Minmi was a small, quadrupedal, armored, herbivorous dinosaur from Australia. Its head, neck and body were covered by bony armor, very much like today’s armadillos. Although it was slow and small brained, its armor protected it from predators. Only one specimen has been found, but it included stomach contents that show it ate leaves, fruit and seeds, and that it chewed up the plants before it swallowed them. Minmi is the location in Roma, Queensland, Australia where this dinosaur was discovered.
References: text is from the park placard with minor edits.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Admittedly, I over-planned the Ireland trip. For every day possible the venues were pre-booked and paid. In theory planning provides more flexibility when life interrupts.
For the Inishmore planning, a perfect day, for me, was tooling around on a bicycle stopping where we pleased with welcome exercise in between. That was unrealistic, the day worked out otherwise.
Upon disembarking from Queen of Aran, our ferry out of Doolin, onto the Kilronan quay we walked toward the bicycle rental and Pam refused to bicycle. Her objections were many, safety, impending rain, time. She did have a point about time, the ferry leaves at a set time leaving errant tourists to fend for themselves. We were unused to cycling, still Dun Aonghasa is just over 5 miles from Kilronan, less than an hour round trip. With our starting time of 11:30 am there was 3.5 hours slack for returning to the quay before the 4 pm departure. Plenty of time for wandering the ruins and stopping along the way.
We followed Pam’s advice. Still there were the many bicyclists. Perched on our horse drawn carriage, on the uphill runs, each bicyclist we passed was proof positive to Pam of the wisdom of our choice. I was silently envious of their freedom and overlooked the many mini-buses on the narrow road.
When the day comes to mind, not often, I am left with the guilty feeling of not stopping into the bicycle rental office to cancel the reservation. An email was waiting for me the next day, asking where we were. Thus, the title of this post, “Stiffed.”
Pam’s Response to this post.
Pam’s reasons for not wanting to ride a bicycle around Inishmore: “I hadn’t been on a bike for approximately 20 years. However, if it wasn’t going to rain (it did), if the narrow road was larger, if there weren’t any minibuses loaded to the gills or horse traps sharing the same single lane, I would have considered it. Sitting back and enjoying the beautiful view on our private horse trap and listening to our very knowledgeable tour guide/driver was the highlight of this adventure for me. I am sorry you felt like you didn’t have a choice.”
Pam’s correction of my statement about her being concerned about time: “Time wasn’t a factor in my decision making. I also didn’t have a problem with you biking but there was no way I was going to do that.”
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Baellynasaura was a small, bipedal, herbivorous dinosaur from Australia. Unlike today’s reptiles, its top and bottom teeth touch when chewing, allowing it to consume plants. It had a remarkably long tail, which contained over 70 vertebrae, as much as 75% of its total bodyt length. It is believed Leaellynasaura’s large eyes were used to see during the long nights that Australia experienced. Recent studies, however, show that these specimens discovered are juveniles; hence, like puppies and kittens, their eyes are large regardless of where they are found in the world.
Enjoying travel on a horse trap, a type of carriage, on Inishmore , the largest Aran Island in Galway bay, we headed up Cottage Road from Kilronan, the main island settlement. It was from Kilronan we disembarked from the ferry, hired the driver and trap. Our destination an Iron Age fort, Dun Aengus, and sights along the way.
Dry Stone walls abound throughout Ireland. Ancient walls, buried in peat, were discovered in County Mayo and dated to 3,800 BC. This is a field wall on Cottage Road with daisies growing at the wall base.
The wall is composed of stones, not rocks. I have read in places a stone is a rock put to use or shaped by human hands. Other usages have rock and stone used interchangeably. For example, an internet search on “Dry Rock Wall” will return hits on the same. “You pays your money and takes your choice.”
Sources for this post: search Wikipedia for “Dry Stone”.
Tyrannosaurus Rex, the most famous of all dinosaurs, was among the largest carnivorous animals ever to walk the planet. Tyrannosaurus Rex had enormous skulls lined with up to sixty, seven-inch long teeth and could generate bite forces as great as 8,000 pounds. This allowed them to easily bite through both flesh and bone. They fed upon duck-billed dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs and even one another. Finds of multiple dinosaur fossils in the same location suggest they formed herds. A recent study showed that they lived to just thirty years of age.
Thank goodness humans never shared the environment with “The Rex.”
pure terror
References: text is from the park placard with minor edits.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Neovenator was a very large, predatory dinosaur. Each hand and foot had three very sharp claws. Its teeth were thin, blade-like, and serrated like steak knives for cutting flesh. Short, horn-like projections above its eyes helped to recognize others of the same species. First discovered in 1978 on the Isla of Wight, United Kingdom. The fist and best-known specimen (70% complete) bears numerous injuries showing that these animals had rough and tumble lives. Perhaps such injuries were from trying to catch Iguanodons and other dinosaurs. Neovenator is derived from the latin words for “now” and “hunter.”
Skin TextureShort, horn-like projections above its eyes helped to recognize others of the same species.
Long extended tail provided balance
A creepy customer
References: text is from the park placard with minor edits.
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
One of the earliest dinosaurs, Herrerosaurus was a bipedal predator with a long and stiffened tail, three main fingers, two vestigial fingers, and sharp, serrated teeth. Its flexible lower jaw helped to grasp prey. Its long legs and hollow bones suggest it was a fast runner. Bite marks on skulls of these animals show they often battled one another, presumably over food or mates. The earliest forms were small, about 10-feet long; later ones were up to twice that length. This rare dinosaur was discovered in 1991 in the Ischigualasto Formation of Argentina.
This sculpture has a nictitating membrane, a transparent or translucent third eyelid present in some animals that can be drawn across the eye for protection and to moisten it while maintaining vision. The animatronic sculpture includes the nictating membrane lowering over eye, moving jaws and body and a roar.
Amargasaurus was one of the smallest sauropod dinosaurs at just 33 feet (its relatives could reach 140 feet!!). It had a quadrupedal stance. Using its neck, it could feed on plants low to the ground and up in trees. Its most notable features were tall spines along its neck. These spines were for display to fellow Amargasaurus, much like those seen on today’s reptiles. It is unclear if there was skin between the spines; this remains a topic of debate among paleontologists. Like most dinosaurs, Amargasaurus is know from a single specimen discovered in Argentina.
The third of my postings about the peafowl of Cape Canaveral…..we had our most intimate interactions on a Oak Lane, a small unpaved road off a Circle K (roadside convenience store). At one point a peacock approached Pam on the open windowed passenger side and almost pecked her.
Peacock and audience45 degrees away from face-onAn interesting take on his displayShowboat with a Gladiator (Jeep)
The iridescent coloration is an illusion created by the structure of fine feather elements, called barbules. The impression on peahens varies with viewing angle, between 90 (head on) and 45 degrees to either side. The peacock will shiver his train when faced with a favored peahen.
February is Peafowl mating season and for Cape Canaveral the displays were especially fine. These were captured on a photography expedition via automobile, being especially fortunate in observing peacocks (male peafowl) on high perches oriented perfectly to display the magnificent train (trail).
Here is some information on Reddit from “Mr_mayhem77 “According to locals, the Eberwein family lived between Port Canaveral and what is now the Villages of Seaport. In fact a street is actually named after them (Eberwein Drive) at the northern edge of Cape Canaveral. They had the peafowl among many farm animals. The family moved in 1986 and abandoned the peafowls. Over the years the peafowl have slowly populated our community with the greatest concentration being north of Central Ave.”
“Slumming” among lawn equipment
Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 