Seasonal Fun

It is time to get into the seasonal drift of fall. The leaves are starting to fall, weather turning cooler and pumpkins are starting to appear.

New shop updates!

What a fantastic learning opportunity for your children.  I have added a new fossil option to the shop; a discovery kit.  It includes a practice piece and a 4x6 inch piece with a complete fish outlined.  There are directions to follow and a scribing tool to use.  What a fun indoor project to keep the kids busy. 

I thought that Halloween needed a few extra skeletons.  

So its pumpkins and skeletal remains of ancient fish.

These fish can be used for wall decor, desk paper weights to refridgerator magnets.

Don't let fall pass you by without adding a few skeletons to your home decor.  

Check out these new items in my shop.

Stormy Weather and progress on the Range

As I traveled to and from the quarry today you could see the cloud formations and snow on the peaks.

Another noticeable transition was the sheep wagon and the oil rig in the background.  

Not only do we see progression in the weather changes, we see a sign of things to come; oil industry and the cattle industry on the same range.

Wild Wyoming Winds

This will be my last trip to the frozen, snowy, windy Quarry for 2009.The winds were howling up to 40 mph bringing the windchill down to about 8 degrees F.

The rocks slabs were frozen with ice, frost and snow on them. I will take them to a lower elevation and a warmer garage where they will become manageable. Hopefully they will contain lots of fossil fish.

Return to the Quarry

Today we returned to the frost covered quarry to haul out our saw, tables and some cut fish. Kind of a bitter sweet day, nice to conclude a season of digging, yet sad to know the days are getting shorter and winters grip is upon us.

days at the quarry

We wanted to share a few photos from our adventures at the quarry.   

We spend many days at the quarry.  Digging, hammering, hunting for the best fossil fish.  My wife, Carol, joins me many of the days.  Talk about a journey through life, the fossils we find have such history.

The days are long and the work is tough.  By the end of the day we are dusty and tired.

Our drive back to civilization sometimes involves driving past a herd of cattle.  Can you imagine?!

We love Wyoming.

packing up

The saga continues... Journeyed back to the fossil quarry today, finding more snow than we expected. At @7300 ft. in elevation shows the true picture of the cold desert environment. Our goal today was to extract our primative camper. The good Lord was welling, the creek didn't rise, and we are home safe. Wow what a process all in the name of fun!  This photo was one our son took earlier in the summer when the weather was more favorable for fossil digging.

frozen fish market

Awoke to 18 degrees this morning, mountains are white, I am looking for my warmer clothes. This is surely a sign of old age or Wyoming wisdom.  I still have materials and a camper I need to extract from the quarry. So tomorrow I will attempt another journey to the fridgid north country. Now instead of fossil fish I have a frozen fish market.

This is a photo of my camper... home sweet home (away from home).

little beauty

Here is a little beauty 5x7 that jumped out of the fossil quarry. We cut it to fit, cleaned it up , sealed it an now it is ready for sale. 

Diplomystus, the second most abundant fish in the ancient Fossil Lake. 50-55 million years old makes it a true piece of antiquity. See more at MWNaturesAntiquities.esty.com 

Cold Quarry, Cold Rock

Fossil quarry world is begining to look like winter, new snow also brought about 1/16th of an inch of frost this morning. The above photo is one of my saw and the area where I get the slabs ready to haul back to my shop a few hours away.  

Let's talk about icing on the cake. Icing on the rock is very uncooperative. It's starting to get COLD in Wyoming.  The above photo is one of the quarry, I call home much of the week during the warm Wyoming months.  Thank God for Sunshine, radiant heat; warms me to the bone and thaws out my rocks. Life is good. Thanks be to an awesome creator, God.