Haha. I don’t hate everyone. At least not those I see first thing in the morning. I just thought it was a funny sign and had to have it for my kitchen. Happy Sunday morning! Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share! Make yourself comfy and I’ll get you a cup.
You may have noticed me hobbling to the Keurig – my hip pain is back. I had a steroid injection the Friday before we left for South Dakota and I might have gotten a few days relief. I’m not due back to my surgeon for a few more weeks, so I’m hoping the pain remains bearable. I did get quite a bit done this weekend, regardless.
How was your week?
Bill made room on the garage workbench for our rock tumbler! I can’t wait to get started. We brought home a bunch of rocks from our land that I want to polish.
I have still quite a bit to learn before we get started though. I want to read the manual, figure out what rocks to start with, their hardness, then order the proper grit and supplies. I can’t wait to do before and after pics!
I also got a neat magnifying glass for looking at rocks. It’s really for soldering, which is what that spring looking thing is for, to hold your soldering iron. It also has detachable arms, which I took off, for holding wires while you solder.
A magnifying glass recommended by the lady at the rock shop in Hill City, SD, who sold me these. Lots of tiny shells in them!
I did also order a book from Amazon on rocks and minerals in North America, hoping to find out what kinds of rocks cover our SD land. I have the Rock Identifier app, but I’m finding that it doesn’t really narrow things down as closely as I’d like. Members of Facebook rock groups have commented that your best bet is to get a good field guide. So I did.
There is a TON of good info in this book, lots of fundamental info if you are new to rock hounding, and lots of really interesting rocks I’ll now be on the lookout for.
AND! After finding a South Dakota rockhound group, I think I may finally know what the very, very common rock we find all over our land.
Ironstone concretions. Thanks to a fellow group member, I Googled it and I think they’ve finally been identified! There is a pretty informative web page I found, also.
We were also graced this weekend by feathers we’ve never seen on the ground before. This the front and back. I found one Friday evening and then Saturday evening found another, in the same spot in my yard.
With the help of a friend, (thanks, Fiona!) we learned that these are very likely the feathers from a Northern Flicker, a type of woodpecker. They are common to all of North America, but this is a new one for me.
I hope you had a great week! Would love to hear about it in the comments. If you blog, join us for the Weekend Coffee Share hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Thanks for joining me!
Rock polishing sounds like a great adventure, good luck with the field guide
Alex Keerie recently posted…Braemar Farmers Market
Thank you! I’m really looking forward to getting started.
Thank you for your weekend coffee share. I hope you get the right treatment for your hip pain. Good luck with rock polishing. It sounds like an interesting hobby.
Natalie recently posted…Postcard from St. John’s
Thank you Natalie! This is really getting old.. I’m dying to go for a good, long walk.
Rocks how exciting! Rock hounding was one of my favourite things to do in Nevada, and Arizona. On the land I had in Arizona I once found two huge purple rocks. I hid them because they were so huge and I weren’t going straight home, but the next time I went back for them they were gone.. My bad. Still, so much fun! I’m excited for you and your rock tumbler. I’ve never owned one of those. A couple times I took rocks with a little bit of gold in to a rock place in Placerville (CA) to use their tumbler.
Thank you for the coffee! I just enjoyed my first cup this early Monday morning 4.48am..time to jump on my bike and ride to work in a minute. Have a great new week!
Maria recently posted…Silent Sunday
Aw, bummer about your rocks!! Not cool that they disappeared on YOUR land. I’m really excited to learn about these, and the book I got is so informative! Thanks for stopping in for coffee, hope you had a great day!
Hi Kathleen – interesting you mentioned your hip pain – I did a search on your site and found your post on your THR. I’m due to have one in a few months and am negotiating the pain while I wait – cortison injections are useless now and pain meds don’t do much. I hope it’s not your new hip that’s causing your pain – that would be a very sad outcome indeed!
Leanne | http://www.crestingthehill.com.au recently posted…YOU DON’T HAVE TO TAKE EVERYTHING TO HEART
Thank you Leanne! I should have clarified – my other hip (replaced one) is good. It’s my other hip bothering me. I wish you relief too, this is not fun! I will never take for granted being able to go for a good long walk.