Mrs. Dahl Finds Her Inner Indiana Jones/Whiskey Creek: Day Two

A bad night of sleep and  squawkin' muscles, but I'm still smiling

More sunburn, more sore muscles, I just noticed my wrist is covered in a ring of sweaty dust - I wonder if the waitress at the BBQ joint noticed?  I think my out-of-control hair is probably hiding a pound of grit.  I loved today too.

Our digging party had a few new faces today and lost a few from yesterday.  We were twelve in all - two paleontologists, an intern (which I am pretty sure the newly graduated college girl noticed and managed to work beside all day), and the rest of us were paleontology wanna-be's.  Hacks with picks and soft brushes and copious amounts of sunscreen.  I still can't believe they let us slash away at priceless artifacts.  I guess the free labor is ultimately worth it.  Good grief, I felt inept today.

I'll back up.

It was truly another perfect day.  PERFECT.  P-E-R-F-E-C-T.  Eighty degrees, light winds, and nothing but brilliant sunshine.  I thanked my Creator for kissing my adventure with such a gift.

Once again, we met in the parking lot.  Once again, I was the last to arrive.  Once again we drove until the road became a rutted trail and then were ferried the rest of the way with all-terrain vehicles.  This time, however, we had to stop and corporately do a little road repair, as the ruts were so cavernous, even the 4-wheel drive monsters had trouble.  I felt like McGyver hauling rocks around and pretending I had good ideas to add.

"Ripple rock" is evidence that our dig site was once covered with water and rich with aquatic life.

The final hike to the site was serene and once again I was overcome with the feeling that I had left civilization on another planet.  Today I felt like an old-hand at this digging stuff.  I put my gear down and got right to work.  My "trench" was just as I had left it, with no wind or rain to disturb my previous day's efforts.  I picked and brushed and scooped and brushed and dug and brushed and picked my way ever further into the side of the clay bluff, always careful to listen for the distinct sound of bone at the other end of my pick.  And I kept finding bone no matter how far my work moved forward.  I kept thinking the end of my bone field would appear and we could get down to the business of casting or "jacketing" the area, and then I could start all over again.

It never happened.

I kept coming across more and more bones.  Some tiny and fragmented, some large and obviously connected to other bones.  I should have been happy to have so much to work on, but after awhile, I was kind of disheartened that I wouldn't be able to see the end of that project by the end of the day.  Someone else would obviously get to finish my project.  Sigh....

 (Not a very flattering angle, but I can swing a pick axe like Paul Bunyan)

I did get to do some great educational things for the Darlings.  The scientists sportingly agreed to make some short videos explaining what paleontologists do, what their tools are, etc.  The intern helped me fill a bag of rich, ancient, fossil-rich, volcanic-ash-laden soil that will be perfect for my thematic soil unit.

Best of all, I have been invited to help in the paleontology lab at the state museum to help with cleaning and cataloging the samples.  How fun is that?!? Can't wait.

Ya'll have got to come see this for yourself

I want to go again. 

I want to visit other sites. 

I think I am hooked.