NOW it rains?!

It's been a very dry summer.

Oh yes, it's been hot, too, 
and just as I started to dream of lower temps in the not-too-distant future and a chance to get back into the Peace River,
it started to rain!
A good time to get out of town. 

Tom and I flew up to Kansas City, Missouri to visit family and friends and hard as it sounds to believe, we DIDN'T have time to look for fossils.

Whaaat?!

Well, there was a lot of BBQ to eat.  

Tom found some bones,

but they weren't fossilized...YET.

We had one opportunity

to pull to the side of a busy interstate and check out a creek bed.

Interesting chunks of shale but we had no tools to split them.

We found a varied mix of naturally occurring gravels and broken down building materials (bricks, tiles, granite, etc.) as well as a lot of multi-colored glass abraded almost to the point of looking like beach glass.

A few fossils could be found in small pieces of limestone.

Beat up crinoids and shells.

The large rocks used for retaining the banks of the creek

contained beautiful bands of crystalized brachiopods.

Tom thinks this rock is Alabama limerock rip rap, commonly used by the DOT and municipalities.

In case you're wondering about the term "rip rap", here's a handy definition:

Rip rap is rock or other material used to armor shorelines, streambeds, bridge abutments, pilings and other shoreline structures against scour, water or ice erosion. It is made from a variety of rock types, commonly granite, limestone or occasionally concrete rubble from building and paving demolition.

I only found one treasure in that creek bed.

A brick with worn white glaze on one side and the enigmatic lettering,

"AMERICAN EN.B.&T.CO.N.Y."

A Google search revealed this to be a brick from the American Enameled Brick and Tile Company of New York, operating from 1893-1934.

This is what's called a trace fossil,

and like dinosaur footprints,

 it contains no remnants of the animals that made it, 

only a lasting reminder of their past presence.