Monday 20 August 2007
House Plants
While we were doing a big shop (we have a car for the weekend), Kerri decided that we should have some house plants. She picked out the three pictured. Not the fanciest of plant types, but they should be pretty hardy. (I'm a little concerned about them getting enough light in winter.) We potted them up and set them up around the house. It should break up the endless white that's going to become second nature to us during winter.
Drumheller
Today Shane and I headed out to Drumheller Valley.
Drumheller is the heart of Alberta Dinosaur country. The area is a bonanza for fossils. The Alberta prairies were at one time the bottom of the ocean and a lush rain-forest at another. The area is prime country for fossil deposits and, not coincidentally, petroleum and gas deposits.
The hour and a half trip out there is quite boring and the roads dead straight. The endless wheat fields and cattle paddocks were broken up by the odd farm house, wheat silo and "Donkeys". A Donkey is an oil well and they are scattered all over the place on the Alberta Prairies. Notice in the photo below, the flare stack in the background between the telegraph poles.
The Drumheller Valley was created by a glacier during the last ice age. All that remains of the glacier is the valley and the Red Deer River that runs through Drumheller. It's quite odd really, because you drive for an hour and half across the featureless prairie and then out of nowhere a great ravine appears.
Horseshoe Canyon (above), Horsethief Canyon (below), and most of the valley is very similar looking. The bonus for the bone hunters is that the bulk excavation has been done by nature exposing the rich fossil fields.
Unfortunately the weather was getting a bit wintery and the photos all came out hazy like these ones.
The first point of interest we came to was Horseshoe Canyon. I walked down to the floor of the canyon to have a bit of a nosy.
While I was there Shane spotted some movement near me. I managed to get pretty close and snapped a couple of shots. This little creature is about the size of my hand including its tail, but it was fast! It looked much like the ground squirrel from the previous day, but with a much longer tail and pointy nose. I had no idea what it was at the time. Fortunately, Wikipedia had some answers. As it turns out, this busy little creature is a Least Chipmunk.
The whole point of going out to Drumheller is to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
The Royal Tyrrell houses most of the fossil finds from Alberta's Badlands (Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial Park 150km to the south east). It is reportedly the world's best Fossil Museum in the world. I'll caution that in North America, "The World" could mean just North America. I will say it's pretty impressive and they use the actual fossils, not replicas like most museums use.
This photo is a T-Rex. Pretty intimidating when you stand next to it.
It should be noted that The Royal Tyrrell isn't a dinosaur museum as much as a fossil museum. They have laid it out so that you start with the most ancient fossils (such as the one pictured) and as you work your way around you trace the steps of evolution right through to present day.
The shell pictured is a brilliant example of the animal fossil being replaced by minerals to produce a beautiful gem.
The early exhibits include the first amphibians like the one pictured. These were some of the first vertebrates to walk the earth.
I didn't do too much reading of the information on the exhibits due to the hoards of people. Luckily I had Discovery Channel back in Oz and used to watch Paleoworld. These days I have a fairly sound knowledge of prehistoric evolution.
Dimetrodon is a member of the pseudo-mammals that are descended from reptiles. They're a separate branch to Dinosaurs and eventually gave rise to mammals. These ones are very cool and have the big sail on their back. A theory is that they used the sail to control blood temperature (a mammalian trait).
Here's one of the classics. Stegosaurus!
Anyone who hasn't heard of a Stegosaurus has got to be kidding me.
Another classic. There are four dinosaurs that everyone remembers. T-Rex, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus and this one, Triceratops. Brontosaurus was notable by its absence, but the others were all there.
I couldn't help but post this one. Notice my snap happy mate, Shane in the right of shot. Usually Kerri's pocket digital camera is a match for Shane's DSLR with the postcard shots, but when you are in low light and need a wider angle, the expensive gear wins all the time.
The exhibits go right up to near present day. The mammoth is one of a number of animals from the Pixar movie "Ice Age" that were on display. Notice the sabre tooth tiger toward the back of shot.
I think I'll have to go back when there aren't so many people/kids at the museum and spend some time soaking it all in properly.
The Hoodoos are supposedly a major geographic wonder. Really?? I immediately saw it and said to Shane, "If that's it, I'm going to feel ripped off". Sure enough, that was it and I did feel ripped off. I said to Shane, "It reminds me of Piss Weak World".
The most disappointing thing is that these structures are so fragile and the parks people let people walk all over them (well mostly). There's even graffiti on them.
In all, a worthwhile day out in the prairies.
Drumheller is the heart of Alberta Dinosaur country. The area is a bonanza for fossils. The Alberta prairies were at one time the bottom of the ocean and a lush rain-forest at another. The area is prime country for fossil deposits and, not coincidentally, petroleum and gas deposits.
The hour and a half trip out there is quite boring and the roads dead straight. The endless wheat fields and cattle paddocks were broken up by the odd farm house, wheat silo and "Donkeys". A Donkey is an oil well and they are scattered all over the place on the Alberta Prairies. Notice in the photo below, the flare stack in the background between the telegraph poles.
Drumheller Valley
The Drumheller Valley was created by a glacier during the last ice age. All that remains of the glacier is the valley and the Red Deer River that runs through Drumheller. It's quite odd really, because you drive for an hour and half across the featureless prairie and then out of nowhere a great ravine appears.
Horseshoe Canyon (above), Horsethief Canyon (below), and most of the valley is very similar looking. The bonus for the bone hunters is that the bulk excavation has been done by nature exposing the rich fossil fields.
Unfortunately the weather was getting a bit wintery and the photos all came out hazy like these ones.
The first point of interest we came to was Horseshoe Canyon. I walked down to the floor of the canyon to have a bit of a nosy.
While I was there Shane spotted some movement near me. I managed to get pretty close and snapped a couple of shots. This little creature is about the size of my hand including its tail, but it was fast! It looked much like the ground squirrel from the previous day, but with a much longer tail and pointy nose. I had no idea what it was at the time. Fortunately, Wikipedia had some answers. As it turns out, this busy little creature is a Least Chipmunk.
Royal Tyrrell Museum
The whole point of going out to Drumheller is to visit the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
The Royal Tyrrell houses most of the fossil finds from Alberta's Badlands (Drumheller and Dinosaur Provincial Park 150km to the south east). It is reportedly the world's best Fossil Museum in the world. I'll caution that in North America, "The World" could mean just North America. I will say it's pretty impressive and they use the actual fossils, not replicas like most museums use.
This photo is a T-Rex. Pretty intimidating when you stand next to it.
It should be noted that The Royal Tyrrell isn't a dinosaur museum as much as a fossil museum. They have laid it out so that you start with the most ancient fossils (such as the one pictured) and as you work your way around you trace the steps of evolution right through to present day.
The shell pictured is a brilliant example of the animal fossil being replaced by minerals to produce a beautiful gem.
The early exhibits include the first amphibians like the one pictured. These were some of the first vertebrates to walk the earth.
I didn't do too much reading of the information on the exhibits due to the hoards of people. Luckily I had Discovery Channel back in Oz and used to watch Paleoworld. These days I have a fairly sound knowledge of prehistoric evolution.
Dimetrodon is a member of the pseudo-mammals that are descended from reptiles. They're a separate branch to Dinosaurs and eventually gave rise to mammals. These ones are very cool and have the big sail on their back. A theory is that they used the sail to control blood temperature (a mammalian trait).
Here's one of the classics. Stegosaurus!
Anyone who hasn't heard of a Stegosaurus has got to be kidding me.
Another classic. There are four dinosaurs that everyone remembers. T-Rex, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus and this one, Triceratops. Brontosaurus was notable by its absence, but the others were all there.
I couldn't help but post this one. Notice my snap happy mate, Shane in the right of shot. Usually Kerri's pocket digital camera is a match for Shane's DSLR with the postcard shots, but when you are in low light and need a wider angle, the expensive gear wins all the time.
The exhibits go right up to near present day. The mammoth is one of a number of animals from the Pixar movie "Ice Age" that were on display. Notice the sabre tooth tiger toward the back of shot.
I think I'll have to go back when there aren't so many people/kids at the museum and spend some time soaking it all in properly.
The Hoodoos are supposedly a major geographic wonder. Really?? I immediately saw it and said to Shane, "If that's it, I'm going to feel ripped off". Sure enough, that was it and I did feel ripped off. I said to Shane, "It reminds me of Piss Weak World".
The most disappointing thing is that these structures are so fragile and the parks people let people walk all over them (well mostly). There's even graffiti on them.
In all, a worthwhile day out in the prairies.
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