Sunday, June 19, 2016

More Arizona Geode Tour 2016!

Get excited!!!
You're about to see some more of the Arizona Geode Tour of 2016!
Truth be told, we spent all that time in the truck, bouncing around off-road, in the hopes of finding fossils but in lieu of fossils...
I will accept any cool rock!
I was wandering up a steep slope, looking for any rock of interest, 
when I came across a deep depression that someone had dug into the red soil.  There was a pile of rocks in the hole, obviously placed so as to camouflage something.  Since I detected no foul odors, I hopped right into this apparent shallow grave to see what was what.
Someone unknown had found what I fondly think of as a "meteorite of golden selenite".
I know it's not really a meteorite and maybe it's calcite or some other mineral, but to my dazzled eyes, it appeared to have dropped from heaven and landed at my feet. 
All I wanted was a few small samples.
Son-a-ma-bitch fought back!  Like a champion!
I finally got some beautiful pieces to take home; well worth the carpal tunnel flareup.

The actual geodes didn't put up much of a fight.
Here I am, in a lovely, shady locale, plucking Payson geodes from just under a thin layer of soil and pine needles. 
Lots of geodes...
Boxes of geodes...
Buckets of geodes...
I couldn't resist.
The only downside is that I think I broke the only one that had a big vug and that was the one that motivated me to bring home all the others.  
I still have many to slice on the rock saw so...fingers crossed.

The US Postal Service and I
continue our playful back-and-forth game 
where I challenge them to ship something to me undamaged and they surprise me with the results.
These are flat rate priority boxes, designed to hold up to 70 lbs.  
My packages have never topped 40 lbs.
But even an envelope can be a victim. I had Roger make me some deer bone hairpins and the first 2 he sent me were broken in half even though they were secured to a stiff backing.  He pondered how hard the letter carrier had to stomp on the envelope to break them.
So he tried again...
The post office held this letter hostage because I owed .21 in postage.  To their credit, they didn't actually demand the .21 when I arrived and saw the state of the envelope.







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