Had a snow storm drop about 5 inches of that white stuff earlier this morning. Temp's about -22C / -7.6F, but the urge to go out was just overwhelming. I opted to bring my camera and search a new area for possible picnic sites for better days. I hiked around this area, and found some old trails, with some good potential, but not today.
While walking along a river bank, I noticed a small white piece sticking out of the vertical river bank. Could this be a bone? The strata layers where I was exploring exposed old gravel beds and small coal seams, making it a great potential area to find some petrified wood or dino bones. I pulled this specimen out and could immediately see the matrix structure of bone. Yes! A keeper.
Continuing along the river bank, I happened to look up under a partial-fallen pine tree. I looked up and .......wait a second, is that a bone I see up there? It would be buried under about 3 feet of overburden? I carefully climbed up the bank, touched the bone with a stick, and it wiggled a bit and fell.
I took it home, cleaned it up a bit and here it is! I nice brown color, (not white like newer bones) and upon flicking it with my finger, it gave a nice ping! It's very heavy, hard and the age is unknown. I will have to take it to the university for further identification later on this year.
Having built up a good appetite, I feasted on some of the best beef jerky that I have ever made. Below is the recipe. Try it, you'll like it!
