Quiet Please!!!

The Peace River is my "happy place,"

but when high waters keep me from digging in the Peace, 

I go to a different river known as my "OK place."

There's not a lot to find there, but it satisfies the craving to move a ton of gravel
 with a garden shovel.

(some of the curious rocks to be found)

After 4 years of indulging in this hobby,

I am, unfortunately, even less patient

with the weekend canoe enthusiasts who want to know, 

"What are you looking for?"

It would be ok if they chose a spokesperson for their flotilla who would then disseminate the information to the rest of the crew, but that's not how it works.

Someone in each and every canoe

asks the question, and sometimes, BOTH people in the canoe ask.

On the particular Saturday in question (which is why I always try to avoid digging on weekends) 

I kept my spirits up the first 20 times I answered the question, providing tidbits of fossil info to willing listeners, but by the 40th time I answered the question, my replies were terse and mumbled.

"Fossils, dammit. What does it look like I'm doing?" 

So I'm working on a new strategy.

I don't think many people would grasp the Buddhist concept of practicing silence

but a clearly lettered sign, staked in the river about 50 yards upstream of me that says,

"Shhh!  Paleontologist at work"

with a QR code directing them to my blog (so they can see that I'm not finding much at all!)

and perhaps an Anne-Geddes-style portrait of me asleep in a pumpkin shell,

would do the trick.

I'll post when I get it all sorted out.

Still, all my digging wasn't in vain, or maybe I'm just easily entertained.

Shell casings are common finds in the rivers but this was my first in this area and I was really hoping to find a beat up old gun to go with my Bear Grylls survival knife.  

No such luck...yet.

 
A really cool fossilized oyster shell that, when cut on the slab saw,

revealed an interesting agatized interior.

And then there was this little nut.

I briefly entertained the idea that it was a fossilized pecan but that didn't really seem feasible.

And then, the following week in a river far, far away, I found this:

Eerily similar in appearance and definitely coral so I concluded

 that my "pecan" is probably the same thing.

Nuts!