July 8
The sun began shedding light on the tent an hour or so later. I tried ignoring it but couldn't and finally got up about 6, thinking that everyone else had the same experiences. However the REST of the camp knows to sleep thru the sun by now, as a 7 am start is early enough. Boy, am I tired. Need coffee. Could be a long day. But--it will be cool after the rain, and that is a great way to prospect...unless the clouds building to the east turn out to be as threatening as they look. Most will be working on a juvenile triceratops they are quarrying, but I am hoping for bigger things...Later...
As usual, we never can plan, not even a few hours in advance. It started raining again as we left camp--from sprinkles to LOTS of rain. Out here the roads cut through Bearpaw shale, so when it is at all wet, it turns the consistency of--well, maybe a cross between molasses and used motor oil. Four wheel drive gives no traction, chains on tires, no difference. Sometimes if it rains you might not get your vehicle unstuck till fall. Fortunately, the rain didn't quite reach saturation, and we made it to the site fine. Except it wasn't the triceratops site, we were revisiting old quarries dug by Berkeley 20 or so years ago. And, of course, the crew immediately split in half and we spent a lot of the morning looking for the lost "kids." In our wanderings, we found the toe bone of a smallish duckbill dinosaur (probably edmontosaur), the vertebra of a Thescolasaur, and my friend Mark had the find of the day--the cervical (neck) vertebra from a T. rex. !http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/resources/schweitzer/july8-1.jpg! It was oddly shaped, and though in life, it was close to the skull, no other bones were near this one. The other half of our crew (Denver, Liz and John) found a partial skeleton of a freshwater crocodile.
Now, back at camp, they sit together to inventory all the finds. It is fun to hear their excitement and enthusiasm...another "crop" to take over as paleontologists! Now I am sitting near the camp kitchen, with the smell of Tandoori chicken on the grill. Everyone has gone their own separate way to rest up, and wait for dinner. Eric and Luke decided to try to catch a baby bunny that runs thru camp, and frequently invades the cook tent, just to see if they could. The trap didn't work. !http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/resources/schweitzer/july8-2.jpg! The bunny was smart enough not to run under the propped up "bunny box," but they did eventually catch him...he was scared to death, but adorable. Amazing he is still running around with the number of rattlesnakes in and near camp.
Phew! Dinner was unbelievable! We are all stuffed and tired. !http://blogs.lib.ncsu.edu/resources/schweitzer/july8-3.jpg! Luke is playing the guitar softly and watching the sun go down, and Eric is playing the harmonica--classic old folk songs. The sky is beautiful, with colors going from blue of midday to pink and purple, orange and soon black, as the sun leaves with its light. I hope that we can sleep better, with no lightening and dry pillows. Boy I am tired...but I love it. There is something about this life...as close, probably to the old cowboy life as we get these days, with hard physical labor under the hot sun during the day, and then relaxing before a relatively early night. It is quiet and peaceful, the kind of peace that only comes with a good day's hard work.
Posted at 10:42AM Jul 24, 2007 by tppeake in General | Comments[1]
I'm the parent of one of the students working with you this summer and wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading your notes and seeing pictures of the area and the work. I check for updates every day! :)
Posted by Paleo Parent on July 24, 2007 at 10:38 PM EDT #