MORE PHOTOS FROM THE SCRAPOSAURS EXHIBIT AT THE MUSEUM OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY ON 7-18-25

I enjoy the surroundings in this garden and as you can see, some of these dinosaurs have a lot of open space around them.

This Scraposaur is called Scrappy Ed.

I cropped the Fun Facts for you to see more clearly below, but you can click on each photo to enlarge. Hopefully you can read them better.

More facts can be found at this website.

This is fashioned after an Edmontonia, a nodosaur ankylosaurid. It lived in the Late Cretaceous Period (76.5-65.5 mya), in the class Nodosauridae and was an herbivore. The first one was discovered in 1915 in the Edmonton Formation (now known as the Horseshoe Canyon). Its range included Canada and the northern USA and was one of the last non-clubbed ankylosuras to date. Their sizes could reach 23 feet (7 m). It was a heavily armored herbivore. If you have anyone writing up homework papers on such things, you can read more about the Edmonton Group here. I have added links all through this post, for my own benefit also, as there is a lot of information to take in. These wonderful sculptures have sown a seed for me to find out more.

Our next one has no name other than the title, T-Rex Evolved. This sculpture was one of my favorites. The first partial skeleton of a T-Rex was discovered in 1902 by Barnum Brown, then an assistant curator from the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in Montana. It would be a holotype specimen. Holotype means a single type specimen upon which the description and name of a new species is based.

Scientists have determined because of these fossil specimens, that a Tyrannosaurus rex could be up to 40 feet long and 12 feet high and estimated to have weighed between 11,000 and 15,500 pounds (5,000 and 7,000 kilograms), with skin and flesh on its bones. That's about as much as the largest African elephant. I found all this information and a little more from here.

A cropped version of fun facts from the photo above.

You can read more about the T-Rex at this link. Mr. Lewis has created quite a magnificent one. 

As there is such a lot of information on these dinosaurs, I will leave the rest to one last post to be shared later.  Instead, here are a few photos of flowers taken.

They have several of these old-fashioned urns full of plants and flowers. The ground cover you see in the borders (and below) are Lesser calamint, which you can see and read about here.

The pink flower is called Angelonia and this is another website with more information. The purple flower is Scaevola aemula, commonly known as Fairy Fan Flower or Fan Flower, which you can read about here. 

I have added a cropped version. It's a pretty one! I don't remember seeing it before or perhaps I just didn't notice it in any of the gardens we've been to. I occasionally miss a few.

I am familier with this one. It is called Honeysuckle Fuschia. 

We have had them in one of our planters on the deck. I need to buy more as the other plant died. I spotted a couple of hummingbirds hovering and drinking nectar from the bells last year. I would love if they came back. 

That's all for today. I have enough for one more post which I will share next week sometime.

Thanks for visiting 

and I hope you have a great day.

SCRAPOSAURS EXHIBIT AT THE MUSEUM OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY

I will be sharing only one sculpture today. A fun piece rather imaginatively called "The Mother of Dragons" and the artist who created it is Dale Lewis. From a distance you can only see the back view and although I knew this was going to be far more interesting up close, I was in awe when I was standing only a few feet away. The ‘scraposaurs’ as they are called, were all amazing to look at, but this one was a definite favorite.

We had to wait for a while as even though the garden was on the quieter side (we had arrived relatively early), there was a small crowd taking it all in. I thought perhaps it would be a while before everyone left but eventually they moved on and we were on our own.

This particular sculpture is in the form of a prehistoric Pterodactyl protecting her chicks. The mother is 11 feet in height with an 18-foot 8-inch wingspan. She is made of stainless-steel scrap. The name was inspired because of her likeness reminding the artist of a dragon protecting her chicks, and fancifully thought that the babies could grow up to be dragons.

If you look closely at the teeth, you will see they are forks.

We arrived on a dull day and thought it might rain, but we lucked out and made it back home before that happened. I can only imagine what this piece looks like when it glistens in the sun.

Dale Lewis’ website with other works of art can be found at this link, and here you can see more.

 One last website and you will see them all being installed at the garden.

We had a fun time but did not get to see every sculpture. The humidity was high and am still not able to walk as far as I would like but pleased to say I did better than I have done. The exhibit closes on October 19th, 2025, and there will be plenty of time to come back and see the rest. 

It takes about an hour-and-a-half to get here depending on traffic and is a beautiful drive. We usually stop somewhere for lunch on the way back. 

I will have a few more to share when I put my next scraposaurs post together, hopefully in a day or so. 

Thanks for looking and have a great day.

HAPPY SUNDAY EVERYONE - WHY DID THE…

 

A groaner, because we haven’t had one of those for a while.

“Why did the T-Rex cross the road?”

Are you ready?

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“Because the chickens hadn’t evolved yet!”

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Well, I said it was a groaner but hope it brought you a smile.

Thanks for the visit and

have a great day!