Is he aware of how bad the lens is?
13:09 bruce jensen Is there not SOMEBODY else who can clean the lens? I'll do it...if I can get there..
13:10 guest No one has the authority to do so. The rangers can't touch it
13:10 bruce jensen ???? good grief.
13:11 Derek Isn't Tom technically a ranger?
13:11 Derek He does have a uniform :-)
13:12 guest I know..it is terrible we have been living with th situation for at least a month
13:12 bruce jensen maybe we can train a bison to do it in exchange for bales of alfalfa hay...
13:12 guest No Tom is not a ranger
13:13 bruce jensen Please forgive me for being slighlty snide, but this sounds bureaucratic beyond even what I have come to expect from the NPS.
13:14 guest Everybody has a job to do
13:15 bruce jensen Back to the joy of the day, Giantess is looking quite good right now.
13:16 guest I keep looking at Giantess...it's still steaming.. maybe the initial was during the night and it is just steaming with occasional bursts
13:16 bruce jensen that is likely
13:16 Derek I am hoping that the next erruption will be on a nice clear summers day, just like the one in 2004.
13:17 guest I have seen the last two in person (well not the one I captured on the streaming last year) and they were wonderrful
13:18 bruce jensen We are jealous!
13:18 Derek Wasn't the last one in May this year?
13:18 guest Last year it was F&M as well as Gaint
13:19 guest BTW we have made our reservations for the last two weeks of May
13:19 Derek Graham should be home in a couple of hours.
13:20 bruce jensen Well, I gotta scram again...see you guys later...
13:20 Derek And he knows nothing of what he's missed :-)
13:20 Derek Seeya Bruce
13:20 guest I have to go now I will call the VC later
13:20 Derek ok
13:30 captbunzo hi derek...
13:30 Derek Hi
13:30 captbunzo did anything exciting ever happen?
13:30 Derek Nope
13:30 captbunzo ah....
13:31 captbunzo so I guess I have 4 1/2 hours of streamed unexcitement... hmmnn... :)
13:44 Derek It was pointing at Giantess most of the time
13:44 kalamitykatie that' snow is really coming down now!
13:44 kalamitykatie here, too...
13:44 kalamitykatie It's not quite so dark here, though...
13:45 Derek Lots of people there
14:10 Derek Was just in a video chat on skype with my old friend in Melbourne, Australia.
14:10 Derek He and his family are just preparing for their usual midsummer Christmas :-)
14:29 bruce jensen Wel, that's that for geysers, I guess.
14:30 Derek Hi Again
14:30 bruce jensen HI - so we gonna do some people watching?
14:31 Derek Yeah, coz there's nuffin else to watch
14:31 bruce jensen That feller looked depressed...
14:31 Derek I thought that :-)
14:32 Derek That's about the only place I can point the cam without it going out of focus
14:33 bruce jensen Well, this is an unproductive day, I'll say that.
14:33 bruce jensen The snow is pretty.
14:33 Derek But you did get to see Giantess
14:33 bruce jensen Yes, I did, and for that I am feeling fulfilled!
14:35 bruce jensen Bright and sunny here - for awhile...
14:35 Derek And no earthquakes ;P
14:36 bruce jensen Heh - The ground is stable here - for awhile...
14:36 Derek How close was that last big one in LA to you?
14:37 bruce jensen ???? - Which do you mean? Did I miss a quake? LA is pretty far - about 380 miles away. It would need to be a big, BIG one for us to feel it here.
14:38 Derek Are you anywhere near the SA fault?
14:39 bruce jensen That Mag. 7 quake in 1989 whacked us pretty good...yes, we're about 18 mile east of it - but it runs almts 500 miles, and LA is at the southern end. Only a small piece of it breaks at any one time - usually.
14:40 Derek We had a tiny one here last year. I never felt it but some people in our county did.
14:40 bruce jensen CA is full of faults. Right here, we have the Hayward Fault, locally far more dangerous - it is likely to fracture any time, and it will cause devastation to heavily populous areas.
14:41 Derek I hope your house is well built.
14:41 Derek My old house wouldn't take much of a shaking
14:42 bruce jensen It's a single story wood house with good walls, so it isn't likely to collapse, but we should get some foundation work to solidify it and keep it level.
14:44 bruce jensen Well, gotta go again. Finish up some crucial items. later, folks - happy first full day of winter!
14:44 Derek Seeya
14:51 captbunzo I'm gonna head out derek...
14:51 Derek ok
14:51 Derek Seeya
16:13 Graham hi there
16:13 Graham you are up late again
16:13 Derek Yeah
16:13 Derek Did you hear what happened today?
16:14 Graham Giantess?
16:14 Derek yep
16:14 Graham Yeah I peeped at the listserve and saw the posting
16:14 Derek It was already going at daybreak
16:14 Graham ok. Have to look at the seismograph to see when it started...
16:14 Derek It's still going now, if you can see through the mist
16:14 Graham sorry its such a bad day
16:15 Derek We had a room full of gazers today
16:15 Derek Bruce came in first to confirm my suspicion
16:15 Graham Looks like it started at 0051
16:16 Graham cool
16:16 Derek Even Carolyn logged in from Boston but she was unable to operate the cam
16:16 Graham  
http://www.seis.utah.edu/helicorder/heli/yellowsto…Uuss.YFT_SHZ_WY.2008122200
16:16 Graham shame its not clear thday to see it. was it better earlier?
16:18 Derek It was good enough at times to see the bursts
16:18 Graham You can see when the thumping started by the wiggles
16:18 Derek We also saw two erruptions of Vault
16:19 Graham it should be erupting every 40min or so all day but hard to see
16:20 Derek Vault was quite easy to see.
16:20 Derek You could see it splashing
16:21 Graham well i am glad you have seen it now. The initila Vault is bigger and thumps but then it erupts in series
16:21 Derek Little Squirt has been going all day
16:25 Derek You keep disapearing :-)
16:31 Graham sorry
16:31 Graham watch out for longer Plume intervals in a day or two
16:33 Derek Now I've discussed all the exciting news of the day with you, I'm going to bed. Wife's already snoring.
16:33 Graham ok. Glad you caught it
16:33 Graham have a good sleep
16:33 Derek Goodnight
16:33 Graham bye
23:51 bpnjensen It looks like Giantess began about 0151 MST.


December 23rd, 2008 View December’s Logs

07:53 Derek Hi
08:55 bruce jensen Hi - back again. Intersestingly, on the list, the only comments about Giantess were mine. Could it be that we were watching a mirage? Or in a drug-induced hallucinatory spell?
08:55 bruce jensen ...nah...
08:56 bruce jensen Is something weird with the stream?
08:56 bruce jensen Getting blankness...
08:56 Derek Hang on
08:57 bruce jensen by a thread...
08:57 Derek It's OK here
08:58 bruce jensen maybe there's something starnge on my end...it looks like a total eclipse of the universe...
08:58 bruce jensen actually my buffer is behaving badly
08:59 Derek When Graham took over late yesterday he gave me a link to the seismology site. That showed the exact time Giantess started
09:02 Derek 00:51 mst to be precise.
09:08 bruce jensen Ah - I saw the site and read it as 0151. Was I off?
09:08 bruce jensen I am getting no feed at all.
09:09 Derek Look again :-)
09:10 bruce jensen nothing. I think it's on my end - I can't get the stream through any other website either. All that vieiwng yesterday broke it!
09:10 Derek 00:51
09:11 Derek Your boss has caught up with you
09:11 Derek Got it disabled to get more work out of you :-)
09:11 bruce jensen Oh, right the helicorder - yes, I just reviewed itr, and 0051 is right. I think you may be right about my boss - or at the leats the PC nazis.
09:12 bruce jensen It's cold in here - ever try typng with gloves on?
09:12 Derek Apart from your posting, there was no other mention of Giantess in the listserve
09:13 bruce jensen So, any good geyser activity this morning? Yeah, I saw the list - like nobody else was watching...
09:13 Derek We were the fortunate few.
09:13 bruce jensen Or else everybody else went up there! :-O
09:15 bruce jensen Well - last day of work, then I get 12 days off - yay!
09:15 Derek I wont be in here until late tomorrow, if at all.
09:16 bruce jensen Well - Christmas Eve, you know - don't feel compelled (unless you can't resist!)
09:16 Derek Mid afternoon we're all off to my eldest sons place.
09:16 guest Yes it was Giantess..Confirmed by the C
09:16 guest that was VC
09:17 Derek As I just said to Bruce, the seismograph put the start at 00:51 MST
09:17 bruce jensen Nice :-) We used to have Christmas Eve celebrations when I lived in Massachusetts as a kid - now we do Chruch on CE and have the big day on Christmas.
09:17 bruce jensen Surprised the VC could not confirm at all yesterday - they were there, right?
09:17 Derek Chruch??
09:17 guest I am heading home this afternoon and wll be on the camera later today and tomorrow
09:18 bruce jensen Like I said, I am typing with gloves on!
09:18 Derek Haha
09:18 guest Yes they were there but very short handed and couldn't leave the desk until late in the day
09:18 bruce jensen Hi, Guest - this is Carolyn A., correct?
09:18 guest Yes
09:19 Derek You just can't keep any secrets from him can you Carolyn? :-)
09:19 guest I am not on my own computer and thus Guest
09:19 bruce jensen Good morning! I wish I was there - I would have been out there giving blow-by-blows back to the VC - there would have been no doubt...
09:20 guest Great caputre Derek!! Thanks
09:20 bruce jensen I am trying to recall - does the VC have a seismograph? It should...
09:20 Derek So, do you have an estimated time of getting on the cam today?
09:21 guest No, but I will let you know as soon as I get home. I won't be leaving until early afternoon
09:21 Derek OK, well it's 4:21 pm here now :-)
09:21 guest I have to leave now See you all later
09:21 Derek See you.
09:22 bruce jensen WEll, I need to depart for now too - have a good few hours, carolyn and derek - back in awhile...
12:03 Derek Beehive at 12:00 MST
12:03 Derek Just going for tea.
13:15 Derek Hi
15:11 Connecticut Car Hi Derek:
15:11 Connecticut Car Are you going to stay on here for a while?
15:12 Derek Yes, for a while
15:12 Connecticut Car I noticed you were focused on Lion
15:12 Connecticut Car Is it expected to erupt soon?
15:13 Derek It last went an hour ago.
15:13 Connecticut Car Was this the first eruption today
15:13 Derek I was just moving around and happen to stop there :-)
15:14 Connecticut Car Okay I will watch it
15:14 Derek I can't say, but it was the only one I saw
15:14 Connecticut Car It's good to be back on the camera
15:14 Derek I think there was a Grand, but I can't be sure because there was so much steam down there
15:15 Connecticut Car What time are you going to your son's house?
15:16 Derek We have to pick Mother up first so we'll leave here about 3pm ( 10 am EST)
15:17 Derek We may be back home about 3:00 EST
15:17 Connecticut Car I will be on for the day then. I do have an appointment at 1:45 EST but I will stay on until then.
15:18 Derek When we get home, I'll pop up here and see if the cam's moving.
15:18 Connecticut Car okay
15:18 Connecticut Car This chat room can be addicting
15:19 Derek On Christmas day, I'll be popping in this room from time to time. My mother did say she'd love to see the cam.
15:20 Connecticut Car Just let me know and I will have you take over. Is Graham planning to be on at all?
15:21 Derek Graham will be around from time to time, just like I will.
15:21 Derek He'll be checking this room to see if you or me are in here.
15:25 Connecticut Car I have to kep an eye on OF
15:26 Derek I'll be going downstairs shortly to ahve a cup of tea and do Beryls usuall night time blood test.
15:26 Derek I'll be back right after that
15:26 Derek I don't feel tired yet
15:27 Connecticut Car Okay, I'll keep chat room open..Maybe Graham will check in
15:27 Derek Maybe
15:27 Connecticut Car Here is Lion
15:27 Derek That siesmograph website was interesting.
15:30 Derek I'll be back in 10 minutes
15:31 Connecticut Car okay
15:44 Derek Back
15:45 Connecticut Car Hi
15:46 Derek I've been making sure all my camera batteries are fully charged for tomorrow :-)
15:47 Derek My son's working from home tomorrow.
15:47 Derek He normally commutes to London by train each weekday
15:49 Derek Little Cub again
15:50 Connecticut Car Yes
15:50 Connecticut Car I can't leave OF though
15:51 Derek As Graham said, Maybe the intervals of Plume and beehive will be affected by yesterdays Giantess
15:55 Derek Pump in the background
16:08 Connecticut Car Looks like Castle
16:09 Connecticut Car I can't see water but lots of steam
16:09 Derek That's been steaming heavilly for some time.
16:09 Connecticut Car How long would you say
16:10 Derek Every time I looked
16:11 Derek You know how long Castle's steam phase can last
16:21 Derek It's 11:20 pm here and I'm just about ready for some serious sleeping now. Beryl is already asleep.
16:22 Derek Maybe catch you late tomorrow.
16:22 Connecticut Car Good night


December 24th, 2008 View December’s Logs

14:04 Connecticut Car Hi Graham
14:04 Connecticut Car Are you on the camera now?
14:12 Graham Hi there
14:12 Graham i am not the cam, it was focussed on ice
14:12 Connecticut Car I just sent you an e-mail
14:12 Graham i am on
14:12 Graham yes i saw that
14:12 Graham Merry Christmas
14:12 Connecticut Car Beehive went this morning as did Grand
14:13 Graham ok, I figures Beehive would go
14:13 Graham couldn't see Grand now anyway
14:13 Graham grrr I cant type
14:13 Connecticut Car Are you going to stay on for the rest of the day?
14:13 Graham I can stay on till dark if you like
14:13 Graham sure
14:13 Connecticut Car Good
14:14 Graham I am home for the holidays
14:14 Graham how was your trip to Boston?
14:14 Connecticut Car Me too
14:14 Connecticut Car I will go on tomorrow until 10:30 our time.
14:15 Graham ok. I might look in, depends what's going on here
14:15 Graham will Derek be on?
14:15 Connecticut Car Then I think Derek may take over but you can go on if you wish...
14:16 Connecticut Car If he doesn't go on you want to just take control
14:16 Graham ok. I can tell from the ice and he said he would be in this chat room if hes around
14:17 Graham Nice to see Giantess went again
14:17 Connecticut Car You bet
14:17 Graham it couldn't have picked a worse day for weather though!
14:18 Connecticut Car I saw the last two (not last year though but I did capture it on the streaming cam
14:18 Connecticut Car Did I tell you that I made reservations for the last two weeks of May?
14:19 Graham I have been unlucky with Giantess in the park though, seen two but mid-eruption
14:19 Connecticut Car I have a funny story to tell you
14:19 Graham oh that's good to be there for two weeks, you can relax and see more then
14:20 Graham I am listening
14:20 Connecticut Car The first time I turned my back on the geyser and it erupted. The second time I was with a group of people on I told them the stroy of how I turned my back, ect. I then turned my back again and it erupted for a second time
14:21 Connecticut Car That was two years later
14:23 Graham Ahhhh I need to hang out with you. One for me was at night, the other I was watching Opal Pool erupt (which was cool) and returned to see the steam a few hours later
14:24 Graham the steam cloud, not the noisy steam phase
14:24 Connecticut Car I know you said you were going in September. Any chance you will change your mind and add May as well?
14:24 Graham I don't think I will be there in May although I have reservations
14:24 Graham I will probably be in Brice/Zion,Grand Canyon this spring instead
14:24 Connecticut Car Where did you make the reservations?
14:24 Derek Hi
14:25 Connecticut Car Did you show your Mom how the camera operaties Derek?
14:25 Derek She'll be here tomorrow
14:25 Graham I have a couple of reservations, in the Inn before Memorial day and then the Lodge cabins
14:25 Derek Not today
14:25 Graham Hi Derek
14:26 Derek Today was the party at my sons
14:26 Connecticut Car Derek will you go on at the usual time tomorrow?
14:26 Derek Carolyn, if you check your email box, I just sent you a nice picture.
14:27 Connecticut Car okay, I will
14:27 Derek 10:30?
14:27 Connecticut Car Yes
14:27 Derek Should be OK
14:28 Connecticut Car Good. This morning Grand and Beehive went before 8:00 AM MST
14:28 Derek I wont be on for very long though. Maybe a couple of hours, then I'll have to get back downstairs and socialize :-)
14:29 Connecticut Car Between the three of us we will have good coverage all day
14:29 Derek I should be available again later after we've run Mum back home
14:29 Connecticut Car I am going to sign off for now. Graham is in control
14:29 Derek I would estimate from 3:00pm
14:30 Graham I may be able to do some too, depends on my socialization needs here too :)
14:31 Derek Graham, could you recheck the Daisy position you gave me. Scotts book places it quite a bit further east
14:32 Derek And when I drew a line from the camera tree, Daisy was directly in line behind Castle
14:32 Graham OK, can you send me the latest
14:33 Derek As viewed by cam, Daisy is about halfway between Castle and Sawmill
14:33 Derek Stand by
14:33 Graham I dont have a vertical scroll bar for the cam control, that's weird
14:39 Derek Email sent
14:40 Graham ok. I will restart the cam SW after OF to see if I can get my bar back.....
14:45 Graham OK. I would put the pin on the dark spot below the 'a" of Daisy
14:48 Graham and if you go 300' West of the new spot, theres a large round dark spot with two parallel runoff channels heading North. That's Splendid.
14:51 Graham Grotto has two t's
14:51 Derek ;P
14:52 Derek There's another task on it's way to you by email
14:54 Graham Do you have a better resolution shot - maybe split in two?
14:54 Derek OK, will do.
14:55 Graham There's too much white-on-white in that shot
14:55 Graham Now I have my bar back :)
14:55 Derek That's the way it is on Google Earth
14:58 Graham The Daisy shot was better though
14:59 Derek Another email
15:03 Graham That ones better. I will update it later but not now. I am distracted here now.
15:24 Derek Going downstairs now. Catch you tomorrow.
15:25 Graham ok, happy Christmas
15:25 Derek You too :-)
15:57 PatS Beehive!
15:57 PatS No Indicator!
16:01 Graham Good huh
16:02 Graham Beehive 1555 12/24
16:03 Graham Yeah Beehive
16:03 Graham wb Carolyn
16:04 Connecticut Car IU was sure Beehive went this morning . I saw what looked like the steam at 7:09 AM MST (IE)
16:05 Connecticut Car It lasted for several minutes. I was looking at the Static Cam and it was somewhat dark
16:05 Graham Yeah well it could do short intervals with Giantess right?
16:05 Graham Was waiting for Lion, but I will take a no-indicator Beehive!
16:05 Graham Hi Pat
16:06 PatS Hello
16:06 PatS Beehive was splashing nicely around lunchtime
16:06 PatS I was surprised you thought it had gone
16:06 Graham did you see it early today Pat?
16:06 PatS Splashing, yes, around lunch time
16:07 Connecticut Car As I said it was very dark but I could see it
16:07 PatS Nice big steam puffs from good splashes
16:07 PatS Hmmm very interesting
16:07 Graham When was it yesterday?
16:07 Graham 17xx?
16:08 PatS Let me check the list
16:08 Connecticut Car 12:01 yesterday
16:08 PatS Eleven fifty nine
16:09 Graham ok, so it could have been two short but probably before 7am
16:09 PatS Yes possibly two short
16:09 PatS Not sure what Giantess does to Beehive
16:10 Graham Shortest interval was 9h50min per GOSA site this year
16:10 PatS Ah. Anyway, I was rather expecting it this afternoon becuase of the splashing I saw around lunch time
16:11 Graham I have seen a 40min indicator when Giantess was going.......we wondered if Beehive was going to erupt or not!
16:11 PatS I am surprised to hear it went overnight
16:11 PatS Or early this AM
16:11 PatS Wow
16:11 PatS Fast recovery
16:11 Graham well we don't know for sure what it did
16:11 PatS Wow 40 min indicator, that's cool
16:11 Graham as Carolyn said, its hard to tell in the dark and steamy mornings
16:12 PatS Yeah and I have been arriving after dawn now due to the weather and bus
16:12 PatS So I get my first look at 0745
16:12 PatS Rather than 0700
16:13 Graham That was nice anyway, I dont get many Beehives being an afternoon cam gazer
16:13 PatS No, and it made my day :)
16:13 PatS This week has been rough and Beehive always cheers me up
16:13 Graham Did you like my mystery geyser hint picture?
16:13 PatS LOL yeah
16:13 Graham yeah you need snow shoes in Portland I hear, and CT
16:13 PatS The discussion about bikes needs to stop now
16:14 Graham no snow here ... yet
16:14 Connecticut Car I go on the camera around 9:00 AM EST and it is still dark in the Basin. At this time of year is starts to really get light around 9:15.
16:14 Connecticut Car The static cam is light than the streaming cam at this time because the streaming cam has a lid on it
16:14 PatS Ah!
16:15 Connecticut Car At this time I can't get onto the static cam. Can either of you
16:15 PatS Yes, it is refresing fine on my screen
16:16 Graham I am in the static cam but it did fail before. I had to force a refresh
16:16 Graham I will post the Beehive time on the listserve in case people want to know for tomorrows gazing
16:17 Connecticut Car I had to refresh the page. It was saying page not found
16:18 Connecticut Car Please report the possible at 7:09AM (IE) from the static cam
16:18 PatS Oh I get that periodically
16:19 Graham OK. I will say that the 0709ie time this morning may not have been correct due to darkness on the webcam. Right?
16:19 PatS OK the listserv just posted and Carolyn Loren posts Beehive at 1709
16:19 PatS I think she made a typo?
16:20 PatS Because that would confirm the 0709 sighting if that wasn't a typo
16:20 Connecticut Car What time did it just go
16:20 PatS it can't be right, 1709
16:20 Graham 15:55
16:22 PatS brb
16:23 Connecticut Car Carolyn L got the 7:09 time from me
16:23 Graham Did you tell Carolyn L it was 0709ie?
16:23 Graham ok
16:23 Graham I will post something...
16:24 Connecticut Car Yes and I told her it was dark
16:29 PatS OK well then it is a typo, what she posted, because she wrote 1709
16:29 PatS Here is her post: And today we've seen 3 Plumes in a row: 1304, 1355vr and 1442. Beehive was seen early on the webcam, 1709 ie.
16:30 Connecticut Car I'll send her e-mail now
16:32 Connecticut Car Done
16:34 PatS Merry Christmas everyone, need to sign out now...Bye!
16:34 Graham by there
16:35 Graham I need to logout too but will continue running the cam
16:35 Graham Merry Christmas Carolyn
16:35 Connecticut Car The same to you


December 25th, 2008 View December’s Logs

07:39 Connecticut Car Graham I need to be on the camera until 10:30
07:40 Graham OK, sorry I grabbed it because it was searching but I guess it won't focus
07:41 Graham I thought Derek was on early
07:41 Graham I get so confused
07:41 Connecticut Car He goes on at 10:30. This is because I need to call in the first eruption
07:41 Graham Happy Christmas, I will be away in a minute
07:41 Graham ok, sorry about that
07:42 Connecticut Car no problem
07:42 Graham so hard to see this morning!
07:42 Connecticut Car it's snowing badly...very hard to see anything
07:43 Graham the focus is very sensitive
07:43 Graham Have a wonderful day!
07:43 Connecticut Car yes especially with the doubler
07:44 Graham I am out of here now, see you
07:44 Connecticut Car bye
09:18 Graham Merry Christmas
09:18 Derek Hi Graham
09:20 Derek We have white-out
09:24 Graham yeah i see that
09:25 Graham sorry, i wandered away to talk to my Mom. my computer is in my living/dining room
09:25 Graham As you can see from the messages I grabbed the cam to try and focus it this morning while Carolyn was on
09:27 Graham I see theres no prediction, Carolyn probably couldn't see anything
09:34 Graham I will be away for a bit, like you probably. Not much to do on the cam today
09:34 Derek That's true
09:34 Graham Its nice and sunny here :)
09:35 Derek I phoned Carolyn half an hour ago
09:37 Graham Shame for the Xmas visitors
09:37 Graham I am going back to socialize now. Will you be keeping an eye on the cam?
09:38 Derek For a while, but as there's nothing much to see, I may close down.
09:38 Derek I have my mother here in the room and wife is downstairs on her own.
09:43 Graham ok. I will be around all day stepping in and out, so leave a message here if you are leaving
09:43 Graham was Carolyn coming back?
09:44 Derek Maybe later but I don't know what time
09:44 Derek I'm watching the Christams at Yellowstone video with my mother
09:44 Graham ok. it looks like she will stop in here now, she came in to talk about Beehive last night when it erupoted
09:45 Graham ah, thats on TV here tonight too. I have seen it before. Makes me ready for my trip in 3 weeks. I arrive at the snow lodge Sat 17th right around now. WIll check in and then go to the VC

10:19 Derek Going downstairs now. Please take the cam if you want.

10:20 Graham ok, i think it is taking care of itself right now.

11:39 bpnjensen Merry Christmas, Derek and Graham! Hope you fellows are doing well today, sipping eggnog and enjoying the day!

12:00 Graham Merry Christmas. Both Derek and I are half watching the cam since you cant see anything today. The camera isn't focussing well and theres nothing we can do about it except wait for the snow to stop!

12:01 Graham Carolyn is now in control of the Cam I think

12:02 Graham No, I still have control.....the wine must be getting to me :S

12:33 Derek Quite a crowd at O.F.

12:39 Graham yeah. is there a geyser there too, I can't see

12:39 Derek Well those people all seem quite happy :-)

12:40 Graham its Christmas!

12:41 Graham and they are in Yellowstone, why wouldn't they be happy?

12:41 Derek I would much rather be there in the summer.

12:41 Graham I think its erupting

12:42 Graham Summer there are bigger crowds though....

12:42 Graham but theres less snow

12:43 Derek I'm a coward when it comes to getting cold and wet.

12:43 Graham Yep, it erupted and they are heading for the warmth

12:44 Graham You need the right gear too. I have 1000g Thinsulate winter boots and Expedition weight thermal underwear and several more layers ending with waterproof outer layers and face masks

12:45 Derek What are you doing next sunday?

12:45 Graham So I have not been wet and only slightly cold one day last Feb when I waited for a Giant Hot period until 2230, an 8 hour wait!

12:46 Graham Sunday 12/28 my Mom is still here and we are going out for brunck. Not sure about the next one tho

12:47 Graham why?

12:47 Derek My son and family who we visited yesterday will be paying us a return visit on 28th

12:49 Derek So I will be entertaining until they leave, which should be about 15:00 EST.

12:50 Graham ok. I can take a look at the cam a bit and fit it in with whatever I am doing with my Mom. When were you on?

12:51 Derek 10:30 onwards

12:51 Graham The web site says they had 7" of snow since yesterday and its still coming down good. 2' on the ground at OF

12:51 Graham 10:30 till Gary shows up whenever?

12:53 Derek Gary's official start time is 4:30 EST

12:54 Graham ok, well I will look at the cam and see what I can do. if its like today the job is easy :)

12:55 Derek I am just about to email Carolyn, so I can tell her you will help?

12:56 Graham Sure, but I will probably be in-and-out too

12:57 Graham So how is your CHristmas? did you havea good meal?

12:58 Derek My wife did us proud with our usual Christmas lunch.

12:58 Derek My son bought me a new graphics card for this computer.

12:58 Graham we had pickings for lunch and big meal at 7pm

12:59 Graham ok, thats good. I may go out and buy a new computer tomorrow..the price dropped $60

13:00 Derek Tomorrow we will have a selection of cold meats with some fries.

13:00 Graham aka left overs :)

13:00 Derek I thought you were getting a new PC some days ago.

13:01 Graham yeah well i procrastinated and didnt want to drive to the store since its in the busiest shopping area

13:01 Graham so now I can save ~10% too

13:11 Graham woah two dereks!

13:12 Derek Brice I just changed over to my old PC

13:12 Derek Brice So I can install that graphics card in the other one.

13:13 Graham ok

13:16 Graham btw - you can have the cam back if you wish although theres not much to do with it today

13:16 Derek Brice I'll just keep monitoring while I work on the other PC.

13:19 Graham I have just left it parked here, its in focus and you can see people. What else is there to do with it today?

13:19 Derek Brice I agree

13:32 Graham I will keep an eye on hte cam but will not be chatting for a while

13:32 Derek Brice OK, I am still keeping an eye myself

14:57 Graham Maybe OF has gone dormant - I have not seen it all day!

14:57 Derek Brice It's hiding

15:36 Graham someone stole all the benches in front of OF too

15:36 Derek Brice Haha

15:36 Derek Brice I'm going to get ready for bed now.

15:36 Derek Brice Thanks for your help


December 26th, 2008 View December’s Logs

08:29 Connecticut Car Still waiting for OF
08:29 Connecticut Car Steam blowing right at the fcamera all morning
08:31 Derek I been leaning back in my chair here and dozing off to sleep. Wife has Flu real bad and I seem to be getting it too.
08:32 Connecticut Car Sorry to hear this
08:32 Derek I hope we're considerably better by sunday
08:32 Derek Otherwise so and family wont be able to come.
08:32 Derek son
08:34 Derek This time of year the shops are crowded so I guess someone must have given it to Beryl, and she passed it on to me.
08:36 Derek Beryl had the flu vaccination a few weeks ago but it don't seem to have prevented her from catching it.
08:36 Connecticut Car Finally, OF
08:37 Connecticut Car The camera is yours..I have a few things I want to do
08:37 Derek OK, I'll keep an eye on it.
09:01 Derek To Christine and Graham. I am feeling exhausted with this flu, so I'm going to check on Beryl first, then have a lie down on the bed.
09:02 Derek I've left the cam logged in, but it may still go out of focus.
10:00 Graham Happy Boxing Day

10:00 Graham nice to see the suns out

10:22 Connecticut Car Graham do you want to take over the camera as Derek is not feeling well?

10:24 Graham I am 'working' so I think the right answer is 'no' :)

10:24 Connecticut Car okay

10:25 Graham i have to make up a few hours today or take leave, so I am doing my mandatory training

10:25 Graham ethics, business conduct, time charging etc. All wonderful stuff

10:25 Connecticut Car no problem

10:25 Graham and keeping an eye on the cam where you can actually see something today!

10:26 Graham SOrry to hear you are not well Derek

10:31 Graham so far I am only 95% ethical!

10:31 Connecticut Car I won't tell

10:32 Connecticut Car I think Derek is logged on but not at the computer

10:35 Connecticut Car Just spoke to friends and it's very cold and WINDY

10:37 Graham Yeah looks cold. Wind doesn't look too bad though, the steam isn't whipping across the screem. I bet they will get bad drifting if it blows hard now though

10:37 Graham That snow pack is good though

10:37 Connecticut Car You can tell it's windy by the shaking of the camera

10:38 Graham Its above zero though, they didn't have face masks on to protect from frostbite so it must be nice and warm :)

10:41 Connecticut Car I am going to sign off for now


December 28th, 2008 View December’s Logs

07:58 Connecticut Car Hi Derek: Glad you are feeling better.
07:58 Connecticut Car Did you get my e-mail
07:58 Derek It arrived four minutes ago
07:59 Derek I must have been dozing and didn't hear it arrive
07:59 Connecticut Car Will you take over at 10:30 EST
07:59 Derek OK, but I wont be on for the normal duration.
08:00 Connecticut Car Rodger
08:00 Connecticut Car Maybe Graham will step in before Gary goes on. My family will probably stay until 1:00 PM EST
08:00 Derek Who's Rodger? a new cam opp :D
08:01 Connecticut Car If not I will go on
08:01 Connecticut Car "Rodger" meaning okay
08:01 Derek Hi Jimbo
08:01 Derek I realise that , me being an ex radio opperator :-)
08:02 Jimbo Hi! I hope you're feeling better
08:02 Derek Better than yesterday but a long way to go yet.
08:03 Jimbo With kids we worry about getting the whiole family knocked out during winter
08:03 Derek My youngest kid is 24 years old :-)
08:04 Derek And he seems to have caught it now.
08:04 Jimbo BTW, thanks for the great work on Giantess. That was fun. I have to write an "article" about why Giantess is an ideal big unpredictable geyser for the Webcam to look for -------------------------------- sorry about the flu bug going around!
08:05 Derek If I'm starting in 25 minutes, I'd better pop downstairs now and check on how wife's doing.
08:06 Jimbo OK; I'm going to see my Mom in half an hour or so. She lives about 15 minutes away. Kids are taking a trip for a couple of days!
08:06 Jimbo Hi CC!
08:10 Connecticut Car Hi Jimbo
08:11 Jimbo Windy up where you are? We're getting 40+ gusts!
08:11 Connecticut Car Jimbo are you going to get to the Park this year?
08:11 Connecticut Car No not really but alll the snow has melted due to the fog and warm temps
08:12 Jimbo I doubt it. Kids are 9; we'll probably go back to Maine. Had a cabin near Acadia (on a lake) and saw some lighthouses. I want to take them to the Bay of Fundy, but my wife thinks its boring:D

08:13 Connecticut Car Love the bay...we saw the tide rush in many times....I loved it as did my hubby

08:14 Connecticut Car It's amazing how fast the water rises

08:15 Jimbo I saw it on a trip to Halifax, but the trip coincided with neap tide -- saw it coming in fast, but no bore

08:15 Jimbo Speaking of YNP, I need more vacation time and more money

08:16 Connecticut Car We are going again in mid May uhntil June

08:16 Connecticut Car Sorry for the typing

08:16 Jimbo I think that's a good time -- less crowds. I want to go in early September

08:16 Jimbo Ahh, there's Old Faithful

08:18 Connecticut Car I almost missed it... I do call the first eruption in to the VC every morning

08:19 Connecticut Car Signing out for now

08:19 Jimbo I like to see the sunrise eruptions -- have to get to work by 9. C'ya!

08:29 Graham Thats better

08:30 Graham hello

08:30 Derek Hi Graham

08:30 Graham How are you - better?

08:30 Jimbo Hi Graham

08:30 Graham Hi Jimbo

08:30 Derek Better than yesterday but still a long way to go

08:31 Jimbo Are you in the Virginia/Md area? I got that impression from a previous chat log comment

08:31 Graham sorry to hear you were not well. I ran the cam a bit longer yesterday but with the snow it wasn't very interesting. Saw Beehive tho

08:31 Graham Yeah i am in Fairfax Va

08:31 Jimbo I'm near Baltimore

08:32 Graham ok, thats good. How you like the warm weather today?

08:32 Jimbo Pretty amazing. I have birdfeeders but no birds -- too windy.

08:33 Graham Yeah its windy here too but mid 60's isn't bad

08:34 Jimbo Hey Derek, what made you interested in geysers?

08:34 Derek I told Carolyn I'd be happy to do a couple of hours on cam if required, but if you are available, I can just hold the fort if you need to pop off for a while

08:35 Derek I'm fascinated by a great many things. Geysers are quite high on that list.

08:35 Graham Actually i am going out in 30 minutes or so, just checking that the link works with my new computer

08:35 Graham i am in the middle of transferring 60GB of photos

08:36 Derek When do you expect to be back?

08:36 Jimbo Yeah, I don't know why for me. I've been to YNP twice and liked all of it; but the geysers were the most interesting thing. Now if I went back I know I'd want to spend at least one day watching the wolf packs.

08:37 Graham 1 - 1:30 probably. I can take over then?

08:38 Graham I will have been 4 times in 12 months when I visit in 3 weeks time...

08:38 Derek That's the normal time I have tea so 1:30 EST will be perfect

08:39 Graham ok. I will check in when i get back

08:39 Derek Until I got involved with the forum and the Yellowstone website, I had no idea how so many geysers could all have unique personalities

08:41 Graham Hard to see again today

08:41 Derek Yeah

08:41 Graham some geysers are nice, others are nasty

08:42 Derek I see someone's returned your missing bench seats Graham :-)

08:42 Jimbo Bundle up! Good to talk to you both; Graham, thanks for pointing out where F&M and Riverside are. We need a better photo guide than the NPS has (monteith has a good YouTube video that shows several different plumes).

08:43 Graham Yeah, I am glad they got them back. Keeps the tourists all trapped at OF

08:43 Jimbo That's what makes them fascinating (and frustrating). I'll try to write that short article sometime this week. I've got to run now!

08:43 Graham see ya

08:43 Derek Seeya

08:44 Graham Its going to be another quite cam day

08:44 Graham it can snow all it wants for the next 2 1/2 weeks

08:44 Graham then i want some sun

08:47 Derek Have you ever met Carolyn?

08:49 Graham Yeah. both A and L. Met Car A in May for the first time when she and her husband were in the park

08:49 Derek Have you met Tom?

08:50 Graham no

08:50 Derek I have a couple of photos he sent me.

08:51 Graham you sent them to me

08:51 Derek Aaaah

08:51 Graham i have to go. Taking my mom out to brunch. See you later

08:51 Derek You get more forgetfull as you get older

08:51 Derek ok

09:49 Derek Hi Carolyn :-)

09:49 Connecticut Car Hi how are you doing?

09:49 Derek Not too bad thanks. Got a nice hot cup of tea here.

09:50 Connecticut Car how long do you want to stay on the camera?

09:50 Derek Graham said he'll be back about 1:30 EST

09:50 Connecticut Car okay

09:51 Derek Then I guess he might stay until Gary takes over.

09:52 Derek I'm glad there are some people there. The cam's auto focus likes something solid to lock onto

09:53 Derek O.F. at 9:53

09:54 Connecticut Car Did you see anything else erupt this mroning

09:54 Derek No, this is the 1st

09:55 Connecticut Car Carolyn L. thought Grand might have erupted at 8:30 but I did n't see it as I had logged off

09:56 Derek With the focusing and visibilty problems I doubt if I could have seen Grand

09:57 Derek It's only cleared recently

09:58 Derek The only way my non-expert eyes can identify a Grand erruption is by the water jets

10:01 Connecticut Car She told me it's snowing there now ...thus the foggy conditions

10:06 Connecticut Car I'm going to sign off for now

10:06 Derek ok

11:34 Graham im back

11:34 Derek Hi

11:34 Derek O.F. was at 11:12

11:37 Graham ok. Anything else visible?

11:37 Derek Just people

11:37 Graham yeah i bet thet are in view.

11:38 Graham so what was making you feel ill?

11:38 Derek Flu

11:38 Derek All three of us have it now

11:38 Derek Wife, me and son

11:39 Graham ug. i had a flu shot

11:39 Derek I'd like to go for tea now if you're ready. Carolyn may pop back in later.

11:39 Derek My wife had a flu shot

11:40 Derek But she still got flu

11:40 Graham ok, I will take the cam

11:40 Derek Thanks

11:41 Derek I'll stay logged in to this room. Might be back later.

11:41 Graham ok. gary should be on later?

11:41 Derek Should be :-)

11:42 Derek He's due at 16:30 EST

11:42 Derek Bye for now

11:44 Graham see you

12:50 Graham Beehive 1224ie

14:37 Derek Nice Lion

14:38 Derek My friend in Bulgaria was watching the erruption.

14:39 Derek She asked, aren't those people too close to it? So I had to explain about the zoom illusion.

14:40 Graham I was in the bathroom :)

14:40 Graham but I knew it was splashing

14:40 Derek When you gotta go you gotta go :-)

14:40 Graham they can get wet on the boardwalk there but its cold

14:40 Graham some sunshine now!

14:40 Derek Was that an initial?

14:41 Graham I have no idea. Probably

14:41 Graham because I have not seen it earlier

14:42 Graham but I have only been watching on-and-off since its been snowy

14:42 Graham Did get Beehive thru the snow tho

14:42 Derek I'm no expert but I understood that only the initial has a steam phase

14:43 Graham it sure looked like a long slow end to the eruption which usually happens for initials

14:44 Derek It took quite a while to build up to it's full height.

14:45 Graham the durations for initials are usually about 6min, with later eruptions usually no more than 4, maybe 5 mins

14:48 Graham I am going to leave the cam there and check back occasionally. I am watching football

14:48 Graham Gary may take over soon......maybe

14:48 Derek Yeah :-)

14:48 Graham see ya

14:49 Derek Seeya


December 29th, 2008 View December’s Logs

08:53 Connecticut Car Hi: Are you going to be able to do the camera today?
08:54 Derek I'll do it for as long as I'm able.
08:54 Connecticut Car Okay..I am home so if you want to call it a day just let me know
08:56 Derek Sure thanks. I had another bad night last night and now my son's also got flu, we can't count on him for help.
08:56 Connecticut Car I am going to do some quilting so I won't be watching the cam
08:57 Connecticut Car I will check in occasionally
08:57 Derek Thanks
10:03 Derek Hi
10:05 Derek Hi Guest :-)
11:49 Derek Going for tea now. May not be back afterwards. Did you get those pictures I sent today?
11:50 Derek I'll leave the cam and room logged in.
11:53 Connecticut Car do you want to go to tea
11:58 Connecticut Car guess you are not in the chat room...I'll log out
13:54 Derek I did say I was going to tea, and I did.
13:55 Derek My PC was in the chat room but I was downstairs.
14:19 Graham hello
14:19 Derek Hi
14:20 Derek I'm not on the cam. I'm just sitting heretaking it easy. I was on from 10:30 to 13:30
14:21 Graham ok. looks like nobody is using it
14:21 Graham i got home early and have a few things to do here but I can grab it
14:21 Graham how are you feeling today?
14:21 Derek Had another rough night last night but we had to go out in the cold this morning to get some essential supplies
14:22 Graham ah, that wiped you out i bet
14:22 Derek Carolyn was on the cam upto about half an hour ago
14:22 Derek Yeah
14:24 Derek With this flu headache I find staring at a spotty white screen doesn't help. That's why I've cut down my hours for now.
14:24 Graham Looks like the indicator?
14:26 Derek Yeah, could be.
14:28 Graham yeah the screen is hard to watch with the blurring too
14:29 Derek I was looking at your city with Google Earth this afternoon. Looks a nice plce
14:30 Derek And not far from where I stayed in 1972
14:34 Graham yeah Old Town Alexandria is nice but I liv in the cheaper suburbs
14:35 Derek I was looking at Fairfax
14:39 Graham yeah there is a historic district there but Alexandria is closer to me and nicer
14:40 Derek The place I stayed was just north of Columbia Pike and close to Four Mile Run
14:41 Derek Looking at the 2007 Aerial image the house is still there and has not been altered
14:42 Derek Despite being over 35 years ago, I still remember it quite well.
14:46 Derek Hi Guest
14:49 Graham hey there Carolyn
14:49 Derek Hi Carolyn
14:49 Connecticut Car Okay who is on the camera now? I just left for a minute and I understand Beehive went
14:49 Graham I got home early and took over the cam. Just had Beehive 1433
14:50 Connecticut Car Great..I saw it steaming and knew it was going to erupt
14:50 Graham Yeah, it was focussed on the Ice on the lens so I took it
14:50 Derek Did you get those pictures OK Carolyn?
14:52 Connecticut Car Yes I did
14:52 Connecticut Car I actually had captured them last year
14:52 Connecticut Car Thank you anyway
14:52 Derek I just love to see a Coyote so close
14:52 Derek They look so cute
14:53 Connecticut Car I know..it was very exciting
14:54 Derek As I'm not an expert, could one of you tell me if the Coyote is closest related to a fox or a wolve?
14:54 Connecticut Car Derek can you take over the camera tomorrow at 9:30?
14:55 Derek Sure, if all goes well.
14:55 Connecticut Car I have to drive up to boston to take care of the grandkids but I actually won't be leaving until around noon
14:56 Derek I'd prefer to keep it to half shifts though until I've completley got rid of this flu.
14:56 Connecticut Car That's fine..every little bit helps
14:57 Derek There's no real heating in this room and with this bug, I seem to feel the cold more.
14:57 Connecticut Car Best you take care of yourself. How is Beryl
14:57 Derek So tomorrow I'll be on from as soon as I finish lunch until my tea time.
14:58 Derek Beryl is about the same. Still coughing more than me.
14:59 Connecticut Car I've got to sign off..see you guys later
14:59 Derek Last night I just kept waking up with a very dry mouth
14:59 Derek Seeya
15:00 Graham Pat Snyder caught Beehive too
15:01 Derek She'd make a great cam operator
15:02 Graham yeah but shes at work most of the day like me
15:07 Derek You've been most helpfull to me for the last few weeks though.
15:08 Graham glad to help out
15:08 Graham they r off trail!
15:08 Derek Are there no rangers around
15:09 Graham there are 3 in the VC total I think, not sure who is there now, maybe just 2 of the. I would think they know since OF is due soon
15:18 Derek Don't they have any kind of police or law enforcers this time of year?
15:22 Graham I bet there are some but not many and the ranger station is not really close, its behind the Inn and SNow Lodge
15:24 Derek Just like most american think all british police go around wearing tall helments and riding bicycles, most Brits think all american cops tear around in fast cars and pull their guns at every little thing. :-)
15:25 Graham yeah well they all cary guns but don't draw them very much
15:25 Derek I been watching too much Kojak :-)
15:28 Graham hehe yeah but they all drive big cars in the summer. I have not seen the police snowmobiles tho...if they have them
15:29 Derek A few years ago they had an american cop over here on an exchange visit, working alongside our cops. He told the newspapers he fealt undreesed without his gun.
15:30 Derek undressed
15:30 Graham yeah i am sure they dont like being so exposed without it
15:38 Derek Final question before I go, why is thereso little, or no snow just in front of the camera tree?
15:39 Graham i think its a warm spot
15:40 Derek OK, I thought for a moment you might say it's because the cam glass attracts all the snow so it never reaches the ground :-)
15:41 Graham haha
15:41 Derek Goodnight
15:41 Graham its a shame its so icy
15:41 Graham see you, hope u feel better tomorrow
15:41 Derek Thanks


December 30th, 2008 View December’s Logs

08:17 bojo Any estimate on OF eruption?
08:18 Derek Sorry, I only took control of the cam 10 minutes ago. :-)
08:18 bojo No prob; love the chat feature!
08:19 Derek Great
08:19 Derek Three of the four cam opps apear in here
08:19 bojo f
08:21 bojo This is my first visit here; usually view via NPS site. How does everything work?
08:21 Derek We're hoping to get the camera glass cleaned in a couple of weeks time.
08:21 Derek How does what work? You'll have to be specific :-)
08:22 bojo When you say 3 of 4 cams appear here; I only see one.
08:22 Derek cam opps
08:22 Derek operators
08:22 bojo Oh, OK!
08:22 Derek appear in this chat room
08:23 Derek There are 3 americans and one Brit.
08:23 Derek I'm the Brit
08:24 bojo Long way from home, eh? How long in
08:24 Derek I am actually at home
08:24 bojo even better!
08:24 Derek The cam is driven by computer via an internet connection
08:25 bojo but late?!??
08:25 Derek Late?
08:25 bojo What time is it there?
08:26 Derek 3:25 pm
08:26 Derek here
08:26 bojo k
08:26 Derek I am 7 hours ahead of Yellowstone
08:27 Derek How well do you know Yellowstone?
08:27 bojo Not well enough; two brief trips in 06 & 08.
08:28 Derek I've been to the USA, 4 times back in the 1970s but not to Yellowstone.
08:29 bojo The camera doesn't do it justice; nothing like being there.:)
08:29 Derek I can imagine
08:30 Derek The regular geyser gazers who use this room, have been very helpfull to me.
08:30 bojo How many visitors do you get on a daily basis?
08:31 Derek Some days none, but occasionally a nice group builds up.
08:31 bojo I have added the site to my favorites, so I plan to return often.
08:31 Derek The Old Faithfull prediction has been posted
08:32 Derek 9:02
08:32 bojo Thanks! I may surf some more - then return:)>-
08:32 Derek Graham and Connecticut Car are the 2 other operators you might meet here
08:33 bojo I'll keep an eye out for them - later.
09:01 bojo OK, made it back. Just heard on the news about some earthquakes in Yellowstone; have you heard anything?
09:02 Derek (cam) I haven't so far
09:02 bojo I know there are always minor quakes happening, but these sounded like something more.
09:03 Derek (cam)  
http://www.seis.utah.edu/helicorder/heli/yellowsto…
09:04 bojo An update says that over 250 small quakes since Friday. Concerns about the frequency, not intensity.
09:05 Derek (cam) That link shows some seismograph readings for today
09:05 bojo Just went to look; thanks!
09:08 Derek (cam) I'm not an expert but some of them look quite big.
09:09 bojo Well, it is one BIG volcano!
09:10 Derek (cam) I wonder where the sensor is for those readings
09:11 bojo Don't know for sure, but I would assume it is somewhere in the HQ area.
09:11 bojo That would make for easire observations as well as maintenance.
09:15 Derek (cam) So far they've all been less than magnitude 4
09:18 Derek (cam) A week ago, I was fortunate enough to witness my first Giantess erruption on the cam.
09:19 bojo I was reading about that on Yellowstine.net boards; that's how I found my way here - sounded awesome.
09:20 Derek (cam) The best part was not visible because it started at 00:51
09:20 Derek (cam) That showed on the seismograph.
09:21 bojo How long was the total eruption?
09:21 Derek (cam) It was still going by the time it got dark
09:22 bojo Amazing!
09:22 Derek (cam) Giantess can last over 48 hours
09:24 bojo Didn't Giant & Giantess erupt at the same time a few months ago?
09:24 Derek (cam) I don't think they went together
09:24 Derek (cam) Giantess last went off in May
09:34 bojo Thanks again - I'll be back another day.
09:35 Derek (cam) Cheers
11:31 Connecticut Car Hi
11:31 Derek (cam) Hi
11:31 Connecticut Car I don't think I will be going to Boston as my grandson is sick
11:31 Connecticut Car Do you want to go to Tea now?
11:31 Connecticut Car Would you be coming back if you do?
11:32 Derek (cam) My son made a quick recovery. He's driven off to Wales to meet his girlfriend
11:32 Derek (cam) I had a much better night last night.
11:32 Connecticut Car Good
11:34 Derek (cam) I aim to be back at 3:00 EST if all goes well downstairs. Will you be there just in case I don't make it by that time.
11:34 Connecticut Car Not sure...but right now I am not planning on going
11:35 Connecticut Car Do you want me to take over now?
11:35 Derek (cam) OK, I'm just finishing another little job here in my room before I go downstairs but you are welcome to take it now if you like.
11:36 Connecticut Car Okay I will
11:36 Derek (cam) The visibility has beeb good and sunny so far.
11:36 Derek (cam) There was a Lion at 10:40 MST
13:12 Connecticut Car I have been watching Beehive as it has been steaming nicely
13:12 Connecticut Car OF erupted at
13:12 Connecticut Car Of Predicted at
13:13 captbunzo oooo. pretty.
13:13 Connecticut Car Sorry at 1:34 PM
13:13 captbunzo and hi connecticut car... glad to see someone new in my chat room... :D
13:13 Connecticut Car Lion erupted again at 12:14 PM
13:13 captbunzo hey derek - did someone clean the lens?
13:13 Derek (cam) No
13:14 Connecticut Car I should introduce myself
13:14 Connecticut Car I have been running the streaming cam for over one year
13:14 Derek (cam) :D
13:14 captbunzo perhaps I should as well....
13:14 captbunzo and cool stuff? what's your real name?
13:14 captbunzo I am Paul Thompson.....
13:15 Connecticut Car Carolyn A
13:15 captbunzo I am an American living in England (a cpl hours west of Derek)....
13:15 captbunzo ah - it's Carolyn.... :)
13:15 captbunzo Derek has mentioned you many times :)
13:15 Derek (cam) The one and only :-)
13:15 Connecticut Car I live in Connecticut and go to the Park at least twice a year.
13:16 captbunzo ah.... I'm so jealous!
13:16 captbunzo I'd love to at least go once a year! :)
13:16 Connecticut Car That is how I have gotten to know many of the regulars in the Park
13:17 captbunzo I was born in Denver and lived there til I was about 8... we went every year for quite some time.
13:17 captbunzo and as an adult I've taken my wife & kiddos 3-4 times.
13:18 Connecticut Car Great experience
13:18 captbunzo yep!
13:18 captbunzo we love it....... never been there in winter, so I am really enjoying the cam during this season.
13:18 Connecticut Car I just got off the phone with yellowstone friends from Fort Collins
13:18 captbunzo cool! anything interesting going on in the park at the moment?
13:19 Connecticut Car YES!!
13:19 Connecticut Car Lots of earthquakes under the Lake the last few days.
13:20 Connecticut Car Many road closures scheduled for the Spring and Summer
13:20 captbunzo oh my - an anusual number of earthquakes?
13:20 Connecticut Car Its going to make driving really difficult this summer.
13:20 captbunzo what's up with the road closures? construction I assume?
13:21 Connecticut Car Yes,,looks like they are going to complete the road to nowhere between Norris and Madison
13:22 Connecticut Car It's been on hold for several years...money
13:22 captbunzo interesting.
13:22 captbunzo what do you mean by "the road to nowhere"?
13:23 Connecticut Car They were going to build a road that went behind Gibbon falls and there was much objection.
13:23 Connecticut Car They started the road and never completed it.
13:24 captbunzo and now they are... way cool!
13:24 Connecticut Car Now it sounds like they are going to complete it and build a bridge.
13:24 captbunzo do they have an expected completion timeframe?
13:24 Derek (cam) There's been an unusual amount of small earthquakes over the last few days.
13:24 Connecticut Car Not really...it may eliminate the way we now see the falls
13:25 captbunzo ah.... hmmnn - surely they'll have enough foresight to maintain good view of the falls.....
13:25 Derek (cam) All centered around the North of the park
13:25 Connecticut Car Not that I know of at this time
13:26 captbunzo hmmnn. the park road configuration doesn't seem to have changed much since I was a kid... I find it somewhat fascinating to imagine new roads.....
13:26 captbunzo or road
13:26 Connecticut Car Derek how long will you be on the camera?
13:26 Derek (cam) Maybe until 5:00pm EST
13:27 Connecticut Car Okay, I will take over then
13:28 Derek (cam) Those earthquakes are less than 4 on the scale but they sure look big on the seismograph.
13:28 Connecticut Car Please keep an eye on Beehive as I will record it if it erupts in the next few hours
13:29 Connecticut Car The thing with these earthquakes is the number in the same spot each day
13:30 Derek (cam) Do you think there is any cause to be concerned?
13:30 Connecticut Car Lets hope not...
13:31 Connecticut Car looks lion is going to go again
13:33 Derek (cam) Hehe, I'm trying to watch for three geysers at the same time :-)
13:33 Connecticut Car I can tell from the way you have the camera
13:34 Connecticut Car Of is in preplay
13:37 Derek (cam) It's down to 0 c here in Gillingham right now. When I got up this morning it was -5 C
13:37 Connecticut Car wow
13:37 captbunzo way cold!
13:38 captbunzo been freezing here in ascot as well
13:38 Derek (cam) Had to scrape frost off the car windows
13:40 captbunzo nice to see a crowd there on new years eve eve... :D
13:40 Connecticut Car Just what we need...more water and silica on the lens
13:40 captbunzo no kidding...
13:41 Derek (cam) I'm sure glad there's a protective glass in front of the real lens.
13:41 Derek (cam) Otherwise that would be expensive to replace
13:42 Connecticut Car Tom is expected to be in the Park around Jan. 9th
13:42 Connecticut Car Maybe then we will get the lens cleaned
13:42 captbunzo that'd be nice....
13:42 captbunzo how long does it take to get dirty again?
13:42 Connecticut Car The next eruption
13:43 captbunzo ha!
13:43 Derek (cam) They're probably waiting for you to get there Carolyn, and do it for them :-)
13:43 Connecticut Car Wish I could!!
13:43 captbunzo annnnd the crowd clears.
13:43 Connecticut Car even before the eruption is completed
13:44 Derek (cam) I'm 60 and way overweight, but I would be happy to go up the ladder for Tom if someone equally heavy stood on the bottom.
13:44 Derek (cam) :-)
13:45 Connecticut Car Thank you..now I see much better
13:46 Connecticut Car I don't see water splashing in Beehive ..just a lot of steam
13:46 Derek (cam) I wonder if Victor would stand on the bottom run while I went up top? :-)
13:48 Bruce Jensen Good day everyone, Carolyn and Paul - excellent scene on camera!
13:48 Derek (cam) Hi Bruce
13:48 captbunzo hi bruce!
13:48 Connecticut Car Greetings Bruce
13:48 Bruce Jensen Hi, Derek - I didn't see your name!
13:49 captbunzo whoops - there goes our guest!
13:49 captbunzo that was fast....didn't even get a hello out :)
13:49 Connecticut Car Bruce did you see all that's going on in the Park the last few days
13:50 Derek (cam) There was someone called bojo in here earlier
13:50 Bruce Jensen Hi, paul and Carolyn. Paul, I have a question - at work, I can see the scroll across the top where you have future links and past days' convesrations listed - but here at home, that row doe snto appear. Any idea why?
13:50 Bruce Jensen Hi, carolyn - did not see any special events - what's up?
13:50 Derek (cam) I didn't get round to asking him where he was.
13:51 Connecticut Car Lots of earthquakes, on future road closings
13:51 captbunzo hmmnnn. bruce - are you saying that the ENTIRE brown row doesn't appear at work?
13:51 Bruce Jensen Oh, yes, saw the details about quakes and road closures for the conming year.
13:51 Bruce Jensen Pauyl, it appears at work - but it does not appear here at home.
13:51 Connecticut Car How about the sinking of the Road by Pallete
13:52 captbunzo that's VERY odd... what operating system / browser do you use at home?
13:52 Bruce Jensen Another thing - but probably local at work - I cannot receive the stream any more. At home, I use IE, whatever the latest version is. Same at work.
13:53 Derek (cam) I don't get anything moving or changing at the top.
13:53 Derek (cam) I use IE7
13:53 Bruce Jensen Carolyn, yes saw the item about the Palette Spring road sink. Derek, I simply have no brown row across the top at all.
13:53 captbunzo that's really odd, bruce... I am not sure.
13:54 Bruce Jensen Maybe I need to specifically go to MS and update the IE...?
13:54 captbunzo perhaps....
13:54 Derek (cam) I'll try on the other PC
13:54 captbunzo have you perchance got a copy of firefox installed?
13:55 Bruce Jensen I will give that a try later. I do not have Firefox or Google's browser installed.
13:56 Derek (cam) I am not getting it on either PCs
13:56 Connecticut Car I have it on mine...I use Firefox
13:56 Bruce Jensen Derek - not getting the brown row?
13:56 Derek (cam) I've never tried that
13:56 Derek (cam) No.
13:57 Derek (cam) It's just the same as it's always been
13:57 Derek (cam) Carolyn, let me know when you want it moved around again.
13:59 Connecticut Car Looks good to me...I actually want to do some sewing and probably will in a few minutes. I'll be back at 5:00 PM EST
14:00 Derek (cam) Paul!
14:00 captbunzo sorry - had to pop out for a moment...
14:01 Derek (cam) As you're well up on PCs, what are the advantages of Firefox?
14:01 captbunzo it is more secure.
14:02 captbunzo and has lots of nice little features.
14:02 Derek (cam) Is it simple enough to install with the option of loading IE7 if I want?
14:02 captbunzo yep
14:02 captbunzo that's what I do.
14:02 captbunzo hey bruce - can you check the version of IE for me
14:02 captbunzo ?
14:03 captbunzo help menu, about internet explorer
14:03 captbunzo I assume you are on a windows machine..
14:04 Bruce Jensen Hi, Paul - I have IE7 on a windows machine.
14:05 captbunzo k
14:05 Derek (cam) Installing now :-)
14:05 captbunzo so do I... I just noticed an odd problem under mine - the meebo chat window doesn't seem to be working....
14:07 Bruce Jensen I need to go just now, but I wil ltry to return later - thanks, folks!
14:08 captbunzo hey bruce - any chance I can get you to install firefox and then tell me how the page behaves there?
14:08 captbunzo oops.
14:11 Derek (cam) I'm on firefox
14:11 captbunzo cool
14:12 Derek (cam) Still no bar
14:12 Derek (cam) And no media screen now
14:12 captbunzo ah - the media screen is a firefox plugin thing....
14:12 captbunzo but let me get this right - you aren't getting the brown bar on top either?
14:13 Derek (cam) Correct
14:13 captbunzo hmmnn. actually that's a good thing.
14:13 captbunzo good to have a repeatable problem....
14:14 captbunzo let me think it over for a bit...
14:31 kalamitykatie Hi guys.
14:31 Derek (cam) Hi
14:31 captbunzo hi katie!
14:34 Derek (cam) Katie! are you seeing an information bar at the top of this screen?
14:34 captbunzo a brown one....
14:34 Derek (cam) Is it changing
14:34 captbunzo hey derek - what web address are you at?
14:35 Derek (cam) News and events?
14:35 Derek (cam) http://yellowstone.paulthompson.net/camchat/
14:35 captbunzo darn :)
14:35 Derek (cam) I though there was only this one
14:35 captbunzo that I am aware of.
14:35 captbunzo but I was hoping maybe there was an old one that you guys were still accessing...
14:36 Derek (cam) Carolyn was getting it OK.
14:36 captbunzo I may have to change the methods I use to put the page together.....
14:37 Derek (cam) I'm playing with a hacked Sat-nav here at this moment :-)
14:38 captbunzo cool
14:38 Derek (cam) Navigo
14:38 kalamitykatie I see the brown bar with links but nothing is scrolling or changing.
14:39 captbunzo there should be no scrolling or changing....
14:39 Derek (cam) You can get them from Ebuyer for 50 quid and put the latest TomTom software in them
14:39 captbunzo just good to see that you see the bar....
14:40 Derek (cam) I have a brown bar, but only a clock and some links in it.
14:40 captbunzo ah - that's right now.
14:40 captbunzo should say "Old Faithful CamChat" on the left...
14:40 captbunzo then have links to today's and the current month's chat log...
14:41 captbunzo then "Resources: (not linked yet)"
14:41 Derek (cam) Yes
14:42 kalamitykatie Yep, that's what I see. that's what I've always seen...
14:42 captbunzo do you see it in IE as well, derek?
14:46 Derek (cam) Same in both
14:46 captbunzo hmmnn.. how odd. I wonder what's up with bruce's computer....
14:49 Derek (cam) I have a feeling that what he was trying to say is that he couldn't get the event info
14:49 Derek (cam) He's posibly in the same boat as me.
14:49 captbunzo there's no event info involved.
14:49 captbunzo nowhere.
14:50 Derek (cam) Only Carolyn :-)
14:51 captbunzo eh?
14:51 Derek (cam) Carolyn said she was getting the info, I think
14:52 captbunzo I think she was talking about other bits.
14:53 Derek (cam) The stream keeps stopping
15:17 Derek (cam) Carolyn's on the cam now but I don't think she's coming back in the room.
16:41 Graham Hello
17:12 Graham Looks like F&M 1659ie on 12/30


December 31st, 2008 View December’s Logs

08:26 Connecticut Car Hi
08:26 Connecticut Car OF erupted at 8:11 AM MST
08:26 Derek Thanks
08:28 Derek Anything else to report? :-)
08:28 Connecticut Car No I was just watching for OF this mornings eruption
08:28 Connecticut Car Lion has been steaming
08:29 Connecticut Car I am going to sign off for now
08:29 Derek OK.
08:29 Connecticut Car Are you ready to take over the cam?
08:30 Derek Sure, I will load the viewer now.
08:30 Connecticut Car Okay
08:44 Connecticut Car The cam is yours again
08:44 Connecticut Car Grand was erupting and I wanted to make sure before I called it into the VC
08:45 Derek I wondered what was happening :-)
09:34 bojo Good morning (or afternoon).
09:35 Derek Back in a few minutes
09:39 Derek It's late afternoon and already dark here
09:40 Derek Pardon my curiousity, but roughly where are you?
09:40 bojo Not quite noon - but snowing here.
09:41 bojo South West Ohio; Cincinnati.
09:41 bojo Where in the UK are you?
09:42 Derek I have chatted to many people in the USA over the years but you're the 1st in Ohio
09:43 Derek My town is called GILLINGHAM, and it's east of London in the county of Kent
09:43 bojo I have yet to travel out of the US. But, the UK is on my list of places to visit.
09:44 Derek I have located Cincinnati on Google Earth
09:45 Derek One big metropolis :-)
09:45 Derek A famous radio station springs to mind.
09:46 bojo Yes, it is. But, the country is a short drive away.
09:46 Derek wkrp.
09:46 bojo It was also a TV program.
09:46 Derek Our stations mainly have names rather than call signs
09:48 bojo East of the Mississippi river, they start with the letter W while those on the western side start with K.
09:49 Derek Five countrywide national high power FM stations: BBC Radios 1 2 3 and 4, plus Comercial independent Classic FM.
09:49 Derek Then we have County FM stations. Mine are BBC Radio Kent and independent INVICTA FM
09:50 Derek Our local station is KMFM Medway
09:50 Derek which is commercial modern music and news
09:51 bojo Do you have satelite (sp?) radio?
09:51 Derek We have DAB radio which is digital.
09:52 Derek But most radio stations are fed through our cable TV network and Sky satelite TV network
09:53 bojo We have XM & Sirrus (they just merged) which can be received all over North America.
09:53 Derek By 2012, our TV system will have become completely digital
09:53 Derek All the old UHF analogue TV transmitters will be switched off.
09:54 bojo Our have a Febuary, 2009 deadline. Endless announcements within the past couple of months.
09:54 Derek All our TV transmitter sites now also broadcast the digital freeview system
09:55 Derek A set top decoder box costs from 20 pounds upwards
09:56 bojo Well, I must go for lunch; nice to chat with you. Happy New Year!:)>-
09:56 Derek ok
10:57 Connecticut Car What's happening?
10:58 Derek Nothing much.
10:58 Connecticut Car I just got back on the computer. Did Lion or Beehive erupt?
10:59 Derek The last OF happened at the predicted time but the next hasn't been posted yet
10:59 Connecticut Car I see it is wrong on the static.
10:59 Derek I haven't seen either
10:59 Connecticut Car What time was the last OF eruption?
10:59 Derek Lion or Beehive
11:00 Derek 9:41
11:00 Derek plus or minus a minute.
11:01 Connecticut Car That should make the Predicted OF eruption around 11:11 AM MST
11:01 Derek That's what I figured
11:03 Derek I've seen some heavy puffs of steam come from Lion, but unless it errupted during one of my brief trips downstairs...
11:04 Derek I watched Grand through to the end
11:09 Connecticut Car What time do you want to go for tea?
11:09 Derek I just checked my time sheet log and a haven't put anything down for Monday. Can you remember if I did anything that day.
11:10 Derek I'm OK for another 30 minutes or so.
11:10 Connecticut Car I don't remember about Monday. I will take over at 1:45 PM EST.
11:11 Connecticut Car Will you be back at three?
11:11 Derek Yes, plus or minus a couple of minutes.
11:11 Connecticut Car Remembering Monday, I think you were still not feeling well.
11:12 Derek It depends on if Beryl wants help with washing up
11:13 Derek I have a feeling I did a couple of hours before tea but nothing after.
11:13 Connecticut Car I think you are right
11:13 Derek Maybe Graham will remember
11:14 Connecticut Car I remember he was at work
11:14 Derek Ahhh
11:15 Connecticut Car I think he may have come home early though
11:16 Derek I'll make a rough guess at 2 hours for Monday
11:18 Derek Our Flu has all gone apart from a chesty cough.
11:26 Derek 11:26
13:08 Derek Hi
13:09 guest388040 hiya
13:10 Derek (cam) Have you been here before?
13:10 guest388040 no.. is the cam live?
13:10 Derek (cam) Minus 30 seconds
13:11 guest388040 awesome :)
13:11 Derek (cam) I am one of the four remote operators
13:11 guest388040 i'm german. and have been visiting yellowstone a couple years ago
13:12 Derek (cam) I am in England :-)
13:12 guest388040 so am I. German living in UK ;)
13:12 Derek (cam) The other 3 operators are all in USA
13:13 Derek (cam) The view is far better when the camera glass is clean.
13:13 guest388040 pic quality is still very good for streaming
13:14 Derek (cam) You wait till you see it on a bright clear day
13:15 guest388040 do you know if there has been any changes in the geyser activities since the earthquake swarm?
13:15 Derek (cam) The cam is currently mounted on a pine tree. Hence the swaying.
13:15 Derek (cam) I haven't heard so far.
13:16 Derek (cam) Do you read the Yellowstone forum?
13:16 guest388040 i came from yellowstone.net
13:17 Derek (cam) That's the best place for info
13:17 guest388040 going to bookmark the cam.. really nice
13:17 guest388040 :)
13:18 guest388040 thx and cu!
13:18 Derek (cam)  
http://www.seis.utah.edu/helicorder/heli/yellowsto…Uuss.YFT_SHZ_WY.2008123100
13:18 Derek (cam) That may help
13:19 Derek (cam) You modify the addess to get different dates
14:12 Graham hey Derek
14:29 Derek (cam) Hey
14:29 Graham hey there, indicator just started :)
14:30 Graham Happy almost New Year
14:31 Derek (cam) Just had to phone Carolyn
14:31 Derek (cam) She had been waiting to see Beehive
14:32 Graham Pat just emailed me about it too....the network is working!
14:33 Connecticut Car Thanks for the call
14:33 Connecticut Car I now am watching Beehive
14:33 Derek (cam) Great
14:35 Derek (cam) Lion splashing
14:35 Connecticut Car And OF is also due
14:36 Derek (cam) Just noticed Aurum on the static cam
14:36 Graham Looks like a windy day though...brrrr
14:37 Connecticut Car Graham will you take over at 5:00 PM EST
14:38 Graham Sure thats fine
14:38 Graham It was nice to watch F&M yesterday
14:38 Derek (cam) But he'll want extra pay for it :-)
14:38 Graham yeah, double time :)
14:38 Connecticut Car Only if I get triple time
14:39 Graham You get the management bonus Carolyn
14:40 Connecticut Car It's so cold and windy here right now
14:41 Derek (cam) 1.5 c outside here
14:41 Graham we have 50mph winds and a lot of power outages here but im ok
14:41 Derek (cam) They say it'll get much colder, but no snow.
14:42 Connecticut Car We had about 3 inches of snow,,,maybe more
14:42 Derek (cam) A couple of years ago my son bought me one of those uninterupted power supplies
14:42 Graham No snow here yet, just some flurries. I hope it doesn't snow around the 16th when I fly out...
14:42 Derek (cam) So if we get a brief intereuption, my PC keeps going
14:43 Derek (cam) But only for about 20 minutes max
14:43 Connecticut Car I was reading that they had to close The East entrance several times due to avalanche conditions
14:44 Connecticut Car That won't effect you though
14:44 Derek (cam) My modem and router are on the same backup.
14:44 Derek (cam) And the earthquakes continue
14:44 Connecticut Car Happy New Year to you both... I am signing off
14:45 Graham No, I go in through West and that's pretty much always open and the bus shuttle gets to West every day. The biggest risk is snow here closing the airport but that doesn't happen much
14:45 Derek (cam) OK, seeya
14:45 Graham Nice light for F&M though, the big steam lasted about 8 minutes, then stoped and restarted a couple of times. Clearly F&M
14:46 Derek (cam) Have you looked at the seismo today?
14:47 Graham Just looked at the OF Seismo - lots of them today
14:48 Derek (cam) Two really big ones
14:48 Derek (cam) Off the scale
14:48 Graham No reports of geyser changes tho. I wonder if Abyss will erupt at West Thumb?
14:50 Graham it was a 3.6 at 0202
14:50 Graham Have you seen Grand today?
14:51 Derek (cam) Yeah
14:51 Graham 6+ hours ago? :)
14:52 Derek (cam) 8:30 ish
14:53 Graham ok, then it should be starting its window now
14:53 Derek (cam) Nearer to 8:45
14:54 Graham Have to watch for Turban
14:54 Derek (cam) That was when CC grabbed the cam and swung it around
14:55 Derek (cam) There you are. I zoomed it in all ready for you :-)
14:56 Graham Thank you!
14:56 Graham are you on all day tomorrow?
14:56 Graham I keep forgetting to ask - are you feeling better now too?
14:56 Derek (cam) Should be
14:56 Derek (cam) We both just got chesty coughs now
14:58 Graham I didnt feel too good yesterday but an feeling better today. Nothing bad though
14:58 Graham glad to hear that
14:59 Graham I hear that Kitt is in the park, she got a message to Pat for some cam times today. You will probably see her around Beehive on the cam
15:00 Derek (cam) Tomorrow, 10:30 to 13:45 then 15:00 to 17:00 EST
15:00 Derek (cam) My times
15:00 Graham Not sure what I am doing tomorrow
15:01 Graham Could be a quiet cam day if it snows like they are predicting
15:01 Derek (cam) Just pop in here if you have some spare time.
15:02 Graham ok
15:03 Graham Got to get you a notebook so you can write down the times :)
15:03 Derek I'm going to stay in here for a while until Beryl calls me. I don't think she'll be seeing the new year in.
15:04 Graham ok. I don't usually stay up either
15:04 Derek I use a Word Document file for my cam hours
15:04 Derek Geyser times go on a bit of paper, when I remember to write them down.
15:05 Derek The worst thing about my security camera job was having to log everything down all the time.
15:06 Graham Pat says Grand was at 0836
15:06 Derek And that was a paid job :-)
15:06 Graham I meant for geyser times :)
15:07 Derek I know
15:07 Graham tgeyser gazers all carry notebooks, radios and floppy hats
15:08 Derek But as I'm never there for real it's not so exciting for me.
15:08 Graham No wildlife? All i saw was a coyote the other day
15:08 Derek I just move the cam so other people can be entertained
15:09 Derek Unlike you, I prefer the nice clear summer days for looking at the cam.
15:09 Graham and we thank you for that
15:10 Graham well I like them too, and the sunny winter days are nice too
15:10 Derek Under these current conditions you'll have to forgive me for losing a little of my enthusiasm :-)
15:10 Graham Christmas day was so bad it was funny
15:11 Derek I prefer to see water jets when they are not obscured by steam.
15:11 Derek We were quite lucky to see as much of Giantess as we did.
15:12 Derek I do hope Tom can fix the zoom again.
15:12 Graham yeah but Grand can be good when its completely fogged in because you can listen to it....although not on the webcam. It makes wonderful noises and you dont here them on sunny summer days because of all the people
15:14 Derek I'll ask you the same question I asked Bruce Jensen a while ago. Does O.F. ever make any noise when it puffs steam out?
15:16 Graham um.....it does make a noise when theres a forceful one in pre-play Of course its splashing up too inside the cone. But I will listem to it closer in just over 2 weeks time :)
15:16 Derek He said it only makes splashing sounds during erruption, but nothing else.
15:17 Derek If you were to stand by the benches nearest the cam on a quiet day, would you hear Beehive, Lion, or any others?
15:18 Graham I will listen to it while its quiet early in hte day. During the day its too noisy with all the people there
15:19 Derek Do you ever use video, or only stills?
15:19 Graham only stills
15:19 Derek Ahh OK
15:19 Graham unless you are really good at it, video is too hard
15:20 Derek I love taking both video and stills
15:21 Graham ok. The problem i have with geysers is I want to keep moving around to watch them and you need a tripod for good video. I like to see Tara's videos etc but they move around a lot and i get motion sick watching them
15:22 Derek I have a steady hand and I've learnt not to speak while filming :-)
15:22 Graham You would be screaming seeing Giant :)
15:22 Graham its hard to tell when Turbans erupting, the wind is knocking its steam down too much
15:22 Derek I'm not that emotional, believe me
15:24 Derek I would enjoy the erruption and maybe have a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes but I would keep quiet
15:24 Derek I never cheer at any sporting event.
15:26 Graham ok...well there will be others to cheer for you
15:28 Derek Wife has called
15:28 Derek Goodnight
15:28 Graham ok. Happy New Year to you both
15:28 Derek 90 minutes to go
15:29 Graham bye
15:29 Derek Cheers
15:43 Graham Hello Guest