A slab of rock unearthed at NASA’s Goddard Flight Center has lots of mammal and dinosaur tracks, and maybe even a pile of fossilized poop. There are sauropod, theropod, and baby nodosaur tracks. There are mammal tracks, possibly with toe beans. There eighty or more footprints on the stone. The article has a nice diagram of the tracks on the stone and the animals that made them.
What kind of tracks are your animals making? I have been having some work done on the house, and Zooey and Ric have not been going out. So they do a lot of running inside instead.
And I’m exhausted from the news this week, with two days yet to go. Open thread.
Jeffro
Too funny, Cheryl – I printed that article out this afternoon for my kids to read over tomorrow’s breakfast cereal! Mind-boggling in a dozen different ways…
Baud
That’s more than at Trump’s inauguration.
Major Major Major Major
Samwise doesn’t leave tracks on our hardwood and tile, or go outside, but he’s been leaving plenty of gray remnants on my black coat.
Today was pretty good I guess. Got some good work in. Then the foundation president offhandedly mentioned he wants to demo my big project the first week of April, instead of June.
He has his talents but management is not one of them.
kindness
Cool stuff. Bonus points for being able to read a NY Times article this late in the month. Yea, I’m on the free 10 articles/month deal.
chris
@ Cheryl:
Dave Weigel found the perfect gif.
WaterGirl
@Baud: You are on a roll today.
Cheryl Rofer
@chris: Thanks. I needed a laugh.
Magda in Black
I’m glad you gave me an open thread, because I think I found that last straw today. I am the only Democrat in an office full of Trump supporters. Today I got to hear what a fine, spot-on speech it was. How ugly Democrat women are. How disrespectful…oh and yay for the new tax plan.
I simply cannot be around that level of deliberate ignorance any longer. I’m going to have to change jobs.
Major Major Major Major
@Magda in Black: ugh, that sounds awful.
SiubhanDuinne
The photo looks exactly like a cutlet I bought at 60% off a couple of days after the sell-by date.
ETA:
Yup, that was it, all right.
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: When I had a tan cocker spaniel, I had a black couch. By the time i got a black dog, I had a tan couch. I just gave up at that point.
As for your work project, I had a boss who showed the Dean off a mock-up of a project I was going to start after the first of the year. My boss, who had been newly promoted, promised the the Dean that I would have the project completed on Jan 2nd. He told me this on December 23, right before I was to be off for 2 weeks for the holiday, as the University was closed.
When I told him it wasn’t realistic or possible, he told me it had to be done and he didn’t care what it took for me to do it. Asshole. I got it done, but I barely ate or slept for 2 weeks, and I certainly didn’t get even a minute of vacation. Wow, I am angry all over again.
We used to joke about the Dilbert cartoon where the pointy haired boss would always estimate that something was a “5-minute job”. On the bright side, at least you found out about the new date now and not on March 15. Still, if you’re smart enough to be the boss, why can’t you be smarty enough to make sure that what you are promising is realistic???
Magda in Black
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m in hell.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I was thinking it looked like spam mixed with water, then formed into a shape and heated until it was solidified. Hope you enjoyed your cutlet.
As I pressed save, the “thanks for the asparagus” popped into my head and I laughed, even though I can’t remember the origin of that. Was it Eric Holder?
WaterGirl
@Magda in Black: I’m sorry, that truly does sound awful. Guessing you don’t feel it would be safe to speak up?
Baud
@Magda in Black: I’m sorry. I’m pretty miserable at work but I can’t complain given what you’re going through.
Major Major Major Major
@WaterGirl: always makes me think of the Dilbert like so:
“they loved the prototype so much they ordered a thousand!”
“The prototype took a year to build, cost a million dollars…”
“Make a thousand prototypes then.”
“…and is the competitor’s product with duct tape over the logo.”
raven
@WaterGirl: Gohmert
Brachiator
Wow. So many ancient creatures walked over that slab. And all of them were smarter than your average Republican.
Lapassionara
@Magda in Black: aren’t we all
jharp
That is a very cool story.
I once found a 5,000 to 7,000 year old spear point on my Dad’s farm in Ohio.
It is very nice. Flawless.
I sure would like to see the dude who lost it.
Mike J
That’s when I was carrying you, while riding 20 dinosaurs Roman style.
bystander
WaPo at the moment has an op/ed by Dana Milbank decrying the behavior of Demonrats at the SOTU and a discussion of Hillary’s “fatal flaw” as discussed by three experts. Too late, too soon, too self-regarding, no self-awareness.
WaterGirl
@raven: Thank you. I just googled. “Good luck with your asparagus.”
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Close. It was Louis Gohmert in reference to Holder. He said something like “The Attorney General cast aspersions on my asparagus.”
WaterGirl
@bystander: Check out the previous thread for a discussion of that very thing. We were not favorably impressed, either.
Magda in Black
@WaterGirl:
Ive long ago learned its pointless. Pearls before swine etc.
Day is over ?
Thanks for letting me vent, all of you.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
I have a short story (called “Journeys: A Ghost Story”) in this month’s issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine. You can read it for free, which I assume means the editor is being generous.
chris
I wondered why all the tracks were in such a small area, maybe a watering hole? Nope, the article says that the area was a swamp so my guess is that the animals were on the driest ground they could find. I’ve walked deer trails through the bogs here and there are often signs of other critters using them. (Bog walking not recommended for the uninitiated.)
Took Bert for a walk this afternoon in the bitter wind and with four inches of new snow on the ground. He stopped and looked pointedly behind me so I turned and there was Steve, the orange cat, trotting along behind us with his prosperous housecat belly brushing the snow. Funny looking track, like a balloon with feet.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: You are right. But the Eric Holder had the last word with his “Good luck with your asparagus”.
I consider Barack Obama and Eric Holder to be near saints for all the disrespect they endured in service to this country. I think I would have spontaneously combusted, but then I haven’t had a lifetime of having to endure that kind of prejudice.
kindness
@bystander: The comments to Dana under that were wonderful to see. Most people say he’s full of shit. I agreed.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): High praise, indeed:
But I didn’t see a link to the story itself. How do we get to the story? Was it right in front of me but I missed it?
Kelly
The Mrs. and I left about 6 miles nordic ski tracks on Santiam Pass this afternoon. Reheating yesterday’s hearty beef stew then off to bed early. Beautiful day scattered clouds, no wind.
raven
Steve Forbert,You Cannot Win ‘Em All
WaterGirl
@raven: I like that.
chris
@WaterGirl: Click “Story 2” at the top of the page.
Jeffro
That slab of rock is smarter than Chris Cillizza (but we knew that already) – did y’all know the Nunes memo isn’t really a partisan fight? SERIOUSLY!
C.C., pick up that guitar…er, malignant bullshit generator you call a mouth…and talk to me!
Get it, libtards? Because R-appointed, Trumpov-appointed Chris Wray is opposed to the release of the Nunes memo, why, it’s most def NOT same-old, same-old. Despite the fact that EVERYONE. ELSE. INVOLVED. falls quite neatly into partisan camps here. Meaning that the Rs are good with bashing the FBI to defend Trumpov and the Ds are for not letting this shit slide. Oh and also a Republican president – the one under investigation, no less – is okay with the Republican congressman who drew this up and now wants to release it.
But Chris Wray!
Fortunately, C.C. will leave less, much less of an impression upon the Earth than that random nodosaur in the fossil slab. And I think we call that justice, or karma, or just highly appropriate.
WaterGirl
@chris: Duh! I had to scroll down on my laptop to read the whole editor’s note The top menu items were off the screen, so I didn’t see them!
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): I have the story up and I am looking forward to reading it in the morning!
raven
@WaterGirl: He was once the new Bob Dylan. . .35 years ago.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@WaterGirl: It’s Story #2. See the tabs at the top?
ETA: Oh good. I see you found it.
Mnemosyne
Oh, Panera Bread:
Order a turkey cranberry flatbread sandwich, pay, and head to a table. Employee comes over.
“We don’t have the turkey cranberry.”
“Okay, give me a BBQ chicken flatbread.”
A few minutes go by and a different employee comes over. Turns out they literally don’t have flat bread — they ran out. They’re putting it on ciabatta instead. Sigh.
chris
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): It’s very good, thank you for sharing.
Major Major Major Major
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): congrats! I shall add it to my list.
dmsilev
@WaterGirl:
Oy. I suppose some variant of “well then you do it; I’m heading off on the vacation which your predecessor approved two months ago” wasn’t in the cards. Or “well, then you personally can pay the cancellation fees for the airplane tickets I bought in September.”
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@chris: @Major Major Major Major: Thank you. This is the first short story I’ve had published someplace other than my publishers or my own website. I’m ridiculously pleased. I fiddled with this thing endlessly, trying to hint at what I wanted the reader to understand but not give it away too early.
Aleta
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
And a few lines down from the start of your story, a paw print appears!
Also coincidentally I was taking photos of some paw prints in the snow today. Some are fox, and some I can’t figure out. They are pretty large and go out one way over the ice to open water and then disappear. Not beaver.
eta I love the story. You had me right from the start, and so visual.
Amir Khalid
@Mnemosyne:
Did they say why they took the order for flatbread when they’d already run out?
gene108
@kindness:
When will the media realize (1) conservatives view the MSM as tools of liberal elites and will reject anything from the MSM and (2) liberals really want good reporting, and will pay for it, without the kissing up to conservatives, both-siderism, and contrarian think pieces trying to find flaws with Democrats.
No Drought No More
I ACCUSE:
WITH THE REPORT THAT TRUMP WILL RELEASE THE NUNES MEMO, I DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL TRUMP AND CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS- ALL OF THEM, NO EXCEPTIONS- TRAITORS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
PUTIN HAS SUCCEEDED BEYOND HIS WILDEST DREAMS. THEY’RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER. WHAT IS THE PENALTY FOR TREASON IN THIS COUNTRY? BECAUSE BEFORE I WILL EVER DECLARE THIS WAR OVER, I WILL SEE THEIR FUCKING SCALPS HANGING ON THE POLE BENEATH THE FLAG THEY’VE SO INFAMOUSLY BETRAYED.
THEY’RE TRAITORS ALL, AND ALL DESERVE A TRAITORS FATE.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev:
Ha! Youse a funny guy. I worked at a place once where a colleague of mine was told he had to cancel his vacation and work on something. This something was poorly scheduled and of less than high priority. The person telling him this just wanted to fuck him up. The colleague had non-refundable tix to take his kids to Europe for two weeks.
He left for another job about four months later.
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
New employee. She was having trouble figuring out the cash register, so it didn’t come up.
Corner Stone
@No Drought No More: Damn, how about an “ear muffs” warning first next time?
Corner Stone
@Aleta: Ghost Bear.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Aleta: I’m a city girl myself, so I can’t even speculate on what went off the ice. For story research, I once looked up a bunch of stuff about tracking and it turns out you can tell male foxes from female foxes based on the prints. Or so this website said. And if it’s on the internet you know it’s true.
I’m glad you liked the story. It’s a good day in this writer’s world.
Emma
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): No, the editor is displaying the best he’s got. That was an excellent read! Sword and sorcery is not my preferred genre but you give it a nice twist.
chris
@Aleta: Don’t know where you live but might they be coyote tracks? They like the edges of things and are endlessly curious and hungry.
Corner Stone
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
Sure thing. Track them long enough and you can see where the female’s Lee Press On Nails have popped off.
J R in WV
On the TV news when they did this story the rock guys took the TV reporter out back and promptly found another rock with more footprints on it. CBS I think. Amazing to see!!
They must have figured out there are a ton of them just outside the area where the buildings disturbed the ground.
I want one!! Wah, Wah!!!!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Emma: Thank you. My critique partner says what I really write about is family, over and over. The swords and sorcery are just stage setting, she says. That may not be good.
@Corner Stone: Oh ha.
Mary G
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Here is my favorite line:
Reminds me of someone we know~~
Enjoyed it a lot and did not see the twist coming and got a little verklempt.
SgrAstar
Speaking of dinosaur footprints as we were, there is a fantastic hike to be done on the western edge of Canyonlands N.P., ie from the Green River side, rather than Moab, to Horsethief Canyon. The walk itself is easy – an 800 foot descent leads you into the narrow canyon which contains some of the best-preserved rock art in North America. It’s ~2miles to the most impressive petroglyphs, but those two miles of red-rock canyon walls are lined with smaller carved scenes of people with their dogs, people hunting…it’s just incredible. The bonus- when we went there, the sandy canyon bottom had been scoured out by recent rains, revealing the footprints of a dino (Velociraptor ?) running down the canyon. We leapt from dinner-plate-sized footprint to footprint. Incredible, awesome, beautiful. Dunno if Quinerly has made it that far north, but I strongly recommend!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Mary G: Verklempt is absolutely ideal. You are an ideal reader. :-)
Perhaps that line could be a revolving tag!
Emma
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Why not? Stephen King writes about growing up, adults dealing with unexpected and often crushing responsibility, and what it takes to face evil. He’s doing ok for himself. :-)
Another Scott
All right – which one of you jackals broke news.google.com?!??
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
(“500 error”)
geg6
Hope Hicks is busted. Breaking story of her planning lies about the Trump Tower meeting emails. Jesus, she’s in the shit. Watching Lawrence O’Donnell. Wow.
OT: credit where due to the FTFNYT. Corallo to testify to her conspiring with Trump. Holy shit.
Old Dan and Little Anne
My mother in law will be dead from cancer in a matter of weeks. My wife is a shell of herself and it fucking sucks every which way. She’s only 65. I’m still lucky to have both at 74. And Fuck drumph and every stupid Motherfucker that voted for him.
Corner Stone
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Everybody knows that. It’s just science.
Corner Stone
@geg6: Seems like a thin reed to bury her with, IMO.
Corner Stone
Anybody else think Omarosa probably can’t wait to torpedo Hope Hicks?
mike in dc
@geg6:
Hicks as a cooperating witness would absolutely BURY Trump. She’s been by his side for the past two years, during every critical interaction under scrutiny.
geg6
@Old Dan and Little Anne:
I’m so sorry. Fuck cancer.
chris
On and on and on….
Letter from Schiff appended to tweet
geg6
@Corner Stone:
I disagree. Seems pretty big to me. We’ll see.
geg6
@chris:
Nunes needs to go down. And Ryan, that weasly fuck, with him.
chris
@geg6: And many more from the looks of it.
Old Dan and Little Anne
@geg6: With a rusty pitchfork.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Emma: That’s true. As long as the characters feel real, they can function in any genre.
@Corner Stone: Lady Fox? Good one.
Hope Hicks would be a big get for Mueller. Everyone who goes near Trump is doomed. Or rather acts to doom themselves.
mike in dc
@Old Dan and Little Anne: I’m sorry for your wife’s impending loss. I count myself lucky to be 50 and have both my parents still around and active.
Brachiator
I didn’t watch the SOTU or the Democratic Party response. The Guardian thinks the Democrats don’t have a clue.
As always, they complain that the Democrats spend too much time on race and identity politics.
This all tells me that the Democrats are on the right track.
Ohio Mom
@Magda in Black: Ohio Dad had the same work situation. It’s hard.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
When I first clicked on this post, I thought the thing in the picture was a stone rabbit.
Old Dan and Little Anne
@mike in dc: Thanks.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: there’s a writer at slate who spent a good part of their article on Kennedy’s response complaining about marijuana laws.
Cheryl Rofer
@chris: Here’s the tweet and the letter.
Ohio Mom
@Ohio Mom: HAS
Ohio Dad HAS the same work situation. We can’t afford for that to be in the past tense. I hope spellcheck had a good chuckle over that little prank.
Anyway, came home exhausted today from the Trump giddiness infecting his coworkers. And he’s only working half-days this week.
WaterGirl
@geg6: I was about to ask if this is for real and then I saw your nym and new you wouldn’t make up something like this.
Magda in Black
@Ohio Mom:
There has to be support groups for this ?