{"ops":[{"insert":"March 2025 contest entry, but I missed the submission date.\n\nI am a Paleontologist and educator at The Western Science Center in Hemet California and I made a deck about our collection, our exhibits, and going out to collect fossils. Our museum has dinosaurs but we primarily focus on ice age animals so that's why there's not as many dinosaurs here as some may expect.\n\nCard explanation: (Skipping some lands as not all fit the flavor but are needed to function as deck)\n\nAeon Chronicler - Educator telling the story of earth's history\nArboreal Grazer - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Notheriops shastensis"},{"insert":" (Shasta Ground Sloth)\nArcheological Dig - the dig that lead to the creation of our museum- found almost 900,000 archeological artifacts and fossils.\nArchivist - our collections manager.\nBill the Pony - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Archeohippus mourningi"},{"insert":", "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Scaphohippus sumani, "},{"insert":"or "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Parahippus brevidens. ("},{"insert":"16.5 to 14 million old Doll ponies)\nBlossoming sands - Much or our dig work is in desert environments and spring is a good time to go. \nBonehoard - a collection of fossils that are brought to the museum, typically in mitigation projects.\nBounding Felidar - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Smilodon fatalis "},{"insert":"(Sabertooth Cat)\nBronzebeak Foragers - the unidentified ceratopsian material found in the menefee formation.\nBulwark Ox - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Bison Antiquus"},{"insert":" (a prehistoric bison species)\nCactus Preserve - Many of our digs are in the desert.\nCatalog - inputting new collections to the repository\nCollector' Vault - The Repository\nColossal Majesty - The awe inspired by the huge prehistoric lifeforms. \nComparative analysis - an actual technique we use to better understand prehistoric life by comparing it to modern life. \nCompulsive research - Needed to get through grad school and publish papers. \nCovenant of Minds - Publishing a paper in a journal with your coauthors\ncreosote heath - most of our digs happen in the desert.\nCurate - what our curator does, guides the direction of study and research for our museum.\nDaggermaw Megoladon - we have casts of "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"O. megalodon"},{"insert":" in our collection and in our gift store. \nDeconstruction Hammer - a Rock hammer!\nDermotaxi - our Mobile Museum trailer.\nDig through Time - What archeologists, Paleontologists, and Geologists do.\nDire wolf Prowler - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Aenocyon dirus "},{"insert":"(dire wolf)\nEnduring curiosity - a quality we hope to foster in our education program and that our staff all have.\nExcavation - how fossils get uncovered and safely relocated for study.\nExcavation Technique - Best practices at a dig site, how best to get all the data and best prepare the specimens for transport.\nExpedition Map - Need to have your sites mapped out!\nExploration - looking for new dig sites!\nExplore - What we do both physically in the field and metaphorically in research.\nFecund Greenshell - One of many species of cretaceous aged turtles in our collection.\nFelwar stone - cool rock samples we find out in the field ( or that our patrons bring to us to identify)\nField of Ruin - Bone beds\nField trip - Either the field trips that come to the museum or the trips into the field we do as paleontologists. \nForest - the preferred biome for a number of our collections like the pacific mastodon and our dinosaurs\nGhalta, Primal Hunger - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Dynamoterror dyanasties"},{"insert":" (a cretaceous aged tyrannosaur)\nGhost Quarter - The rumored museum ghost (no actual evidence of ghosts but one former staff member swore it was there)\nGoreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Arctodus sp. "},{"insert":"(Short faced bear)\nGuardian Sunmare - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Equus occidentalis "},{"insert":"- a species of prehistoric horse\nHorned Loch-Whale - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Mysiceti sp."},{"insert":" ( Mystic, our baleen whale)\nIndrik Stomphowler - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":" Moropus sp. "},{"insert":" a prominent member of a previous exhibit that I am particularly fond of. \nIntrepid Paleontologist - A number of members of our staff.\nIsland - Basic land. The mosasaur is not a dinosaur but a marine reptile. \nKeeper of Fables - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Panthera Atrox "},{"insert":"(American Lion)\nLife's Legacy - The story Paleontology seeks to learn ad share.\nLonely Arroyo - Digs are mostly in the desert \nLumbering Megasloth - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Paramilodon harlani "},{"insert":"(Harlan's Ground Sloth)\nLush Oasis - Most of our digs happen in the desert\nMangle Horn - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Mammut pacificus "},{"insert":" Pacific mastodon ( Larry the one breaking Max's Jaw)\nMap the Frontier - Surveying and mapping a digsite before excavation\nMap the wastes - Surveying and mapping a digsite before excavation but on a worse day.\nMarauding Brinefang - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Mosasaur sp. "},{"insert":"( a species of mosasaur in our collection)\nMeticulous excavation - it has to be to preserve data and fragile specimens\nNurturing Bristleback - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Ornatops enchantus "},{"insert":"(a late cretaceous age hadrosaur)\nOrchard Strider - we have a number of plant fossils in our collection, including some trees\nPaleontologist's Pick Axe - Not a typical tool, but not unheard of on digs for larger specimens\nPath of Ancestry - the winding, random, path of evolution that we study and share\nPatient Rebuilding - Prepping fossils often requires rebuilding them.\nPetrified field - the prehistoric ecosystems we are studying.\nPetrified wood-kin - The petrified wood we have in our collection and on display.\nPlains - The preferred biome for certain members of our collection including the Columbian mammoth and horses\nPore over the Pages - The research that we do for study or for publication.\nPrairie Dog - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Thomomys bottae"},{"insert":" (Pocket Gopher)\nPsychic Paper - Permits we need to go collecting fossils\nRejuvenating springs - The long soak you need after a day digging in the desert.\nSandsteppe Mastodon ("},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Mammut pacificus "},{"insert":"( Max the holotype of the pacific mastodon)\nScavenger grounds - a number of fossils in our collection show signs of predation and scavenging\nSeaside Citadel - Land needed for a functioning deck\nSummoned Dromedary - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Camelops hesternus"},{"insert":" ( yesterday's camel)\nTemur Sabertooth - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Smilodon fatalis"},{"insert":" (Saber toothed cat)\nThe Pride of Hull Clade - Dienosuchus, a genus of huge crocodilomorph from the cretaceous\nThorn Mammoth - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Mamuthhus columbi "},{"insert":"(Columbian Mammoth)\nThrag Tusk - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Bison latifrons "},{"insert":"(Long-horned Bison)\nTocasia, Dig Site Mentor - the senior staff training and watching over the volunteers and other staff members as they go into the field.\nTocasia's dig site - the dig site\nUnswerving Sloth - "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"Megalonix jeffersoni ("},{"insert":"Jefferson's Ground Sloth)\n"}]}