Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

geodes

Back To The Rock Shop?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                     (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

A great joy of my recent vacation was sharing the Richardson Rock Shop and Ranch with my Mom. She’d heard the stories and seen some pictures, but it’s not the same as being there. It was our second stop after driving over Mt. Hood; had to fuel up with pancakes at the Black Bear Diner in Madras first, before heading to the rock shop. Another excuse to carbo load!

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Enough to make a girl swoon, the geode rock pile!

 

Upon arrival at the rock shop what to my wondering eyes appeared ? A virtual mountain of Moroccan geodes, mine for the picking. Before there had been a small pile of these uncut beauties at the end of the rock slab shopping table. Now it was a virtual mountain. Be still my little geode lov’in heart.

After a tour of the premises to show Mom all the great rock areas, it was time to get on with the geode shopping. Ever helpful handsome cutter guy told me the best geodes were lightweight. With his help I then proceeded to hand weigh and compare about half that rock pile. Almost. My Mom enjoyed the serious nature of this geode picking business from the shop.

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Cutter Guy with the pick of the pile. 

 

Cutter guy tried to get me to break protocol by peeking into some of the geodes which had small broken holes so you could look inside. Told him there were no peeking guidelines when it came to picking the perfect geode. Finally decided on three to try for cutting after deciding only one would not do.

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Fabulous geodes on the half shell! And now for the rock glue geode puzzle to put together. 

 

Ended up with three great specimens, except when the largest one was cut in half, part of the geode broke on the final cut. Sweet sea biscuits! I gathered up the pieces anyway so now I have TWO geode halves to try and piece back together with the special rock glue. Which means when Gate Girl and I head back this Fall to do some serious digging, I’m going to have to go for another large geode to cut. Good thing we’re taking her truck next time. I may need to load up the back with geodes.

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Guard rooster defending the petrified wood block. Notice the committed look in his eye.   

 

Orlando: Hugs and prayers to all the families, friends, law enforcement personnel, emergency responders and medical staff in Orlando, Florida and across the United States affected by this tragedy. Let’s all hug our families and friends and make memories today.

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Making rock shopping memories with Mom. Priceless. And she puts up with me!

 

 

Sorting, Winter Projects And Too Many T-Shirts?

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by Kimberly A. Cook                (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Spent part of Halloween weekend sorting my clothes closet for trash and treasure. Found some of both. What started this adventure was tight jeans. Some fit, some don’t, so I did the grand jean try-on rodeo. Once that was done, then I sorted shoes, sweaters, workout pants and things snowballed.

Bead treasures to sort. Bring on the rains. Okay, not all the rain in one day.
Bead treasures to sort. Bring on the rains. Okay, not all the rain in one day.

One of the excesses I came across were t-shirts. How many does one person need? Add the fact I only wear them for yard work or gardening and I have way too many. Some oldies but goodies I’ve worn so much they’re rags, so those might become a pillow. Or not.

It was a trip down memory lane looking at the different sayings, symbols and jokes on the shirts. Not parting with the Harley t-shirts. Not yet. I used to buy these shirts travelling, but I’ve moved on to refrigerator magnets and now even those are out of hand. I have to rotate the stock on the frig.

My reward for all of this sorting and cleaning was to escape into my office/craft room and play with my latest bead and yarn purchases. Turns out I hadn’t sorted the last batch of goodies from the July bead show. Finished that since the bead show is here again this month. Bead therapy, that‘s what I call it.

Geode tragedy. Special glue and determination will get me through. And leftover Halloween candy.
Geode tragedy. Special glue and determination will get me through. And leftover Halloween candy.

I also girded myself to assess the casualty from my thunderegg trip. I’d bought my largest geode pair yet at the Richardson Rock Ranch. I fell in love with it.

Unfortunately, I was carrying several bags when unpacking and of the two small bags slipped and hit the floor. The geode missed the carpet and landed on the kitchen floor. Argh! One half broke apart, a tiny ding in the other.

The special rock glue is here now and it’s time to try and figure out this puzzle project. Not today, but this winter. Plenty of time for indoor craft projects now that the dark and stormy nights have arrived.

Got winter projects? Too many t-shirts? Sort away all!

Spec Ops Cat kept trying to find a quiet spot to sleep while IO was sorting, cleaning and vacuuming. The indignity of it all.
Spec Ops Cat kept trying to find a quiet spot to sleep while I was sorting, cleaning and vacuuming. You can tell from his expression he’s not happy about the indignity of it all.