Zookeeper Fossils: I've got a feeling...

Is it too much to ask

to spend a day on a Florida river

and not have a vaguely menacing character pop out of the woods?

I understand that the "menacing" part is probably mostly imagined

but I go on high alert when, miles from the nearest road, I run into...

(the following are some of my past experiences)

Two men with crossbows and backpacks who announce they are "staying in the woods for 2 weeks."

A man and a woman with matching bleached mohawks who announce they are going to SWIM back to the road...eventually.

A shirtless young man in camo pants with a huge bowie knife at his waist and a large pit bull at his side (need I even mention that the dog is not on a lead?) who announces nothing.

If I see you once, I'm on alert.
If I see you twice, I'm outta there.

And so went my absolutely, I-really-mean-it-this-time, last day of the season on the river,
but not before I found...

A really cool rock:

I cut this open on the rock saw to find this amazing agatized center. I have no idea what it is (it's not coral) but I ordered a used copy of Florida's Geologic Treasures (finally!) so hopefully I'll be able to ID some of these things.

A piece of fossilized coral with botryoidal formations:

More fossilized coral with the colorful outer patina of minerals from the river water:

This beauty is truly only skin deep, but that's ok with me.

A requisite horse tooth, astragalus, and hemi fragment:

This area of the river yields so little fossilized material beyond the coral that I usually bring my own "stunt fossils" from home so that I have something to show if I run into a curious canoer.

Mostly I find horse teeth and small astragali.

And eyeglass lenses.

Weird.

And after a whole season of digging...ta da!