Briefly: Flight out of OC on time. Flight out of Dallas delayed. Dinner at The Corn Exchange in Rapid City, excellent. Best tofu, ever. Wonderful shop next door called The Potted Rabbit, where we purchased yummy treats for our meals at the Tipperary Lodge.
Walmart for supplies. As usual, has all we need, sort of kind of. NOT. What's wrong with carrying some organic fruit? When we entered the store the sky was half clear and half cloudy. While we were being checked out the sound on the roof was like nothing we had ever heard. Hail coming down the size of ping pong balls. We stayed in the store until it subsided to pouring rain. Laurel braved the storm, lots of thunder and lightening, brought the car close to the entrance, and we loaded the groceries into the vehicle while we got soaked to the skin.
Parked the car in the lot while we tried to determine our next move. We were scheduled to drive to Buffalo, but the conditions were not ideal: lightening, thunder, and alerts from the weather service to stay indoors, in interior rooms, do not drive and deadly lightening conditions. We talked to Walt who relayed this warning, until we heard it on a local radio station. Following his advice, we called several motels in town and finally found one that had a room available. Many travelers were caught in the storm.
What a light show. The lightening was awe inspiring. The sky would be illuminated for seconds and often a lightening bolt would strike that was so long and so large you could sense the power from miles away. We moved the car twice in the parking lot so we wouldn't be near something tall, like a light post. We California girls are really not familiar with severe weather. Boy we know about it now. Mother Nature is impressive!
Field Season: 26 June, 2011
After a rough night at the Gold Star Motel; thunder and lightening, drunk neighbors in the house across the street and children running on the second floor walkway above us,we gathered our things and made a trip south to the Black Hills Institute to visit their amazing fossil collection, purchase some fossil prep tools, peruse the books, and just generally get ourselves inspired for the week in the field.
We are never disappointed with our time spent there. People are very friendly and happy to answer questions. Blanche was especially helpful with my tool selections, and with Laurel's purchase of stabilizer and Paleo Bond. (Turns out she really needed the large size she bought). Keep reading to find out the thrilling details.
We had to cut our time there a bit short so that we could beat the next storm to Buffalo.
Next stop: Prairie Berry Winery. We have stopped there on past visits, and this year decided to not only purchase some wine for our friends in Buffalo, but to have lunch before our drive to the Tipperary Lodge. The food was delicious and we tasted some unusual wines. Couldn't honestly compare them to California offerings, but we like to support the local vintners. Lunch complete, wine and gifts purchased and we were on our way again.
The two hour drive was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Buffalo in time for Laurel to meet her daughter, who happened to be on a camping trip across South Dakota. The groceries were stashed in the cooler and refrigerator. The management kindly provided a microwave oven for my room so meal prep will be more convenient and I don't have to run up and down the stairs to the microwave in the lobby. We unpacked and prepped our backpacks for the first field day.
I prepared dinner with Laurel's assistance and then we went over to the Cafe to see Steve and hear the new. Turns out two writers are in the field for a few weeks to get a look at the dinosaur fossil business from many perspectives. Boy have they come to the right place. We chatted with Rob and Steve briefly until the "new girls" arrived, and, being left at the table alone, we returned to the motel.
Sleep does not come easy for me out hear: too much excited anticipation. But I did try to turn out the lights earlier than usual since I knew I would be up early.
As a closing photo, to give you a sense of what we all dream of finding: the awesome Tyrannosaurus rex skull (one of many at the Black Hills Institute).
Field Season Day One, Monday, 27 June, 2011
The excitement was building throughout the morning. On the drive to the Tinker site my heart was about to beat out of my chest. I put the Chakra Chant CD on and focused on my breathing. Laurel and I were practically giddy with anticipation. We arrived on the Tinker site and spent the morning working. I helped sift and trowel. Laurel helped dig and sift. We broke for lunch when the Caterpillar was removing overburden near where we were working.
After lunch Laurel and I had an opportunity to do some personal collecting. She found some spill of fossil scrap earlier in the day and Steve encouraged her to poke around in that location to determine if there was anything buried. Great advice! She found two long leg bones. Wowee! Yippee! You go girl!
I helped her work on digging around it to find the outer limits and reveal as much as possible. After a few hours, thrilling hours, I must say. We both agreed to walk a bit since we were tired of sitting hunched over the fossil. I really wanted to take a look at the micro site Laurel found last year and she was up for heading that way. She is always on the look out for the larger fossil treasure, and I think she believes that one can never have too many. I agree.
The micro site is easy to find and though it initially appeared to be disappointing, once I sat there and let the mind and eyes relax, I began to notice one thing and then another. I moved slowly on hands and knees, sometimes actually lying on one side to more easily see the ground. Tiny fossils revealed themselves and I happily placed them in small collecting containers. Some fossils I could identify on sight, while others I picked up because of the unusual shape. I found a tooth which was unique to me and later Rob identified it as a fully rooted Thescelor tooth. Nice work. I found my first fossilized pine cone and complete Triceratops crown (tooth). Hooray. In addition, I found a tiny lizard jaw fragment with very tiny teeth. Super. Other fossils were very familiar: Manta ray teeth, fish vertebra, salamander vertebra, Triceratops shed teeth, and the usual tiny fragments I just can't resist picking up because of their shape or texture.
Laurel really isn't into the micro site scene, so after a few minutes she continued to walk for a bit and then headed back to check on her fossils. I don't blame her. Sitting and gazing at those amazing bones in the ground is pretty wonderful. I returned to that location, but not finding her there, I went to the Tinker site. She was sitting watching the Cat continue the excavation of the hill. We agreed to call it a day and drive back to the motel, since a hot shower and dinner sounded oh so good.
Dinner was a rush since we wanted to join the group to see the fossil on a nearby ranch. Laurel took time to call Frank to tell him about her big find. We worked together on dinner prep and lamented our aching backs, shoulders, feet and heads. We are a little out of shape for the manual labor involved, and I don't think either of us drank enough water. Though it was cool all day, the air is very dry and, we just weren't being careful. Tomorrow will be better.
The after dinner field trip to a ranch to inspect an "animal coming out of a hill" got a very late start. The sun was setting when we were driving to the ranch house and we were well into twilight as we left the vehicles and walked the remainder of the distance to the hill. There was bone all over, and one larger piece which was determined to be part of the sacrum. Though the rancher was hoping for the "animal" to be identified as a T.rex, alas, it is not. Most likely Triceratops. Rob did find a perfect ungual phalanx, which is the "claw" of a hadrosaur. It is kind of similar to a fingernail or toenail, as it is on the last digit of the toes.
Darkness was coming on and of course we had no flashlights, so we made a pretty direct return walk to the vehicles and took a brief stop to shoot photos of an amazing sunset. They are gorgeous out here. One more thing we really like about our visits to Hell Creek.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
Happy Anniversary Walt. Thanks for your understanding, love and support.
We prepared ourselves for the heat, as the forecasts predicted temperatures around 87 degrees for today and climbing to 99 degrees tomorrow. We soaked our cooling vests and adjusted our attitudes. Not much else you can do. Just remember to drink lots of water! After Laurel's great find yesterday, we knew our day's work would focus on excavating and stabilizing the leg bones, that have been identified as the tibia and fibula of a Triceratops, or Edmontasaurus. (Two experts, two opinions) Oh what the heck, call it a plant eater. Anyway, we looked forward to the experience since we are such novices at this aspect of fossil prospecting. We historically have never found anything that required so much in ground work and a plaster jacket.
After our traditional breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries and hazelnuts, we made our lunches, packed our backpacks and drove to the Tinker site. We watched the Caterpillar driver continue his work on taking down the hill, to hopefully get the students closer to "pay dirt", ie: T. rex bones. After a few minutes of that and a photograph or two (see below), we walked the short distance to Laurel's fossils.
We happily worked on the bones for a few hours after some discussion with Rob and Clay about the bones and other dinosaur stories. Clay has a ranch that is legendary for dinosaur fossils. Over 10,000 bones have been unearthed on his property! I am speechless. Well, not quite. Anyway, we finally decided we could use an expert's input on our technique and progress. One large section of the tibia had fallen into a heap of tiny bits and other sections had turned to powder. That's what happens after millions of years in the ground.
Steve took a break from the Tinker project and with a large bottle of "Penetrant Stabilizer" in hand, he glued those fossils in places we had not reached yet and re-glued all those we had. This "magic" liquid turns the fossil to something like acrylic. Beware the fumes, (toxic, I'm sure), and getting any on your skin or clothes. It is the first cousin, if not a clone of "super glue". It does not really come off. Peeling it off your skin usually takes a little skin with it. Mountain Dew will remove it (honest), but we did not have any on hand. Since I still have some on my nails and thumb, I may be stopping at the local gas station/convenience store for a can of MD in the morning.
Steve gave us directions for how to continue the excavating and stabilizing, and said if his schedule allowed, we could jacket it in the afternoon. We broke for lunch and then worked for another hour or so. We hoped Ron would be available to show us to a site for fossil collecting. He is very generous that way. We look forward to any opportunity to get into the field and prospect. Even though Laurel has her fabulous treasure, there is always the thrill of finding something more, and I still have that wonderful space on the tansu at home to display a major find.
Two days of work on the Tinker site has yielded some small bone fragments (very small), T.rex teeth fragments, and this rib. The man/woman hours and the "Cat" and driver, are making those finds pretty expensive. This fossil finding, excavating,
prepping, business is not for the faint of heart. Ron must have nerves of steel, deep pockets and a sympathetic and supportive wife and family. He is onsite every day, all day. He runs to the store for supplies, he consults with Steve, he encourages all of us who work on the site, and he is always kind and generous. Each day I hope his dreams will come true and the T.rex femurs will reveal themselves.
Until then,here is a photograph of the rib as it "stands" at the end of today. It has been stabilized with a superglue like product and it is still within the matrix.
Ron was kind enough to take us to an exposure on the ranch that has not been collected for years. We followed he and Cliff to the location, and sure enough there was bone scrap littered over the ground. Within 60 seconds of our arrival, Cliff found a small jaw fragment that was in terrific condition. You could see where the teeth set in each socket. (Later identified as a hadrosaur jaw) After the ooohs and aaahs subsided, he managed to find another jaw fragment that, as luck would have it, fit perfectly with the original find. Some people are blessed with a certain knack for this work. Or as his wife states it: "you have to let the fossil find you". I will try to keep that in mind from now on.
Cliff and Ron returned to the Tinker site and left us to collect this area and explore the property as we worked our way back to the car. There was lots of larger bone scrap, and I did find one small vertebra which I thought might be a tail vert. (Steve later identified it as a sacral vertebra from a Thescelosaur.) I picked up some of the pieces to donate to the Waldorf School since they were larger than what I have collected in past years. Since we were under the impression these exposures ran along for some distance, we decided to pack up and try our luck further on.
Though our walk was enjoyable as we observed the beautiful flowers, and avoided the muddy patches and sink holes, we found zero fossils beyond that initial location. Experiences like that only reinforce our amazement when we do find something fabulous. The temperature was climbing, as it does in the afternoon, and we knew we had work to do on Laurel's fossils. The breeze would help keep us cooler, as did our cooling vests, but we were tired from the long walk carrying packs of fossil scrap.
We walked back to the vehicle, and after some pretty hilarious maneuvers to climb over a very sophisticated barbed wire fence, we drove to the Tinker site and resumed the excavating of Laurel's leg bones. We made very good progress cleaning matrix away from the base and enlarging the area so the plaster jacketing will be easier, tomorrow. Ron reiterated his offer to deliver the fossils to a preparator who does good work for a good price. She will confer with him to determine what will be the best way to present it. Perhaps a wall mount with the two bones side by side as they were found. It will be an unusual and dramatic object she will be proud to display; and a wonderful reminder of our amazing first days in Hell Creek.
