I am still here

How did it get to be nearly two weeks since the last post? Houseguests, major meetings, major field trips, papers, posters, all the other activities that spontaneously combust simultaneously at the end of a college semester....orals, finals, defenses....and somehow Family Recipe Monday was lost in the shuffle. Look for a good one next week to make up for the omission. In the meantime, here are some shots of Badlands and wildlife from last weekend's field trip, a.k.a. Dances with Geologists. It was a cold, wet, windy and spectacular weekend. Enjoy.

Badlands after a heavy rain; the water brings out the colors and fineness of the strata.

 Badlands formations

 The Badlands are essentially an eroding and melting landcape, grain by grain.

 The Fossil Exhibit Trail and the first blue sky of the day.

 Lone pillar.

Badlands formations.

 Yellow Mounds.

 Yellow Mounds in a distinctly O'Keeffeian light.

 Conata Basin.

Desert bighorn sheep on a stroll.  

Small bighorn with telemetry collar.  

 Bison unimpressed with geologists. Winter shed has just started.

 Prairie dog talking with its mouth full.

 Turkey vulture and prairie dog town. Can you tell that it's a better camera?

 The critically important wildlife saga of Badlands.

 Prairie falcon hovering over an endless horizon.

 Storefront. Scenic, South Dakota. Get that comma in there, or else the message is entirely different.