Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 18, 2021 18:08:39 GMT -5
Welcome back. As the Amerind chief in Josey Wales said, "I am endeavoring to persevere." *L* Had to give up the grinding wheels myself for similar reasons. Just got to be no fun with older age.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 18, 2021 18:04:33 GMT -5
Both pyrite and the closely related marcasite inclusions (they differ in crystal structure) take a nice polish on wheels. The take a nice shine but do often undercut in the tumbler. Sometimes cabs rust over time too. Didn't know that till it happened once *L*. But then I have other marcasite and pyrite in cabs that have gone 20 years without rusting.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 18, 2021 8:24:17 GMT -5
Yup, Howardite is rarer than hen's teeth and has been for years.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 18, 2021 8:23:05 GMT -5
Wow, love the gem bone. Sadly ain't nothing like close up photo to bring out all this little defects and polish catching spots in a cab. Rock are usually not perfect. Just something one had to accept.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 18, 2021 8:19:05 GMT -5
Yup, pyrite. Not uncommon to find crystals in jasper. Certain spots in Hunters Valley, Ca where the Hornitos type jasper comes from are full of iron sulfides like pyrite. The sulfides are often gold bearing too so sometimes you see a little gold in the jasper from that locale.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 16, 2021 14:40:07 GMT -5
Wife and I got Moderna shot #2 yesterday PM So far my side effects not too bad, pain at injection site, some muscle soreness, some chills. Wife's a bit worse but not horrible. Easy to tell from the literature you are given that we are an experimental group but all such treatments are a personal risk assessment thing. Folks we know of have died of Covid, including one guy who was an iron man competitor and fairly young. Every medical treatment has inherent risk and no vaccine is 100% effective. At 95% effectiveness, five from a hundred folks will get Covid. However it does seem few of those die or need hospitalization. Some will de of course, as many folks have medical conditions that might kill them shots or not. I've had flu shots every year except one since they came out with them. That one time I caught a horrible case of the flu, was very sick for over a week, and the had chronic bronchitis that I had to go to the doctor for. Experiences like that are why I get shots. Yes, there is risk involved, undoubtedly less risk than every day I get on our most unpredictable horse. If there's a good chance the shots will keep us from dying of Covid, which even if you do not die can have horrible long term effects, and taking the shots may help me to love a more normal life, well I'll happily take that risk.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 14, 2021 20:28:38 GMT -5
*L* Yeah, we thought we'd never leave California either. Then I looked at our taxes, found out how much it would cost us to build a new house in Hunters Valley, saw they were going after my guns, watched the illegal invasion screw up our county, and just got disgusted with having my vote never count, what with California being a winner take all state. Finally said heck with it and never have looked back. Moving to rural Texas was like moving into the real free America like I grew up in. Save so much by not having state Income tax to more than pay for all our property tax. Everything is cheaper and folks here ( at least till the Commiefornians and illegals ruin this state) are very libertarian and government stays out of our hair. Not to mention Texas is also a big and beautiful state to live in. Still pissed I left so many big rocks in the rock garden though *L*.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 14, 2021 17:28:28 GMT -5
Beautiful rocks! If you change your residence though, make sure you remember where all of them are located *S*
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 12, 2021 22:04:09 GMT -5
Where we got the first Moderna shot they gave us a little flyer with our vaccination card. After reading the flyer it became very clear that all of us getting these new shots are basically just a large experimental test group. Due to the emergency, initial testing was really sped up and we really know nothing about possible long term effects. We are both scientists so believe in vaccination and we are both fairly old so "long term" side effects not so much of an issue *L*. However having the chance to live a more regular life is an attractive reward for taking our chances so what the heck.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 11, 2021 17:43:10 GMT -5
Shot authorized for everyone 18 and older in Texas, 16 and older for the Pfizer I believe. Very short waits now too, seems like a week or so max. Mostly J&J or Moderna though.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 10, 2021 20:59:07 GMT -5
Dam has really broken around here. We went from impossible to get a shot (3000 person waiting list) to pretty easy to get the J&J or Moderna. I got Moderna #1 three weeks ago, only side effects were a sore arm for a couple of days and a bit of fatigue. Get #2 next Thursday. Folks I know gave mixed reviews on #2. I know four that had zero side effects and three that were pretty sickly for a day or two. One of the three was in bed two days with pretty much flu symptoms. I'll post how the wife and I do if I remember. I've got to lead a special trail ride the Saturday after my shot. Sure hope I don't get too sick from it.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 10, 2021 20:45:31 GMT -5
That's a very fine grained rhyolite similar to wonderstone or the material found at the Goldfield Gem claims in Nevada. Found pretty often in the Rio Grande / Uvalde Gravels and most likely transported there from the region around the Stillwell Rch where there are several rhyolite deposits.h
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 10, 2021 5:55:47 GMT -5
Hard to tell if your example has platey fuchsite inclusions that cause the sparkley "sheen" of aventurine. If not, then it's just pale green fine grained quartzite.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 10, 2021 5:49:25 GMT -5
Stephan,Yep, moving if you are both collectors moving is real chaos and I had other collections more important than rocks.. With a home and a ranch far apart that amazingly both sold for cash almost at the same time, I had so much rock I had several yard sales and had to sort my piles several times to reduce the load. In the haste to finish the move, I totally forgot all the rocks in the gardens with plants around them and left most all the rock I had on rock walls at the ranch. Since all the big boulders were too large to saw, that's where most wound up. I made five truckloads California to Texas myself and still had to have the mover move my entire slab collection. The three real heart breakers, in addition to the poppy and numerous Stone Canyon type jasper boulders, were a 50 pound block of Ocean Wave dolomite, a huge 75 or so pounder of rare rose agate from Ludlow, CA and a big lens of Porterville jade I had as a dang stepping stone in the garden. When I think of the dang rough country I packed all that jade and jasper out of on my back and then forgot them....dang!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 7, 2021 22:55:54 GMT -5
All right! This is gonna be a favorite for me to watch. Fossil rocks have always been high on my list of coolness.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 7, 2021 22:52:31 GMT -5
The unknowns would probably be classified as sard, a term which kind of encompasses all the plain chalcedony types ranging from yellowish to brownish. Found in almost every agate bed and often without visible banding.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 7, 2021 22:47:15 GMT -5
I Love tin for final polish in the tumbler but only use "optical grade" cerium oxide on leather for polishing cabs. Never had great results on the pads with tin.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 7, 2021 22:43:25 GMT -5
That unknown jasper appear to be hickoryite from Mexico which is actually rhyolite. Kind of difficult to polish sometimes but your example is excellent. Gotta give the best of show to the crazy lace but that chert is really interesting too.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 7, 2021 7:55:50 GMT -5
Mozambique and Malawi agates are pretty, but man the fracturing is often rampant.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Apr 7, 2021 7:53:13 GMT -5
Daaaaaang! Nice ones!
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