PWRF » Page 21 of 27

Monday July 21
The weather is finally starting to heat up to the normal temperatures of Montana in July. The past few day we have not had any guests but we have still been working the quarry. Al continues to find bone chunks all over and I found two new bones near where Mr. Luziach found his bone. These bones are bigger but still not telling us what our dino is! Today, we were joined by Gayle and Ray from Illinois and Bev Harbaugh and her grandkids. It was a very productive morning, with two of the kids, Ray, and Al all finding bones. The site is still producing regularly and is still getting wider. Today was also Al's last day and we will be getting student Will in tomorrow!

Friday July 25
It has been a pretty lazy week out here at the ranch. We had a few days for just us students in the midst of this week and we spent the time battling possibly storms and continuing the digging at the sites. The possible 'hadrosaur' site is showing great potential. Will found a nice rib portion and we have found a few teeth and other assorted bone chunks there. Our Big Al site is also continuing to produce, with a new, interesting looking bone piece. Today we had a family from Arkansas and they were great diggers! We spent the day in the Big Al site and it is really impressive the amount of work that everyone has put in the last few weeks. This site is expanding fast and we may need to start jacketing and getting some bones out of there so we can move further back into the hill on our search for a diagnostic bone!

Saturday July 26
Today was another student day and boy is it getting warm here! We spent the day in the 'hadrosaur' site and Will found another new bone! Though not too big, this bone is pretty interesting looking! We also found two hadrosaur and one large triceratops tooth within the site. There was also a find of a predator tooth, probably a dromeosaur! A lot of dirt was moved and this site is beginning to take shape! We get new diggers in tonight and are ready to spend another great day out in the field!

PWRF field leader Jessica Martin, abstract titled,” IMPROVING CONGRUENCE BETWEEN MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR DATA USING IMPLIED WEIGHTING” has been accepted for the meeting platform of the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Cleveland this October.

Sunday July 27
Despite a storm early in the morning hours, we got out to the field with no trouble with our diggers Mo and Noah from New York. We spent the morning digging in the 'hadrosaur' site and a cool breeze kept the day very nice and mild. After lunch, we prospected in the areas near the site we were at in the morning. We found a few stray areas of bone, some places we may want to go back later on in the season or next season. We ended the day with a trip up to the Garfield County Museum. Mo and Noah were a lot of fun and it was another great day!

Thursday July 17
The weather continues to be beautiful for digging out here in Montana. The Big Al site is still producing more and more interesting stuff. We were joined by the Luzaich family today and all had a blast. A few new bones continue to be found, though still no hints as to what dinosaur our bones could be. Al uncovered some cool turtle bones, so we may have a bit of a turtle skeleton with our dinosaur! Everybody is still very excited!

Wednesday July 30
The weather continues to be a surprise out here. A rain storm has left the ground a bit wet but that hasn't stopped us from going to the field. Will and I spent yesterday in the 'Big Al' site. We pedasteled the bones in the site in preparation for jacketing the next few days. We also found a nicely sized chunk of turtle near where Al found turtle a few weeks ago. So we have got quite a bit of a turtle in there! Today, Will and I spent the day picking up a few jackets around our area and dug in the possible hadrosaur site. Nothing other than a triceratops tooth found in there today. Emma continues to work on here thesis and is seen atop of many of the hills around the sites! Neither of the sites were damaged in the hail storm a few days ago, which was a huge relief! We have a family of dino diggers in tomorrow and than the Wishing Star family arrives! We are all very excited about the arrivals of our next groups of guests!