Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Mar 25, 2021 20:40:59 GMT -5
Very cool you can still access those areas. Back in the day, I heard one of the land owners got so frustrated with rockhounds that he had a whole outcrop of poppy jasper ground up for gravel and destroyed. However none of the jasper from that deposit was a fancy as what you are finding. Most I saw from that site was the regular red on yellow stuff mostly lacking in those fantastic concentric circles in your examples. When the Calif. State Mineral Museum was in the old Ferry Building at San Francisco they had a poppy display that had some material similar to yours and they called it "Paradise Jasper". My old collecting buddy is going with his club to a field trip on Big Sandy Creek in bit. He and I used to know a rancher there and had access. There was some really wild poppy there too. Some had a trace of blue and one type had bands of red, yellow and pistachio green with poppies of mildly contrasting colors. When I moved to Texas I forgot and left an unfractured boulder of that in my yard. Unusual find as most Big Sandy poppy I found was really badly fractured. Surprisingly all the Stone Canyon type jasper the creek is famous for was not was not.
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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 Mar 25, 2021 6:20:40 GMT -5
Awesome blackskin and unusual for the type too. The tubes kind if remind me of some of those found in Horse Canyon Agate too but the agate background is much nicer.
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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 Mar 25, 2021 6:16:43 GMT -5
Wow just wow! Amazing you can still find stuff like that on the beach these days.
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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 Mar 25, 2021 6:14:56 GMT -5
Wow Paul, I've been a poppy fancier for years and I've never seen some of those color combinations you are finding in Morgan Hill material. Wonderful display. Thanks for posting them. The first example and next to last are truly remarkable.
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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 Mar 23, 2021 13:12:56 GMT -5
Great information Dave! I had a similar experience with digging poppy jasper one time. Buried wet stuff looked OK till the pick hit it and then it was almost spongy and fibrous. Never thought to let it dry, just chucked it out, but spongy jasper, that was just weird. It was like the pattern and fibers formed but silica was either leached out of did not permeate the material.
Dogtooth crazy lace is especially interesting as the agate replaces dogtooth aragonite in that alkaline limestone environment making perfect pseudomorphs after the crystals and of course crazy lace is often full of pseudomorphs after acicular crystals forming those nice sagenite sprays and eyes.
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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 Mar 23, 2021 8:12:58 GMT -5
I think that is backwards Stephan. I believe agates form at low pressure and temperatures and they form quite fast. ( fast being hundreds of years of course) Regarding the waterline type formations, that is an interesting question and I'd have to do some serious reading to try and answer that one. I don't recall seeing a lot of waterline formations in sedimentary fortification agates like Dryheads etc, but they are quite common in t-eggs and gas pocket type nodules like Brazilians, Bots, Queenies etc found in basalt. And yes, crazy lace is found in limestone or dolomite so is sedimentary in nature.
OK read several theories with lots of experts arguing over agate formation. Seems as though one theory states waterline agates occur in volcanics because "vibration" makes those layers settle first and as it diminishes the other layers form around the edge. * scratching head*. OK if they say so. Theories say alkaline conditions are required to carry silica into voids from overlaying volcanic ash deposits. Perhaps we don't see waterline layers in sedimentary agate because the cooling action found in volcanics is not present in sedimentary layers so no vibrations to make initial silica settle to the bottom of the nodule thus making the layers form continuously around the edge of the cavity being filled.
Or , maybe I'm confused after reading all these theories and have boiled the information down all wrong *L*. Lenz's agate books go into agate formation in excessive detail if any of you want to find one and give it a read. I just prefer chemistry made purdy rocks for us to find.
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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 Mar 23, 2021 7:12:23 GMT -5
Man o man those Willow Creek cabs are great. Kind of an unusual color combo too. Also love the last two agates. Pattern on the crazy lace is terrific.
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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 Mar 20, 2021 16:43:24 GMT -5
Red Shouldered Hawks are interesting hawks, the most opportunistic feeders I've ever seen. This guy hunts frogs in our water troughs, small lizards ad snakes in the garden, grasshoppers and crickets, deer mice and hispid cotton rats, sick birds around the feeders and even white winged doves that had their feet or feathers frozen to perches during our ice storm. He really scored during the ices storm! Man, those guys don't miss a thing.
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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 Mar 20, 2021 13:20:50 GMT -5
Wow, love the shape and pattern on the Horse Canyon. I know you may think me weird but except, for the wonderful orby examples, I find Morrisonite to be one of the most boring jasper types ever. The ones with orbs are awesome but I much prefer any of the other picture jasper types over the Morrisonite examples without.
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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 Mar 19, 2021 16:13:55 GMT -5
Here's our yard Red Shouldered Hawk resting on his favorite perch my wife's growboats. DSCN1360 by lonerider652000, on Flickr
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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 Mar 19, 2021 16:07:04 GMT -5
Man have you been slicing some wild looking materials lately. Eye popping color but an unknown to me.
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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 Mar 19, 2021 13:05:01 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Was working in my shop yesterday and went to move my ten pound tumbler barrel and found it was full of rocks ready for prepoish. A few of the pieces we poppy jasper so I thought I'd post a few pics. First big one ( both sides) is a palm sized Rio grande Poppy I was working on for a paper weight. This stuff is actually orbicular Tiger tail Jasper. Orbs strictly under exterior crust. DSCN1263 by lonerider652000, on Flickr DSCN1262 by lonerider652000, on Flickr Next bunch are Morgan Hill Poppy DSCN1265 by lonerider652000, on Flickr Final batch a few from our place at Hunters Valley DSCN1264 by lonerider652000, on Flickr
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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 Mar 18, 2021 12:04:36 GMT -5
OK, now a true agate onyx, which Lapis Lace onyx material is not, does have a mohs hardness of 6.5-7. However, dolomite is mohs is 3.5-4. calcite is about mohs 3, and scheelite, which is a common tungsten ore and not rare as the fru fru crystal site says, is mohs 5 at hardest. IMHO most soft stones like this should not be used on any jewelry that is going to get rubbed or abraded ie something with an exposed stone in a bracelet, as it will get scratched and dull rapidly requiring repolishing. Also as I understand it the blue is not even Lapis but just blue dolomite. Another of those super aggravatong trade name things.
Nicest blue I know is gem chrysocolla which is deep blue chalcedony. As mentioned above, blue pietersite is expensive too but gorgeous. Blue Tigers eyes ie Hawks eye is nice as is turquoise. African Blue Lace, which is an agate, is pale blue but easy to work and not as expensive as some of the other blue stones.
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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 Mar 16, 2021 19:11:39 GMT -5
Yeah, no white bib on chest, smallish head. I'm thinking T.V. 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 Mar 16, 2021 15:22:13 GMT -5
That is an odd one but very pretty. Problem with moss agate is it comes in so many varieties from so many locations. The only ones we have names for are those that show a type or pattern, colors etc common to a particular location. Ie Indian green moss usually looks very true to type as does a lot of Horse Canyon moss. Moss from other locations like the north Cady's In Cally or Rio grande Moss from Texas, exhibit all kinds of colors and patterns and are hard to separate out from moss from other locations. I've never seen that particular pattern you have in your stone so it could be from any number of locations and just be an atypical example. Also, to me, it almost has a plumy look to it which means it could be moss from one of the plume agate locations as both are often found together
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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 Mar 16, 2021 7:40:17 GMT -5
Brian, Rosie was a dark phase female Red-tail. Really a big gal. The best hawks to train for educational work are the most tough and fearless ones. Red Tails are fantastic, especially females. Oddly, as they are quite similar species, Red Shouldered Hawks tend to be nervous, fearful, and go virtually catatonic on the gauntlet. Rosie's favorite thing was being around people , even noisy crowds.
Our Cara Caras here love the pork. Dead wild hog does not escape their notice for long.
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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 Mar 15, 2021 8:35:00 GMT -5
Interesting story. I, like you, feel it would be cool to repatriate the saddle with it's owner. However, that being said, a good rodeo rider wins a buttload of saddles and buckles. Around here, old rodeo saddles are in the sales stream all the time. Even pretty hard to sell them as they are so fancy and often real heavy. As you now, a saddle and how it fits you is a very personal thing. Rodeo folks get tapped for money and often sell extras or ones they do not like all that much. If it was stolen and has sentimental value because it's the most important or only example they ever won, sure would be cool to return it. But if it's not that important to them, heck they'll just turn around and sell it *L*. One thing you learn about saddles is storage takes a lot of space. We have a lot donated to us and have to sort them out and get rid of old or extras all the time.
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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 Mar 15, 2021 7:34:27 GMT -5
Yep, juveniles are sometimes tough to ID. Since we have a lot of bird feeders, we get a lot of hawks in our yard. Coops and sharpies are quite common as are red shouldered hawks. We also get red tails, Cara caras, and the occasional zone tailed hawk. Since we are in a major north-south migration path we get several other species passing through too. Fun place for a birder to live. Right now we have some Canada geese on the creek and sandhill cranes flying over. Man do they make a lot of noise.
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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 Mar 14, 2021 16:50:32 GMT -5
You know, some folks only like the fancy colored pet woods but I'm a big fan of pet wood that looks like actual wood. I like seeing the structures so well replaced by silica that identification is possible. Had the chance to visit the Museum at Ginko Pet Forest in Washington state years ago and they had the most interesting collection of identified wood slabs I've ever seen. I guess I like labels cause that I found really exciting. Great post!
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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 Mar 14, 2021 9:01:17 GMT -5
Hmm, Are you sure those are red-tails? To me they look like a couple of young Coopers hawks, slender body, long legs and tails, eye bar, and short broad wings points to accipitor to me when i see the pic.
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