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Finished up the 2nd Pulalius of my career. Overall I am pleased with it, but I have had to endure the great disappointment of having the claws cave in on me. On the left, just part of the claw broke off; hardly noticeable. On the right the whole propodus crumbled, a great tragedy considering how beautiful it was...you could see all the little nodules on it. Perhaps I have to reevaluate my desire to expose the whole front side of the claw...the fact they are so small and hollow tells me I may end up with this result over and over again if I keep being greedy.

I believe I found some trace worm burrows in clay… Lincoln Creek Formation in WA. unfortunately the dried clay makes it very unstable, some of the burrows are filled in with harder matrix. I’m not sure what to do… any advice would be great!

Picked up a few more shells from the Lincoln Creek Formation while out on a walk, and thought it would be fun to make a composite piece with them. Was pretty easy, just used superglue to fix a couple of moon snails and a scaphopod to a tiny slab of shale from the formation. For my first composite piece I don't think it looks bad, but I was obviously a little too excessive with the glue.

Dear Friends! My apologies for staying away for many years. Things change, life evolves. Quick update: yes, I'm still alive, built a new house, nearly gave up on fossil hunts because of the restrictions. But! you can't keep someone's passion, especially fossil folks (we're stubborn like that) under lock and key forever. Met several new friends, started taking longer hikes deeper into the field, hills and canyons. Studied and researched the geology of my region and drank lots of coffee. With the help of some friends, I started understanding the history better. The results have been rewarding. I found a new fossil that's being described as we speak and when published, will share with you. Here's my latest find, unprepped, an isopod. Only took 32 years to find one! I will try to make more posts as new things come about. Fossil on!

I've been planning a fossil hunting outing with my son for the next week or two (weather permitting), and yesterday my wife kindly suggested that I scout out the site before I take our 8 year old on a fossil hunting trip deep into the woods where no cell phones reach. So, when today turned out to be mostly sunny and pleasant, I hopped in the car and headed to a location that sounded promising on old geologic maps/reports (by Rau in the 1950s-60s, to be precise). And it turns out that (as always) my wife was correct -- the logging company who owns the land has apparently erected a gate blocking vehicle access to the road I was planning to use to get to the site, which was not on any topo maps including the relatively recent FS Topo that encompasses this area. Their sign said it was fine to hike in as long as I didn't remove any "special forestry products." Pretty sure fossils don't qualify! I was originally planning to start with what Rau called "Tl-3," one of the lower (geologically) members of the formation, but in light of having to hike instead of drive, I opted for a closer member, Tl-5. After a short walk on the road, I struck out for the stream I was targeting through the woods. This is the part where I'm pretty sure my son would not be capable of pushing through the underbrush on steep and soggy stream banks, so I'll have to find another site for next time, preferably within easy walking distance of a logging road I'm allowed to drive on. When I reached the first exposure of the formation, I could see clear evidence that I wasn't the first person to visit this site (no surprise there), in the form of piles of debris at the base of the bank and a few clear empty spherical gaps in the outcrop. But, I had no trouble finding many small concretions (shells or nothing, I assume?), one large misshapen one (maybe not even a proper concretion?), and one nice looking one that I assume contains a crab, so I suspect no one had been there since the most recent tree-falls and rockslides. I scrambled up, down and along the bank for about 45 minutes, collecting any concretions or fossils I saw either exposed or lose, but did not attempt to expose anything new (maybe next time!). I found a very nice piece of fossilized wood in the debris pile, too, which I can only assume previous visitors to the site mistook for ordinary wood. I am tired and dirty and need to do some household chores, so I will save the whacking of concretions for another day, and probably not do the (likely) crab at all until I have the proper tools to prepare it right. First I'll attach the complete collection of finds, then add a few closeups of the wood in the thread below.

I took my 8 year old on a concretion hunting expedition to the Lincoln Creek formation over the weekend, and we didn't find anything too great, mostly they contained this reddish brown crystalline mineral in various unidentifiable shapes. My son says he thinks this one is a fish, and I told him I didn't see it, but he said I should "ask the internet" because I "don't know everything," so I'm asking away! Any thoughts on what the mineral is that's inside these? It doesn't appear to be iron-based since it weathers pale, not rusty, as shown by the second photo. I forgot to include something for scale, but the rectangular faces of the broken concretion (left side of photo) measure about 5cm x 4cm.

I've been busy whacking concretions today (ok not so much whacking as gently knocking around and around until they give way), and this is the first one where it contained something that I suspect can be identified. Anyone know what bivalve this is? It's from the middle of the formation, so I think that means Lower Zemorrian? At least that's what it was called in the 1960s when the relevant report was published, I dunno if it's been standardized to some other designation since then. The shell measures 3cm across.

Ok, this is actually yet another crab prep. I figure its a round rock so I named it the way I did cause so many folks think a round rock is a fossil dino egg. Anyways, I bought 27 crab concretions from a friend of mine just a short time ago and went through them today. I picked out this one just because of the size. Its a monster! Im used to the ones that are about the size of a baseball. This one is more like a soccer ball. Quite heavy too! I spent 2 hours on it already and have another 7 or 8 hours or so of removing rock. Quite boring, but I think I 'read' this one right and this way is better than 'WHACKING' it with a sledge hammer. Time will tell. If it turns out to be a dud it will be a huge waste of time but sometimes doing this is a gamble. Ive always said, "if you dont gamble, you dont win". These cost me $530. Believe me, Ive lost many many times. But with this crab prep thread you can go through all the ups and downs with me. Hopefully more ups than downs. Dont want anyone seeing me break down and cry. I cant prep like I used to and this is gunna take some time being soooooooooo much rock to remove, but once down to the crab, either the fun starts,,,,,, or the heartbreak starts? Gunna be interesting no matter what. So,,,,,, the count so far is: 2 hours I just looked at the first pic. Looks smaller than it actually is. this rock measures 6 inches across.

I was wandering around a creek in the Lincoln Creek Formation yesterday, when I found a small concretion. After I got home, I noticed what looks like a cross section of a crab leg, possibly a merus from the claw arm? I won't be able to start prep on this for a day or so. I'll update you, when I get into it. 5mm x 7mm. Not super big.

Hey guys! I haven’t posted in a very very long time but I came across this in my journeys and have never found or seen one before. Any ideas? Found in the Lincoln creek formation of Washington state. It is about 1 1/2”

I go to the state of Washington every year to go get me some fossil crab concretions. I always visit a good freind of mine whilst im there. For the last 4 or 5 years Ive tried my snargle darndest to get this rock from him. Its been sittin outside in the Washington rain and sun since he found it. Last year I was lucky enough to have the right trade material that he wanted and i was able to aquire it from him!!! I was one happy camper to say the least!!! This is the best mulit Aturia ive seen. I will have to clean it up and bit and shape the rock the way i want it and also cut the bottom so it sits nicely too. A truly super nice multi specimen!!! And remember, once im gone it will be for sale at the garage sale for $20. Ha!!! Just kidding, my youngest son, being around me for so many years has a good idea at what prices may be for just about everything I have. Not sure when I will go on the prep attack for this, but it will be one of those exciting projects for me! Oh, this has 10 Aturia on this rock! Yeah!!! Wooooooop Wooooooop!!! RB

I was cleaning up and moving stuff around to get a bit more organized and this there was this little thing wrapped up in some newspaper in the very bottom of a box that I brought home about 2 or 3 days ago. I unwraped it,,,,,,,, and Wow!!! A very beautiful and very nice little Aturia in a small concretion. Wow!!! This must have been layin in there for about 15 years! Ha!!! Almost like christmas today! Just glad I didnt throw the box away with out checking. Wheeeeew!! These are very very very hard to come by nowadays!!! RB

The misses and I went to quartzite for a small vacation and just got back yesterday. We also went last year and had so much fun that we decided to go again. I have friends that have been going there every year for the last 18 years and it was great to meet up again. I use to sell there for about 8 or 9 years but quit once I realized it was turning into a job. I use to do 7 or 8 shows a year and went down to 0 for the last 10 years. I did take some fossils with me. I had a spot about 4 feet wide. Just to keep me a busy, kinda. I did help my buddy do quite a bit of selling, but for me, I was just there to sip wiskey, shoot the poop and have fun. I didn't even have to try and sell the crabs I took with me. Once people pick them up and hold them in their hands and see them close up, they sell themselves! The crabs I sold payed for the trip and the stuff I bought and the next two trips also. Just a neat hobbie. I took 17 prepped out crabs with me and sold 13 of them. Looks like the price for crabs are going to go up next year yet again!!! I really cant believe how much I get for these. But all in all it was a great trip, made lots and lots of moneys and had a super good time with lots of drinks, lots of good food and lots of good times.