Aurora Cook Out 2013

The second Aurora Cook-Out of the year was again a big hit. What turned out to be a very pleasant November day saw 25 club members turning out for another round of fossils, food and fun! It was wonderful to see the variety of folks who showed up. In attendance were several folks from the last cook-out: George Oliver, George Powell, John Powell (no relation), Bruce and Linda McCall, and Andy from the museum (with husband Al along for good measure). Newbies at the picnic were Bob and Diane Willis, Lynn and Jim Moore, Dave and Lucille Graboa, Jonathan and Arianna Fain, James Bain, Joanne Panek-Dubrock, Rita McDaniel, Ramona Krailler, Judy Stiles, Mark Shannon, Gary and Alexander Lewis, Chuck Colucci and visitor Nick Pritchard.  The piles had been freshly turned and with the recent rains to wash them there were good “finds” all around. Linda picked up an inch and a half baby meg, Ramona found a beautiful intact murex, the Lewis’s found several nice teeth in including a beautiful Great White, Lynn Moore (and several other folks) found various good sized vertebra and lots of nice teeth were found by all. Several folks filled buckets to take home with them and hunt later. There was plenty of time to visit the museum to view the new exhibits and shop the ever changing gift shop. Before lunch George Oliver gave us a very enlightening and entertaining talk on the day in the life of a Museum employee, explaining how to tailor presentations based on the audience at hand (wearing different hats as it were – both figuratively and in reality) to his eager audience. The amount and diversity of the museums outreach is phenomenal! There was a door prize drawing after George’s talk and thanks to the wonderful donations from Rita McDaniel, James Bain and the museum – everyone won not one but TWO prizes! Then it was time for LUNCH…. Bruce McCall again plied his talents as chef, cooking up hot dogs with all the fixings. Several folks brought sides and desserts to eat as well and with food overflowing, everyone had a full stomach. The camaraderie was excellent and fossil stories (like fish stories) grew ever larger with the telling. As lunch was winding down, Linda McCall gave a brief talk on Pleistocene fossils from California, and relating them to fossils found here in North Carolina. John Powell parted with a few treasures from his personal collection in an indoor “sidewalk sale” of sorts concluding the day’s scheduled events, but several folks headed out to do more spoil pile collecting, with Joanne and Ramona closing down the house when it got dark. Another great time had by all. We will definitely make this a bi-annual event!