Digging up Bones and Firing Off Rockets

On our way to find fossils


The bottom of the ocean- 80 million years ago


Mary Conlee Wilson, paleontologist


A closer look


Cow bones (from the 21st century)


Shark's tooth


A shell from the Cretaceous period


Worm burrows


Shrimp burrows


Fish vertebra



On Saturday, we went to Judd's family farm in Panola, Alabama. The entire Wilson family was gathered at Mama Dee and Daddy Earl Inmon's homeplace for the annual Homecoming at their church. Although Mama Dee and Daddy Earl have gone on to meet Jesus, this is something that the family continues to do the first weekend of October.

As soon as we arrived, Judd and Cole hopped on the four wheeler for a ride through the cow pasture. When they returned, I hopped on for my turn- as the driver, of course. Judd made sure I remembered how to drive it, so he was my first passenger. After passing the test, he let Cole climb on the back. We went through the pasture and found some cow bones- a vertibrae and a clavical bone, to be exact! Cole insisted that we bring them home, which we did! Everyone was thrilled with our collection! This caused the other cousins to want some bones, too. Some of the girls found a pelvic bone and placed it in the flower beds. What fancy lawn decorations, let me tell you!

After eating lunch, we went on a fossil dig. This area is not a far walk from the house and is part of the Inmon Estate. Some of this info, I'm borrowing from Cousin Cheryl (CheChe), who is the family archaeology expert. Well before 1988, archaeologists have been digging on the Inmon family property. They have discovered many fossils, including a turtle that is now on display at the McWane Science Center in Birmingham. Dr. James Lamb is the Curator of Paleontology at McWane. He said that Alabama is the best place in the southeast for fossil hunting. He recently brought a crew to do some more digging on the property. It is amazing to know that this area used to be the ocean and that the fossils we found date back to the Cretaceous period- over 80 million years ago. This area reminds me of the dinosaur graveyard from The Lion King movie. Judd remembers walking around this area as a child, but he had no idea of the treasures it beheld. Thankfully for us, our children now know what is there and can appreciate the vast history it represents. In order to find our fossils, we didn't have to dig. Kemp, Judd's oldest brother and fossil afficionado, taught us how to excavate using a screwdriver on the surface of the ground. Without much digging, we found shells, fish vertebrae, fish teeth, and even a shark's tooth. Besides bones, you can find shrimp and worm burrows. These are fossilized "caves" or homes where the worms and the shrimp once lived. Everything from this time period has fossilized, not just the animals. I look forward to our next dig. On another note, Cole's Challenge class at Parkway is studying archaeology this semester. Their culminating activity will be a field trip to the McWane Center. We look forward to going and seeing "our turtle" among the Alabama Dinosaurs exhibit!

One of our newest traditions at the farm is to set off our rocket. Cole got a rocket for his 6th birthday from one of his friends. This is no simple backyard rocket. It launches over 600 feet into the air. There is no place in Tupelo where we can do this, so we love taking it to the farm and launching it there. We did it for the first time in January of 2007, when all the family gathered for Bob Bob and Mama Charlie's 50th wedding anniversary. Our family didn't make it to Homecoming last year because of my trip to Greece. So when we went back this time, Judd and Cole made sure the rocket came, too! After the rocket is launched, the parachute deploys and if it is the least bit windy, the rocket is carried off. This happened during the first launch in '07. Luckily Judd and Cousin Chris were able to retrieve it. This time, Judd brought 3 "engines" or gun powder packs (as I call them) so we could do it several times. The entire family gathered in the pasture for the rocket launch. As soon as it took off, we spotted it in the sky and watched as the rocket was carried off in the distance. Over the wire fence in another pasture, to be exact. Someone took off on the four wheeler to retrieve it, but so did our nephew, Kemper, in his truck. Kemper has just gotten his driver's license, so he was proud to drive his truck with it's new mag tires from Pensacola. As soon as Kemper took off into the field to help us find the rocket, a stick went straight through his tire. I could feel his pain. I was afraid we would all feel his dad's (Kemp) pain, too! We waited awhile before firing the last two shots. It felt irreverent to shoot the rocket while they were changing the torn up tire. The next launch also resulted in a search and rescue mission. Again, someone went out on the four wheeler to bring it back. But the last time, we let our little princess press the button to ignite the charge. MC sent that rocket high into the sky, and it came down near the initial launch pad. Girls can always do it better! We had a wonderful day. It was a great time of fun, food, fellowship, and togetherness.

Rocket Man


Our rocket


The best shot


Wilson cousins


Our stairsteps