Just some light snow.



Snoooow on the moooountains....FIRE IN THE SKYYY...not really...

Today.

I met.

Dr. Robert Bakker.

I am officially rendered speechless.

For good.


That is all.

No blog of mine could be complete without...dinosaur footprints! (*dramatic chord*)

These are pieces of, as labelled, the "Zerbst Trackway", which is a from the Lance Creek Formation, Upper Cretaceous (65 mya) . Trackway A was made by a Struthiomimid dinosaur ("ostrich mimic"), and Trackway D (up top) has Oviraptorid and avian (bird) tracks, as well as Tyrannosauroid tracks of some sort. Parts B and C had evidence of Edmontosaur-like prints (a herbivorous, hadrosaurian "duck-billed" dinosaur) and its accompanying "tail-drag" mark. Not to say that these animals were dragging their tails all the time, but the tip of a tail can easily scratch the ground, if the animal's crouching. The trackways are housed at the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City.

And now, the weather.

Tomorrow (Monday): Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 71F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Tomorrow night: Partly cloudy skies early giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 39F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Tuesday: A mixture of rain and snow showers. Cold. High 39F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 40%.

What the heck!

So a bit of an update. Last week I was in the bonebed!

Doing something other than vacuuming! This is me, working with the Elderhostel group that came to the site. Fun fun fun.

The guy on the very bottom is the most complete Columbian mammoth at the site, around 90% complete--his nickname is "Napoleon Bone-apart"...har, har. Above him is "Beauty", the best-preserved skull.

Another one of those doomsday sunsets.

Pretty, though.

Something I never got around to posting--one of the pictures from the Black Hills Powwow (He Sapa Wacipi Na Oskate).

Until next time.

Trip #2 to the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc.

This greets you as you walk in:

Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus annectens, Struthiomimus altus.



Tyrannosaurus rex, Deinocheirus manus (?), Mammuthus sp., Diatryma...also H. sapiens. He's just some guy, you know?

Mainly some dromaeosaurs, dinosaur eggs and another one of those pesky Homo sapiens...

Velociraptor mongoliensis, "Ingenia" yanshini. V. mongoliensis is from the Djadotchta Formation, Mongolia.




Deinosuchus, Sarcosuchus, Crocodilus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus....and there's that H. sapiens again, damn it!

Of course, I couldn't escape the footprints. There were a few nice Cretaceous footprint specimens there. I also got to meet Mr. Peter Larson, the BHIGR's president (and incidentally the guy who did time for the whole Sue controversy). Very nice guy, offered to give me the grand tour backstage one of these weekdays, gave me his card...I wouldn't have met him if Barb hadn't grabbed one of the employees, apparently they were filming a documentary of some kind behind closed doors. Super cool day.

And then, later on, I went to the 20th annual Black Hills Powwow (He Sapa Wacipi Na Oskate), which was also a lot of fun and interesting to see.

Trip #2 to Hill City.

This time, we actually got to go INSIDE the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Inc.

One of the most incredible displays of material I've ever seen.

Here, just...have a look:

Triceratops horridus, Acrocanthosaurus atokensis, Edmontosaurus annectens, and the rear half of a Bison antiquus.

An incredible, incredible display of Liaoning specimens, including this Liaoxiornis sp. Note the clawless hands. The province of Liaoning in China has a few really superb Early Cretaceous (122 million years before present (MYBP)) deposits--the Chaomidianzi and the Yixian Formations. It's a prime example of a Lagerstatten, or fossil "deposit place" with particularly well-preserved specimens.

Oh...when I saw that this was real, I was speechless. This is the beautiful Confusciusornis sanctus, complete with feather impressions and long tail feathers (an indication that this individual was male?) Also in the picture (clockwise from the Confusciusornis) are hatchling diapsid reptiles (Hyphalosaurus (Sinohydrosaurus) lingyuanensis), a fossil spider and a fossil dragonfly and nymph of indeterminate species (at least, unknown to me). Absolutely astounding preservation.

Ammonites, ammonites, ammonites. Left to right along the bottom: Splenodiscus splendens, unknown, Toxochelys sp. (the turtle), something greylocki complexus, Pachydiscus, unknown. Also Dunkleosteus telleri and Xiphactinus audax (the two big mean fish), what look to me like belemnites, life-models of nautiloids and ammonites, and a nifty plesiosaur.

"Stan", one of the most complete tyrannosaurs yet found.

Praise whatever higher power there might be...even if it IS a pan-dimensional big red eye machine bent on universal chaos and destruction...

Today I met some very nice folks from Connecticut.

They bought some Mammoth Site t-shirts.

The mom then proceeded to put the new shirts on them.

I WISH I had gotten a good look at the second shirt the kids had been originally wearing (not the Mammoth Site t-shirts), because the first one was just pure gold.

http://tjwc.ytmnd.com/

(there is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle music, huzzah...just a heads up in case your volume is cranked...)

I had to stare down at the t-shirt and keep talking because I wanted to read it and not look like I was reading it, so I just kept staring down at the desk for a good ten seconds after she took the shirts away, still talking to them after a kind of "uhhhh" moment...oh, such things as these truly make my day...and also at the same time they kind of make me cringe...so young, so impressionable...so likely to be closed-minded...such a cheesy phrase...but, to each his own...it makes only the third Christianity alert so far in my time here, and it's not like the nice folks were pushing it onto me or directly asking me about it...but still.

The other two times were asking MY personal opinion...and I had to give a disclaimer that this is MY opinion, NOT the museum's, and that the museum is limited to scientific discovery ONLY...and that technically I'm not allowed to talk about it...but that of course everyone's opinions are completely respected...and basically tell them in so many words that I'm agnostic and find evolution to be an undeniable FACT...in a nice way. Or, if you like, maybe "God" created evolution, huh? I swear. It gets me a little flustered, like, oh crap, don't say what they might not want to hear...especially as an employee in the business of informing and treating tourists with hospitality and respect...

I guess I wish people wouldn't bring it up, if they're going to bring it up on the religious aspect of things. At least not until I'm off the clock and don't have my work nametag on. A science museum just isn't the place to debate personal, spiritual opinions, and it's no one's business but mine what I believe.

Ah well. It's the weekend.

Also, I might be staying here longer in order to get actual lab prep experience, which makes me happy...for the most part. I guess I wish that I could've gotten that experience within the allotted time, since it would save me a little anxiety and a $100 United Airlines service charge. December 17th. I'll keep everyone updated.

Also also, it's a full moon tonight, and 12% larger than usual. (It's near its perigee, the point at which it's closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit.) Shine on, harvest moon. Sorry to all those werewolves out there.

Part II of today: Dinosaur Park in Rapid City! This is Anatotitan! (Slightly inaccurate, shhhh!...don't insult him...)

Apatosaurus

Rapid City and the Black Hills

Me, right in the middle of that Charles Knight painting. You know the one.

http://search.eb.com/dinosaurs/dinosaurs/images/otricer002p4.jpg

That one. Yeahhh.

I LOVE YOU TRICERATOPS HORRIDUS!

How was my day today?

Yup, that's right. Went up to Hill City with one of my coworkers named Barb, wandered around (since almost everything was closed, it being Sunday) and just enjoyed the country music blaring in the streets. Definitely one of the best towns ever. Only around 700 people, really just one single street...hardly a 'city', but still, just plain awesome. And of course, we attempted to visit the Black Hills Geological Institute (and "Everything Prehistoric")...

Yes, that is a Pteranodon ingens skeleton perched atop that building.

There was a very friendly half-of-a-Tyrannosaurus skull replica stuck to the side of the building.

Next stop, the 1880 train in Hill City...no time for a ride, just time to take a picture of the best sign ever. That's right, we can read your thoughts.

The Hill City 1880 Train.

I love Hill City. Honestly, greatest town ever.