tsa-la-tsi-s-gi gv-do-di ka-ne
dance
- with - snake
DANCES
WITH SNAKES
"CONSUMER ACQUISITION SITE"
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tsa-la-tsi-s-gi gv-do-di ka-ne dance
- with - snake
DANCES
WITH SNAKES "CONSUMER ACQUISITION SITE"
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McRocks West Trip Report Oct 23rd through Oct 26th, 2003 Posted Nov 1st, 2003 And so the story goes...
Regina and I got an early start on Thursday morning, Oct. 23rd, leaving at 6:15 am from Broken Arrow. By 10:00 am we were crossing the Sulphur River just north of Talco, TX. I had been told that was the prime area to find Mossasaur bones. It wasn't as it had been described to me, being fairly overgrown, and very little in the way of an area to search that I could determine. We decided to pass up the opportunity, not knowing the area, and continued on towards Toledo Bend Reservoir. We arrived around 2:00 pm at Bass Haven Resort, just north of the dam a couple of miles on the Louisiana side. While having lunch in the restaurant there, we noticed a boat moored just offshore across the cove. After a while we noticed four or five people walking the shoreline several hundred yards from the boat. Speculating it might be the boys from Mississippi, we watched them for a while and finally they made their way back to the boat. We could see they were loading something heavy into the boat as well. We got checked into our cabin, and after a brief rest, I decided to go search the shoreline around the cabins for signs of petrified wood.
At first I searched above the waterline, finding small bits and pieces of pet wood. After a while I decided perhaps since the water was relatively low, perhaps there was some un-searched territory, and possibly some larger pieces of pet wood to be found several feet offshore. Little did I know that the crew from MS had already scoured the beach for anything remotely resembling petrified wood. However, my search was not to be in vain, as the following pictures will attest. I found several nice pieces of agatized palm wood, and at least 25-30 pounds of common pet wood, some with very nice colors and a good majority of it agatized. [Click images for full size picture]
I spent the better part of two hours wading the shoreline collecting before finally deciding it was time to go into town and get groceries for the weekend. We stopped by cabin 27, where the MS crew was camped out and found Charlie Audirsch, a collecting buddy of Bobby's and retired teacher from Houma, LA, sitting out on the back deck waiting for them. Seems they were still out cruising the shoreline in the boat. We visited with Charlie for a while and headed off for groceries. We ended up going to Leesville about 30 miles away. After returning from the grocery run I walked over to cabin 27 to visit, and found Bobby B. lounging on the deck. I'm sure he must have thought I was some local nut wandering around since I thought he was Charlie still sitting out there, and I walked up in the dark and asked if Bobby had finally returned, whereas he said, "I'm Bobby!" We sat and talked for a length of time, and after finding out what the plan for the following day (Friday) was, I bid him adieu and returned to the cabin for the night. The following morning we gathered at cabin 27 around 7:00 am, and as a fog had rolled in early that morning, we waited for others to arrive. Those present were Bobby Bentley, Chick King, Chris Addison, Stanley Loman, Charlie Audirsch, and we were waiting for Bob and Sybil Powell of MS to arrive from Leesville where they had spent the night. Our plan for the days hunt was to go below the dam along the main spillway and search for sizable pieces of pet wood. This paid off for some. Bobby found a sizable stump of common pet wood buried in the riverbank at the waterline, four of us walked right past it, but Bobby's radar homed in on the seeming unobtrusive piece of rock, and after Charlie dug it out for him, it was quite the find, about 75 pounds, and plenty of character. It went in the backpack and Bobby headed off for the truck to unload. Not far downstream, Chris had discovered what at first glance appeared to be a piece of a wooden piling protruding from the river bank. Only one problem, it was petrified...after he and Chick dug it out, it turned out to be a round log of petrified palm wood, nearly 8" in diameter, and over two feet long! Chris slept with the log under his bed the entire weekend, and I heard rumors he even showered with it. I know Bobby is still trying to figure out how to get a piece of it away from him. By 11:00 we had covered both banks for nearly a mile or more downstream of the hydro plant. We waited for about 30 minutes for Charlie, who was last seen headed downstream. Finally, after much hollering and honking, Charlie showed up from points south-east with a very heavy 5-gal bucket of material. He had made his way downstream to where the overflow spillway feeds into the river, and had collected a few specimens of marcasite from a shale bank. This is the place that was mentioned in an earlier posting with unusual specimens. Some decided to go back to the cabins, while others went to run errands and visit friends. I decided I would hike down to the shale bank and collect some marcasite specimens myself after seeing what Charlie brought back with him. Regina and I headed off downstream with the plan of being back at the cabins by 1:00 pm. Charlie told me the spot wasn't far, and I couldn't miss it since it was almost directly under the power lines that cross the river in the area. That part he got right...The collecting spot turned out to be at least a mile downstream, and he forgot to mention that the further you go, the worse the terrain gets! About a half mile short of the spot, the berm above the river is pockmarked with sinkholes that could swallow a bear. To compound the problem, there are so many that you risk falling in one with every step. We decided to make our way downhill to another terrace about twenty feet lower around a 1/4 mile from the collecting spot, this held out for another 300 yds or so before we were again cut off by sinkholes and washes. This was as far as Regina could make it with her knees in the condition that they are, in fact, I was mildly surprised she hadn't turned back already. I refused to let her attempt to follow me the remaining 40 feet down the water's edge to navigate the remaining 400 yds to the marcasite deposit. I had her wait there while I went on. I was surprised at the quantity of the marcasite, and the unusual formations. I only brought two small collecting bags with me, and thank goodness! I collected perhaps 20 specimens, the largest weighing in at nearly ten pounds by itself. I divided the specimens between two bags to balance the weight, which was at least fifty pounds, if not sixty, and kind of worried about Regina sitting up there in the woods by herself, headed back the way I came. Let's just say it was much easier sliding down the berm than trying to climb back up with those marcasite specimens! Below are some pictures of some of the specimens I collected. Note that the majority of the specimens, if not all, began as wood that became buried in the shale and clay of the bank, and the marcasite formed around the wood, in some cases completely replacing the wood. Some specimens still have carbonized wood in them. Another unusual feature is the cubic pyrite that has formed on many specimens as well, along with boytroidal formations.
These are an example of how wood was totally replaced by marcasite, retaining the detail of the wood grain. Some unusual examples of "Petrified Wood"
Denise showed up at the door around 2:00, having just gotten in. We talked for a bit and then she headed off to Pleasure Point to secure a camping spot for Freddy and her RV. Around 2:30 I decided to do some more wading and search the shoreline to the north of the cabins. I only found a few small pieces, and one larger one this time, along with someone's stainless steel prop...I can imagine their chagrin when that $300 prop spun off and sank to the bottom after hitting one of the thousands of submerged stumps in the lake! Anyone need a prop?
After finding out that the sponsoring club did not have a plan for the hunt on Saturday, our attention turned to planning our own hunt for Saturday. As Bobby, Chick, Chris, Stanley, Bob and Sybil, and Charlie had been there previously, Bobby made a couple of phone calls, and got us permission to collect at Sam Rayburn, about forty miles west, at an area they had collected before. We made plans that evening for the following days hunt and decided we would organize at Bass Haven, rather than with the main group, whose plan was to meet for coffee and donuts, then everyone was on their own after that. We returned to Bass Haven and ended up sitting around cabin 27 visiting until at least 10:00 pm. Somehow Stanley had come up with a slab of Louisiana opal. It became somewhat of a focus, as it not only is it an unusual form of opal, with tons of green fire, purple, blue, and even some red, the only source of it near Monks Hammock, not far from where we were, is completely off limits now, with no hope of ever being re-opened. Even blackmail attempts were made to try and get Stanley to part with it, to no avail. Between that and some of the stories, we stayed in stitches most of the evening. The following morning we got up bright and early and were congregating at cabin 27 by 7:00 am. A couple of friends from the main group had been invited to go along with us, I think the lady's name was Joy, and I'm not sure I got the younger fellow's name, it was his first time there as well.
The following morning we managed to catch everyone before they got on the road and spent a few more minutes swapping stories, that's when we heard the one about the metal piece of pet wood Bobby found once. That's a story he'll have to tell for himself! It's a good one! Stanley had his slab of Louisiana Opal out, and anyone that wanted to look at or hold it had to give him a hug first... long story, you would have had to of been there... We finally bid everyone farewell except for Larry and Elisa, and we pulled around to their cabin to visit and do some swapping. Larry had brought some sunset jasper, pretty stuff, and some flint. He gave Regina a small piece of fluorescent material from Franklin, NJ, and a nodule form somewhere down in TX that has dendrites in it, and a small vug of crystals in the center that he had polished the end on. The crystal vug fluoresces bright green under SWUV. Elisa fell in love with the Barite Roses, I gave her a bag full to take home with her for jewelry and fountain projects. Larry also gave me a belt buckle with a cab that he made, very pretty material, and nice workmanship, thanks again Larry! We finally decided it was time to go, even with the time change it was past ten o'clock, and I had an eight hour drive ahead of me. We bid farewell and hit the road, stopping for lunch in Center, TX, then drove pretty much straight through from there, arriving safely home around 7:00 pm. I can't reiterate enough what a great group of people we have assembled at McRocks. Having been on two trips now with various members, I don't know of any other group of friends I would rather spend time with than these. The quality of the individuals we have here are beyond reproach. I'm looking forward to the next time I can get together with best of the best when it comes to rock-hounds!
Keep On Rockin'! Copyright 2003 Virgil G. Richards
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HAVE YOU BEEN THE TARGET OF A SCAM LATELY? DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! AUGUST 20TH, 2008 - BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA
If you are not on your toes all of time, you could be the target of a scam or con. Last evening while filling up with gas at QT in Broken Arrow a blue PT Cruiser pulled across in front of my truck. A casually dressed black man stepped out and in a hushed voice asked if I was interested in buying a laptop computer. He proceeded to tell me he had three or four of these for sale for $250 each. Claiming they were brand new Sony Vaio laptops. My first question was "Are they hot?" and I informed him I wasn't interested. He pressed on asking if I would pay $200, then $150. "I don't buy merchandise from the trunk of a car" I informed him. He then asked how much I would be willing to pay, and went back to his car, retrieving a package from the back seat that appeared to be a box about the size of a laptop, wrapped in brown paper, taped up excessively with packaging tape, and a photocopied ad from Office Depot advertising a Sony Vaio for $2099. In the process of getting the package from his car, he covered it with a sheet before bringing it to show me.... A lot suspicious... He handed me the package and returned to his car to retrieve a laptop from the back seat, again covering it with the sheet so no one else could see what he was doing. The laptop was an older Compaq, that he claimed a lady had dropped, but the ones in the packages were Sony. He very quickly returned it to his car, not letting me see more than a glimpse of it under the sheet. Meanwhile, I was hefting the supposed "new" packaged laptop, the entire time suspecting a scam more so than stolen merchandise. I strung him along a little while, squeezing the package (it was too lightweight, and compressed easily) Now knowing I was actually holding a package with nothing substantial inside, I told him I might be interested if he showed me what was in the box. He very quickly retrieved it from me, still trying to get me to pay $150 for it, as he gradually put distance between us getting back to his car. That pretty much ended the conversation. I told him again, "show me what's in the box, I might be interested." No go, he got back in his car and quickly went looking for another mark.
I had meanwhile finished filling my tank, and drove to a strategic location in the parking lot to watch him and his accomplice as they drove about the lot, approaching literally everyone coming and going, I quickly dialed 911 and reported their activity, gave a description of the vehicle and what they were doing, stressing that I firmly believed they were scamming people with empty boxes. I waited for police to arrive, but before they did, the vehicle exited the QT, and drove down the street. I followed at a distance, again calling 911 dispatch to report they had moved to another location, near Chili's and Buffalo Wild Wings. Actually, they had gone to the Lowe's parking lot and by the time officers arrived, had already approached several patrons in the lot. As an unmarked Dodge Charger pulled into the BWW lot, I pointed them to the Lowes. Two other marked units quickly converged on the lot, and as the PT Cruiser approached another mark in front of the store, they hit the lights and surrounded the vehicle! Too cool! I watched from the lobby of Lowes as they talked to the "suspects", and got the passenger out to open the back of the vehicle. After some minutes, a couple came out of the store and saw that the police were questioning the pair, and hollered at them "What are they doin'? Tryin' to sell ya a laptop?" One officer motioned them over and asked if they had been approached, to which they answered yes. The officer asked if they would be willing to make a statement, and a citizens arrest on suspicion of fraud. When they said they would, one of the suspects started cursing at them, this just added resolve to the couple, and they immediately made the citizens arrest. (This was necessary because the officers had no evidence of a crime otherwise.) At this point the two were arrested on fraud charges.
As it turns out, the packages were Fed-X boxes filled with newspaper... They had empty boxes, brown paper bags, tape, scissors, and flyers in the back to make more fake packages. Officers also found bolt cutters and a few personal items in the vehicle, along with three or four bogus packages, and the old, useless Compaq laptop they were using as a prop for their con. They did not find any weapons or drugs fortunately, but the passenger had a felony warrant for his arrest in Florida (the officer said that unfortunately, Florida would not extradite). Officers said they also had a fair amount of cash on them, leading officers to believe they were semi-successful with their con game. Both suspects were from Alabama, and the PT Cruiser had Alabama plates. Both are now sitting in the Broken Arrow jail, the PT Cruiser is impounded, and at least for now, they are off of the street.
Do you think those who paid $150-$250 for a box of newspaper will report it to authorities? Probably not.... Wouldn't you feel a bit foolish for falling for the scam? How about the fact that anyone with common sense would know they were about to purchase stolen merchandise, had the package actually contained a new $2000 laptop...
If you buy merchandise, especially new or near new expensive merchandise off the street, or from the trunk of someone's car, for pennies on the dollar, you should know you are about to buy stolen merchandise, and will be supporting crime. So don't do it! Don't be a victim! Report this kind of activity and save some other fool from making a mistake. These are tough times and if we don't stand up as citizens and do our part, then we are part of the problem!
In all honesty, it felt good to help get these two apprehended! And yes, I gave a written statement, and if asked, would gladly testify against them in court!
Virgil
© 2006 - DANCES-WITH-SNAKES.COM VIRGIL G. RICHARDS
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