HOME |
RSS | 
Two goats were stranded for two days when they wandered onto the supports beneath a 60-foot-high train bridge connecting the Signal Peak coal mine to Broadview, Montana. Sandy Church of the Rimrock Humane Society answered the call to rescue the goats.
“We have absolutely no idea how or why these little critters would go out on this bridge,” Church said. “The only thing we can figure is it happened at night and they were unsure of their surroundings. Once morning came, they were too scared to walk back where they came from.”
Church called associates and brainstormed how to get the animals down. Freeman kept watch over the animals, while the deputy handled traffic.
Byron Kinn, surface superintendent for Signal Peak Energy, came to the bridge, checked out the situation and said the mine had equipment that could reach the animals. Mine boss John DeMichiei signed off on the plan and the goats were rescued by about 1 p.m., Church said.
Link -via J-Walk Blog
The Rimrock Humane Society posted a video of the rescue. Link
Paleontologists Bill and Kris Parsons of the Buffalo Museum of Science in New York found a dinosaur skull in Montana in 1997. In the years since, they’ve excavated the rest of the skeleton of a new dinosaur called Tatankacephalus cooneyorum.
“These were big dinosaur versions of a Sherman tank,” Bill Parsons said. “They were armored and they withstood whatever came at them, and they just kept going.” T. cooneyorum was about 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 meters) in length.
And this dinosaur had its share of protection, with two sets of stubby horns, one on the cheeks and the other around its eyes, two thick domes at the back of the skull and thickened areas around the nasal region.
Bill Parsons suspects T. cooneyorum was covered with hundreds or even thousands of bony plates equipped with spikes and a tail tipped with a club, similar to other ankylosaurs. Such protection, along with a swinging clubbed tail, would have kept at bay any of the small dinosaurs around at the time, Parsons said.
T. cooneyorum dates from around 112 million years ago. Link -via the Presurfer
(image credit: Bill Parsons)
(L) Fire Tower home in western Montana,
photo: Heidi Long and Gravity Shots; More at Timber Home Living
(R) Fire lookout tower in western Poland. Image: Mohylek [Wikipedia]
Imagine a house in the forest – you’re surrounded by trees and wildlife with no neighbors for miles. The view is simply stunning. The downside: bringing all those bags of groceries up the neverending flights of stairs!
Well, this may be the perfect house for some (very fit) people: old fire lookout towers converted into modern homes!
If location, location and location are what drive your visions of a dream tree house design or luxury hillside wood home then look no further: fire towers that once served vital protective services to natural forests are becoming increasingly used for new purposes including mountaintop homes with incredible views.
