My favorite "word" ever is Welsh.

Llanfairpwyllgwyngyllgogerychgwyndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.

It's a train station stop (and extention of the town name Llanfair PG) that means "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave".

Pronunciation here:

http://www.llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.co.uk/soundfiles/llandad4.wav

Best sunset evarrrr.

"Tomorrow's another day! Oh fiddle-dee-dee Miss Scarlet! I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!"

Yes, these are deer walking around downtown. I just can't get over the damn deer.

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

It's another Dakota sunrise, staring slowly across the sky...said goodbyeee...

You know....The Eagles??!

Got stood up today by second graders. Class at the Hudson-Meng Bison Kill was postponed to next Wednesday on account of rain. That means more dirt vacuuming for me! Whee! Covered in dirt!

On the bright side I got up real early and took a picture and made a dumb Eagles joke ^_^

This was taken at sunset. I want to mess around with it in Photoshop to get my other arm in there...maybe put in some six-gun holsters...because right now it looks kinda silly (hey, my right hand is taking the damn picture, what do you want from me?!)...too bad I don't have freakin' Photoshop! Grrr expensive! Who pays like 600 bucks for Photoshop? What the hell!

I have conquered the hill.

With shaking hands I took these pictures, on my way down.

Here's the view from the bottom. I had to run down it...walked around town, and I was fine, but I had to run back up it again. Haha, I am so neurotic sometimes. And man...let me tell you, running up this hill at all is rough in and of itself...let alone in the middle of a panic attack! But, I did it. And I can do it again. It's just a hill! Jesus. The only way to get over it is to just keep doing it.

It really doesn't look so bad, from the picture. But little victories are victories nonetheless, and they are so sweet.

The little Hot Brook at the bottom, fed by the hot springs.

Some of the sandstone architecture of downtown Hot Springs. I felt much better by this point, barring the thought of having to run back up that hill...! XD;

After walking back home (stopping in the local laundromat to catch my breath and joke with the cashier about trying to get back in shape, ha...) I saw some more deer. What a surprise. There were two here, what I imagine are a mother and fawn...this is the fawn, I suppose. The mother walked off. Is this a mule deer? Anyone who knows about deer, answer this for me ^_^

That's all for now folks. Until next time.

All in all...not a bad day. Had its ups and downs, its moments of complete abject terror, and some nice relaxation time as well. But it is Saturday after all, and Saturdays can never be too terrible. I...guess.

Those of you who know me probably know that I have panic disorder with agoraphobia, have since I was 12 years old. So, today I wandered around town, decided I was sick of staying in the house all morning. So I walked down past the laundromats, about a ten minute walk, and attempted to walk down this crazy hill to the downtown area with all the shops and stuff.

THIS IS IT. THE HILL OF DOOM. Oh, it looks small and unassuming now. Click on it. Do you see that car? See the buildings down at the bottom? IT'S FAR. See the little yellow sign that says "hey, trucks, yer screwed!" Yeah. The kind of hill Stephen King has nightmares about. So I started walking down here, and my feet just froze up. Could not move. Mouth dry, sweaty palms, heat aching, heart pounding, couldn't swallow the water I had without feeling like it was a clod of dirt I'd choke on.

All because of this hill.

Luckily the hospital clinic (one of them) is off to the left, so I wandered down there, even found another route down the hill (a gigantic, mind-numbingly dizzy staircase straight out of Mordor) but I resigned to calling home and then turning around (thanks mum+dad) in defeat. The hill has defeated me.

For now.

To make my anxiety-ridden mind feel even worse, there's a little bridge at the bottom and this complete feeling of openness on either side, all three of the things (heights, bridges, openness and aloneness)--four! four of the things that the Spanish Inquis--I mean that I am terribly afraid of for irrational reasons known only to my neurotransmitters. All at once. So, I trudged back in a panic-induced stupor of hyperventilating and teeth gnashing and forced-back tears, complaining to my mum and dad the whole way about how alone I was and oh the drama. In all seriousness, it was very scary.

But I went back to my house, ordered some take-out Chinese, had the local cab take me down that very same hill (little did he know my terror!) and got to see a bit more of the town at the same time. The Chinese food restaurant folks were really nice, the owners' little grandson even gave me a crabapple!

How cute is that! It was good to find some friendly folks downtown and that made me feel a bit more at ease.

I will conquer that hill. I will explore downtown Hot Springs by foot. I may be nervous, I may not be, but you know what, I got on a plane out here alone, and I've done that four times now, and deep down I really vant to be left alone (I love the open expanses that paleontology so often provides)...so damnit I ain't going to Californy. Or letting my anxiety stop me, either way.

Signing off, for now.

Went down to sunny (read: rainy and FREEZING) Crawford, Nebraska today, to the Hudson-Meng Bison Kill site, where I really winged it and both saw the site for the first time and started teaching kids about it (but more about archaeology and paleontology), all within ten minutes. It was really a great day, though, I didn't have to go outside and freeze my tail off throwing atlatls at a foam rubber bison.



A pretty place. Except it was really, really cold and rainy, so the chance to stay inside was more than welcome. I'm glad to have gotten some more experience teaching science (impromptu as it was) to kids, and I got to see Nebraska for the first time.

The bunch of us that went stopped at a little Old Western cafe/mini-old-fashioned-town/cottages and I had an Indian Taco and some Sarsparilla ("The Grandfather of All Root Beer")...the brand is Sioux City (it was pointed out that, of course, the brand is bottled in New York...but, the illusion was tempting)...and cowboy hats and friendly smiles abounded. Wow, that was kind of poetic......not really. But the owners were real nice and the whole place smelled nicely of a wood stove and had lots of western eclectia (bison skulls, animal hides, old gas lamps, old farm tools and horse bits, that sorta stuff). The food was great, too, if I hadn't been so full I would've tried their coconut cream or sour cream and raisin pie. Mmmm yum. Hopefully I can return there, soon.

When I got back I found to my great delight (and surprise) that a visitor had filled out a "Governor's Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Hospitality" and I had received ten bucks (good anywhere in Hot Springs) and a Certificate of Employee Excellence. That really made my day, even more! Times like these I'm so glad I came out here.

O.CON.KUNR.WI.Y.0018.000000T0000Z-060918T0300Z/SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS-FALL RIVER-SHANNON-JACKSON-BENNETT-MELLETTE-TODD-TRIPP-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...HOT SPRINGS...EDGEMONT...PINE RIDGE...KYLE...KADOKA...MARTIN...WHITE RIVER...MISSION...WINNER

325 PM CDT SUN SEP 17 2006 /225 PM MDT SUN SEP 17 2006/...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT /10 PM CDT/THIS EVENING...A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT /10 PM CDT/ THISEVENING. NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH WILL CONTINUEINTO EARLY THIS EVENING...AND THEN BEGIN TO DIMINISH.A WIND ADVISORY MEANS 30 MPH WINDS...OR GUSTS OVER 45 MPH...ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING.

FALL RIVER-SHANNON-SOUTHERN FOOT HILLS-
420 AM MDT SUN SEP 17 2006
...HIGH FIRE DANGER...
THE GRASSLAND FIRE DANGER INDEX WILL BE IN THE HIGH CATEGORY
THIS AFTERNOON.

---

Lovely. And I had to go to the laundromat in all of this. ^_^

Psychadelic potatoes.

I dunno, they just should exist.

Ever had those potato-mix-in-a-bag things? Mmmm...delicious fake. Well, it says they're 100% Idaho potatoes...only the best for Betty Crocker, that's for damn sure...

Yes, I took a picture of my potatoes. It's a MEMORY, okay!? Don't they just make you want to eat 'em? Mmmm.


I took a nice walk today, found the laundromat and the public library, rented Airplane(!)...who doesn't like Airplane!? No one, that's who. Wimps and grannies, maybe.

I didn't take my camera though, so you'll have to settle for a picture of my delicious potatoes. Okay??

Today I spent four hours applying Vinac (polyvinyl acetate, plus some acetone) to the bones of a recently-deceased black bear (Ursus americanus): skull, mandible, sacrum/pelvic bones, an ulna, a femur, a radius and a couple of humeri. Plus there was a camel (Camelus dromedarius) skeleton (disarticulated and starting to carbonize, so some of the bones were this creepy black, it was neat)...and at the end of the day a bird flew into the museum! Poor guy, I'm not sure if he got out okay, but I'm sure he'll find his way out. We'll keep an eye out (and a door open) for him. Also learned how to screen wash today, it was fun. Found a few small chunks of mammoth bone. Very nearly had another run-in with what I like to lump generalize as 'cactus'--anything prickly and painful to step on, like sticky burrs, prickly pears, cacti and all other evil things that annoy the feet and hands. But luckily it was a false alarm. Previously I've had a sticky burr roll allll over my right hand (half an hour of picking tiny, painful, nearly invisible needles out of my palm and fingers...hoo fun) and an unfortunate encounter with a prickly pear in Sicily...not worth eating for the annoying prickly pain!...

Also more vacuuming of the bonebed, which meant yes--more dirt everywhere! Wheee! It started to rain when I washed out the vacuum at the end of the day. I also think the acetone gave me a sort of temporary headache. Even with the Darth Vader mask I had to wear!

Asked around about the deer in town, turns out there are both white-tailed (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (O. hemionus) in town, and even some evidence of cross-breeding to form hybrids of the two species. I think the deer in the last picture is a white-tail, but I could be mistaken...he did have a white tail, though...

As for the bones next to my door, could be bison, say the powers that be. It's still a mystery. EDIT: I'm thinking maybe deer...I thought the below was an astragalus, but with my limited knowledge of deer skeletal anatomy, I'm probably just wrong. Oh so wrong. I think it might be the distal end of a femur after scouring through Mammalian Osteology...although it's been hard to find a good picture of a deer patella...so I'm still not 100% sure.

EDIT #2: Oh hell yeah.

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Labs/Anatomy_&_Physiology/A&P201/Articulations/thmb_distal_end_femur_PB191208.JPG

I think it's safe to say we have distal femur...

















Any ideas? Deer, bison, other? Distal end of femur?

In other news, buffalo! (Bison bison)

Yes, that is a deer walking around the neighborhood. Nope, it's not unusual. Yes, it is taking a crap on someone's lawn. Deer's like, "WTF, why are you photographing me you idiot human, I'm kind of BUSY..."

In other news...why are there bones next to my front door? These have been here since long before I arrived...deer, I'm guessing...

Things have officially gotten dusty:

And I got to see Crazy Horse explode. Uh, sort of:

The view from in front of the Mammoth Site (my backyard!)

Finally.

Finally, finally internet access has returned to me.

What an interminable wait! ARrrhghh...this stupid technology vice! I'm so addicted.

But, now I am in fabulous Hot Springs, South Dakota...it's a really nice area. I'll have pictures up soon.Yesterday I opened the door and a bunch of crickets tried to fly in...and yesterday was 70 degrees, today it was 96 degrees, tomorrow's supposed to be 70...reminds me of home, sorta. Only cuh-razier. It also rained for like two seconds. Niiiiiiice.I love the way it smells in this part of the country. It's very...dusty-pine-tree-sweet, if that makes any sense. You know, fresh air. I wish it could be bottled as a scent, it's so great. I know they make incense that's like the desert...why not like the dusty plains or the Black Hills? Huh???Anyway. Haven't really gotten the chance to explore the town much yet, hopefully I'll have a bike soon so I can wander a bit more easily. The job is nice, too, so far...I mean, kind of your average tourist attraction ticket and gift shop sales, but I'll start touring soon and also get to work in the bonebed and the fossil prep lab. I think I can put up with a bunch of cashiering if I get to talk about or work on fossils all the rest of the day.

Yay, mammoths. Just in case anybody cares, here's some info on the Mammoth Site:

http://www.mammothsite.com