The Little Air Scribe

This week I only got to go to my internship for an hour. Because of the very small amount of time I had I decided to use the air scribe. One on the bones I worked on the other week had a very thin layer of cliche on it so I decided to try out the small air scribe. I'd never used that scribe before, but I liked it much better for detailed work on thin cliche. I enjoyed trying out and adding a new tool to my prep work portfolio. This new tool also helped me to overcome the problems I was having with very detailed prep work, and for these reasons I will definitely use it in the future.

Spoil Bone

Last week I only got to go to my internship for an hour on day 1 and a little over an hour on day 2 so I decided to spend my time practicing cleaning cliche off of Spoil bones, bones found in the Spoil pile on the Craddock Ranch, with the air scribe. On day 1 I started cleaning a fragment of bone, and got one side cleaned. On day 2 I almost completely finished cleaning the other side.

I decided to work under the microscope with the air scribe. I had some trouble with this at first because I was having trouble focusing on the bone while I worked on it, but eventually I found out that if I raised the whole microscope a little more I could see the bone a lot better and keep it in focus while working on it. I showed David the half of the bone I had cleaned at the end of the day on Wednesday and he said I'd done a very good job cleaning it which made me feel good. I also feel like I'm getting more comfortable using the microscopes while cleaning bones.

Before:

After day 1:

 After day 2:

 Removed caliche:

The Air Scribe and a Friend

Last week I only got to one day. Part of my time was spent helping my friend Ian from school set up his internship with scientific illustration and teaching him about some of the animals from the time period that he'll be drawing. As always I fully enjoyed getting the opportunity to share my knowledge of Paleontology and the Permian period in Texas. I feel like teaching people about what I'm working on is a strength of mine and I wish I got to work out in the public eye more often.

After I helped set Ian up I got to work with the air scribe, which I hadn't done in quite a while. I got to work on removing heavier caliche than I'd ever worked with before, and it was fun to undertake that challenge. I had some trouble with the thin caliche and once my hand slipped a couple time I decided to just work on the medium to thick caliche. I think I'll ask Davis for some tips on cleaning thin caliche off with the air scribe next time I'm there, because I think I could use some work on that. I'm very glad I got to take a break from my Jane jackets and work with the air scribe; I hope to do this more in the future.

Before:

 After:

 The Start of Ian's Drawing:

Jane Jacket #2

On day 1 I spent the day cleaning the large Jane jacket. This was basically the same as what I did last week. I was proud of myself for removing quite a bit of the dirt so I can finally get closer to the bones on the left side of the jacket.

On day 2 I got to to work on my jacket again. But people also came down to the lab, so I got to help David talk to them about the work I'm doing. It's always really fun to be able to share what I've learned with other people. I feel really good knowing that I can help others to learn about how Earth was long before any humans ever inhabited it.  David also showed them a coprolite, or fossilized poop, that had been sliced in half. The 290+ million year old poop is actually really cool to look at because it shows what the animals ate. This goes one step further than simply looking at their bones. I looked at the coprolite and all the little pieces of bone it contained under the microscope and learned how to used the microscope at higher zoom magnitudes, because normally I don't zoom in while I'm working of cleaning a jacket under the microscope.

Dinosaur 13

On day 1 I worked on the large Jane jacket. For my whole two hours of work I only found two new bones. It's days like that where I really think about the fact that I'm looking at bones that haven't been seen in millions of years, and better yet haven't ever been seen by human beings. That's a really cool feeling to have! And it means a lot to me that I get to have the opportunity to be able to have that experience.

Also over the weekend I got to meet paleontologist Peter Larson and see the new film Dinosaur 13. The film was about him and the discovery of Sue, the largest and most complete T-Rex ever found. The story included a very long court battle, and it really made me think about how much a specimen can mean to the people that discover it. Those people who had the same feeling that I have, that they're the first human being ever to see this amazing beast since its life millions of years ago.

Paleo A-Term Take 2?

This week I also worked setting the budget, assessments, and goals for the Paleontology A-Term proposal.

Over the weekend and the week I worked on finding a hotel to stay in and transportation so that I could set a budget for the A-Term proposal. I also work on setting goals and creating assessments based on the activities we will be doing. Thinking back on how amazing my experience was in Seymour, TX during the last A-Term it means a lot to me that we I have a opportunity to possibly share that experience with other students this year.

On day 1 I continued to work with the Jane jacket I worked on last week and used the microscope. I actually cleaned some of the dirt off to the point that I uncovered some bone. I felt really good about this because compared to last week I could really seem some progress, and I felt like I was getting closer to discovering what this jacket may have been originally.

On day 2 I had an adult shadow come with me to the museum. I decided to work on the larger Jane jacket that I had not worked on since last A-Term so that she could see more of what I was doing. I also found out from one of the other volunteers that the museum is starting to think that Jane and Diego, the Dimetrodon found right next to Jane, might actually be the same Dimetrodon. This gives me something new to think about when I am cleaning Jane jackets, and maybe a mystery that I can solve by cleaning these jackets. I also got to try out being a docent to my shadow by taking her through the Permian section of the Paleontology Hall and talking to her about how to clean a jacket. This was a new experience for me, and I enjoyed sharing the knowledge I have gained with her.

Back to Work

On day 1 I worked on the Jane jacket I had been working on at the end of last school year. I had cleaned this jacket quite a bit already so the only real difference between by before and after pictures was less red, from the dirt, and more of a blue tone. I got to practice using the microscope because of how thin the layer of dirt was that I was removing. This was the first time I had used the microscope for cleaning towards the end of the jacket, and it was amazing to me how much work you think you do but how little of it you can actually see from a distance. I found out that I like using the microscope, and it actually makes detailed cleaning much easier. I also found out that the bones I am working on might have originally been Dimetrodon poop or vomit, which makes a lot of sense because of how twisted they are and because they are all kind of in a big mound.

On day 2 I had a meeting with Dr. Ott and David Temple. We talked about the A-Term we are planning to do this year. We plan on getting a group together to go up to Seymour, Texas and do field work in the Texas Red Beds. I am excited to hopefully get to go with other students this year and teach them what I have learned about Paleontology. After the meeting I spent the rest of Friday working on writing up the A-Term proposal, and working with David to create a more exact definition of the activities we would be doing. I have been told by a lot of people that I am a good teacher, and I think this will be a great opportunity to grow as a teacher.