Once More Into the Breach - Sunday 9/7/2008

Okay, not really into the breach. Up the mountain. This is Sundry's Mountain, so-called by locales.

Okay, really just by Sundry and Hydra. And a few of our more attentive friends.



My foot amongst the rocks on the interesting hilltop. There are little egg-like bits of quartz up here amongst high-iron content volcanic looking rock.

I know just enough about geology to wish that I really understood this stuff.

Usually my left foot is in the photos alone. Clearly my right foot has had enough of this folderol.



As soon as I stop being tired all the time (except during and directly after exercising) I'm going to ask an acquaintance who's in the know to do a geologic diagnosis of our area via photos.

I think this is maybe a volcanic plug at the top of one of our hills.

I Wanna Rock - Saturday 9/6/2008

And not so much roll.

At least, not while hiking.

Anyone know under what circumstances the round and egg-shaped bits of quartz are created? We also found lots of fairly crystalized quartz, like the stuff in the lower right corner.

We didn't really plan to, but we climbed through a barbed wire fence to check out some freeway-side detritus that Hydra thought might be a motorcycle gas tank, but which turned out to be an empty red 50 pound dog food bag.

Then we explored the huge terraces where the northbound 14 cuts through the hill just south of Santiago Road. Verboten! It's so cool to be a grown up and know that a) you probably aren't going to get caught because it's too much trouble to try and catch you and b) the fine would be worth it.

The base of each terrace is probably 15-20 feet wide. It was interesting to look down at the freeway and to realize that where we were standing was once the inside of a hill.

And me without my camera!


Possible geode.



More of the eggy quartz. (Don't quote me in any term papers, kids. This is not a technical term.)

Texas Rocks Acton - Tuesday 1/29/2008

I think I've made it clear that I like rocks.

I brought these back from Texas with me. The one one the left is from Joe and Jax's land...the place where I took a photo of the wall he'd built and the misty view. The one on the right is from the Guadalupe River near Jax's dad's river house. Clearly, it's been worn by the water.

Cool Thing: I found this link to the geology of the Canyon Lakes Gorge, which I showed a photo of a few days ago. The rock looks a lot like this stuff. Guess the weathering happened very quickly.

Soapbox: This is a new featurette where I'm going to randomly post about things I'm thinking about from time to time. George W. Bush's plan to send us each a rebate check is just an insulting bribe. I can't believe this works on people. And I would like some one to tell me just how much it costs to process and mail each of these $300.00 checks.

Homey Texas - Saturday January 26. 2008

A fence I saw while out walking the dogs with Jax.

The work of a local potter. The face is his wife's.

From atop the Canyon Dam.

This gorge was created spontaneously when the water overflowed the spillway in July 2002. This used to be flat ground. Jax's dad's house was near the other end of this new gorge. He was evacuated. The river went around one side of his house and the spillway release went around the other.

Concrete core samples used to build walls at Jax's dad's river house, on the Guadalupe. Pretty smart to get these free building materials.

There are no building codes in the unicorporated areas. This wall turned out really cool, but there are some questionable structures in the areas, but then that's just a taste of that famous Texan independence.

Those concrete core samples in use. They look nice, huh?