jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 4, 2022 7:29:58 GMT -5
Was looking back at photos of samples collected and noticed another piece of the copper colored pet wood. Misplaced it and can't find it. I remember it was hard to break with hammer, should be lapidary grade. Will target it on next trip !   |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Apr 4, 2022 7:32:56 GMT -5
jamespActually, James, a "boon," in the sense that something is a benefit, does not have an "e" at the end. I guess Rich added that to tie into Dan'l Boone better. But I'm sure that was a coonskin cap Daniel was known to wear, not a fox squirrel cap, lol. Something dead and furry, anyway. James, I can't believe how big them thangs are! They are as big as cats!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 4, 2022 8:14:14 GMT -5
jamespActually, James, a "boon," in the sense that something is a benefit, does not have an "e" at the end. I guess Rich added that to tie into Dan'l Boone better. But I'm sure that was a coonskin cap Daniel was known to wear, not a fox squirrel cap, lol. Something dead and furry, anyway. James, I can't believe how big them thangs are! They are as big as cats! Ah, the plot thickens lol. boon bane boone, I'll never be the same ! Fox squirrels are giants, they are also short on good sense. Rarely seen any more, a shame. Common grey squirrels are just like miniature versions. I heard some statistic on the height of fall the could sustain without injury. They might be the toughest mammal on the planet. recipe anyone ? www.food.com/recipe/squirrel-fricassee-125434 fric·as·see | \ ˈfri-kə-ˌsē , ˌfri-kə-ˈsē \ a dish of pieces of meat (such as chicken) or vegetables stewed in stock and served in a white sauce |
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Sabre52
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 4, 2022 12:57:28 GMT -5
Wow, first off, those huge fox squirrels are gorgeous. Ours are just the old reddish smaller type. I had no idea they came in colors.
Hank. Oddly we have zero examples of the log oval paper skin pecans here on the ranch. The wild type are hard shelled and difficult to work with but super tasty. The other type we have are round, half the size of golf balls, and easy to shell. Not as tasty as the wild type buy yummy enough to make me eat them till I have a bellyache *L*. I've often wondered if those round nuts have somehow hybridized with the local Texas walnuts. Never seen round pecans before I came here and the nuts do have a bit of a hint of walnut flavor to them.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 5, 2022 4:36:38 GMT -5
Wow, first off, those huge fox squirrels are gorgeous. Ours are just the old reddish smaller type. I had no idea they came in colors. Hank. Oddly we have zero examples of the log oval paper skin pecans here on the ranch. The wild type are hard shelled and difficult to work with but super tasty. The other type we have are round, half the size of golf balls, and easy to shell. Not as tasty as the wild type buy yummy enough to make me eat them till I have a bellyache *L*. I've often wondered if those round nuts have somehow hybridized with the local Texas walnuts. Never seen round pecans before I came here and the nuts do have a bit of a hint of walnut flavor to them. The fox squirrel does have a broad range of colors. There is about a half dozen subspecies. The black one is more common in the southern range. You mentioned wild pecans, Georgia grows a lot of pecans but the pecan tree is not native here. Most of their native territory is just west or along the Mississippi River in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansa. I don't know that I have ever eaten a wild version. We recently obtained some shorter rounder pecans that were the sweetest ever. No idea the type or what the shell was like since it had been removed. Most commercial orchards in Georgia are on the flat sandy coastal plain along the Flint River. It is tradition to bring a bag home on the way back from Florida vacation. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 5, 2022 5:12:17 GMT -5
Snapped a few close ups of this wood. Was surprised at the detail and strength of this pet wood between the healed fractures. It is well hidden by the yellow/brown external layer with the grain and the old healed fractures running across the grain. It breaks in sections at the healed fractures. So when it is found the well preserved wood is surrounded by the drab yellow/brown patina and deceptive to tell from other rocks. Study seems to reveal that Alabama was not covered by ice(not sure if this is true for all eras)and was typically colonized by conifers during prehistory. The light took away from the copper color. Thin hammer broken chip between healed fractures is super hard material:  Some variability for the cab artist:  Healed fracture on left:  Healed fracture on left, patina along top, and another short length of healed fracture at bottom midway:  Some variations to keep an eye out for(I did not know this was pet wood so no time was spent sampling it):    Some appears to have mica sparkles in it. Not sure if mica particles can enter during silicification. The quartzite this wood is found with commonly has mica sparkles in it, to be expected in quartzite. Finding well silicified wood detail in Ga/Al/Fl is almost unheard of so this find has me tripped out. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 5, 2022 5:33:24 GMT -5
I'm no geologist. Maybe some one can take a stab at where the wood came from This is the USGS analysis for this area: ETA: ***[local wood and leaf beds] Is this referring to petrified wood ? Tuscaloosa Group undifferentiated (Cretaceous) at surface, covers 30 % of this area Light-gray to moderate-reddish-orange clayey, gravelly fine to very coarse sand; massive mottled sandy clay; ***local wood and leaf beds; and thin beds of indurated sandstone. Gravel consists mainly of quartz and quartzite and range in size from very fine pebbles to large cobbles. Mapped eats of the Tallapoosa River. Note ancient seam of quartzite pebbles rolling out of bank and into creek:  Eutaw Formation (Cretaceous) at surface, covers 24 % of this area Light-greenish-gray to yellowish-gray cross-bedded, well-sorted, micaceous, fine to medium quartz sand that is fossiliferous and glauconitic in part and contains beds of greenish-gray micaceous, silty clay and medium-dark-gray carbonaceous clay. Light-gray glauconitic fossiliferous sand, thin beds of sandstone, and massive accumulations of fossil oyster shells occur locally in the upper part of the formation in western AL (Tombigbee Sand Member). In eastern AL thin to thick-bedded accumulations of the fossil oyster Ostrea cretacea Morton occur throughout much of the formation. Alluvial, coastal and low terrace deposits (Holocene) at surface, covers 23 % of this area Varicolored fine to coarse quartz sand containing clay lenses and gravel in places. Gravel composed of quartz and chert pebbles and assorted metmorphic and igneous rock fragments in streams near the Piedmont. In areas of the Valley and Ridge province gravel composed of angular to subrounded chert, quartz, and quartzite pebbles. Coastal deposits include fine to medium quartz sand with shell fragments and accessory heavy minerals along Gulf beaches and fine to medium quartz sand, silt, clay, peat, mud and ooze in the Mississippi Sound, Little Lagoon, bays, lakes, streams, and estuaries. Selma Group; Blufftown Formation (Cretaceous) at surface, covers 15 % of this area The Blufftown extends from the Chattahoochee River Valley westward into central Russell County where it is divided into two westward-extending tongues by an eastward-extending tongue of the Mooreville Chalk. In the Chattahoochee River Valley the Blufftown is mainly glauconitic calcareous fine sand, micaceous clay and marl, fossiliferous clay, gray calcareous fossiliferous sandstone, and carbonaceous clay and silt. To the west the lower tongue of the Blufftown is gravelly sand, glauconitic sand, calcareous clay, and sandy clay and merges with the lower part of the Mooreville Chalk in southwestern Macon County. The upper tongue is mainly calcareous sandy clay and micaceous silty fine sand with thin layers of limestone and sandstone. The upper tongue merges with the Mooreville Chalk and the lower part of the Demopolis Chalk in western Bullock County. Selma Group; Mooreville Chalk (Cretaceous) at surface, covers 7 % of this area Yellowish-gray to olive-gray compact fossiliferous clayey chalk and chalky marl. The unconformable contact at the base is characterized by a bed of glauconitic, chalky sand containing phosphate pellets and molds of fossils. The Arcola Limestone Member at the top consists of two to four beds of light-gray brittle, dense, fossiliferous limestone seperated by beds of light-gray to pale-olive calcareous clay. Opelika Complex; Bottle Granite (Precambrian to Paleozoic) at surface, covers 0.7 % of this area Leucocratic, fine to medium-grained, well-foliated quartz monzonite to granite; locally porphyritic. Opelika Complex; Loachapoka Schist (Precambrian to Paleozoic) at surface, covers 0.4 % of this area Muscovite-quartz schist; locally contains biotite-garnet-muscovite schist, many layers conatin sillimanite (northeast of Mount Jefferson, Lee County); kyanite (west of Mount Jefferson); locally muscovite-rich schist and quartzite common. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 5, 2022 5:52:56 GMT -5
Welcome to predicting low creek and river levels in south Alabama. Strong storms everyday with ZERO precipitation lol. Four years running and we are swamped with rains.  |
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Post by mohs on Apr 5, 2022 10:06:04 GMT -5
 ha ha James always good for me to start my day falling down rolling with laughter 
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Apr 5, 2022 10:18:52 GMT -5
jamesp that wood you found is gorgeous! You need to go back and get more. 
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 5, 2022 14:00:51 GMT -5
ha ha James always good for me to start my day falling down rolling with laughter That's the way Ed. If your not ROFL those around you are prolly ROFL. You are an inspiration for sure. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 5, 2022 14:52:52 GMT -5
jamesp that wood you found is gorgeous! You need to go back and get more. I am actually pumped about the pet wood discovery Robin even if it wasn't grade A. Helps that it impressed you ! Must have picked up 50 different types on the Rio, had no trouble recognizing it because it is publicized as being common there. My buddy/ex-competitior in the aquatic plant biz leads large kayaking groups all over Alabama and they only find pulpy white specimens. He will freak if he sees this stuff. I told him about 2 of the 3 of the creeks(Chewlaca and Upahee) I found it at but there is one very strange creek with a concrete like red clay conglomerate channel bottom.(jamesp's creek, I ain't tellin no one about it yet) I kept finding these gnarly crystalline quartz looking looking cylinders in this creek with a very rough/ridge-like surface. Some 3 inches round and a foot long. Broke one with a hammer just yesterday and realized they were pure chalcedony limb casts with nice bark cast on their surfaces. And this area yields nothing but yukky fractured crystalline quartz pebbles/cobbles, gneiss, granite, fine quartzite, etc with no chert/limestone/fossils to be found anywhere. Where on earth did this rich supply of chalcedony/opaline silica fill whatever it is come from ? They like the wood must have survived the harsh environments and transport.(I get overly excited, sorry) So yes I must return ! However I will have to find a better parking access to the 'concrete' channel creek. Lol, I was parking at a small back woods African American church parking lot and noticed I was being spied upon on return to car understandably. Most land owners don't care if you walk up their creek but don't park on their stuff. Road easements ok. And by riparian rights we can kayak thru private property if the creek is navigable but technically not allowed to get out of boat. Again, most land owners don't care if you do if you stay in the creek. There are several limb casts in this random photo. The creek bottom is super hard 'cemented ?' clay.  |
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Post by mohs on Apr 6, 2022 16:15:37 GMT -5
Highly recommended book
“How the Mountains Grew”
By
John Dvorak
Pretty new release= intense informed information
Anyway James you probably already know this
Butte figured I quote from the book
page 195
Not much to do in afternoon. Getting to warm to be out trailsting.
Anyway I enjoy the reading….
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 7, 2022 5:41:26 GMT -5
Highly recommended book “How the Mountains Grew” By John Dvorak Pretty new release= intense informed information Anyway James you probably already know this Butte figured I quote from the book page 195 Not much to do in afternoon. Getting to warm to be out trailsting. Anyway I enjoy the reading…. It is nice to know what is under all this limestone Ed. With some serious plate tectonic lifting we might get a side view of the Suwannee Terrane. Until them I must continue exploring creek cuts thru 200 feet of sediment dumps, wash down from the the Appalachian Mountains along with oceanic sands sitting on top of the old limestone. Long way to go to get to the Suwannee Terrane ! Or did all this sediment come from the Chicxulub impact about 800 miles south in the Gulf of Mexico we may never know for sure. The Chicxulub did create the redneck riviera after all  , but did not do the dinosaurs any favors. Said to be 6 miles in diameter maybe some 100 pound chunks of it are laying in one of these south Alabama creeks ! May be difficult to load in a kayak. |
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Post by liveoak on Apr 7, 2022 7:33:05 GMT -5
I was just reading about asteroids and dinosaurs and the Chicxulub impact:
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 7, 2022 9:53:26 GMT -5
I was just reading about asteroids and dinosaurs and the Chicxulub impact: The south side of the smaller Wetumpka Impact site 'impacts' my collecting area too Patty. The smaller Wetumpka to the north and the far reaching Chicxulub to the south and a serious ancient ocean bisects Macon County. The south flowing rivers wash sediments down from the Appalachians and the Wetumka site to add to the mixing. Geologically complicated and diverse no doubt. The Chicxulub is the real bomb. Many agree it wiped out all life on earth. Some say the east rim of it is the Florida Ridge that I-75 was laid down on. My friend's family has crop land on the rim of the Wetumpka crater. Poor Alabama took a beating ! Where the heck did the petrified wood come from ? Few seem to want to answer that one. |
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Post by liveoak on Apr 7, 2022 10:18:30 GMT -5
Seems like the impact not only buried dinosaurs but the forests they lived in as well.
You were just lucky enough to find that piece of the puzzle.
Patty
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 7, 2022 16:46:59 GMT -5
Seems like the impact not only buried dinosaurs but the forests they lived in as well.
You were just lucky enough to find that piece of the puzzle. Patty
Well Macon County certainly has well silicified wood. As to where it came from we may never know. The closest lapidary wood is south Texas 20 hours away, Macon County a pleasant 90 miles away ! I doubt there will be 400 varieties of fossil palm here like Texas has ! And Texas has many fossil plant species. Hope to find palm in Bama like Louisiana has. Should be heading back when the floods recede in a few days. 4 inches of rain did a number on the gravel bars. The heavy rains will turn my easy access spots over with new treasures. I take my kayak but have yet to use it, had enough access from just 4WD. That will change when it warms up. The creeks are clear and clean, should be perfect for snorkeling come summer. |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 7, 2022 17:19:39 GMT -5
Anxious to see the wood tumble polished. Spent time at the tumble prep station. The quartzite sends fractures when hammer struck on hard steel table so it gets struck on a rubber pad with a tiny 4 ounce hammer. The wood is so tough it requires sawing. Durable petrification. Both ground to speed tumbling using 6 inch Advanta tuck wheel at 4500 rpm. The white is not quartzite but some super white crystalline quartz.  The woods and limbs  The tumble prep station  my favorite rock shaper, a 25 year old section of a tile saw. Still using same Advanta blade from 5 pack, ever lasting.  |
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Apr 7, 2022 17:37:19 GMT -5
Found 4 guys walking around on my property.(we are way back in the woods) No idea who they were. Asked if I could help, they said they wanted to take some film shots, couple of trucks, couple of cars, 3 or 4 people so they said. a practice film, that they were starting out... I told them no problem and how long will it take, they said just one day.(have had 4 film productions at my place in past, one of them screwed our place up). Well they showed up a full scale pro film crew with about 70 people + cars and 25 panel trucks. And my concern, no mention of Filmmaker's insurance. I was angry. Told them to leave when done that day. They became hostile ! Well, saw them night filming on the next day and they were on the neighborhood street and freaked out my neighbors. So I parked my truck in front of their set the next day. Got a call, they were desperate to have my truck moved. I did, after they handed over chunk of $$$. Gave most of the money to the neighbors. Not the money, the principle. What a bunch of azzoles ! Never let them on your property unless they have a detailed contract ! And get references.  |
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limestone. 
, but did not do the dinosaurs any favors. Said to be 6 miles in diameter maybe some 100 pound chunks of it are laying in one of these south Alabama creeks ! May be difficult to load in a kayak.
