Wonderchicken

As individual states begin implementing phased lifting of quarantine, we wonder if, in the shifting attention of many Americans, folks will soon begin to forget much of what we’ve collectively experienced for the past two months.

Will they forget about social distancing and toilet paper hoarding? Will they forget about masks and zoom meetings interrupted by children and spouses in underwear? Will all this fade happily into memory? Doubtful. No. More likely we won’t quickly forget much of this. But no matter the short attention spans of some of us or the desire to go back to our old ways of doing things, there is one thing we know none of us could possibly forget: the Wonderchicken.

What? Don’t tell me that you never even heard of a wonderchicken!

Are you saying that when the news of wonderchicken broke – at the same time the COVID-19 pandemic was truly heating up here in the US – you weren’t paying attention to the discovery of the 67-million-year old ancestor of our beloved fowl? Well, sit back. Let’s get you caught up.

During the Cretaceous period, wonderchicken would have been wandering around with the likes of triceratops, parasaurolophus, stegosaurus, and the maiasaurs. Maybe running around the legs of the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. Perhaps little wonderchicken stared up into blue skies at a flying pterosaur, or was caught stargazing when a large asteroid headed her way.  Perhaps that’s why she was named Asteriornis maastrichtensis, after Asteria, the Greek goddess of falling stars who could transform herself into a quail.

This quail looks like it's wearing a hat, or a crown, depending on your point of view...

Wonderchicken made her debut on this planet just two million years before the great asteroid strike is theorized to have wiped out the giant dinosaurs, and may provide scientists some much needed information to fill in the gaps of how our modern day birds descended from their dinoancestors.
Dr. Daniel Field of the University of Cambridge, provided details of this unique specimen of the only nearly complete skull of an ancestrally modern bird from the age of dinosaurs discovered thus far.

Dr. Daniel Field of the University of Cambridge with the 3-D printed skull
of Asteriornis maastrichensis, aka Wonderchicken. Photo credit: D.J. Field/Univ of Cambridge

Found in a quarry on the Netherlands-Belgium border, and weighing less than a pound, wonderchicken appears to be the tiny great grandmother of modern chickens, ducks and other poultry. Perhaps she was the original Turducken, despite being close the size of a Cornish Hen?

We also know that wonderchicken had long, slender legs, well-adapted to living on a tropical beach.

Wait, I thought he said wonderchicken lived in the Netherlands-Belgium area….not Hawaii. Well, climate change happens. It is also possible, paleo-ornithologists tell us, that wonderchicken could even fly. Winging her little way around the Belgium Bahamas, looking for dinner….avoiding becoming dinner.

This newly discovered fossilized bird could be the earliest ancestor of every feathered fowl on our planet.
Photo credit: Phillip Krzeminski/BBC

This news originally broke March 18th in Nature and Science News and was immediately picked up by National Geographic and others. California was on whatever euphemism we are using for COVID-19 lockdown and most of the nation was headed that way as well. As we start to lift our heads cautiously up and out, peaking around at our surroundings, let us remember brave little Wonderchicken. The survivor. She braved the great T-Rex and her children survive to this day. We can do it, too. The sky is not falling.

Long Live Wonderchicken!

A Big Rock - Really Big!

I (John) was recently asked if I would be interested in seeing a pot o noodle. Not much into instant foods, I declined the invitation.

“Dude, it’s really cool and not far from here.”

“I may have some Top Ramen somewhere in the pantry. Will that suffice?”

Turns out I was wrong on both counts. We didn’t have Top Ramen in the pantry, and the pot o noodle I was invited to visit wasn’t an instant dietary food source.

Pot o Noodle is not food, but the actual name of the giant rock near the town of Landers. In fact, it was once the largest free standing boulder in the world. That is, until sometime in the year 2000, when a huge section – oh, I’d say the size of a two-bedroom apartment – split from the main section.
It’s big, even with the piece lying next to it. The rock covers nearly 5,800 square feet and is almost seven stories high.

That ain't no can of noodles - it's just a big rock sitting there

I have no idea what Pot o Noodle stands for and the more I researched the name, the stranger the results became.

Let’s just say, Pot o Noodle, means, an extremely large piece of granite in the middle of the Mojave Desert that you cannot eat, looks nothing like noodles and wouldn’t fit in a pot anyway.

The Native Americans, who resided in the area of Joshua Tree, believed the giant rock and surrounding locale was sacred. Again, I have no solid understanding of why any particular area is considered sacred, but I feel that way about certain breweries. Not trying to be sacrilegious here; just saying to each man his own.

What is really interesting is all the – how does one politely talk about craziness in others? Oh, I know, the craziness some people adhered to what is aptly named Giant Rock.

For the record, I will never knock someone’s belief, no matter how crazy it may sound. I wrote that with a straight face.

Off Highway 247, near the city of Landers, is a humongous rock or boulder or big piece of granite just sitting on top of the desert. It’s big. A family of twelve could live on the square footage it takes up and maybe not see each other but once a week. For some families, that may be still too much togetherness – but, I digress.

The rock has been there for eons - that’s an indefinite and very long period of time. It’s also a term that can be used for exaggeration or humorous purposes.

Allow me to elucidate: Laureen and I went shopping and it took her eons to select a new purse. See, that’s used in a humorous or exaggerated way, because it only took four bloody hours, two malls and six stores, not an eon. On the other hand, I got lunch and two beers out of the bargain. Fair exchange, but I digress. Back to the rock.

Giant Rock has been there a long time and since it’s been there so long, it took on a persona of its own. Something almost mystical. Something that cannot be explained. Something that must be hiding the secrets of the universe.

In the 1930s, this big rock got the attention of Frank Critzer. He knew that tortoises and other desert life often burrowed beneath rocks and such to keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. A great idea for burrowing critters.

So, Frank decided to follow the example of our reptilian cousins and soon Frank had dug himself a home, with the help of dynamite, beneath the largest rock on earth. He reported that his home beneath the rock never got above 80 degrees in summer, and never below 55 degrees in winter. Forget solar panels – he had found the perfect solution for comfort and relied on nothing but Mother Earth – literally.

Actually, Frank was a sort of a genius and not only built the home for himself, but set up an airport right near the rock on the dry lake bed. There would sometimes be one to two flights a week coming to visit Frank and his very unique abode.

If you miss the runway - there's about a million miles of desert to the left

It is rumored that Howard Hughes actually flew out to visit Frank’s home, invited by George van Tassel. Tassel was an auto mechanic (his actual history is a bit fuddled) who had met Frank and thought the man was interesting enough to maintain a friendship with. He would keep up that friendship until Frank died in 1942.
This is the realm where novels are created. There is mystery and intrigue about how and why Frank died on the July 25th of 1942.

Frank, not wanting to be totally out of reach with the world, had erected a tall radio antenna on top of Giant Rock. A German immigrant erecting the large antenna, living under a rock in the middle of the desert, attracted the curiosity of local law enforcement.

So, on that 25th of July, three deputies from Riverside County arrived to ask Frank certain questions. We all know the questions – it’s World War II, a guy of German heritage is lives beneath a rock in the middle of nowhere and has a large radio antennae bolted to the top of that rock.

That’s right, he must be stealing radio signals to listen to ball games for free.

As the deputies approached the hole that served as a doorway to Frank’s house, there was a terrible explosion. The three deputies received injuries, one very seriously, and unfortunately, Frank died during the explosion.

Was it an accident? That would be for the conspiracy theorists or novelists to determine at a later date.

Well, after that incident, Frank’s friend Tassel moved out there and became convinced there was something really special about the area. So special, that he believed alien life forms visited from time to time.

The largest rock on earth – why wouldn’t aliens want to visit it? The happiest place on earth, wasn’t to be built in Anaheim until 1955, so they had to have somewhere to go in the forties.

So, since that time, UFO enthusiasts routinely visit the area looking for signs of life from the heavens. Not sure that’s a great idea though – there’ve been enough Alien films (6) to know that never turns out well for the human race.

Calling all aliens, or humans who believe

But one thing, a visit to Giant Rock in Landers is a great experience. Fresh air, no crowds, and the history of this place is fascinating. Frank Critzer, was simply a man determined to find his own way in a chaotic time. Was he a hero, as some may claim? Who was George van Tassel? Those are questions only those reading their personal histories can determine.

But what isn’t in question, is Giant Rock is worth the trip. It really is. And, if I haven’t made the point, it’s really, really big. I mean, really. As in giant.

Easter During a Pandemic

These are strange times for the United States; no, strike that - for the entire globe. This Coronavirus, COVID-19, has changed how each and everyone conducts daily business. Nothing is quite the same any longer.

If it is, then you're not following the guidelines. Wash your hands constantly. Sneeze into your elbow. Don't shake hands. Don't hug anyone. Stand six feet apart from any other human. Stay indoors whenever possible. Wear a mask covering your mouth and nose if you dare step outside - some counties in the country have made it a misdemeanor not to follow that last guideline.

How we got here as a world population can be discussed or argued about at a later date. That conversation will surely take up volumes of new books, countless documentaries, and enough politicians blowing hot air at each other to inflate every balloon in the world.

But what about Easter? One of the holiest and important religious days on the calendar for Christians. It's right around the corner - how do we celebrate such a momentous holy day when we are stuck indoors - alone or with a few family members?

During the Spanish Influenza pandemic in 1918, people worshiped indoors and actually maintained social physical distancing from each other. As we are hunkering down now, so did our ancestors during that time period.

The toll of that pandemic, lasting from 1918 to 1919, caused an estimated 50 million deaths world wide, the United States saw at least 675,000 fatalities.

It was a horrific time to be alive, wondering if you would be the following day. But, the human spirit was strong and endured. People stayed home as best they could, didn't gather in large groups, wore masks, and began to practice better sanitation. It all worked.

They celebrated Easter, as well as the other holy days and holidays, avoiding each other but they still celebrated.

Why celebrate when things are going so badly? Because it is the human spirit. There are good times and there are bad times.

Good times are easy to get through. Stock market nearing thirty thousand on the DOW, that is easy to deal with. A promotion at work, really easy to deal with.

But people getting ill and dying from an invisible virus, not so easy. Sadness and despair wreaks havoc in homes and towns. Uncertainty fills the air, but again, the human DNA will kick in and we will move forward, knowing things will get better.

Lives may never really return to normal, but what does that mean in the large scale of things anyway?

When passengers gave up boarding trains in lieu of airplanes, life wasn't really the same. When the horse was given up for the automobile, life wasn't really the same.

So, perhaps, in the future, when this monster of a virus is laid to rest, life will return to something approximating normal but it probably won't be quite the same. It will be a new normal.

And that's okay. It will become the norm in the very near future and the normal we once recognized will be written about in the history books.

So, celebrate Easter at home this year - watch a church service on the television or internet. Worship with those in your own home. Read an uplifting piece of writing - religious or not. Our opinion only, going to church does not require a building or specific denomination - no, worshiping comes from within - no matter what religion. Depending on what source, the word church, actually means where people gather for a common purpose. So, have that church at home.

These are strange times for everyone - but we will get through this and hopefully be better for the trials and tribulations thrown upon all of us.

In the meantime though, the new normal will be fine and we will adjust.

From us to you - Happy Easter