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There is a tiny town in Texas called Seymour. It has two stoplights. It's tiny. But there is a museum there - the Whiteside Museum of Natural History which is primarily dedicated to Permian Era fossils because there are the famous Red Beds very nearby, of which this museum has access to. So they put together the inaugural Permian Fest held last weekend. Not only did they have digs and auctions and fancy fund-raising dinner, but some of the best paleontologists from around the US gave presentations. I got to meet Carl Mehling, Jimmy Waldron and the infamous Dr Robert Bakker as well as some other amazing people! There were book signings, a bake sale (got a blueberry pie!), paleontological origami and of course...vendors! I had my little set up (8 tables worth!!) of tshirts, artwork, fossil art and more. It was quite the weekend. But of course, I did a little fossil hunting on the way up and back! Permian Fest: Me and Dr. Robert Bakker (my mom worked at the Peabody Museum at Yale when I was in utero and she worked with Dr .Bakkers first wife - so I "sort of" met him a long time ago....hahahah) a few of the displays from the Whiteside: My favorite! The Diplocaulus! My second favorite - Edaphosaurus and of course, a Dimetrodon So I found myself a couple of Permian roadcuts to check out - none are vertebrate sites, all were marine invertebrates, but I had not collected any marine Permian stuff, so I was happy to add it to my collection. An interesting bryozoan cluster corals and crinoids I'm assuming this is Lophophylidium coral. I am not at all familiar with Permian stuff and am assuming that much of this is the same as the Texas Pennsylvanian fauna A few other nice things: Brachiopod Crinoid I'm always happy when I find some Echinoid stuff . another brachiopod One of the roadcuts had amazing hash plates....full of bryozoans and such. But my final stop yielded my best fossil find....not Permian, but back to my familiar Cretaceous stomping grounds! My biggest and best preserved Leptosalenia mexicana from the Walnut Formation.

Here is a beautiful young Dimetrodon tibia- wonderful thick permian pond clay helps preserve wonderfully. Short back legs much like a horned toad. Watch a horn toad run and you will get the idea of how these guys ran. Fast, but short, bursts of speed for surprise attack.