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A quick (but warm!) hunt at Etobicoke Creek


Monica

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Hello again!

 

The weather was warmer today, and since I had the kids to myself all afternoon while my husband went to see a movie with a friend, I decided to take the kids out once again.  We first tried to do some collecting at Mimico Creek but were unable to because (1) the water was running too high, and (2) they've been doing some construction work around there which prevents us from getting close to our hunting spot.  So the kids played at a nearby park for a while, and when I suggested that we check out Etobicoke Creek again, they were all for it (even William!).  There was no ice this time, thank goodness, and what follows are just a few pictures of what I found - enjoy!

 

I hope you're all having a wonderful holiday!

 

Monica

 

Orthoconic nautiloid (Treptoceras crebriseptum) chunk:

DSCN4462.JPG.1c4c10b62fd2fc27b811b171607642aa.JPG

 

Bivalve (Ambonychia radiata):

DSCN4463.thumb.JPG.32072307e5aa497e1d2bddc015f39e7c.JPG

 

Brachiopod (Sowerbyella sericea) positive and negative - the positive is just under 2cm long at the hinge line while the negative is just over 2cm at the hinge line (I'll tag @Tidgy's Dad just because I know how much he loves brachiopods :)):

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Viola showing off one of her finds (another T. crebriseptum) with William joining in on the photo:

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Are there any (legal) spots for excavation there? Would be great to crack some fresh GB Formation!

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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Just now, Kane said:

Are there any (legal) spots for excavation there?

 

Where - at Mimico Creek?

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Just now, Monica said:

 

Where - at Mimico Creek?

I think you tagged Etobicoke Creek. I'm just curious if those of us with hammers at the ready would be able to chip away for fresh material or if that would be verboten. :P 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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1 minute ago, Kane said:

I think you tagged Etobicoke Creek. I'm just curious if those of us with hammers at the ready would be able to chip away for fresh material or if that would be verboten. :P 

 

Oh, I thought you were referring to the construction going on at Mimico Creek that I mentioned at the start of my post - whoops!

 

I think you can hammer away at both creeks if you're willing to.  Where I usually hunt at Mimico Creek there is a wall in which you can pry out and hammer some rocks with nice stuff in it (usually bivalves), but there aren't really any accessible exposures where I go at Etobicoke Creek.  During this past summer, the water was low enough that it exposed a tiny segment of wall - I found a monoplacophoran (which kind of crumbled, and then I kind of reassembled it) and a nice Rusophychus that time out, but that was it.  When I do hammer rocks at Etobicoke Creek, I usually just hammer away at the slabs that are lying around.  I've learned to be careful, though - some of the rock is INCREDIBLY hard and is pretty much un-hammerable!  Unfortunately, this lesson has been learned at a cost to my right elbow, which is much better now but is sometimes still a bit sore (I call it my "fossil elbow," but I think most people would call it "tennis elbow" :P).

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Thanks, Monica! :) So it might not be as yielding to my usual dainty approach? :P I'll need to inspect some images to see if there are "pry points" where I can dislodge some slabs. There are a few GB trilobites I need. I just wanted to ensure that the public accessible act was in force for that area when I visit should I do a little (light) excavation. 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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5 minutes ago, Kane said:

Thanks, Monica! :) So it might not be as yielding to my usual dainty approach? :P I'll need to inspect some images to see if there are "pry points" where I can dislodge some slabs. There are a few GB trilobites I need. I just wanted to ensure that the public accessible act was in force for that area when I visit should I do a little (light) excavation. 

 

That is indeed an interesting way to describe your approach to fossil-hunting :P

 

The next time I visit my usual sites I'll make sure to take some pictures of the surroundings so you can get an idea of what you'd be working with if you visited my local haunts.  I'm sure there are places where there are significant exposures along both creeks, but with my kids in tow I can't really do any exploratory work.  Perhaps @JUAN EMMANUEL can make some suggestions since he used to hunt extensively in the Toronto area.

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Next time they have me run a workshop in your part of the world, I'll make it out there somehow with some tools! You and Viola get any spoils, of course! :) 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Kane said:

Next time they have me run a workshop in your part of the world, I'll make it out there somehow with some tools! You and Viola get any spoils, of course! :) 

 

It's a deal! :dinothumb:

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4 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Thanks for the report, Monica. Nice to hear that it's warmed up a bit.

 

You're very welcome, Roger!  I hope you've been having a great holiday! :)

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Just now, Monica said:

 

You're very welcome, Roger!  I hope you've been having a great holiday! :)

Thanks. Been spending lots of time with my kids & grandkids. Just went to see Mary Poppins. In the between times I've been fiddling around in the workshop and maybe I'll pick a day to go collecting next week.

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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Nice finds and cute kids! Is it possible to get full orthocones there?

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Each dot is 50,000,000 years:

Hadean............Archean..............................Proterozoic.......................................Phanerozoic...........

                                                                                                                    Paleo......Meso....Ceno..

                                                                                                           Ꞓ.OSD.C.P.Tr.J.K..Pg.NgQ< You are here

Doesn't time just fly by?

 

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1 hour ago, Monica said:

Viola showing off one of her finds (another T. crebriseptum) with William joining in on the photo:

Nice to see some reasonable weather allowed you to accompany the real fossil hunter (Viola) into the field. ;) Amazed William was game for a fossil hunt as well (I blame it on cabin fever). :P

 

The grass is always greener (or the snow whiter?) on the other side of the fence. I pulled weeds for 6 hours and spread 40 bags of mulch around the yard and broke into a sweat doing it. I'd love to be able to put on a nice jacket and romp around in some chilly weather right about now--go figure.

 

Hope all my Canadian fossil friends @Monica @Malcolmt and @Kane have stocked the larder with fossil material to work on through the short days of winter.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

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44 minutes ago, UtahFossilHunter said:

Nice finds and cute kids! Is it possible to get full orthocones there?

 

I'm sure it is possible, but I haven't found one yet - maybe next summer will be my summer... :fingerscrossed:

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It's brilliant that you can still manage to get out collecting at this time of year, Monica. :)

Love the photos and finds and that Sowerbyella is a beauty, thanks for tagging me. :wub:

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png.a47e14d65deb3f8b242019b3a81d8160-1.png.60b8b8c07f6fa194511f8b7cfb7cc190.png

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Just now, Tidgy's Dad said:

It's brilliant that you can still manage to get out collecting at this time of year, Monica. :)

Love the photos and finds and that Sowerbyella is a beauty, thanks for tagging me. :wub:

 

You're very welcome :)

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2 minutes ago, caldigger said:

20181228_164046.png

 

Hey Doren!

 

That's William - he's not great at photo-taking - he's either looking away from the camera or he's making a face such as the one above - he's a silly one :P

 

Monica

 

PS - It's absolutely a forced smile - he generally dislikes having his photo taken.

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49 minutes ago, Monica said:

 

Hey Doren!

 

That's William - he's not great at photo-taking - he's either looking away from the camera or he's making a face such as the one above - he's a silly one :P

 

Monica

 

PS - It's absolutely a forced smile - he generally dislikes having his photo taken.

He's a boy, what else can you expect?!

I share the same feelings about having my picture taken also. I am the bane of the family photo albums.

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54 minutes ago, caldigger said:

He's a boy, what else can you expect?!

I share the same feelings about having my picture taken also. I am the bane of the family photo albums.

I find after the third photographer you eat, they get the message. :D

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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1 hour ago, caldigger said:

He's a boy, what else can you expect?!

I share the same feelings about having my picture taken also. I am the bane of the family photo albums.

I'm right there with you and my wife complains that our boys are taking after my when it comes to taking pictures. :hearty-laugh:

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12 hours ago, digit said:

Nice to see some reasonable weather allowed you to accompany the real fossil hunter (Viola) into the field. ;) Amazed William was game for a fossil hunt as well (I blame it on cabin fever). :P

 

The grass is always greener (or the snow whiter?) on the other side of the fence. I pulled weeds for 6 hours and spread 40 bags of mulch around the yard and broke into a sweat doing it. I'd love to be able to put on a nice jacket and romp around in some chilly weather right about now--go figure.

 

Hope all my Canadian fossil friends @Monica @Malcolmt and @Kane have stocked the larder with fossil material to work on through the short days of winter.

 

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

Hey Ken!

 

The kids did indeed have cabin fever yesterday, as did I, which is why I suggested getting out for a bit!  I think William was game, though, because he had a lot of fun breaking ice and throwing rocks into the creek the day before - he didn't have the chance to break ice again yesterday since it was so warm, but he still had fun (and even managed to stumble and sort of fall into the creek - luckily only his hands got wet!).

 

As for winter projects - I have a nice-sized bag of micro matrix to work through that I received as a gift from a friend in Florida - that should keep me busy for a bit ;)

 

Happy holidays to you and Tammy!  I hope your yard work is done! :)

 

Monica

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