sigh.

Click on image for a better view.

Well, guys...its Fall. Summer has come to a close and we've traded green grass for falling leaves. And for the first time in many years, I'm not mourning the loss of a season.

Unfortunately, the changing of the season also means its harder to find stuff on the ground. No more fossils and rocks until next year...they're hidden under crunchy leaves. I've scanned in some interesting objects I haven't gotten around to posting until now.

Left to right top to Bottom:

1. River Amber (such a strange rock. Its soft, see through and looks a lot like the amber from Jurassic park. I've only found two pieces. Both were found on the river so I named it River Amber....take that scientists).

2. A geode: Its the state rock of Iowa, check out this interesting and fact filled page http://www.igsb.uiowa.edu/browse/geodes/geodes.htm. Apparently, Keokuk (iowa) is one of the best places in the United States to find Geodes.

3. You can't totally tell but this segmented rock is also semi- crystallized and very beautiful. I can't figure out how to identify it. Its bumming me out. Help?!

4. Quartz with flakes of pyrite (fools gold). You can make out the pyrite on the left side of the rock. Cool stuff.

5. An impression of a shell on a flint like rock. Fossils!

6 and 7. I haven't been able to identify these either. I imagine they're volcanic or were somehow blasted with heat a long long time ago. At first glance they look grey and unimpressive but if you hold them up to the light you can see through them. When you jingle them together they make a beautiful clinking sound. Sort of like a wind chime.