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Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sea Biscuit Odds


A lucky sperm meets egg in a shallow sea millions of years ago.
Or is it lucky egg?
Cell division.
Differentiation ... but not too much.
A larva drifting, cilia beating ...not too long though.
Transformation to benthic body.
A year or so of detritus sucking life.
Creeping, burrowing, avoiding.
Death.
Soft parts go first.
Spines detach.
Mud oozes into spaces once tissue filled.
Time.
One, Two, Three ...? million years buried in limey mud.
Mud becomes rock.
The sea retreats.
Dynamite shatters limerock.
Excavating equipment rumbles.
Scoop, dump, transport.
Rock grinder groans and crushes.
Rock to gravel.
More scooping and dumping.
Dumptrucks rumble.
Dumping.
Front end loader spreads and grades.
Roller flattens.
Sifty sand road becomes stable gravel road.
Walker walks.
Looks down and finds ...
a perfect fossil.
Wonders ...
at the odds.
at

18 comments:

  1. AnonymousSunday, February 22, 2009 11:20:00 AM

    WOW! I want one too! But I guess the odds are against that happening.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSunday, February 22, 2009 12:06:00 PM

    Heavy man, heavy.


    Patti

    ReplyDelete
  3. FresteSunday, February 22, 2009 12:12:00 PM

    Indeed. When I go tidepooling, I think zactly the same. Nice find.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousSunday, February 22, 2009 12:45:00 PM

    the rr uses limerock for ballast around some tracks, there are thousands of pieces of corral and whole clams, with a little paint they look so perfect one might try to open one for bait

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSunday, February 22, 2009 12:48:00 PM

    A poet, did you know it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. threecollieSunday, February 22, 2009 1:29:00 PM

    Miss Sarah N strikes again.

    ReplyDelete
  7. KimberleeSunday, February 22, 2009 1:58:00 PM

    This is really wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  8. robin andreaSunday, February 22, 2009 6:12:00 PM

    Don't you just love when that happens. That critter waited three million years to wind up in your hands. Ah, home.

    ReplyDelete
  9. MamaHenSunday, February 22, 2009 7:19:00 PM

    Wonderful!
    Wordplay great!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Kevin ZelnioSunday, February 22, 2009 9:02:00 PM

    Excellent! My labmate brought me back a sea biscuit from phosphate mines in North Carolina, near Wilmington. Tons of urchins there.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ThunderSunday, February 22, 2009 11:05:00 PM

    Ok, if you take the total number of sea biscuits reproduced in 1 year, multiplied by the number of years they were reproducing, devide that by the number of shovels of material it take to build the road + the number of people walking that road, and you should get your odds! ;-)

    As of today 16 days and a wake-up!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Miz SMonday, February 23, 2009 5:36:00 AM

    Never boring here at Pure Florida.

    Never.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Doug TaronMonday, February 23, 2009 8:41:00 AM

    I was expecting a post about a horse.

    ReplyDelete
  14. DebMonday, February 23, 2009 12:58:00 PM

    Good find! And your commentary really puts it in perspective.

    ReplyDelete
  15. PaintsmhMonday, February 23, 2009 4:58:00 PM

    Too cool!

    ReplyDelete
  16. ErickaTuesday, February 24, 2009 2:14:00 AM

    very neat.

    the phosphate mine closed to the public after 9/11, but the aurora fossil musuem maintains a large sandbox type affair where you can dig to your hearts content. it's where i go to collect my teeny tiny teeth!

    ReplyDelete
  17. R.PowersTuesday, February 24, 2009 1:05:00 PM

    Thanks Y'all. I sat down Sunday morning without a clue as to what to post,started looking for a picture for motivation, and found that shot.

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousWednesday, February 25, 2009 9:16:00 AM

    Beautiful photos and blog.

    ReplyDelete

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