elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Sept 20, 2010 21:39:45 GMT -5
Thanks all!
Woody and Mel - thanks for the shots at ID. I know once you remove material from any point of reference, region is sometimes the best you can get for ID. I'll research Hart Mountain and see how it compares. Guess I gotta find a way to cut it to get a better view inside. I really didn't think Tahoma - but that ochre/rouge color reminded me of some of what I've seen from there. I've been working on two small pieces of the Mexican material, and that stuff is PURPLE. I'll be posting pics when I finish the two guys.
Happy hunting y'all!
Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Sept 19, 2010 18:56:11 GMT -5
Do you know where the coal originates? Is it local or shipped in?
Intriguing question you have here!
Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
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Post by elementary on Sept 18, 2010 20:51:49 GMT -5
A very long term member of the Oxnard Gem and Mineral Club passed away recently and her family offered up her backyard to the local rockhounds this morning. About 35 or so showed up. I had no idea what was going to be back there as I pulled up beside the house. I walked in and rocks lined the house, the trees, and the border fences. Several jumbles of plastic buckets, faded and cracked, leaned against each other or just tilted crazily. Boxes lay strewn about. One set of bins had a clutch of rockhounds around it like chickens pecking for corn. I roamed and finally settled in a corner where people were stepping over and on top of a scattering of agate nodules with no thought. I picked one up and immediately shoved it into my bag - then I diligently began hunting ANY nodule that lay in that general area. The one I picked up boasted purple and white rings - Mexican. I got about a 1/2 bucket of these: (later during the day I traded a friend a large slab of jade I had found there for the following agate he had picked up:) I'm not a jade person. I roamed about picking up this and that (by this time I learned this was not a 'sale' but a 'giveaway'.) The family just wanted the local rockhounds to have a chance to absorb their parent's collection into our own. It was a nice change. There was no haggling, no grabbing, no arguing. People just looked, smiled, scooped, and bragged. I missed one spot. A friend of mine pulled about 8 - 10 Botswana agates from an overturned bin. As I helped clean those off, another friend came by saying he had found another batch of agate nodules. He said I could also pick through them. This generated the following: They are small agates from Agate Creek, Queensland. There was also rose quartz, graveyard point, tri-colored marble, petrified wood, jasper, obsidian, silverworking tools, opalite, fossils, thundereggs (Oregon moss and Dugway), and much else. Here's a general picture of the larger pieces I picked up: (There's a bunch of odds and ends I haven't shot, such as a plastic jug of cleaned desert roses.) One of the pieces I picked up looks to be a purple conglomeration that may be from North Edwards/Boron. (I gotta ask Mel. He knows the stuff.) I also picked up a piece that looks like Tahoma Jasper (but I don't think it is) - but I don't know if Tahoma material ever made it down this far nor how long it's been around. Two photos up, in the bucket, is a side shot of the piece. Anyway, it was a good day of socializing, sharing, easy rockhunting, and stooping. Later my club had its annual picnic at our museum and my four-year old accompanied me for that activity. She then drug me over to the playground across the street and we burned calories for the next hour running and playing "Aladdin". It's been a nice day. Hope you all are well, Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Sept 15, 2010 22:01:57 GMT -5
Heaven in the form of agate, I tell you!
Wonderful stuff!
Always catches my eye,
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Sept 15, 2010 2:19:59 GMT -5
When it's this late at night, I don't need you pulling my chain and having me stare at a cab for 3 and a 1/2 minutes going "Well, that's not it....hmmmm....nope, still don't see it. I guess I'll read the rest of Bob's post...What? ? Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrribit....Guess I'm the frog - and the sucker...though that does look a bit like Mr. Hitchcock's profile to the right." Excellent cab, as always. How often do you have one that goes south and gets away from you? Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Sept 12, 2010 20:20:22 GMT -5
Regarding the softer stuff, we have material in SoCal that we call cave onyx - which is more a travertine - that looks a lot like your picture when you cut it right. It comes from the Mojave Desert. I don't remember if it comes from the Trona region or farther out. I have a friend with a bucket of the stuff.
Your greenish jasper could come from Oregon. As to the specific location, I couldn't tell you. Maury Moss? Belvade? Others would be better than I on that one.
But what do I know?
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Sept 9, 2010 19:05:07 GMT -5
The first two shots look like petrified wood pieces - AZ maybe.
The last shot - well - regency rose is a plume that can be pink.
But, then again, I've seen Carnelian that has similar markings. Hmmm.
What do I know?
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Sept 9, 2010 19:00:19 GMT -5
It looks like a Botswana agate with its coloring and banding and what little of the rind I can see. I like it!
But what do I know?
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Sept 6, 2010 10:28:16 GMT -5
Hey Mel!
You got Karen to look over my shoulder with these pics!!!!
Post a few more and We'll be out to meet you in the spring!!!
Love your wildlife!
But man, you pay in chiggers, scorpions, random scary lookin' bugs, and masses of hairy spiders that lurk in dark corners.
Actually, it looks pretty awesome!
I love your quote, what was it...something about your wildlife fences are meant to keep the people in, not the wildlife out... Something like that....
Hope you're done with your birthday cake, and boy, it looks like somebody up high decided to ice the sky with some wonderful colors,
Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Sept 5, 2010 16:51:35 GMT -5
What else was in that box you made the trade for? Was it a mixture of material, or was it from a specific region? (ie could a locational clue be hidden in the other material in the box or was it a complete random mix?)
(Like the koi name!)
Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
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Post by elementary on Sept 5, 2010 15:10:56 GMT -5
So we get these huge boxes and there's only so much you can do with them.... but with a lil imagination you have an alien that can do battle with your offspring!!!! My poor Rebecca lost this battle! (She's actually coloring inside...) Enjoy your holidays! Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Sept 4, 2010 15:33:35 GMT -5
If that is the field trip run by Rob Sankovich, he's our club's field trip chair and will be co-running CFMS south with Adam Deane next year. He'll be happy to hear that you've enjoyed it so much. (Our club president, by the way, Jim Brace-Thompson, is being 'promoted' to CFMS president next year as well...)
Sounds like you had a great time.
As for open again, most likely yes. We run a field trip there every couple of years, and I know other groups hit it as well.
There was also a side trip to a mine dump containing fluorescent material. I also heard you had a drop in temperature that evening that caught a couple people off-guard.
Lowell
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elementary
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Member since February 2006
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Post by elementary on Sept 3, 2010 0:50:36 GMT -5
That last slab looks like rainforest jasper to me. I'm no expert, but I'll toss that guess out there.
Lowell
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
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Post by elementary on Aug 30, 2010 22:22:25 GMT -5
I hear the magazine Rock and Gem is looking for interesting material for their Craftsman of the Month award. Send it in and see how they like it.
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Aug 30, 2010 22:19:28 GMT -5
Okay ... adding Reading, PA to the list of places I'm never going!
Ach! Yuck! Blech!
Damn creepy looking thing!
That dragonfly - very cool!
That million legged thing - Yech!
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Aug 30, 2010 22:13:03 GMT -5
Love your stuff as always, but that Imperial Jasper is superb!
My tumbler right now is out of commission and being taken to the shop, so I must live through the work of others.
Can't beat yours for inspiration!
Lowell
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elementary
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Post by elementary on Aug 29, 2010 19:42:16 GMT -5
About four years ago, when Mel lived up the lane, I said to him that I really was interested only in material that I collected myself, that I had no interest in trading with people. He told me that would change. Until recently my original thoughts still held true...but now his words have come to pass. My first trade was with Fairburned and though he said not to worry, I still think his material to me was better than what I sent him. I offered more recently, but he said it was fine, and I am grateful for his willingness to trade with me. Then came Woodyrock. After reading up my post on how I provide specimens to my students, he offered up a box of Maury Moss. I said, if it wasn't too much, I'd love a specimen or two of some of the nodules in his area. He sent the box with some awesome material and I returned one to him with Lavic Jasper and North Cady moss. (I can't seem to find the photos of what he sent me.) Then I sent the box to SteveHolmes recently, as both a thank you -because his post back in February led directly to the Agate/Jasper Index - and a joke. There was no expectation of a return, but I received a neat lil package and an extremely kind note in the mail the other day with this inside: A crazy lace cab, a neat Moctezuma nodule, and a wonderful dinobone wrap. My daughter grabbed the nodule right off the bat since it's her favorite colors. Many thanks to him. I'm figuring out how I can display the dino at the Oxnard Show coming up in November. I then posted a box of secondary nodule material from the North Cady's a friend gave me. I offered it up for sale. Thunder69 was the first to respond. This was great as I had been meaning to strike up a trade with him for some of his wonderful local banded material he posts. He bought the one box, and I shipped him a box of misc So Cal material. I hope he liked his end of the deal. I'm exceedingly happy with mine. I had opened the box and saw a load of rough all ready for me to attack and fiddle with. (It might actually get me away from those Aussies I've been fiddling with.) I then noticed a smaller box buried under all the Southern hospitality. I figured it was just his payment for the initial box of 2nds. I popped it open and my eyes popped out! It was a batch of his tumbled material! Love it to death! Meanwhile I sold a medium box of misc material to "Rons" in Georgia. I just shipped it out yesterday. I told him one price if the material was okay and a slightly higher price if he liked it. I'm beginning to get that giving feeling again, and someone out there might be getting an email from me just asking for their address...and if that happens - there might be a box coming your way... Ho Ho Ho
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by elementary on Aug 28, 2010 3:13:18 GMT -5
What a sweet agate! Sorry about the crack....um...I blame the postal service!!! Yeah, we all know Queensland agates never have fractures....
I'm glad it came out with such a nice pattern. Can't wait to see what else you produce.
I gotta tell you, though, I head outside and have the best intentions to work on something other than those Aussie rocks, but they keep on wanting to take my limited time right now.
And thanks for that lil package you sent me. I'll share with photos when I get a few minutes.
Lowell
p.s. Awesome South of the Border stone. Top notch!
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elementary
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2006
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Post by elementary on Aug 27, 2010 20:19:56 GMT -5
You know, I'm not jealous of who's getting what out of this box - I'm getting jealous of the box itself!
Damn thing's going to cross the country how many times?
It's gonna be better traveled than I'll ever be!
(And dag nabbit, hell and tarnations, how'd I get to be PRACTICALLY LAST???!!!!!) - Actually I don't mind...it's kinda fun watching the colors change on the initial post....it's like watching the leaves in the trees in the northeast in the fall... Oh wait...I'VE NEVER BEEN TO THE NE IN THE FALL.... BUT I BET THIS BLASTED BOX HAS!!!!!
OK OK Gotta live by what I tell the students - be patient. Be patient!
Thanks for putting this together,
Lowell
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