Zookeeper Fossils: The dark side of fossiling: Etiquette

Whoo, lawdy!

Did I ever get caught in the middle of a Peace River blow out!!!

Let me see if I can explain without going into too much needless detail...

Fossiler #1 found a good digging location and for a week, the fossiling friends (minus me) dug together there in perfect harmony.

Finally, it's Friday and fossiler #2 tells me to just meet them there for the day since it's been a good spot.

Keep in mind that I have fossiled several times with fossiler #1 and was looking forward to digging with him for the first time this season. I arrived at the location with fossiler #2 and when fossiler #1 arrived by kayak, I immediately ascertained that he wasn't waving and calling out a greeting; he was gesticulating angrily and cursing...at me and about me!!!

The gist of the situation was that #2 hadn't called #1 to ask if I could dig there and the tempers FLARED. I was confounded by the cursing (and I admit to throwing out an F-bomb of my own although no one remembered that, after the fact) and started to get in my kayak and leave but fossiling is supposed to be fun so I turned back into the war zone and attempted to smooth ruffled feathers. I'm not a diplomat, I'm notorious for putting my foot in my mouth but I did my best.

Once everyone calmed down, #1 assured me that it wasn't about me; of course I was always welcome, but it was a breech of river etiquette for someone else to bring me to a location without an invitation.

There were also a few other issues simmering under the surface so perhaps it was some much needed venting among old friends who spend 2-5 days in the river every week during the season but #1 pointed out to me that I had also broken the unwritten rules by not inviting him personally to my honey hole (no double entendres, please! lol). I profusely apologized for my oversight.

Lots of lessons learned that day.

With all the commotion going on around me, the main thought in my head was, "I've only got today. I want to find something!!!"

I found a few large megalodon fragments which I always keep because I love imagining them in the mouth of a 2 million year old monster. It's hard to find big megs in the Peace River anymore because it's been dug for so long. For people who can scuba dive, there apparently are still plenty of big beautiful megs off Venice Beach, Florida. Here's a photo of a recent find:

I don't scuba but when I see photos like this, I consider it...for a minute.

But back to me!

I don't keep as much fossilized turtle material as I used to but if I find a scute in good condition or a nicely textured piece of shell, I'll throw it in my bucket. I also found a very nice giant armadillo scute (right side of the photo).