Trilobites and the House Range

Two Species of Trilobites at the Same Time!

My son, Evan, and I went out past Delta yesterday to go dig fossils at the U Dig Fossil quarry near Swazey Peak in the House Range.  The quarry is located where a very rich vein of the Wheeler Shale is exposed and one can find very well preserved trilobite and other fossils from the Cambrian era (half a billion years ago).  It costs $28 per adult for two hours and you get a 20% discount if you can show them a Utah driver's license.  They give you a rock hammer and a bucket and you are allowed to cart off as much rock as you want during your stay.  The quarry is dug out periodically with power equipment so there are fairly fresh shards of shale to work with.  You try to split the rock along a seam layer and hopefully expose a fossil when you do so.  Most of the fossils are trilobites and are very small and often just pieces.  Sometimes you find only an impression because the fossil itself is fragile and breaks up when you split the rock.  The biggest ones we got were an inch or two long.

Viking at the Renaissance Faire

Yeongmi and I attended the Utah Renaissance Faire this August at Thanksgiving Point.  I went in character as Kyarssgand Vaneldsson.  I wore my full kit: tunic, boots, pants, belt, sword, seax, helmet and the fake beard and hair.  It's hard to eat with a fake beard.

Bilbo's Birthday Party 2016

September 22nd is Bilbo (and Frodo)'s birthday.  We threw a party at our place and, of course, it rained.  But we still had a pretty fun time.  This is our second one this year.  We did another back in the Spring to celebrate Bilbo's Unexpected Party with Gandalf and 13 Dwarves.  It rained then too.

The Snack Table

Belgium 2015

I took a trip to Belgium with Yeongmi last September.  The primary purpose was to present a paper at the Dynare Conference, but we spent a fair amount of time sightseeing before and after the conference.  The bottom line is the waffles are to die for, the chocolate is superb, but I can't comment on the quality of the beer.  Oh and the best part is they never ask "Do you want fries with that?", the assumption being that of course you do and they're automatically included!

Old Guild Halls on the Main Square in Brussels

Making a Viking Plank Shield

After having made several viking style shields with plywood, I decided I would try making one out of planks.  This is more authentic, I understand, but I am still cheating by using some old pine boards that were once part of a set of shelves I no longer use.  I figured the lumber was essentially free and I still have lots of glue, nails, paint, fabric, etc. from making the plywood shields, so why not?

My online reading has led me to conclude that the planks in actual viking shields were simply butted together and glued.  The linen fabric and rawhide edging were very important in keeping the planks together.

Making Viking Shields

I had the crazy idea to make viking shields for myself, some family and friends.  I thought I would document how I did it and add some tips I learned.

The intent was to make something that was fairly accurate historically, but without too much cost.  As a result I used a lot of modern materials such as plywood, zinc-coated nails, wood glue, and vinyl fake leather.  The overall construction is pretty close to how the vikings appear to actually have assembled their shields, however.

Being Gandalf

For Christmas 2015 my children got me a high quality replica of Gandalf's staff from the Hobbit movies.  It is quite solid and heavy, made from strong plastic with a steel core.  It even has a built in crystal at the top that lights up.

It glows!