Devonian Era: 350 million years ago

350 million years ago this fossil piece (found at a friends) was formed. Amazing. The organism most found in this sample are called Mucrospirifer medfordsis. It looks like a moth but is actually an ocean mollusk that would filter water through itself to obtain food.

Apparently, there must have been some sort of tide pool around this location as there are lots of fossils in the area. Again, amazing.




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The pics are really blurry (sorry bout that)...how does one obtain some of the fantastic close-ups I've seen elsewhere (like on Flickr)? I've got a standard digital camera by Kodak (CX7330). Whenever I get really close, it's blurry as heck and the flash washes out everything. I know natural light is best but even then it's hard to get fine details.

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In other news, we had freakish weather today. Thunder, ice rain, sleek sheets of invisible ice and cold. I was going to go down the back step as usual but I decided not to (rain was coming down way to hard) so we left by the front door. Thank the gods I did this. As we walked past the side of the house there was a complete layer of ice all over the back steps (invisible) , path to the garage and all the way down to the car. I couldn't even get further than the back steps. If I had stepped out on the back porch steps, I know I would have fallen and probably be really in pain right now. Very scary.

As it was I was stuck there with Norrie and Lydia (who were slipping and sliding...caught Norrie as she took a dive). I stood by the steps for about five minutes thinking, Oh-my-God-what-am-I-going-to-do? Then I noticed that some of the ice on the edge of a step looked loose. So, I reached over and scraped it with my shoe...then I leaped onto the step and scraped another step and so on. I got inside and threw salt (which had frozen solid and I had to bang the bag against the porch frame to loosen salt granules) onto the steps while picking up Lydia and Norrie to the safety of our back porch. It was horrible. That's one of my worst fears about Winter...being stuck because of ice and no salt. I threw more salt on the path but it just rolled off. I need to get spiky shoes or something. I am a Southern California (read as no snow/ice) city girl.

So, I cancelled everything and then discovered I had pulled a muscle in my leg and arm. Sometimes, I really don't like Winter.

Reflection: Yesterday it was warm enough to go walking on a hillside and look for fossils and complaints about mud all over. Today was filled with ice and danger just trying to get to the car. Talk about 180 degrees difference.

Well, there is talk of going to the library tomorrow...I'll see how I'm feeling. Saturday I'm helping to judge a junior high Science competition. Sunday is church and a local art show some of my students took part in. Should be interesting. Monday is the day of the deviated septum. I can not wait till it's all over. I'm supposed to get some TLC from my mom/dad-in-law. As long as they entertain the mini-troops (my gals) I'll be happy.

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A few low key things:

Baking Pizza


Cookies


Crocheted some Mary Janes for myself but to my horror they are about 50% too big. My feet are NOT that big. I had to take them out entirely after I tried to shrink them. But I've found that the manufacture of this yarn (acrylic) didn't lie...it does not shrink even if you are praying that it does. Oh, well.



That's Lydia's hand patting my poor attempt at coveted Mary Janes...

Next, mail off eBay paintings and maybe put a few more auctions. We shall see. Jon starts his new job the same day of my nasal surgery. I've already guilted him out enough...I'm expecting roses at the least. I refused to change the operation because I need to get this over with. I think if I cancelled I'd find another reason to not do it and suffer with debilitating migraines caused from allergies. I hope this year is a new start...thank you to all who wrote they concern and the good effects of this type of surgery. I very much appreciate it. : )