After some thought, I feel I have been a little (or rather more than a little) unfair to Husband in regards to invading most of our
closet territory. As I walked about the house and garage, I came to the startling conclusion that I have more than invaded most areas around the house with small-ish piles of rocks. This is not to include the rocks I collect and keep in the living room as a quasi display. I can't really call them decorative because most women who enter my home are unimpressed, as not all of them are what they would see as pretty- but I keep what interests me. Such as black calcite. From all outward appearances it is probably quite ugly to the average person, but to me it is absolutely lovely.
I figured I'd swallow my embarrassment and show you what my coffee table and "little" messes look like because I am curious if other geologists have these small piles of rocks around their home too. I know I need to defenestrate a lot of what I have gathered, as not all of the rocks I have are keepers. I just grab what I see of interest at the time and look later, as there have been numerous times I've kicked myself for NOT grabbing a piece. Such as the greenschist I came across on a field trip. I didn't grab it because I hadn't realized I already had a piece of corbin gneiss in my pack from the weekend before and hence by the time I had hiked in I was too tired to put anything more in my pack, and I wasn't about to dump the corbin gneiss.
Now I wish I had just sucked it up and grabbed the darned greenschist! It was perfect- all shimmery and a stunning shade of green. At any rate, there are times when you intend on returning to a spot but it just never happens, so it is best to grab the piece then and there. Especially when you know they are nice pieces. (Sometimes I grab leaverites just because I am curious, although usually only when I'm not packing long treks:).
To get back the subject about my messes... I went into the garage and noticed that Husband had put my hiking boots next to my rocks because I had failed to put them away last week when we went out.
All my rocks were neatly off to the side of the garage from the first trip and the rocks from the second trip were in a pile at the front of the garage. I had once mentioned to Husband that I didn't like the rocks mixed until I had sorted through them and labeled the ones I intended to keep, but I guess I hadn't specified that it didn't matter when we collect from the same area if the rocks are mixed. Especially when it isn't formal (if it were they would be labeled out in the field or immediately thereafter) and furthermore, we got the rocks from a stream bed. So I kinda chuckled, but was touched by his efforts. I REALLY need to sort through these and eliminate the leaverites.
Despite my best efforts, I am never able to keep everything organized for very long before rocks start spilling out onto the floor. At some point I guess I will have to put some away or have a room to just put them in in order to establish some form of organization, but with moving so often I find that more of an idea for the far off future. I have tried to slim down the rocks I decide to keep, but for some reason or another I cannot bear to part with them. Some I found during Field Camp, some were given to me by peers, some just are too interesting.... sigh. What do you guys do to thin down your piles of rocks? Or do you even bother? Is it really an issue? Maybe I'm just normal and I have nothing to worry about. As long as we aren't over our weight limit for the military to move us it's all good there. And we are far from that, amazing as it is! I think we are allowed around 24K and last move we only had 16K so I have plenty of rock room there :)
But with it all said and done, I should be ashamed of myself for even questioning why Husband invaded my side of the closet, especially since I have infested the house with my rock piles. Granted, he has never complained, but perhaps that is because rocks are cheaper than Pier One. Oh, I used to love that place- but as you can see from the pictures, I have little room for decorations without giving up rock space. What to do... pretty rock, Pier One candle. Rock wins every time.
Despite my best efforts, I am never able to keep everything organized for very long before rocks start spilling out onto the floor. At some point I guess I will have to put some away or have a room to just put them in in order to establish some form of organization, but with moving so often I find that more of an idea for the far off future. I have tried to slim down the rocks I decide to keep, but for some reason or another I cannot bear to part with them. Some I found during Field Camp, some were given to me by peers, some just are too interesting.... sigh. What do you guys do to thin down your piles of rocks? Or do you even bother? Is it really an issue? Maybe I'm just normal and I have nothing to worry about. As long as we aren't over our weight limit for the military to move us it's all good there. And we are far from that, amazing as it is! I think we are allowed around 24K and last move we only had 16K so I have plenty of rock room there :)
But with it all said and done, I should be ashamed of myself for even questioning why Husband invaded my side of the closet, especially since I have infested the house with my rock piles. Granted, he has never complained, but perhaps that is because rocks are cheaper than Pier One. Oh, I used to love that place- but as you can see from the pictures, I have little room for decorations without giving up rock space. What to do... pretty rock, Pier One candle. Rock wins every time.
3 comments:
I have the luxury of a job teaching geology, so I manage to keep my home relatively rock-free and store everything in my office or in departmental labs. You can see that I've accumulated quite a variety on my Deskcrop series of blog posts. My samples are getting larger, though more selective, with time. I only wish the web offered a better way of sharing them (in all their physical glory) more widely.
Wow- just saw some of what you had and I drooled over your ooidic limestone and the coral! I have a piece of ooidic limestone but it isn't nearly as nice as yours- I'll take a picture of it sometime. I have a thing for ooids so was saving it for a day I could make a decent blog post about them.
Yes, you have quite the collection- very beautiful. Not sure I could ever manage to keep my home rock free, even with the biggest of offices! I have to tip my hat off to you there!!
My home is rock-free. I move too often, and to such distant places, that I don't keep rocks--shipping the books is quite expensive enough, thanks. Instead I leave behind samples cataloged in the university rock collection when I move, or if they aren't worth keeping in the official collection, in the outdoor "rock garden" that most geology departments wind up accumulating, where odd bit of rock that followed people home from field trips wind up living.
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