<head><style>body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px;}</style></head><body> <style>body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0p</style> <style>body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margin:0px;}</style> <style>body{font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,sans-serif;background-color:#ffffff;color:black;}p{margi</style>Hello All!     I know that all of you have already heard about the amazing, wonderful, awe-inspiring, (can't think of enough superlatives!) Grand that we had on Sunday, May 15 at 1212. The sun was out and we were happy to have a Grand start.  (Little did we know what was to come!)  I didn't notice specifically how soon after the start it was before Turban erupted, but my impression was that it was a minute or so in.  Vent seemed to start at about it's usual time.   Grand was beautiful.  The pool stayed full after the first burst, and we all told everybody not to leave.  The second burst was very high and one of the nicest I've seen.  The third burst was nice, too.  Of course, it wasn't as tall as the second, but it was taller than some of the other thirds that I've seen.  At that point, and with a smile on my face, I know that I looked away from the pool until I heard a young woman squealing something like, "There it is again!"  (This was her first Grand!  We had to tell her to watch for the second!)  And I saw Grand's mound of beautiful water and the bubbles and up it went!  I was so excited!  As the burst ended, the water drained until it was out of my sight, even though I was standing on a bench.  I wrote "4" in my book, and then looked to see a couple of thin splashes.  The mound appeared again and up Grand went!  By this time, we were all screaming and jumping up and down.  One more time, similar to the fifth!  I can't find words to tell you all the feelings - excited, amazed, awed, thankful, moved . . .  There were hugs and high-fives all around.  The visitors were very impressed with Grand and knew that something special had just happened.  I called Kitt right away and I was glad to hear that at least part of the eruption had been caught on the webcam.  I didn't even think until afterwards that I wish that one of us had run a video camera during the eruption.  I stayed out there for awhile (about 40 minutes from the start time) and watched Grand depth-charging.  It was still doing it when I left.  (I will add Jim's times for the bursts at the end of this message.)    Interesting news from the LGB:  I had a report from Maureen from the Lower Basin that Morning's Thief has been showing some different behavior.  Also on the 15th, she saw Morning's Thief at 1514 plus 2 more times in ~ the next hour.  It quieted down for a few minutes, then Fountain erupted at 1641.  During Fountain, she saw Morning's Thief 4 more times.  She said that 5 out of the 7 eruptions were "energetic."     Strange goings-on at the nest:  We hadn't seen the eagles at the nest near Riverside Drive on opening weekend, so I was looking closely at the nest as we approached it on Saturday morning.  I saw a bird standing on the nest and a head inside.  But as we got closer, I realized that it was not an eagle standing there.  It had a long neck, and it was a . . . Canada goose!!!  I suppose the head in the nest was also a goose.  I guess it was a warm nest for a chilly morning.  On our other trips past the nest, I couldn't see anyone at home.  I did see one bald eagle a few miles down the Madison in a tree across the river one time.    The rivers are running high and muddy.  I don't think I've ever (and I've been coming up to Yellowstone since I was a small child) seen Gibbon Falls look anything like it did on Monday!  Even the small streams around the Upper Basin are hurrying full and noisily toward the Firehole.  There is standing water in many places along the drive in from West Yellowstone.  (And there's still a great deal of water to come down when the snow higher up melts.)  We could hear frogs croaking all over the UGB.  The ground squirrels and the Grand marmots are awake.  I saw a pair of osprey near Fan & Mortar, and at least one was fishing every day that we were there.    Speaking of Fan & Mortar, the marker was placed about 8 days before I got there Saturday.  Every time that I looked, the Bottom Vent channel was dry and there was no sign that Main Vent had been doing any splashing of note.  I saw one Gold pause on Saturday the 14th, and one River pause on the 15th.  During the pauses, I saw no attempt of splashing from Main Vent, and only a little steam from it.  Most of the cycles that I saw over the 4 days that I was there were long, organized cycles.  It did seem that the steam in Main Vent was stronger as the days went on, but I saw no more pauses.    Oblong seems to be having long intervals, and it was hard to catch.  I have some times that I will relay in a later message.  Bijou was on very strongly every time that I looked at it, except on Monday the 16th because of a Grotto marathon.  Mastiff was depth charging often.  The water in Giant's cone was oblique.    West Triplet was tea-colored and quietly overflowing Saturday and Sunday.  On Monday, the pool was further down.  Rift erupted for the first time in several days on the 17th - ie at 530 and ending at 555.  West Triplet had drained, but was thumping at times before Grand at 10:55 on the 17th.    Grand revisited:  The overnight Grand on the 15th was at 0149e.  The Turban times that I have before the G6Q were:  0853, 0912, 0930, 0950, 1008, 1027, 1045, 1102, 1120, 1136, 1156, then Grand at 1212.  These are Jim S's times for the 6 bursts.                   Burst #                + Start                + End            Duration         Pause                        1                  12:12:35              12:21:36           9:01                 0:49                        2                  12:22:25              12:23:30           1:05                 0:26                        3                  12:23:56              12:24:39           0:43                 0:46                        4                  12:25:25              12:26:14           0:49                 0:42                        5                  12:26:56              12:27:40           0:44                 0:40                        6                  12:28:20              12:28:56           0:36                  Total:  16:21 The following Grand time that day was 2028 per the webcam.  I did go out early in the window to take a look at it, and it had a nice fill, dropping just a little before the 1932 Turban.  I left and went in because of an approaching storm.    I'll send more geyser times and info in a later e-mail. Go Grand!!! Polly Panos </body>