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While in Argentina recently, one night we
were sitting around the campfire swapping field stories. The idea came to me
that it might be interesting to compile a book of such field stories. Anyone who
has been on a dig has heard stories or has their own stories to tell. I'm just
toying with the idea of sometime in the future compiling and editing a book of
collected humerous field stories and wanted to run this by the group for their
input. This is the FIRST time I've "gone public" with this
concept.
As I envision it, the book would contain topics such
as:
Amazing find stories.
Escapes from danger. (Rattlesnakes,
rockfalls).
Practical jokes in camp/field.
Meals gone bad. (we've all made one or had to eat
one).
Natural disasters (weather, insects).
Bad work ethics/workers. (For example (and I kid you
not) we once had a volunteer in 1981 or 1982 who had a phobia about werewolves.
He asked me if there had been any werewolf sightings in Dinosaur Provincial
Park. I jokingly assured him (real tongue in cheek) not to worry as "There
had only been 2 werewolf sightings in the Park in 50 years. He thanked me and
went back to work. But when I went to get him up for breakfast the next day he
was gone. He'd packed up his tent in the night and ran off!).
Anyone have other topic ideas?
Names would be changed to protect the innocent (or
guilty!) unless they agreed to have their names published. Jokes and stories
would have to be in good, clean fun. Submitted items would be anywhere from one
or two sentences to several paragraphs.
Remember, this is just an idea only. I'll think about
pursuing it more fully if enough interest is generated. Let me know offline if
you would be interested.
Darren Tanke, Tech. I
Dinosaur Research Program Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology Drumheller, AB, Canada and Senior Editor, Paleopathology and Recent Dento-Osteopathology Bibliography; see homepage at: http://dns.magtech.ab.ca/dtanke |