The master at work

When I refer to the "master"...

PSHYCHE!

It's not me!

It's the fabulous knapper, Roger Hostetler,

and here is one of his work spaces:

I don't know much about flint napping but I know fabulous when I see it.

I've posted the photo of a couple of points he made for me using my coral from the Alafia River.

Well, now I'm hooked!

I took him another slab that I thought was particularly pretty when I cut it.  (Actually, I took him 2 slabs: one for him, one for me)  He wrote that he had started working on it but stopped because he thought I might like it in its "preform" state, meaning, not a finished point.

Whatever!

Then he sent a photo, and it's not even the best photo...

Wow!!!

He's right, I'll take it, as is!

As I write this, it's raining

but we had a short dry spell where the river levels dropped.

I was able to combine a FCOLC meeting with 2 days of digging.

Day 1

I haven't spent much time in the Peace this season so I basically went upstream a bit and started digging where lots of other people had been digging.

Dugong rib bone fragments usually get tossed back but when I find a biggun' I take it home.

A pretty hemi.

A few worn but interesting pre-equus teeth with a deer tooth thrown in for contrast.

The odds and ends assortment.

Day 2

I was able to meet up with Pam for this day and while it was a bit frustrating,  I found enough to sift through when I got home.

Horse teeth.  

Check out the ultra-glossy finish on the tooth to the right.

Middle turtle scutes. Lots of 'em!

And the odds and ends.

I'm glad I went while I could as scheduling conflicts will keep me away for a couple weeks.

Smooth as Glass

Finally, back in the Peace River!

The water levels dropped for a minute 

and I was able to visit my old digging grounds.

It felt like the first day of a new fossil season:  endless possibilities, 

but a little confused as to where to start.

I chose the safe bet, thinking it would be better for my morale to at least find a few little things than roll the dice and find a big goose egg.

Well, alrighty then!

From the top, left to right: a big astragalus but I'm not certain it's fully fossilized; 2 dolphin ear bones flanking a horse molar; tiger shark teeth and fish mouth plates interspersed throughout the photo; fossilized wood; giant armadillo scute, whole; crystalized sea urchin spine and some kind of pointed scute right below it; 3 nicely patterned turtle scutes in a row with a deer toe bone to the left and ray mouth plates to the right; more turtle; modern piece of pig jaw with 2 teeth; giant armadillo scute, broken;  tiny meg; very nice meg 1⅜"; tiny tortoise spur; broken camelid tooth; big fat broken meg.

It has been pouring rain for the last 2 hours so, considering the way things have been going this season, that may have been my last Peace River trip.

We'll see...

A glassy look to the water.

I'd forgotten about all the glass in the Peace and I decided to pick up every piece of glass that wound up in my screen.  I admit, I normally just dump it back into the river 

from whence it came.

Not anymore!

I promise to try and throw away every piece of glass I dig up.

As you can see, it gets a little overwhelming.

This is from ONE DAY of digging in the Peace River.

This doesn't include all the bottles and cans I see as I am trolling along.  If I stopped for every one of those, I wouldn't have any time to hunt fossils!

In the meantime...

I took some slices of Alafia River coral to a knapper that I know

and he made this beautiful point for me:

Too cool!

He gave me a "recipe" for heating coral in a turkey roaster 

in order to change its color and consistency,

but of course I wanted to try it "old school", the way the Native Americans would've done it:

buried in sand topped by a controlled fire.

Sand? Check!

Coral? Check!

Fire? Check!

3-4 days to keep the fire at a constant level?

Whaaat?!!!

My modern schedule doesn't permit that, so after a couple of days, I gave up.  The chunk of coral looked like it had been lightly toasted.

Dontcha know I got a clearanced turkey roaster on Amazon?

Thaz right!

I'm going to try it the modern way!

Zip Firestarters: a review

I have used them all and Zip is the way to go.  

Unless you're competing on Survivor and your options are limited to 2 sticks, why struggle?  

And by "struggle" I mean, any attempt to light a fire that takes more than 10 seconds. 

 Zip firestarters are small, clean and light instantaneously.  

And in case you're hungry...

This is the food truck for you!  

When they say "Just Ribs" they apparently mean exactly the opposite but it smelled good.  

Maybe I'll work up some courage next time and try it.

My back is telling me it's time

Even though I've only been to the Peace River

3 times this season,

I've engaged in enough digging that my sore back is telling me it's time to quit;

the rainy season must be right around the corner.

I have enough fabulous fossilized coral to keep my slab saw running all summer.

I didn't find many fossils this season

unless success is figured by the pound.

Coral is HEAVY but look at the beautiful fan structure visible on this piece.

My kayaks were sorely tested

but mostly by my inexperience at carrying HEAVY objects.

I had to rig impromptu scupper plugs when I learned that a kayak full of water is difficult to steer.

Here's the recipe in case you ever need it: 2 wet paddling gloves, 1 plastic grocery bag. 

 Tightly roll the gloves, wrap in plastic, plug your scuppers!

I trust Intellicast.

It's hard to leave the house at 4:30 AM, in pouring rain, for a 2 hour drive just because Intellicast says there will be a break in the storms.

But they are usually right.

Coral is the new black.

I just made this piece using a baby megalodon tooth and a red coral bead,

then a friend requested a necklace using a red coral bead she'd been given as a gift.

I told her to pick out some other beads she liked and she unknowingly picked 2 black coral tube beads I had purchased on a trip to Belize.

It must be in the air.