Collecting Rocks & Links

Here is the pretty rock I found in one of our fields several years ago. I didn't know what it was called, but it was very unique, with the striations and all, so I kept it displayed on a ledge in our entryway. (The rock is about 3 x 2-1/2" and 1" thick.) One day, the Schwan's truck driver was standing in the entryway, patiently (or impatiently, probably) waiting for me to decide what to buy. Suddenly, he pointed to the rock and said, "Where'd you get that Great Lakes agate?"

So that's when ignoramus-me found out what this rock is. "Lake Superior Agate" is another name for it. Evidently, a slowly-roving glacier delivered it to our field ages ago.

Another time, one of my daughter's friends was here and saw it and said, "Wow.....where'd you get the nice Great Lakes Agate?" He's a rock collector, I then found out.

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Below is the 5-pound jasper rock that was shown next to Ollie's face in a photo in yesterday's post. After pulling it out of the creekbed, I excitedly took the rock to the barn to show Husband. He examined it and said, "Uh......it looks like a liver." Hm-m, a somewhat deflating description of my treasure. He's correct, though, it looks like a piece of raw meat, especially when moistened, as it is in this photo. (Spouses are good for being honest and keeping us well-grounded, that's for sure.......and it works both ways.......husband keeps wife grounded; wife keeps husband grounded.......for good balance!)

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Am I fascinated by red rocks? Maybe. The two largest ones are about 2 x 2" and 1-1/2" thick. They're so bright and colorful...... I can't resist picking them up!!

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Hey, I did a little bit of blog exploring yesterday morning......groping here and there in blogworld. Gracious Acres blog has some unique views of the Capitol building in Des Moines in her latest post. Added to my bloglist are blogs from Illinois and Arkansas, and a couple more from Newfoundland........I can't get enough of those lovely seascapes. There's also a scenic blog from France......the posts are in French, so, of course, I can't understand them, but beautiful photos are included, which are easily interpreted!! They're a form of common language, it seems.

If anyone knows of other scenery blogs from other countries......clue me in with a link to add to my collection. And, the Iowa blogs list is fairly short, and could use some additions......especially, I'm looking for rural Iowa bloggers. One thing I enjoy in a photo blog is when the pictures show the author's own vicinity or state. There are sights/sites of interest and beauty everywhere........especially, even close to one's own home.....wherever that home may be.

R-O-C-K in the U.S.A.

Boy, oh, boy, I had some fun on Sunday afternoon......attending the Blackhawk Gem & Mineral Society's annual show in Waterloo......for the first time in my life. The habit of focusing on rocks was forced on me from early childhood onward due to the fact that every spring we had to spend many hours out in the farm fields picking up rocks before the crops were planted, or after they were planted, before the corn or soybeans got too tall. Just us peeps and our waterjugs and snacks and a tractor pulling a flatbed wooden trailer, which would end up heaped with rocks by the end of the day.

With picking up rocks, you decide its either a miserable activity or something possibly interesting and intriguing. Choosing the latter option makes the job almost fun. One factor for me was the possibility of finding an arrowhead. Everytime we picked up rocks, I desperately hoped to find one. It never happened.......but, I was always hopeful; and to this day, I still dream of discovering such an artifact.

On Sunday, I picked out an assortment of colorful polished stones to buy at the show: In the photo below, starting with the orange one and going clockwise: Carnelian from Botswana; Malachite from Zaire; Rhodonite from Madagascar; Blue Lace from Namibia; Fluorite from China; and in the center, Hematite from Brazil. They are sitting on a polished slice of Jasper.


Upon arriving at the show, I attended a presentation given by a guy who is digging out fossils at a quarry near Independence, Iowa. Recently, the quarry employees discovered a stratum of rock which contains numerous big spiral, curly mollusk fossils, from the Devonian Period, he said. Supposedly, the land area which is now Iowa was once covered with ocean and was situated down around the equator......before the continental drift took place. These sea creatures were from that era. It was fascinating to see the fossils!

After that, I went downstairs to the big room where the displays were........many varying collections, a rock-tumbling and polishing demo, a guy picking fish fossils out of rock slabs from a quarry in Montana, a guy making arrowheads, etc., etc.

While at the show, I ran into only two people that I know.......and oddly enough, they share a common connection to my life situation. Right when I stepped into the display room, I saw a lady who used to live RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD AND TO THE LEFT of the farm I grew up on. During my junior high and high school years, I babysat many times at her home, for her son and daughter......the daughter being also there at the rock show with her several children. I haven't seen any of these folks in years! I used to love being at their house......they didn't believe in having a TV, so I was able to easily read and do homework there after the kids went to bed.........no TV to tempt or distract me!

Now back to the present and the rock show......later, while watching the guy using the little picking instrument on the fish fossils, I suddenly realized I was standing next to my neighbor lady who lives RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD AND TO THE LEFT of the farm I live on now!!! She's a year older than me and has two children in their twenties.......and an eight-year-old caboose son!! She told me she belongs to the Gem & Mineral Society, and she and her young son go on digs in quarries. As we spoke, her son was absorbed in watching the fish fossils being picked at. Incidently, my daughter babysat for him all last summer!

Well,......so much for that silly little coincidence of the day! (Only one other lady fits the description of having lived RIGHT ACROSS THE ROAD AND TO THE LEFT of one of my homes........oddly enough, she wasn't in attendance at the rock show!)

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The photo below shows a creek waterway on our farm that was excavated last fall to allow more water to flow through it. I've been spending time down there this spring, when possible, searching for interesting rocks in the dirt piles.......before the grass and weeds take over!

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Red rocks seem to be plentiful in this area. This one below looked like a ball of hardened playdough ( I don't know if its red ochre, the red rock that Native Americans would crush to use for dyes and war paint and ceremonies. If I'd have been a Native American woman......they could have given me the task of searching for red ochre.......I'd be happy and content doing that.)

Like I said, I'm always hoping to find an arrowhead. This rock below is obviously not one, but its an odd shape for a rock to naturally occur in. My stepdad and my son's fiancee's father think it is a tool.......a sharpening stone. A section of it is broken off and the inside surface is hard, gray sandstone, just like a whetstone.

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My favorite find of the spring so far is the red, whitish, and caramel-colored rock shown below. Ollie's close-up kitty face distorts the perspective of how large the stone really is. It weighs five pounds. After being at the rock show Sunday, I now know that this is a hunk of Jasper. Very lovely and colorful, especially when moistened with water. That's how I found it, actually........the morning sunlight was catching a little end of it glistening bright red in the creekbed. I had to wade in to retrieve it, filling my boots with water! So this little piggy went squish, squish, squish......all the way home!

In the next post, I'll show you a Great Lakes Agate I found a few years ago out in the cornfield. Oh, yes, and almost forgot to mention........the first "career" I recall wanting to pursue (back in third grade) was archeology. Yes, I would tell my parents I wanted to be an archeologist, to which I'm sure they just rolled their eyes. But, hey, you know what...... even though its at the lowest amateur level possible, I AM declaring myself the chief resident archeologist/geologist here on our farm. You're greatly impressed, aren't you!!?? Maybe you'll be even more so once I make myself a badge out of cardboard and aluminum foil!!!

Are there any rock nuts out there amongst those of you reading this blogpost? Or are you at least a fan of John Mellencamp's song?? Or can you tell me who sang this line in a song (my memory fails me at this moment): "I've been a miner for a heart of gold..........and I'm gettin' old......."?