Geodes

[Marge]

We had heard that by the cabin there are pockets where one could find geodes. Well, during a Ranger ride today we happened onto a small area where there were thousands just lying everywhere! Most were whole but we found a few that had cracked open...some even had crystals inside. It was amazing!

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[Old World Tile and Marble]

neat marge but i keep checking my mail for my early christmas present and no dl5000 has arrived yet:stick:

[Marge]

Jason, if you are serious about it, shoot me a PM. I thought it was sold but the buyer was unable to complete the transaction. :)

I'll throw in a geode. :D

[ceramictec]

wow Marge, that stuff is cool.
I like the blueish and purple ones.

[Marge]

Brian, we'd heard about these things for years and were blown away when we found the slope field today.

We're finally getting the backyard of the cabin "landscaped" and part of the plan is a 40' natural forest stone 30" tall wall. A few of these in the wall is going to be way cool. I'll post some pics in a couple days of the progress.

[Hamilton]

Marge, I hope you cut those open with your tile saw and will polish them
with some nice granite pads! Cheese O's!!! I am soooo jealous. I've been
researching prospecting and treasure hunting as well as rock hounding and
you live in one of the prime places in AZ. Please let us come visit you next
time:D Wow, what cool finds. :)

[ceramictec]

yeah, they look great cut and polished.
the colors are awesome !

like these:

[Marge]

We are sick that we do not have our polishing gear up here. We did not anticipate this awesome find. The rock wall starts tomorrow and will probably be done in a couple days. We may have to think about placing them so we can get some polishing pads in contact after mortaring. :)

We used the Felker FHS to cut some of them. Had that saw up here just because we thought it might come in handy with the stone wall.

We have a neighbor here with a 4 year old. He is infatuated with rocks. He knew we wanted some crystals for our wall and last week presented us with a handful he had found in some creek beds. They are called Arizona diamonds 'cuz they look amazingly like diamonds (will post a pic). He knows about geodes and his dad said they had bought a couple at a rock store. Well, I invite him over to look at our find and he is so excited. I told him to pick out whatever he would like. He selects a whole geode (not cracked open) and says "I have one bigger than this."

Out of the mouths of babes..... :)

[Bugman]

What a find, Marge. You really need to take a few back and cut them open and then polish them.
Love the 4-year-old's comment. I'll bet he was excited.

[irish tileguy in michigan]

Marge, what exactly are they?

[Marge]

There are a few different ways geodes form. These particular kind are volcanic and most likely hundreds of years old.

EDIT: I was corrected today...some of these could be thousands old.

[Hobbit]

Terrific find Marge!!!! :clap2:

I lived in AZ for many years and still visit regularly----but did not know about a geode field such as you describe anywhere in the state. Just amazing!!

:)

[ceramictec]

what exactly are they? Steve,

there like little Earth Cojones or Huevos. :D

[Marge]

When we entered the field it was like entering a world of alien pods! :D

Most of the stone wall was up today and we placed a lot of the geodes in it. Kinda eclectic, but kinda cool. It's nice to be able to do whimsical and offbeat things.... being a cabin and all.

The wall (short wall I should add) should be done tomorrow and most of the paver patio in place. We saved some geodes and quartz finds for the firepit ring.

Might sound silly, but a lot of friends helped gather the various stones/geodes....and the wall is special because of that. One friend commented today that we'll all be sitting around the fire soon and reliving the geode find, the elk that went 100 mph after we woke them up when they were bedded down for the day and the fresh bear poop that had us on alert. :)

And, when going through the stones, we found two with shell fossils in them!!!! I'll try to get a decent picture.

[az_rancher]

Marge,

I'm guessing by the animals you mentioned you must be in Northern AZ, I'm down SE, and did some Geode hunting in the Chiricahua Mountains many years ago, it's amazing how many you can find if you know where to look.

Rancher

[ddmoit]

There are a few places in Indiana where a person can find geodes. The best place is near Bloomington, but I have found them in Parke county where I camp a lot. They are cool, and it's always fun to find your own.

[Marge]

Yes, John...our cabin is near Payson. :)

[Marge]

OK, the new patio is complete :yipee: and here are a couple pitchers. Keep in mind the pavers are wet so it is not as checkerboard as it appears. We integrated many geodes into the wall and firepit. I'm on dialup here in the mtns so had to make the pictures a bit small. The main portion of the pation is about 17' in diameter.

Have the sprinkler/drip lines ready to go. Next week we'll add colorful flowers behind the wall. Hopefully it will become a real retreat from the blazing heat of the PHX Valley.

[Bugman]

Very nice!!!

[ceramictec]

yes very, I like walls like that.

[Marge]

Not a good combo.

Having had DIRT in the cabin backyard for three years and having little color in our PHX backyard due to heat, it was a thrill to plant 60+ colorful, flowering plants in the flower beds around the new wall at the cabin. Thinking how full and pretty it would be in 3-4 weeks, watching the butterflies and hummingbirds already landing on the little plants...it was so fun.

We saw the thunderhead clouds gathering and weren't too concerned because they gather, dissipate, gather and dissipate this time of year. They gathered, brought in every one of their cloud relatives and dumped more rain than we have seen in eight years of storms there. Wiley was on the phone with a friend and couldn't hear...inside the house!

While we were a tad concerned about the new plantings, we failed to remember that the 20' roof over the back patio overhung part of the garden.....with no gutters. Hey, it was just dirt a week ago. :bang: Bye bye flowers...never to be seen again.

The good news, I learned how to install gutters the next day. :)

[bbcamp]

Live and learn, die and forget it all...:D

[ddmoit]

I think gutters are a good idea, but they can only do so much in a "gully washer" like you described.

Marge, you've just about used up your allotment of misfortune in your life. You can borrow some of mine.:)

[Bugman]

Sad, but funny all at the same time. Sorry you lost your flowers and probably lots of good dirt too. At least you have a new skill you can add to your resume' now. :D

[Marge]

I replanted quite a few so I am hopeful. :)

[jgleason]

Whats with all the mortar in that stone wall? Here in NH you find this kind of stone wall just about everywhere you look...