Monday, April 20, 2009

My New Computer. Rocks.


Little pieces of the Earth

My new computer rocks. I'll get to that in a minute though, because the rocks in the pictures are what I'll tell you about first.

Besides the rocks in my head, I have rocks, minerals and crystals all over the house. I love to collect them and look at them. They decorate tables and shelves and cubbyholes in the rooms I frequent the most. To me they are a true art form - God's of course. I find them fascinating.

The picture above, is just a very small sampling of rocks that were given as gifts or that I collected myself. They are numbered and here's what they are and where they came from:

1. Petoskey stone - Michigan's state rock. It is fossilized coral from a time when Michigan was covered by a shallow salt sea and had the same weather as Florida. G

2. Slate from Harper's Ferry on the Shenandoah River. M

3. Sedimentary stone from Holland. G

4. Granite from Wright Paterson AFB in Dayton Ohio. G

5. Dinosaur egg shell - (purchased)

6. Galena (lead) from Galena, Illinois. M

7. Limestone from Hawaii. M

8. Dolomite marble from Belize. It also contains quartz and hematite. M

9. Sedimentary stone from the top of a mountain in Chile. G

10. Cert from Israel. G

(The M's mean Me -I collected them, the G's mean they are gifts.)





Little pieces of Ireland
My bonnie niece, Brigid has made several trips to Ireland, and she brought back several stones just for me from her trips! Thank you Brigid! Ireland is a bit smaller now, as part of it is in my house.
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I spent some time studying the latest batch, and was able to identify them. In telling you what they are, I'll give you a very quick lesson in rocks.
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Rocks are classified into 3 types:
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Igneous - molten magmas. These are either intrusive (formed within the earth) or extrusive (flowed out or ejected volcanic rock)
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Sedimentary - deposits laid down on the earth's surface by wind, rain or fire
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Metamorphic - existing rocks that are subject to extreme pressure or temperatures or both which alters their composition.
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What each rock is called depends on many things, including the major and minor minerals that make up the rock.
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1. The first rock in the picture was given to me by my sister, Janet - Brigid's mom. It is a piece of Connemara marble, hand carved in the shape of Ireland. Marble is a metamorphic rock, and this world renowned marble is from the green Connemara mountains. It has a greenish cast to it from the mineral olivine.
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2. Gabbro - intrusive igneous rock) with oligoclase ( a silicate mineral) layer
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3. Granite - the most common intrusive rock on the Earth's continental surface. The main ingredients are potassium feldspar, quartz, mica and sodium.
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4. Quartz - one of the most common minerals, by weight, on the earth's surface.
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5. Chert - sedimentary nodules formed in sedimentary rock
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6. Jasper - a silicate mineral
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7. Two graywacke stones - marine sedimentary rocks
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8. Jet - an organic gem also called lignite coal made or organics and hydrocarbons. This was used in mourning jewelry during the Victorian age and has been traditionally fashioned into rosaries for monks.
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9. Micaceous sandstone - sandstone, a sedimentary rock, with mica crystals in it. Mica is a soft silicate that comes in sheets that are easily separated. It is also known as isinglass and was once used for windows.
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10. Hornfels - a metamorphic rock -crystals in a metamorphic rock matrix.
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11. Five siltstone and/or mudstone - sedimentary - rocks
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12. Sandstone - the second most common sedimentary rock after shale. The Painted Desert is sandstone. Sandstone was used as building materials for, among others, Stonehenge, Petra, Abu Simbel and the Red Fort in Old Deli, India.
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All of the stones in the second picture were found on the beach at Bray, Ireland. They more than likely made their way to Bray from the surrounding areas: Cornwall, England, Scotland Wales and various places in Ireland, during storms, glacier movement and upheavals and are all now smoothed by the sea.



So, about my computer - I have a new one, a Toshiba, with a large bright screen. I've had it for about 6 weeks. It is a huge improvement over my old dark screened HP. The most important thing (to me) about this is how beautiful all of your blogs look on my bright shiny screen! That really rocks!

22 comments:

Martha@A Sense of Humor is Essential said...

Congrats on the new computer, very beautiful indeed. I love your Rock collection. I'm a rock hound also, I have a wonderful piece of flourite on my desk and a crystal prism from my late brother. My mom just gave my son some petrified wood and nice hunk of clear quartz.
Rock On!!

Betsy Brock said...

Lovely rocks...I enjoyed the bit of history and names. I collected rocks when I was young and still have a jar of my favorites! I remember looking through gravel and other places for interesting pieces!

Wow..your computer is fabulous! Several months ago I got a new large flat screen monitor and couldn't believe the difference!

dianasfaria.com said...

I am sorry I haven't been by here in a long time. I love your new banner. & I happen to love rocks too. Though I don't know anything about them except I think they are beautiful. I too have them all over my house. So thank you for the very informative interesting post.
; )

MuseSwings said...

I knew I was surrounded by rock loving bloggy friends! How nice it is to be in such interesting company!

SweetPeaSurry said...

I have met more people that are into rocks in the last 6 months than I had met in my lifetime. It's unbelievable. Excellent hobby though!

Jeannette StG said...

You have quite a collection of rocks there! any collection is fun - I have a shell collection. Your computor looks very nice! Congrats!

angie said...

Great collection, I can tell you really enjoy your hobby, you know so much!

One of these days, I WILL have a laptop!

MuseSwings said...

I love my new computer - another reason is all the letters are on the keys. My other one was getting bald

sandy said...

A new computer, lucky you! I went through the rock photos and that reminded me of all the ones I have here that my son left, who collected rocks, I'll have to pull them out some day and appreciate them.

I am so behind... will return soon.

Sparky said...

We are rock hounds too. Also have a few dinosaur bones and a mammoth tooth from a Florida spring from back when we SCUBA dived every weekend. We need to get a well-lit display case for them.

The new computer is sweet! It makes using the 'puter so much more pleasant, don't you think. :o)

Aimee said...

I've always liked rocks and both of my kids do too. I have a large piece of obsidian that I am especially fond of! My son has a nice little collection going. Whenever someone we know travels he asks them to bring him a rock!

soulbrush said...

i love rocks and have had many in the past..just picked up on walks, nothing as fancy as yours...but my toshiba is like yours, so snap- you are now as smart as me!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I also collect rocks from the different places I visit! I have so many now that I've had to label them. I even have a stone that fell out of Blarney Castle's wall, and much sea glass from the Ionian sea form the coast of Southern Italy.

Your computer look snazzy! Enjoy!

Suzy-Q said...

You should come and help me sort my Rock Garden. It is a left over from my Nan who lived here before us. She made it because she couldn't grow anything in that area except rocks. :o) When we go swimming at "the creek" I always look for fun rocks, especially ones wth holes in them.

You are right.....your new laptop DOES rock!

and your rocks ROCK too!

Pat said...

Rock on with your rocks and new computer!

Merisi said...

Thank you for the wonderful rock lesson,
it really rocks! :-)

The only place I have been myself to is Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, but that several times. It is not too far from my former home, Washington, DC.

Your new computer must be sheer joy - mamma mia, would I love to get a new one. Mine is five years old and has so little workspace, I cannot even use a photo programm I received as a gift.

Wishing you a wonderful day,
M.

Marie Reed said...

I love rocks too! Francois' Father is always finding fossils. He has this amazing eye for finding them. I'm so jealous!

Lanny said...

The world is a fascinating place, every last drop of it! Thank you for sharing a few of your rocks. My head is swimming with all that info, it reminded me of growing up, the brother only two years older than I was an avid rock hound science guy. Every where we went was a rock or microbiology lesson.

Aunt Spicy said...

What a great idea! I love that you have kept track of where each rock is from! Such a fun way to document adventures!

Dawn Fine said...

I love rocks too! I collect them and keep a few ..but have to give most away...You know Lucy in the long long trailer...well that is me in the RV ..always collecting..thank goodness I have family that I can give the collections to.
Congrats on your new computer!

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

Rocks are beautiful, aren't they? There's a man who has a booth at some of the homeschool conventions I go to, who collects rocks for a living. He polishes them and sells them as sets with little fact sheets about each one (kinda like you did in this post). He also hosts field trip/digs, I think. I just love to pore over his booth admiring all the beautiful rocks!

Margaret Ann said...

LOL... I too have a rock collection...and have to laugh each time I pick one up my DH says I remind him of Lucille Ball in the movie classic the Long Long Trailer! LOL Nice computer too! :)

By the way...speaking of rocks...YOU and your fabulous writing truly ROCK!