Sara: The World Traveling Ceratopsian

[Tidgy's Dad]

On 10/28/2020 at 2:34 AM, Pagurus said:

 

 

BON VOYAGE, SARA !

 

 

 

 

 

Good job 

You have been a splendid host, it's quite obvious how happy Sara has been in her time with you. 

[Pagurus]

23 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Good job 

You have been a splendid host, it's quite obvious how happy Sara has been in her time with you. 

 

Thank you, Adam.

[Sjfriend]

We welcomed Sara to our home in early November though I don't know what she thought about that (until I snuck a look at her diary She made some comment about wishing I'd just seal her back in her box and ship her off). Something about it only being about 20 degrees F. must have put a chill on her happiness. At least she came with her hat  Though when she went out to grab a bite after her long trip I don't know how much it helped her, ah, low hanging gut? She then spied a big rock and asked to get up out of the snow. So happened to be my current largest fossil, a piece of petrified wood from Granite Bay / Roseville California. Then I took her for a walk around to see our place (5.5 acres of mostly mixed forest/brush and our square log home)

[Sjfriend]

While out on our walk she asked if there was a way to warm up and help during her visit? I said, of course. So I told her we only heat our home with firewood that we mostly collect ourselves and showed her some that needed to be split. After I showed her our latest pile I left her to go grab my splitting maul.

 

 

When I got back I couldn't believe my eyes! She not only used her horns and muscles to split it all but somehow got it stacked!

 

I tried for almost 2 weeks to take her to our local fossil spot but between the cold temperatures and the winds blowing sea spray all over the upper beach and lower cliff faces, everything is frozen and ice covered 

 

So, we finally had to just break open some boxes (as 90% of my collection was still boxed from family moving in and losing my fossil area)

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Lucky she's got her hat. 

Nice start to her adventure in Alaska. 

[Bobby Rico]

Wow that little Woolly  Ceratopsidae is visiting another place on my bucket list. Love the photos  . 
 

Cheers Bobby 

[Sjfriend]

So, it was time to show Sara a few of my treasures lol. Since we were outside already we stopped to take a quick look at part of my "donate to museum" collection that is sitting on my deck.

 

Then inside to thaw out her poor frozen horn tips.

 

She pointed to something on the fireplace mantel so I let her explore a bit. She didn't seem to know what to make of it at first but then I heard her exclaim "my, what big teeth you have!"

 

I grabbed her quickly because I couldn't "bear" to have her eaten and have to let all the TFF folks know I lost her.

 

Then it was upstairs to show her some of my fossils.

[Sjfriend]

First stop was to show her my mascot fossil, the biggest Elrathia kingii I've collected. Not perfect with missing shell but largest, cleanest complete one (dark spots in missing shell area are pyrite crystals). Found this one about 40 years ago, before I knew about prepping and being able to save the missing shell.

I told her this was what really got me info fossil hunting. I had collected some shells near my grandma's house but these were my first exotic find. My great uncle took me on a couple day trip to western Utah to dig for trilobites and I fell in love!

 

Then I let her explore part of my trilobite collection that was in a drawer waiting to be re-sorted, high graded, and re-labeled. A few I have no info on (lost years ago) so will be asking her for some help??

[Sjfriend]

Sara said she could give me a hand by looking at them to see if she could help ID some of them. Here she is looking over a trilobite pygidium that I found about 25 years ago near Fossil Mountain in Utah at the bottom of a large talus slope. Unfortunately she said Utah trilobites were not her best subject. I guess I'll just have to find someone who knows a thing or 2 about trilobites 

Then she started stampeding across the room! Unfortunately she already had taken a few bites before I could stop her (guess I should have taken her out to eat before I brought her in!) A local find destroyed  Maybe I can pass the damage off as pathological?? I think that was a Alnus sp leaf. There are a number of species that are very close in appearance. Will get better ideas once the museum folks get a look.

Then she showed some interest in another block. This one has more pistillate of aments then all the other rocks I've collected in 2 years. They are probably Betula but could also be Alnus or Corylus or a mix? All 3 found in same age rock here. 

 

Then it was time for her to start the next leg of her journey (before she ate all my local finds!). So, off to New York. She is taking 2 new ammonites (from Fossil Hill Nevada USA) and a leaf from Anchor Point Alaska with her to share with the world. Didn't take anything out of the box myself but had a nice visit with Sara.

 

Hoping she and the rest of the TFF family that get to visit with her have a great year!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice. 

I just love her in the snow with her mask round her neck and the wooly hat on! 

Charming. 

[Sjfriend]

48 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Very nice. 

I just love her in the snow with her mask round her neck and the wooly hat on! 

Charming. 

Don't know who provided them but she was sure happy to have them The coldest we had was 15F, warmest 27F. And thats a bit colder then usual for early November. We get colder but that below our average this time of year, more like January. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 hour ago, Sjfriend said:

Don't know who provided them but she was sure happy to have them The coldest we had was 15F, warmest 27F. And thats a bit colder then usual for early November. We get colder but that below our average this time of year, more like January. 

I would just die. 

It's 65F here at the moment (22.37 hours) and that's a bit chilly for me. 

@Kasiaprovided Sara's hat and Victoria, @VTinNorthAB made the mask for her. 

 

[fifbrindacier]

On 16/11/2020 at 7:39 AM, Sjfriend said:

While out on our walk she asked if there was a way to warm up and help during her visit? I said, of course. So I told her we only heat our home with firewood that we mostly collect ourselves and showed her some that needed to be split. After I showed her our latest pile I left her to go grab my splitting maul.

 

 

When I got back I couldn't believe my eyes! She not only used her horns and muscles to split it all but somehow got it stacked!

 

I tried for almost 2 weeks to take her to our local fossil spot but between the cold temperatures and the winds blowing sea spray all over the upper beach and lower cliff faces, everything is frozen and ice covered 

 

So, we finally had to just break open some boxes (as 90% of my collection was still boxed from family moving in and losing my fossil area)

 

 

On 16/11/2020 at 8:22 PM, Sjfriend said:

Sara said she could give me a hand by looking at them to see if she could help ID some of them. Here she is looking over a trilobite pygidium that I found about 25 years ago near Fossil Mountain in Utah at the bottom of a large talus slope. Unfortunately she said Utah trilobites were not her best subject. I guess I'll just have to find someone who knows a thing or 2 about trilobites 

Then she started stampeding across the room! Unfortunately she already had taken a few bites before I could stop her (guess I should have taken her out to eat before I brought her in!) A local find destroyed  Maybe I can pass the damage off as pathological?? I think that was a Alnus sp leaf. There are a number of species that are very close in appearance. Will get better ideas once the museum folks get a look.

Then she showed some interest in another block. This one has more pistillate of aments then all the other rocks I've collected in 2 years. They are probably Betula but could also be Alnus or Corylus or a mix? All 3 found in same age rock here. 

 

Then it was time for her to start the next leg of her journey (before she ate all my local finds!). So, off to New York. She is taking 2 new ammonites (from Fossil Hill Nevada USA) and a leaf from Anchor Point Alaska with her to share with the world. Didn't take anything out of the box myself but had a nice visit with Sara.

 

Hoping she and the rest of the TFF family that get to visit with her have a great year!

Stunning pics ! I love that leaves and that huge pygidium, Sara must be so happy !

[Al Tahan]

Hello!! 
 

Im excited to say I received Sara in the mail on Tuesday! I have some adventures planned for this weekend so I’ll make sure to keep everyone posted  

 

Al

[Al Tahan]

Sara says hello! 

Safe arrival for our traveling Triceratops   

 

Of course Sara wanted to check out some of the collection so I let her roam a little 

 

Started out with a Greenops Sp. from DSR. 
 

Staying with “bugs her own size” at first. On the left a wanakah shale Eldredgeops. The right an Oklahoma cousin paciphacops (I think?)

[Al Tahan]

Sara’s favorite was this Isotelus....I have the counterpart which I will eventually use to get the eyes back on. Sara really wanted to find an isotelus after meeting this one and realizing these were local...at the moment lol. 
 

She also checked out the big overseas trilobites as well....quite the tanks these were. Sara also liked these Moroccan bugs and laughed at the size of their North American cousins!!! (These were labeled drotops when I got them)

[Al Tahan]

Sara also wanted to see a few FOTM winners.

She said it’s nice...but their personality is a little flat......(insert comedic drum riff)

She was definitely happy to see that Eurypterids lack “depth” lol. Not as scary haha. However I’m thinking she’s seen far more impressive fossils on her journey. 

 

Now Sara did admit these trilobites with legs were something she hasn’t seen before. 
 

Sara was getting anxious to hit the field!!

[Al Tahan]

Sara asked if there were Eurypterids from “far away” so the last thing she took a close up with were these Ukrainian Eurypterids. Balteurypterus? 
 

This was the morning of field day and Sara kept talking about “The big Isotelus”.......the place I was going to I was targeting a different trilobite so I had to tell her it probably wasn’t going to happen this trip. 
 

We were going to a new location thanks to @DrDave on limited permissions. This is the only thread this trip will be mentioned on the forum and locations/names will be left out. It’s important to respect to the land owners privacy. 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice fossils, Sara seems very happy.

Regarding your secret location, Sara is a tattletale and will surely spill the beans to whoever she visits next.  

 

[Al Tahan]

Chasing some famous Ordovician bugs on this trip. I was after Cerarus and Sara wanted Isotelus. Someone wins.......the chances are in my favor but she doesn’t know that! 

[Al Tahan]

The bugs were sparse. This area hasn’t been known to produce a lot in terms of numbers but bugs were found in the early 1900s all around the area. 
 

Aside from this isotelus pygidium and some Cryptolithis bits I could see that maybe some bugs were hiding. 

[Al Tahan]

There was a small piece of limestone that was super hard laying in the stream. fellow forum member @DrDave noticed from experience that it looked like other Ordovician limestones that had trilobites. It didn’t really match what was in the area. It was either from upstream or a layer close by that we couldn’t find. Fresh...super hard. Almost unbreakable piece really. There was an upside down isotelus pygidium that would be nice to get out of the block...if would break. Dave gave me the block and I couldn’t get it to open. It got to the point where I had to go all or nothing. Dave and I were both pretty much through with trying so I gave it a kinda wreck less whack much harder than the previous before. Some damage did occur on the split..........but not enough to be upset with the result! 

Sara won the bet. Isotelus.....she knew all along. I have the counterpart with the missing chips seen in the photo. 

 

You can see the damage on the pygidium. Not terrible. It was either that or no trilobite at all.....that and dave finding, then giving me the block lol. 
 

I repaid Dave for his kindness with a recently found Olenellus gilberi and a nice Ohio Flexicalymene. I also have to cut a Flexicalymene off part of the rock for dave cause I needed it to prep this Isotelus. 

It’s extremely inflated. I bought a vaniman sand blaster for prep so I’m part way there to getting specimens like this to a much higher quality. 

[Al Tahan]

Sara had fun! Quite the collecting trip. Sometimes it’s not the quantity but the QUALITY of the find. That was definitely what happened. 
 

Sara is excited to head to her new destination this week! I’ll post a couple parting shots of Sara tomorrow 

[Ludwigia]

Some dinosaurs have all the luck!

[Top Trilo]

Those are some really cool fossils, I love those pyritized trilobites and the eurypterids. Was Sara impressed with your old nickels next to the eurypterid?