Launch

Q&A: Fred Fifer

Before its winter 2012 opening, the perot Museum of Nature and Science garnered tremendous buzz for its state-of-the-art design and unique exhibits. Most brag-worthy, perhaps, was the museum’s debut of a full-scale model Alamosaurus, one of the largest dinosaurs ever to roam North America, accompanied by a display comprising several of the dinosaur’s real-life bones. in 1997, a group of science-education students from University of Texas at Dallas discovered the bones — the first-ever from an Alamosaurus cervical vertebrae (neck) — while on a field trip to Big Bend National park in West Texas. lake Highlands resident Fred Fifer, who worked as a professor at UTD from the late 1960s until 2001, was part of the crew that made the enormous discovery and undertook the painstaking excavation.

Let’s start with the day you and the students discovered that first Alamosaurus bone. How did it go down?

I had been at UTD for 30-plus years. Started when it was a research center, before it was even a university. My job involved starting and running a science education program, for students aiming to become science teachers. So I am not a paleontologist. But in the ’70s I started doing summer science-related field trips for the students — we went to Yellowstone, Hawaii, Cozumel … researching various disciplines. We took one trip across the country to Canada to study energy creation — coal mines, wind energy, that sort of thing. And we made great use of Big Bend National Park. Big Bend is a mecca for dinosaur fossils. On one of these trips, it was one of [UTD geology professor] Dr. Homer Montgomery’s students, Dana Biasatti, who spotted the bone. She has said it was just poking out above the surface.

How do you know it is a dinosaur bone and not, say, a rock or a petrified stick?

You tap it. When you tap a bone, it makes a different sound then when you tap a rock. Once you know from the sound that it is a bone, you don’t dig with heavy tools you pull out the paintbrush [to dust away the dirt], and you must work gently to excavate the bones without damaging them.

So then you just got to work delicately digging?

Oh, no! We had to get permission from the federal government to dig in a national park.

And how long did that take?

About a year.

Wow.

Yes, and then we brought in the slave labor, meaning grad students, to help with the excavation. All told it took four years working summers to get it all. Eventually, the team unearthed bones from both adult and juvenile Alamosauruses ... including 10 vertebrae weighing up to 1,000 pounds each. Based on the bones, it’s es-

Local Home Prices are Rising — and Will Continue

If you’re considering new construction, or a remodeling project, now is the time to secure your costs.

According to Trulia.com, home prices in Dallas rose 3.4% compared to the same period last year. Usually, this would be a modest increase. Coming out of a national housing recession, it’s slightly more impressive, but not shocking. After all, DFW is booming due to state policies that are business-friendly.

In Lakewood and the surrounding areas, we’re right in the epicenter of the growth, with some of the best real estate and prettiest communities in all of Dallas. We’re near the cultural heart of the city, by the finest restaurants, and minutes from sporting venues and museums. We don’t rely on toll roads here, and (in case you haven’t noticed), we avoid the hellish commutes that the suburbanites endure.

Yet, even with the rationale for why our real estate is booming, we’re really startled by the increases we’ve seen in local home prices over the past few months, and even weeks. We’re talking about average sale price jumps of over $10,000 in a matter of weeks – and supply is dwindling.

Local experts are predicting home and lot prices will continue to rise for the forseeable future.

David Bush, one of the area’s most experienced realtors, offered his assessment: timated the adult was 100 feet long and weighed 50 tons. And it was hard work. We would start our days at about 4 a.m. and dig until the afternoon and spend the rest of the day looking for shade. We had to camp about three miles from the site and were not allowed to use vehicles, bikes, or horses or anything that would disturb the land to get there.

“The North Texas real estate market has not seen the inventory shortages we are currently experiencing in over a decade; the market is so unbalanced on the supply side that we will inevitably see home prices rise, and in the close in urban markets like Lakewood and East Dallas even more so. With that said if you are considering buying an existing home or building a new one waiting even a short amount of time will cost you every day you wait”.

If you’re considering new construction or a remodeling project and want to keep within a certain budget, it’s also important to keep an eye on material costs. We’re seeing price hikes on everything from paint and drywall to bricks and sod. We’ve been in the business for 18 years, and when these inflationary periods happen, they happen in waves. We believe this is only the beginning.

If you’ve got new home ownership or a remodeling project on your horizon, talk to us today about your plans and let’s work together to keep your dreams within your budget.

For more information on Remodeling or Custom Homes, read our blogs at www.bellavistacompany.com.

That would make relocating 1,000-pound dinosaur bones rather difficult, yes?

Yes. First, in order to preserve the bones, you put them in plaster, so we had to haul about 1,500 pounds of plaster mix at a time to the site, and water, and mix it there. The students cut long strips of burlap, which you dip in plaster and wrap around the bone — just like a cast. Throughout the project we had hundreds of people come help. Teachers and students from the local school district and even as far as Dallas and Richardson schools showed up.

In order to remove the vertebrae bones, we made a stretcher of wire and electrical conduit and managed to get two of the small ones out on it. Those each weighed about 300-400 pounds or more.

So how did you get the big ones out?

Dr. Montgomery worked out a deal with Bell Helicopter. The so-called “Dinosaur Airlift” carried the larger bones to our transportation vehicle, which we filled up. One of them didn’t fit on the trailer, so I hauled it back to Dallas in the bed of my pickup. I stopped by Hamilton Park Elementary, where my grandson’s secondgrade class got to come out and see the bone. It was all wrapped up, but still, the size was impressive. I think they will remember that.

And you did what with them after that?

Since UTD didn’t have a paleontology department, we turned all the fossils over to the paleontology laboratory at the Dallas Museum of Natural History.

I imagine many a paleontologist’s life’s dream is to uncover something like this, so was there much jealousy about UTD making such a colossal discovery?

Some of the folks from University of Texas Austin were adamant in their disgust (chuckles). UT Dallas has always been the unloved stepchild of the system. But, you know, a number of our UTD graduates have gone on to get doctorates and do important things.

The Alamosaurus exhibit at the Perot Museum is breathtaking. So, thanks for your part in making it happen. Have you seen it?

I have. Now, when I first heard about it, I was told that we were not given credit at all for the discovery, which I was ready to accept, but, in fact, near the display of bones, there is a small information board indicating that the bones were discovered by UT Dallas students in 1997, so that’s OK.

—Christina Hughes Babb

Professional we are changing the way people buy pool chemicals!

... No lifting and transporting those heavy and dangerous chemicals.

... No wasting your time and gas to go to the store and stand in line.

... Order your pool chemicals with just a few mouse clicks and have it delivered right to your home. THE NEXT DAY!

I believe in giving back to the community. If you have a school, booster club, church we can help you raise money. Ask us how!

I’m a life-long resident of Lake Highlands with more than twelve years of experience in treating pools to ensure that they are safe and splash friendly to maximize your enjoyment. I want to help you get the most out of your summer pool experience.

Tim Hall, owner

Elle Realty sponsors home in the White Rock Home Tour

Elle Realty has been a participating sponsor of the White Rock Home Tour since 2008, when we served as the Presenting Sponsor for the tour. This year is no exception. Our commitment to Hexter Elementary School and the entire community that surrounds it is simply part of what we do—as professional Realtors, as members of the community and as parents of children who attend and benefit from the proceeds of this much-anticipated annual event. This year, courtesy of Elle Agent Donnell Toler, we are sponsoring the home located at 9840 Coldwater Circle. Please, make plans to attend the White Rock Home Tour April 20-21. You can learn more about the home tour, see our listings, search for homes and download our new search-for-homes i-phone app or by visiting our website at www.ElleRealty.com.

Landscape art

Jimmy Turner says everyone thinks his job as senior director of gardens at the Dallas Arboretum is pastoral, peaceful and fun all the time. And it is fun. Gardening is his work and his hobby, but it’s not all flowers and sunshine, he says. The weather in North Texas in March is unpredictable. “Wind, tornadoes, hailstorms, freezing rain, snow, flooding, heat,” he says. “These are things that keep me up at night.” Turner has been directing the arboretum’s gardens for 10 years. He designs Dallas Blooms, the annual springtime show. He also masterminded the fall pumpkin village, which drew a slew of visitors. The arboretum used to focus on chrysanthemums in the fall, but that didn’t draw big crowds, Turner says. So about five years ago, he decided to focus on West Texas-grown pumpkins. The first year, they ordered about 1,500 pumpkins and built one house, impaling the gourds with stakes to form the house. It lasted barely two weeks because the pumpkins rotted. But since then, Turner and his staff have refined the building process, using fabricated metal bases to support the pumpkins. “We build a whole village now,” Turner says. Last year they ordered 55,000 gourds, semi trucks full. Dallas Blooms still is what the arboretum is famous for worldwide, Turner says. Even tulip growers in Holland know about it, he says. Last November, the arboretum’s horticulturists planted 500,000 tulip bulbs. The spring celebration also includes about 100,000 bedding plants, plus cherry

—Rachel Stone

trees, azaleas and flowering shrubs. Turner says he thinks of designing Dallas Blooms as designing a set. Everything has to look wonderful from every angle. “It’s a production,” he says. “It changes on a daily basis.” He plans the color schemes meticulously, even though the results won’t be seen for months afterward. “It’s like painting with invisible paint and then waiting to see what it’s going to look like once its visible,” he says. That is something he frets about too, but really, there are no bad color combinations, he says. One year, Southern Living featured Dallas Blooms, and the writer’s favorite color combination was found in a patch of garden planted with extra bulbs, “we mixed them up in a bucket and put them in the ground, and that was their favorite color combination,” Turner says. Turner is a home gardener who first started digging in the dirt as a kid at his parents’ side in East Texas. He says he plants tulips at home, but when asked for tips on planting tulips, he says, “Don’t plant tulips. They’re ethereal. They only last a couple of weeks at most, and they don’t come back. If you want to plant a bulb in the fall, plant daffodils. They’re very hearty and they will keep coming back long after you’re gone.” Tulips are a lot of work. They don’t do well in our climate, but at Dallas Blooms, they last into May thanks to the rich soil and daily babying they receive from professional horticulturists. “The best thing to do is come here and enjoy them at Dallas Blooms or buy a cut bouquet,” he says.

Dallas Blooms runs through April 7

Securing a future for young drivers

After Terri Hoover’s 18-year-old son was killed, she felt like she was living through hell, but instead of sinking into bitter despair, she took action that she hopes will save others. Hoover, who has owned Artistik Edge salon in Lake Highlands for the past 24 years, lost her son Jake in 2005 when he crashed his truck in East Texas. Jake was speeding and not wearing a seatbelt. Five years ago, about what would have been her son’s 20th birthday, Hoover had a dream in which she saw Jake’s face on a billboard. “When a mother loses a child, she has to choose either to get bitter or get busy,” Hoover says, “and I chose to get busy.” Hoover met with friends and community contacts that helped turn her dream into a reality with the Clickit4life foundation. The foundation, which survives through charitable donations, pays for billboards promoting seatbelt safety to be displayed around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The jarring signage displays a picture of Jake at age 18 with his birth and death date below it. Hoover runs the billboards specifically during the winter holidays and the summer, during school breaks, when more teenagers are driving on the roads. Although there is no way to quantify how many teenagers have started to wear seatbelts in response to the billboards, Hoover believes that a large photo of her son with his death date below it can shake teenagers up into changing their ways. “If I can prevent one mother from living through this hell then it’s worth it,” she says. Last December, the Lake Highlands Exchange Club honored Hoover with the “Unsung Hero” award for her efforts. In response to learning about Hoover’s program through the Exchange Club, Texas State Representative Jason Villalba has invited her to be honored on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives. Hoover says she hopes that clickit4life can partner with the Texas Department of Transportation’s “Click it or ticket” campaign in May to have greater impact. She envisions displaying new billboards that address the broader issue of distracted driving and include pictures of her son’s friends, asking teenagers the question, “Who would you leave behind?”

—Whitney Thompson

For more inFormation about the billboard campaign and how to donate, visit the website at www. clickit4life.net.