Persistence finally pays off

Today, like any other Saturday, started out with visions of giant megs falling out of the dirt. T-Money, thA duDe, and I all set out early to beat the crowds at the forbidden pond. It has become rather famous lately, so lots of people are coming by to pillage the teeth. Again, they didn't do much work on it this week, but yesterday afternoon they did some digging, and we were the first ones there to uncover the riches concealed beneath the filth. We dug for hours on the new section, but found NOTHING! I finally got tired of drudgery without reward, so I decided to try my luck elsewhere. If you've been keeping up with my posts lately, you'll probably remember that I said that the Chandler Bridge was exposed all along the bottom of this pond, and that I had been digging in it some every day. I did today, and it REALLY paid off. I struck paydirt when I accidentally hit the whale tooth that's broken (see the first picture). I always hate breaking things, but that's the way this layer is. The fossils are extremely brittle until dried and preserved. That first tooth was a goner the second my shovel hit it. You kinda have to take your chances down in that stuff. You can dig many cubic yards of the stuff and find absolutely nothing - much like the past few weeks. But when you hit something good, its REALLY good. Anyway, after the first tooth, I started digging much more carefully. Within 6 inches of the first tooth, I found a second (look in the second photo), much nicer tooth. Then a third! I thought to myself that I had finally found a skull with teeth. I dug for an hour, and nothing more turned up, but finding associated whale teeth is a huge deal. Especially when they are in as good of condition as these. I showed my finds off to the rest of those present, J of the Golden Shovel and Mrs. Golden Shovel (see picture 3. They dug a massive hole!) and I was brimming with pride at my finds. And the day wasn't even over yet! I ended up finding a flawless little angy too down in the Chandler Bridge. Man, that stuff is feast or famine. You can bet I'll be down in it again, soon, though.