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sky watcher

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BillSelby

I attended a docent continuing education session with Mr Skywatcher himself, Bill Selby. He started by asking: ‘When you’re taking the public on a walk, how much time do you spend observing the sky?” Mmm, hardly any, unless we’re watching a bird. ”It’s half your view!” he reminded us. “Focus on it!”

He went on to tell us that the National Weather Service costs a mere $4 per citizen per year, but its invaluable predictions are in jeopardy because of the current Federal cutbacks. I’m keen to read his book, The California Sky Watcher: Understanding Weather Patterns and What Comes Next. So much to learn about this wonderful world.

trilobite

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trilobite

Trilobites are extinct marine arthropods. They first appear in the fossil record of the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago); the last trilobites disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 251.9 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, existing in oceans for almost 270 million years, with over 22,000 species having been described.

This very dramatic specimen, here in C’s office, has expansive genal (cheek) and pygidial (tail) spines. It was found in the nearly half billion year old Middle Ordovician Asery Level deposits of the Volkhov River region near Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Triceratops

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triceratops2

The three-horned, plant-eating Triceratops lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 68 to 66 million years ago, in what is now western North America. It, along with seventy-five percent of the plant and animal species on earth, was wiped out in the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event. This model now resides on the living room wall at S & C’s place.

Nostoceras

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Nostoceras

According to the plaque on the mantlepiece: This is a really cool heteromorph ammonite (Nostoceras sp.) fossil from the Tulear Province of Madagascar. Unlike most ammonites with a tightly-coiled spiral shell that retains its shape throughout its life, heteromorph ammonites have irregularly-coiled or uncoiled shells. They are Late Cretaceous in age (Campanian Stage) or approximately 70 million years old.

Parasaurolophus

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Parasaurolophus

Our friends S and C are science educators, and their home is full of fossils, skeletons, sealife photos, and giant mounted dinosaur heads. I believe this one in the kitchen is Parasaurolophus (I peeked at the Dinosaurs flash cards on S’s desk.) We’re going to be here for a few weeks, and I plan to sketch many more of the myriad cool specimens we’re living amongst.