Time, Patience, And Bupkis.

[cynroux]

It was horribly hot and I found that I decided that I could spend a few hours on my day off in the water. Literally in the water. Rather than walk the local cliffs or paddle out to a spot I tend to favor, I decided today would be the day I tested out some newly acquired snorkeling gear and see if my luck would improve.

Yea...No.

We have had storms. We have had cliff fall. But today, all the patience, tools, and honey-hole visits couldn't muster much more than a few smaller teeth, a single small vertebrae, and bone fragments. And snorkeling is fun, but it doesn't do much good in our very murky Bay water.

So I'll have to be satisfied with being in the water and splashing around to beat the heat for a couple of hours, the small cowshark fossil I found and the knowledge that maybe its time to start looking for a new hunting ground for the rest of the summer.

[ynot]

Look a lot better than "bupkis" to Me, nice finds!!

Tony

[jcbshark]

Not a bad haul, it's tough hunting when you can't see: )

[FossilDAWG]

One gets the impression you do not understand or appreciate how fortunate you are to live close to such an amazing fossil site. Perhaps you did not get the haul you had dreamed of, but for most collectors your "bupkis" is unobtainable or would require many days of hunting.

In my experience, "bupkis" is driving 5 hours to find your target site has just been leased by a hunting club and is now posted. Makes for a long five hour drive home.

Don

[cynroux]

Ha! Thank you for putting it into perspective Don. You're right. I'm spoiled. And I get a strange equation in my head that time and patience will someday yield a much larger find than I'm used to. But you're right...I DO find things. Every single time. And my ten minute drive isn't painful.

It doesn't keep me from wanting to find that ever elusive Megalodon tooth or exquisite bone fragment but I'll refrain from the use of "bupkis" from here on out.

[Salty]

From a newbie's point of view, I get excited over every tooth...however I too am beginning to get spoiled when I find broken ones--now I think, "darn shark had to eat "! Or "snarge, did I break that "?

I still am amazed by the NUMBER of teeth. I know they lost thousands in a life time but good grief, all of us are out there finding these teeth, sometimes a bunch each between us, and there is still more! I have started to find enough now that I realize that I need to come up with storage, but I cannot wait , absolutely cannot wait, to go hunting again! Broken or not they will be treasured. It's very similar to my metal detecting times, "oh snarge it's just another penny", then after you start finding silver coins, "rats it's just another dime, not a silver half dollar". I think it's human nature to keep wanting to reach that next "big one"! You have some nice finds Cynroux, but like you, I still want to find a meg, mastadon, mammoth, etc, etc- I have goals darn it!

[cynroux]

Right Salty?! And believe me, even with a short 10 minute drive, I really don't get to do this every week, so I'm antsy when time and tide meet and I get a chance to get out.
I tell myself,"The world is big, and there are many animals...they lived and they made a lot of parts for us to find." The "Big M's" are out there, and probably thing we haven't even dreamed of yet.