The Rocks are Everywhere

Thursday evening--I think I’ll start back to Nebraska on Sunday. I hate to leave the warm climate here on the California coast, but I am needed back home….The California house will just have to wait until John & I return sometime in the summer.

Today I met the president of the local Rock Hound club. I had invited him to stop and see what assorted stones we have here. He will be bringing some more local club members by on Saturday. They will help me identify some of the items and perhaps they will take some away with them. I have so many rocks! I keep finding them. Dad had some tucked away in really odd places. Just last week I was cleaning out the top shelves of the pantry where many odd things were stored: extra cleaning products, extra light bulbs, etc. One box was an old automobile headlight--or so I thought. I opened it to see if it was used or not and found carefully wrapped rocks from one of Dad’s trips to Mexico back in the mid-1970’s!

While poking around in the garage (looking for more rocks…) I found a box full of old pocket knives. Most were not in the best shape, but I did bring in one that looked collectible. I’ve already listed it on eBay. It has a wood handle (strange, because most of Dad’s knives were bone or horn, or something similar) engraved with the name of an old ship supply company: CJ Hendry Co. I had to look it up on the internet to even determine what the company was. Turns out it’s been in existence since the late 1800’s in San Francisco. The other side of the knife says Columbian Manila Rope….something I’m sure would be important to have on ships.

I had stopped listing any auctions on eBay since I’ll be leaving, but a 7-day auction won’t end until February 4--I should be back in Nebraska by then. I try to schedule auctions so they won’t end when I’m traveling, but sometimes the buy-it-now items sell anyway. I have my little mini computer with me, so I can check eBay each night when I stop at a motel. It’s so fun to be able to tell people that I’m selling items even when I am on the road!

Well, I’m going to look for more rocks--the Rock Club will be coming Saturday at noon. I hope the weather will still be nice so they can poke around in the front yard, which is full of many different rocks and fossils we collected on family trips in the 60’s.