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I traveled up to OK to do some hunting last week. I stopped near a town called Gene Autry, OK near the Washita River. I found this at the site I was hunting. Sorry the top isn’t in focus. I was trying to get the shape of the sections on it. It looks like a cross between an orthoceras and a baculite, but I am pretty sure the site was Pennsylvanian despite the geological map saying it is Holocene. I also found what I believe was part of a crinoid stem, which turned to dust when I tried to pick it up. I got a pic first though. I’m learning my lesson. I cant see any septa on this, so I do t know what it is. I’m sure this is an easy one, I’ve just never seen one. Any Help would be appreciated.

Sunday was football day and the Packers didn't come on until 7:30. It had just rained and I was anxious to go out fossil hunting. I decided to try the quarry eight miles up the road where I had found so many nice snails the last time. When I got there I noted how much had happened since I was there last--blasting, new roads, a pond pumped dry! I walked about searching for about 3.5 hours. I found some awesome specimens--for me they are awesome . I have just learned to more or less identify cepholopods. I found the above one within the first hour. It is my first impression of a complete cepholopod, about 1.25 inches tall and 4 inches long. Small but complete and distinct. I also found a great gastropod inlaid into a dark grey rock (all of these are posted in the Fossid ID forum for confirmation), a really pretty straight nautiloid that became a geode on the inside (gotta love the bling!), lots of pieces of cephs and gastropods, lots of sunflower coral cross sections, and lots of snails (Maclurites). I was dressed warmly in my insulated jeans and chore coat, but I hadn't expected how wet the quarry would be. Next time I need to pack my chore shoes--feel got wet and cold which finally ended the hunt. I came home with the passenger side of my 4x4 truck full of rock and some in the back! I have started a "fossil graveyard" outside! Since I have had two strokes I forget things easily, so the fossil graveyard provides a "new" hunting ground whenever I want, along with the "Bev Formation"--my deck. Besides, as I am learning I am finding more fossils to identify within the rocks I have brought home. Since this is Minnesota (the great white tundra) fossil hunting will come to an end soon. So I am trying to get out as much as possible. Then I hope to learn how to prep this winter. Fossil hunting is so peaceful. As I wandered the quarry and picked up pieces of gastropods and cross sections of sunflower corals (all of these will be ground into gravel if I don't pick them up) I was thinking about what I could do with them. I had talked with Warren Netherton at Forestville Park about donating my fossils, but they have plenty, he assured me. How to share this fascinating hobby was the question on my mind. My other passion is gardening and this year I started a number of fairy Gardens. Why not Fossil Gardens?! Minature indoor gardens featuring fossils! This could be fun! We will see... I have contacted a garden center in Rochester to see if they may be interested in the fossils or in Fossil Gardens. If not, I may just play around with it as gifts for friends and relatives. And I was back in time to see the Packers WIN! Take care and thank you for reading and sharing your fossil hunting adventures! Bev