River Riot Continues

The title sounds more exciting

than this actual post.
All I meant to say is there is a riotous variety of things to find in the Peace River.

 I remember stealing money from my dad's quarter jar so that I could ride my bike to 7-11 and buy cool-ass commemorative cups like this back in the 70's.  A black widow drinking cup!  Wow!  

No recycling number on the bottom of this baby.

A little jar with a marble in it.

I put the marble in the jar for artistic effect but I dug them both from the same hole.

Pam keeps a smile on her face

as we work towards our goal of herniating all of our spinal discs.

Another good day on the river.

Glyptodont heaven continues to yield the animals' earthly remains.

So much deer antler!

I find a few good pieces every visit.

Really beautiful turtle material.

Every week I come home with a few pounds of top notch turtle material.  Amazing how much there is!  This area may be glyptodont heaven, but it's definitely turtle paradise.

Always at least a few good teeth

including this chunky bison incisor:

I found my best alligator scute ever

as well as a worn alligator vertebra.

Does anyone want to compete for this crystal shell?

It's mighty cute!

And always...

at least one good scute from a pampathere.

We found time to attend the Tampa Bay Fossil Club show.

I think this is my "deer in the headlights" look 

and it's Miss Vickie's "crazy deer in the headlights" look.

Tom is there as the focused member of the group.

And in other unrelated news...

Here's a beautiful coral geode I recently sold.

I love how it looks in this photo.

And a piece of Blue Forest wood I just cut...

The entire interior is crystalized.  

I am working feverishly to process all the rocks from our trip last June before I leave on our trip this June.  I'm making headway but mostly by moving the mixed up stack of rocks on the patio into organized smaller stacks of rocks by the shed.  

Hey, it's progress.

When Will It Stop? Cuando?!

You'll never catch me wishing for the end of fossil season,

but when will it end?!

My back is screaming for an MRI

 and my toenails are in that perpetual mushy state from spending upwards of 8 hours every week encased in hot rubber dive boots filled with bacteria-laden water.

It's been such a great season

Every week I come home with a new ghoulish assortment of teeth

and bones.

I started this season with about 10 glyptodont scutes in my collection,

and now I have dozens.

I even found my very own little piece of articulated glyptodont scutes

although it pales in comparison to Tom's.

But I'm not competitive any more!

(Go to your happy place...)

We had a lot of fun camping this season.

We worked our kayaks and canoes like rented mules when it came to firewood collection.

No one will accuse me of being a puss

(except when it comes to palmetto bugs)

but I'm tired!

Here's the caveat before you start feeling your heartstrings tug:

I've got my annual arrowhead hunting trip to West Virginia coming up and immediately after that, the 3rd annual trip to Wyoming and beyond.  And then there is another run to north Georgia for those fragile plant fossils: my goal is a stellar example of lepidodendron bark.  

And don't even get me started on summer coral collecting!

Speaking of fragile fossils, I've been pondering...instead of trying to make weak super glue by struggling to dissolve butvar into acetone, couldn't I just make better butvar by thinning super glue with acetone?  All comments on this matter would be welcome.

This was my 5th season in the Peace River

and I think I've about doubled the size of my fossil collection.

I'll keep hunting for that 3" river meg, but in regards to this season spent digging with friends,

Nothing is lacking.

Back Up In Them Thar Hills!

Back to northwest Georgia

to spend a couple more hours digging through the hills of an old coal mine.

Don't be afraid of the Georgia gnomes

who created these little cairns; they're harmless.

This is actually a photo I took at Hogg Mine in Lagrange, Georgia as we passed through on our southern adventure.  If you are ever in the area, give these guys a call and go dig for quartz, beryl, aquamarine, etc.  You'll not meet a nicer group of people and they are just as obsessed with their rocks as we are with ours.

You do not have to dress like this

to hunt fossils in Georgia,

but it helps.

Don't be hating on my ensemble; it's what all the hippest fossilers are wearing these days.

We stopped to buy drinks during our long drive north,

and I couldn't help but think this was a sign of good fossil things to come.

Perfect weather for digging.

Tom demonstrates how it was cool enough to actually approach our fire, unlike in Florida where we have to sit about 20 back to avoid heat stroke.

Durham, Georgia and the Fossil Site

As far as fossil sites go, this one is really easy to find.  If you want directions, leave me a comment.

Yes, Tom is holding a fireplace poker.

For some inexplicable reason, we drove our own truck all the way from our own home to the northwest corner of Georgia and we didn't pack a single rock tool.  We gathered what we could from the cabin we were renting and luckily, along the way to the site, we found a cheap tool store that has Harbor Freight beat, hands down.

Once you get to the fossil site,

engage in the normal behavior and

DIG.

Look at that shiny new, cheap shovel.

We got'er good 'n dirty by the time we were done.

This is the terrain.

Bubble wrap: the fabric of my life.

I buy a lot of bubble wrap when I'm on the road but luckily, I reuse it all when I get home.  These plant fossils are so fragile, there's no other way to transport them.

And the moment you've been reading for...

Beautiful Pennsylvanian Period plant fossils.

Older than the dinosaurs.

Such a variety.

It's a 9 hour trip and the next time I'm within striking distance, I'm going to spend at least one night so I can really take my time.  If you love plant fossils, this place is a must!

Saying Goodbye to an Old Kayak Friend

The Barge, as I lovingly called my first kayak,

is truly a beast at 14'.

A few years ago I switched to a 10' kayak for my fossiling hobby because hoisting the 14' onto my truck rack after digging all day was testing the limits of my strength.

But man, could you load that 14-footer full of crap!

This is a photo from our last outing together, a 3 day, 2 night digging extravaganza.

As soon as I got back home, I sold it to someone younger and stronger and I know it will have many more good years on the Florida waterways.

It was another interesting weekend,

with the usual odd assortment of finds.

This bottle of beer was unopened but I believe the yeast and hops has been replaced by 

non-alcoholic algae.

Pam found an old medicine bottle.  Not quite as cool as my embalming fluid bottle 

but a close second.

Check it out!

I was a little jealous when a friend found an Arcadia, FL Coke bottle in this area but I turned up a Wauchula, FL Coke bottle and I'm very happy now.

So here's something weird:

It's a little glass bulb filled with water and what looks like glitter, probably the reflective coating that used to be on the inside but now it resembles a Florida Peace River version of a snow globe.  I've had it sitting on the counter for over a week and it hasn't lost any water but it's not really something I want in my curio cabinet.  I'll continue to ponder its fate.

But did I find any fossils?!

Yes, and while it wasn't a huge haul 

(with the exception of about a ton of turtle material)

there were some good items.

The glyptodont scutes continue to trickle in:

including this biggun'...

 I found a very pretty little tapir cap that I'm holding next to a big boss tapir cap from the week before, for comparison, of course:

Probably the biggest piece of antler I will ever find:

A bass:

(modern)

Large herbivore teeth:

Gator teeth:

My first mako from the area!

Little piece of raccoon jaw:

SNAKE!!!

But I'm not freaking out.  Anymore.

I spoke extensively with a friend who used to work as a zoo herpetologist and this is not a water moccasin and even if it was, it would not attack.  If anyone doesn't believe this and would like to discuss it further with me, please contact me coz I'm kinda feeling like an expert at the moment...until I see another one.

Beautiful crystalized auger shell:

And suddenly I've found myself in garfish territory.   

So, a worthy final journey with an old kayak friend. 

And now for something completely different...

...although it's not really off topic at all, I suppose.

It's an homage to 2001 A Space Odyssey that I put together with a friend one evening and it only involved gin and NOTHING ELSE.

This diorama utilizes 5 fossils.  The monolith and the mountain in the background are both Blue Forest wood from Wyoming and the 3 little bones are from the Peace River.

I'm pretty proud of it.  :-)