Brachiopods, Pelecypods, and Cephalopods, oh my!

I have so much catching up to do. I don't know what it is about living in a place for more than a year, but year 2 always seems to be full of more adventures than year 1. It's nice now that Paul's done with school for the year. He helps me dry the dishes, walks the dogs, and even helps me clear the table. How lucky am I? I digress...

Paul, for Christmas got these nifty wading boots with metal spikes on them and a rock hammer. For what? For fossil hunting, of course. Never mind that the majority of fossil hunters are cub scouts at the park with their troop leaders working for a badge. It's nifty having a husband all decked out in serious fossil gear wandering around creek beds looking for ancient calcified creatures. Like Robocop... or the Terminator or something. He's all tricked out.

Anyway, it's been too cold until recently for fossil hunting. And the record Ohio rains had put a damper in our fossil plans. So when the gods smiled down on us and cleared the skies of rain for a few days, what did we do? Well, the answer's too easy.

Fossils are apparently abundant in Ohio. In Pennsylvania too, as a matter of fact. About half a billion years ago, Ohio was under the sea. Under the sea, under the sea. Darling it's better. Down where it's wetter. Take it from meeeeee. Er... Well, apparently, Ohio during this time, looked like this.

Yes, GIANT underwater insects. This period was known as the paleozoic era. You might have vaguely learned about this in elementary school a long time ago. I think I did, but I was never really that interested in giant bugs. On the other hand, Paul thought this was COOL. He never forgot... If you walk by any river or stream in SW Ohio, there are thousands... no... millions of fossilized bug dudes along the banks. It's like the ultimate insect graveyard.

Well, a couple of days ago, I thought the weather was perfect so I took Kamja and went walking towards campus to get some exercise. On the way there, I got distracted and took a detour into the Miami woods and stream (I thought maybe I could find some morels). Well, one thing led to another and I came home carrying a handful of horned coral.

A long time ago, when these dudes were alive, they looked like this.

Or we think.... pretty cool, huh? Paul certainly thought so, and flipped out so we did an immediate 180, and Paul marched me back to where I had found such treasure. How dare I find fossils without him. Shame on me. This was the beginning of the mad hunt for fossils.

We stepped out of the car...

OMG FOSSILSSSSSSS

Nothing would ever be the same again.

It's seriously like taking your kid to the candy store.

But your kid is 25 years old, has a beard, and is handsome and swarthy.

Fossils are usually near creek beds as the stream has carried away all of the dirt and debris, leaving the heavier, more fun stuff behind.

The torrential rains made water plentiful and made the creek crystal clear

You can even see my foot!

The creek bends back and forth and you often have to walk through water to get to the banks made of fossil bits.

On the way to one of the fossile banks, I found a cute little waterfall.

I made a wish that we would find lots and lots of fossils.

While photographing, Paul called me all excitedly, "AMY LEE AMY LEE!"

I turned around and !!!!!!!!

A HEART ROCK! Paul can be so cute. Korea has really gotten to him.

Yesterday was a sunshin-y day too so we headed out for more fossil adventures.

Since we had such luck LAST time we went to the creek near Miami, we decided to explore further to see if we could find some more fossils.

But wait, what's this???

Honey Suckles!!!

We stopped, ate a few refreshing drops of sweet flower nectar, thereby also pollinating some of those crazy little flowers. You're welcome honeysuckles. You're welcome.

Then we were off.

We passed under the bridge where we saw some urban artwork.

Apparently, there are still ninjas around.. and they are artistic.

After a short period of digging around (so highly scientific), we found some interesting stuff.

Here's a really interesting indentation of a brachiopod.

We originally got really excited because of the three rings and we thought maybe it was a cephalopod, but brachiopods can have layers of rings on their shells too, and most likely, that's what it was.

But not to fear! We did end up finding an EXCELLENT example of a cephalopod.

Pretty close huh?

You can even see the tentacles a little on our find. These things are pretty rare so Paul became really giddy and was pretty excited the rest of the day. It was the greatest find of the day for Paul.

After that, we decided to take the easy way home (through the trail instead of walking in the river). En route, Paul suddenly stopped and said, "mm. smells like onions."

Well, will you look at that. Wild onions!

It is so nice sometimes having a smarty pants husband raised by a smarty pants biology majoring mother. This was my greatest find of the day.

Coming up next...

Fossil hunting at Trammel Fossil Park, and Hueston Woods State Park!