Today was a relatively slow day of check station duty, with only about 20 antelope in 11 hours of work. But I wasn't bored.

The guy blading a nearby road stopped by in his Cat to take his break, visiting about his hunts and his step-kids.

The heeler sisters were less than pleased about the nearby machine. Masked heeler finally got brave enough to gingerly sneak up to the rear tires, tail tucked, and then decided it was no big deal.

Her timid sister sat in the truck, visibly shaking. Especially when the huge engine regularly blew off vents of pressure. So I finally gathered her up and carried her over to it.

After resting her paws on one of the tires, she apparently realized it wasn't a massive monster that was going to eat her, and the shaking settled down.

But she still wasn't going anywhere near it on her own.

Then a former volleyball teammate stopped by to visit, covering mostly deer hunting and the many horseback trips they took into the wilderness this summer.

Each of my wardens came by for visits, as did one of the local ranchers.

Several truck loads of returning nonresidents stopped in through the day, some to check in their pronghorn, some to just BS.

A former neighbor stopped in to say hi and see how the family was doing.

A lot of bowhunters came off the forest, and most stuck around to chat and relate stories about their hunts. Only one had an elk (and a violation).

A pilot stopped by for some paperwork. He advises he's grounded still, as are all private aircraft (unless you're flying from secure airport to secure airport).

But how do you get your plane to the secure airport in the first place?

Just flying around the mountains looking at the changing aspen is out of the question for now.

Manager of the movie theaters stopped by to let me know they were donating all proceeds from next Tuesday to benefit victims and rescuers from the 11 September attacks. So we have to decide if we will skip the youth group meeting and treat the boys instead. Too bad he doesn't have any good movies in town, the decision would be easier.

A married couple brought their antelope into town, then came back out to visit and share their beef jerky with the heelers (I had to beg for my piece).

So anyway, today wasn't boring.

Didn't get to finish the morning paper until after 14:00.

Poured a cup of hot coffee around 16:00, and it was still cold in the mug when I got home.

Wife came by after work to rescue the heelers from their boredom, and ended staying until I closed down after dark. Been a long while since she spent so much time on station.

Before we were married, she'd be out there all day.

Needless to say, didn't get a speck of office work done. No tooth letters signed, folded or stuffed.