Nsr Escape?

[wfrr]

It looks as though I may find myself having to stay a night in Bailey this weekend. Seeing as to how I'll be right there with the time and the means I may be able to slip away to the NSR.

My last trip about a month ago was simply excellent. Coprolites and verts were rather abundant. The mud was grueling but we forged ahead, out distanced all of the footprints and left ours where we went. Then it rained so we can just start over and see what else turns up there. Sweet

Edited May 9, 2013 by wfrr

[Foshunter]

The best of luck-----Tom

[Auspex]

Good times!

[wfrr]

Things did not fall into place for the NSR, I wound up with a nice day of hunting along the base of the Atco formation in an area I discovered a while back. This austin chalk/eagle ford boundry area has given up some nice fish and shark teeth, most of them tiny. If I can figure out how to get my camera to focus on them I will post some pics.

Saturday was a beautiful day along the area. The gusty winds were blocked so there was only a gentle breeze and sunshine. I had a spot with an ledge of sandy limestone, almost like the Kamp ranch. I sat on it with my feet in the water. To my left i worked the layer just below the ledge and sifted it in the water. It's a little work because some of the fish zone matrix is almost rock and if you are not slow and careful everything gets broken. I am happy to say that by sifting and working it in the water with a brush, most of the teeth come out of there with little breakage. I'm using a 12 inch plastic kitchen strainer, the kind with tiny slits in it and a brush with about a 6 inch handle. Works like a champ and it's cheap and light weight.

On my previous trips I dropped a number of things and also spilled my collection jar. If you drop any of it on the ground it's very difficult to find, pretty much gone. It's like the earth opened up and ate it. I look every time I go there for those missing teeth. I've sifted most of the dirt in the area. Never found any of it.

A couple of weeks ago I went down there by my lonesome. I rather like my own company and seldom get into any arguments with myself although sometimes being way off the beaten path and down a deep creek bed all alone really may not be one of the best ideas. There were some slabs of Kamp ranch like rock strewn along a bank I'd been working. Some of it is rather easy to crumble or split and extract teeth from. I had a nice slab to sit on with a number of slabs in my reach that I split with a putty knife exposing some teeth to extract.

There was one in particular about 18 inches away from me that I wanted to work. Last time I was there I moved it and discovered a fire ant bed was under it. I'd left it propped up a little on another rock. When I was ready to work it I tried to tump it over but it was too heavy to drag over with my walking stick so I reached up there and gave it a good tug by hand while I stepped down into the creek bed. Being on an incline It didn't turn over. It instead propped up higher on the other rock and moved down the slope about 3 inches. Out came about a million ants. I was thinking I might drag it down into the water and get rid of some ants. It was about 3 ft away at about even with my waist.

I stood there a few seconds studying how to do it. I'm not much for turning things over at arms length. Who knows whats under that rock..right? About that time I saw a bunch of flopping about and out pops a black snake about 2 ft long flying at about a 45 degree angle. He landed right in front of me about a foot away and turned my direction done a double take and veered into the creek and kept going.

I guess he didn't like the fire ants either. I'm glad I was alone. Nobody saw me jumping all over the place or heard me yelling.

It wasn't even a cotton mouth. Looked like a bull snake or if you were raised on a farm like I was, it looked like what we always called a chicken snake. It wasn't going to do me or anybody else any harm. Still snakes of any kind coming right at me are likely to get a big reaction out of me.

I am being a bit more cautious especially when I am alone.

Edited May 9, 2013 by wfrr

[Auspex]

That's a great Texas tale; couldn't a' been told better by Pecos Bill hisself!