Summer...again...

One of my fossil buddies sent me a post 

from The Fossil Forum

which detailed a fossil hunter's trip in mid-June to a central Florida river where he proceeded to find 4 juvenile mammoth teeth, among other things.
I guess I'm going to have to get more adventurous. 

I had a few, lightweight, late-season finds in the usual places that are in keeping with my middle name:
Aimee "the finder of small things" Hankel.

A very small tooth.

It was suggested that it might be a pre-equus horse tooth which would be very exciting but when I looked at comparisons on the internet,  

my very small tooth seemed to be whispering,  "Deer."

The official word is in from Dr. Hulbert at UF and my tooth is a lower premolar from a bison, probably in the 10-30,000 year age range.

Not the glamor tooth I was hoping for but vaguely more interesting than a deer.

These teeth, however,

are screaming, "Modern horse!"

How about these whale ear bones?

I don't think you could find them much more worn out.

I call them "shabby cetacean chic." 

A respectable chunk of mammoth tooth,

that I jacked up with my shovel before I knew of its existence.

The end results of one entire day's dig:

Now THAT'S determination!

You know times are lean when you bring home dugong ribs,

and sad Peace River coral,

and the hollow shell of a disappointing "geode",

and...glass...

Always so much glass...

As always, dreaming of dry weather.

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.

A Plug for the Dobell Ranch

Holbrook, Arizona...you really gotta want to be there.

But Holbrook is the jumping off point to visit the Petrified National Forest, a wonderland of rainbow-hued fossilized trees that drive people crazy with the desire to take some of that petrified wood home which is a big no-no, yet people still filch bits of this treasure from the national park at an estimated rate of 12 tons a year.

What exactly is driving people to risk vandalism, guilty consciences, and potential ancient curses (not sure about the curses but I’m throwing it in for good measure)?

The petrified wood from southeast Arizona is arguably some of the most beautiful in the world and has earned its moniker “rainbow wood”. The bulk of these petrified trees have been classified as Araucarioxylon arizonicum, an extinct species of conifer that is the state fossil of Arizona. The petrified wood in this part of Arizona was deposited around 225 million years ago during the Late Triassic period in a chain of events that probably began with a volcanic eruption that knocked down and buried the trees, allowing the slow process of mineral replacement to occur.

The worst part about people defacing the national park is that 90% of the petrified wood lies outside of the park boundaries and can be obtained legally and ethically. I checked out a couple of the local gift shops and the prices were exorbitant which is why I recommend a visit to the Dobell Ranch, adjacent to the national park. 

The Dobell Ranch flies under the radar and has no web presence although 4th generation Noah Dobell operates an Instagram page as stixn2stones. The ranch is a visual feast even before you see the rainbow wood. 

There is junk (or art, depending on your frame of mind) EVERYWHERE, as well as piles of petrified wood and a decidedly casual rock shop. 

You can dig through spoil piles for your own fossils at the rate of $28 per 5 gallon bucket or purchase a piece that they’ve polished. 

(trying my hand at digging)

I'm not one to buy fossils, even fabulous ones, as I'd like to find my own but I couldn't resist a fabulous piece that Noah was in the process of polishing. It cost a mere $30, displays bright yellows and reds, and weighs in at 5 lbs.

Noah, hard at work.

My treasure, hot off the polishing table.

It's easy to get distracted.  I had to pose on these big chunks of petrified wood.

And again.  Deal with it.

I was so anxious to clean some of the pieces I had dug up that when we got back to our room, I used my toothbrush to scrub at them.  

The grit probably just helped make my teeth a little shinier that night.