It has been two weeks already since I started back to work in Shenandoah National Park.  During the first ten days, I had no phone line in my quarters, thus no internet access for personal matters such as updating this blog.  But suffice it to say, that I think this will be a very good year.  On my first morning wake-up in the park, I rose early to catch the sunrise over the meadow.  There are a few days in spring and a few days in fall when the sunrise comes up in a gap in the mountains on the east and rays of wonderful red light spread horizontally across the meadow.  If the conditions are right, it makes a fantastic photo-op.  I had caught it once on film, and wanted to try again this spring.  But the sky was cloudy and no red light rays showed up.  I drove north along the drive in hopes of wildlife activity.  Of course there were lots of white-tailed deer along Skyline Drive.  That is the first place to green up in the spring.  But on my return drive, at 7:00 AM, a bobcat ran across the road in front of me.  It ran fast; too fast for me to grab the camera.  But that is my first bobcat sighting of the year.  Last year I only saw two, and the year before, only one.  So this is going to be a good year.