Lilies and Hearts

It's spring and the Uinta Basin is green. With all the rain and snow, it's staying green for longer than normal. I haven't got a picture of it, but I've been to a few spots where the Sego Lilies are literally carpeting the ground. In all the springs I've spent in the desert, I've never noticed a Pink Sego Lily before, but this year, I've seen plenty.
Also, I found two natural heart shapes within a few minutes of each other.

Heart shaped lichen.Heart shaped cross-section of a bone in pink sandstone (another thing I've never seen in the Basin before).

Sprinkling silica gel,

Dan

Horny Toads Part 3

So here is a bunch of photos of most of the horny toads (Phyrnosoma) I or someone I've been working with have found since I began working in the Uinta Basin. As you may know, horny toads are my favorite animal out there.
This is the first one I ever caught, just a baby.Didn't actually catch this one, but I thought it was the biggest one I'd ever seen.

Until I saw this guy.Thus begins the tradition of placing the horny toad on Dave's hat for a photo. Dave's head was for scale.
Another baby one...
... with Dave's head for scale.

Decent sized specimen. Dave's head for scale.
Dave's head for scale.
Another normal sized one.
Another pretty big one, but still no champ.
Another baby. Dave's hand for scale.
Ashley found a 'buy one get one free' bargain.

Sadly, I didn't get a photo of the one trying to crawl up L.J.'s pant leg. Also, I've never seen them squirt blood from their eyes. I guess I'm not enough of a threat.

Waffles in the toaster,

Dan

John Henry

This is what is called a "Lost Time Incident". The best part was that someone spent a ton of time and money into putting up signs everywhere a power line crosses a road out there. Obviously enough, they say "Caution Overhead Power Lines".


Lower your boom,

Dan

Sandwich

I made this sandwich for my lunch tomorrow.
String cheese,

Dan

This week at work

I saw this in a boulder and thought it was a fossil. But it was just a flat chert pebble.This little stream was so calming, but it made me have to pee.

This was a pretty cool paleo-channel. You could see the bedforms and the u-shape. The edge of it was strangely rounded though.
I've never seen a center stake tied to the old well head before.
I'm not sure why this is so important. All the invasive species had taken over this reclaimed area.
This washed out photo is of a couple of juniper berries. The one on the right was really different, it looked more like a flower or pine cone. Interestingly enough, juniper berries aren't really berries. They're extremely modified pine cones.
It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but there is a very large burrow preserved in the sandstone above my field book. That was the only fossil we found that day. :-(
A stack of Brennan Basin Flapjacks.
Iron concretion surrounded by smaller iron concretions.
PPE is not my favorite thing to wear. But I do look pretty good in it.

Decreased liability for our clients is more important than avoiding heatstroke,

Dan

Perfect

I wish I'd found this second one a year and a half ago.



He's come to save the day,

Dan

Resolutions

I can't remember the last time I made any New Year's Resolutions. I'm not sure I ever have. I wasn't going to make any this year either, but I felt inspired to do so. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Lose enough weight to get down to 200lbs.
2. Publish a scientific paper.
3. 100% Home Teaching.
4. Get out of debt (besides mortgage).
5. Complete an online/independent study course.

Sounds like life to me,

Dan

Guerrilla Handbell Strikeforce

I love Improv Everywhere and they've almost made me cry from laughing. But this one just made me cry from the Spirit.


Merry Christmas,

Dan

I am a Paleontologist

That's who I am,

Dan

I'm Thankful

Thankful for the Spirit,

Dan

The Princess is Sleeping

Isn't it about time?

Dan

Just Me and My Radio

Like Jack Horner,

Dan

Does God Exist?

Into something good,

Dan

Lo Bien Que Se Siente Tener Un Bigote

Not a viking,

Dan

Random Photos from the Camera While at Work

Birthday Cake Stratigraphy - The cake is capped with a bed of strawberry frosting. Above the capping bed are small outcrops of white frosting rich in modern gummy bear remains. Beneath the capping bed are alternating beds of red velvet cake and strawberry ice cream. Within the beds of strawberry ice cream are abundant gummy bear fossils.
Good looking truck - I named it The Fumigator.Fossil Turtle Skull - I finished preparing it today. It's probably Apalone. It's from the Bridger Formation of Wyoming. Fossil Turtle skulls are rare all over the world.

You're my angel,

Dan

Evolution and Religion

I just read this on the Paleontological Society web page and thought it was beautiful.

"This difference between science and religion does not mean that the two fields are incompatible. Many scientists who study evolution are religious, and many religious denominations have issued statements supporting evolution. Science and religion address different questions and employ different ways of knowing."

If you want to read the complete statement go here.

Cockeyed and musclebound,

Dan

Petroglyphs

This week, I got to work on the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation with Tom, one of my coworkers. Tom mentioned that one of the Tribal Technicians (we're not supposed to do any work on tribal lands without one) said that there were some petroglyphs in the area. Now I've found "petroglyphs" on tribal lands before, but this is the real deal. We started surveying the proposed access road and I walked straight to the petroglyph it was awesome.Iron like a lion in Zion,

Dan

P.S. There were fossils a plenty on this survey too.

Sign Editing

A little over a year ago, I got the job I have now. On my first day, I went and surveyed a few well pads on Archee Bench. To get to Archee Bench, you have to go through Bitter Creek. The road through Bitter Creek is terrible and the big semis out in the gas field have a hard time navigating it. It's so bad that someone put up this sign.One of the big oil and gas companies is paying to have this road widened and upgraded. So I finally got another chance to go to Bitter Creek because we're surveying the area for fossil resources. Well, someone decided to "edit" the sign.Close but no cigar,

Dan

Dead Man Marker

I didn't know the government mandated that you have to mark where you dump bodies in the desert.Desert dancing,

Dan

Pineapples in the Desert?

A few weeks back, I surveyed a long pipeline and found this cactus.Since it was the biggest cactus I'd seen since I started this job, I snapped a photo and forgot about it. A few weeks later, I had to return because the pipeline was being re-routed because an endangered species of cactus was found within the corridor of disturbance. I went out with 7 other people from various companies so we could all put our heads together and find a place for this pipeline to live. Here are six of the eight of us.These are our trucks. Mine looks so dinky next to all the others.The biologist who's crew found the endangered cacti showed us what they looked like. For scale, these are about as big as a golf ball. Some of the ones they were finding were as small as marbles.Here is a little cluster of them.The name of the species is Sclerocactus wetlandicus. Why they named it wetlandicus, I have no idea, because there is nothing wet about that landicus. Anywho, I asked the biologist how big they got. He made a shape with his hands and said, "About that big." The shape was about as big as a pineapple, so I told him I'd seen a big cactus like that near the end of the pipeline. He was interested so when we got near, I showed him where it was. He got very excited and said it could be over 100 years old. He'd only ever seen one other that large. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for finding something so amazing, when on our way out of the area, he found this.Giant Sclerocactus wetlandicus #3. I guess the Lord is just trying to keep me humble. This one is a little larger than the one I found. What I still don't understand is how these trained biologists walked right past the very thing they were looking for, twice. I guess we all miss the things that are right in front of our faces sometimes.

Trying to type with two tiny girls on my lap,

Dan