Shiny? Well eventually!

This is my first by request post (and sadly the request didn't even come in to me it came to Lisa...). Apparently a few folks wanted to 'put eyes on' some rocks...

 

Well, that was easy! By the way some of this may be in the reunion mix. The request actually had a lot to do with "What will we find at the reunion?" There will be some more pics of what you might find, but first the educational part of the program.

Vocabulary: we need some language to talk about rocks...so here are some terms that you might hear Lisa and I use...

Sean rock:

Basically these are rocks I tend to pick up... some of the common characteristics tend to be greens, reds, yellows. Pattern wise the more Sean rocks you see the better you understand.

Lisa rock:

The one on the left is a Lisa rock... Pink and purple tend to be more common here and patterns that look more like fabric patterns. But it mainly just means the rocks Lisa is more likely to pick up.

The rock on the right is actually both a Sean rock  and a Lisa rock . The real name for this one is a Moss Agate. It has green parts and clear parts and a few are in the mix for the reunion. Possession of these stones may result in favorable trades or hand to hand combat!

Now to make it a bit more confusing...
This is a Lisa rock:

This is a Sean rock:

 Now both of these are petrified wood, so how do you tell them apart?

Here is the Lisa rock on top of the Sean rock:

This time the difference in terminology comes from the fact that Lisa tends to like little things where as I am more likely to pick up the rocks sized as catapult shot... Note I still do pick up small ones, but Lisa really specializes in it.


Ok this next term is important for parents and others that have to deal with a rock hounds...

Leaverite:

Sorry no picture for this one...because I'm taking pics of rocks we brought back and the primary characteristic of a leaverite is you see it and say, "Nope, leave it right there."

Ok, educational portion done...Lets see a few fun things you might find at the reunion

This is carnelian... No, not a diamond but this is a really fun red/orange stone that is what kings and queens in Europe would wear as the stone in their signet ring.

This is Fluorite. Definite Sean rock here. Easy and pretty carver. It also glows under a black light. Why is this one cool?

Maybe this slice makes it a bit clearer...

Speaking of clear... this is that last slice held up to a light, with my hand in the picture for scale...

Using my lined paper backdrop again, this is citrine. Most of what you find in the mix will be cutable into a jewelry sized stone! Colors run from pale orange to oxblood (deep orange almost red). There is also a material called ametrine which has purple (amethyst) and orange (citrine) in the same stone, but I'm not aware of any of it in the reunion gravel. 

If this hasn't whetted your appetite...

 

Our last stone of the day is apatite... as you can see these little fellas are smaller than the citrines (they are also softer stones) but they are cutable none the less, and a color you don't see that often in nature. And yes you might see some at the reunion, but look carefully these little guys can hide!

Well, this has been some of the rocks in the reunion mix, a bit of vocab and a couple of treasures I'm hording for my self...

Next week... is a week away (or is it?)

Two weeks from now... more rocks as we finish the tumbling batch I introduced a few weeks back.

Now for something completely different...

Surprise surprise this weeks post has nothing to do with baking/cooking, setting things on fire, rocks (well, maybe some rocks, but there are other things to deal with...), workshop projects or things we're doing on the house.

Apologies for this post being late. Monday was the funeral for Robert Wood, sign language translator, newly minted PHD, high council man for his stake, and husband and father. He is survived by his wife Emma and their four children. Emma is one of Lisa's best friends here.

This event has me thinking about a number of things. The one I will say now is that if you can witness a three year old girl crying that she wants her daddy, knowing that he's the one in the coffin three feet away, and not be affected by that... well I don't know whether to send you for counseling or shoot you on the spot!

Well, moving on to other things...

We just got word this week that Lisa passed her comps for her doctoral program, she also has one four week class to go before she is done with her coursework! That leaves her with finishing her dissertation and she's a doctor (don't worry I have the head deflator on standby...(actually I doubt I'll need it her last class is on creating and using surveys (Patrick stops to palmface...I used to teach that class! (By the way Lisa and one of her friends in the program think it's fairly ridiculous too (her friend teaches surveys too))))) (now that was a lot of parentheticals!)

I'm not going to discuss her dissertation topic at this point because she is considering changing it from something that will take 2-3 years to something she feels she can complete in one (for the record I do in fact understand what she's talking about (and have actually contributed to it) but I'm going to let her work it out and talk about it because it is her thing).

Also in the news... Lisa is going to an AECT conference in Florida in July. The paper she is working on is actually being workshop-ed there and will be included in published conference proceedings (in other words she is getting a book chapter publication!). Again this is one that she can explain the topic to you.

I'm working on some writing too, unfortunately the last piece I had approved was a disciplinary council results letter that while impressing my bishop with its quality is not something I can really talk about (note I'm the Ward Clerk not the one who was 'standing tall before the man').

Well, that's about all of that for now... so lets look at something pretty!

 

These are some sapphires Lisa and I found in some gravel from Montana  (for scale purposes I'm using college ruled lined paper for a back drop). Note that these are Natural Sapphires that have not been treated in any way. Planning on sending the center one in for heat treating and cutting there is a 70% chance of getting the color of the one on the left and a 30% chance for a 'cornflower' blue stone!

People ask me why I love tourmalines... well...

Just for reference these are the most common colors of tourmies but not all of them by any stretch of the imagination. These in particular are also a bit small for cutting into polished stones so I'm going to be doing something more artistic with them.

Also tourmies getting into cut and polish size stones now. The center one is a serious purple which you can just barely see in the picture.

 

This is an end on view of the big one from that last pic so you can see the crystal structure. Colors in tourmalines can change along the length of the stone or through the width so in addition to a ridiculous number of colors you can have any combination of colors in any direction!

Well, that's it for today folks!

Tune in next week when we... actually your guess is as good as mine at this point!

Early post!

Ok, I know I usually post on Mondays (and we will have some stuff to talk about next Monday), but I wanted to get this out of the way...

For any one who has ever said "that bites" well...um...

Sometimes it does, even when your huntin' rocks!

Um lets see... "I've always wanted to write something that has a bite to it...."

(I really need another prop in there for this one...) "some times you have to fight tooth and nail for what you want..."

<insert annoying pun here>

Lets look at that again...

Those are real sharks teeth we found in some gem gravel... and real amethyst, real citrine, real rose quartz, a couple real tourmies... sadly that's not real gold...it's real pyrite!

Remember sometimes life bites, but sometimes there is an opportunity there too, like a chance to bite life back with it's own teeth!

Have a great Easter (and lets try to get the puns out of our systems by Monday, because there are serious things to talk about (Honest I can be serious for two maybe even three whole minutes!!!))