that is really weird. so i can run around with a necklace that has the "stone" made of my loved one around my neck. that sounds sooo creepy!

Can you imagine if your necklace was haunted? Seriously, it does seem a bit creepy.

Wolfie, get a hardness chart and test them. Quartz will scratch windows . Flouite will not despite their selling it as gemstones (way too soft in my opinion). You can find sapphires in so many colors - every color actually !! Except for the red ones. They are called rubies. Get yourself a little hardness kit with a penny in it, a penknife blade, a piece of window glass. Also get some unglazed porcelain (the bottom of a mug will do) to test for streak - though most gemstones will leave no streak. Hematite will leave an orange streak, though. Then get a good inexpensive guide to rockhounding (there are several printable ones on the internet) and have at it. That can be the most fun at the end of the day. Oh, and don't forget to save those old toothbrushes to clean what you have found ! Where is the place you were "panning"? I'd love to go to some place one of these days. I hear North Carolina is full of good things on the ground.

it was natural bridge caverns a little north of town. believe me, that was the most fun i've had spending $12!!

Only $12 ??? You MUST go back. I can see your Christmas list getting little bags of dirt. Were they naughty or nice? They have to screen the dirt to find out !

*laugh*

I'd be happy for hours with such a bag of dirt. Lance sent me a bunch of "rocks" he had gotten thru one of such sites in NC. I did the cleaning and felt a little like I had been there. Telling sapphires is not easy. They look terrible, but they also scratch everything else other than diamonds.

amethysts look just like they do in a setting....which really surprised me so when i dug them out of that bag, i was flabbergasted!

I have a huge block of amethyst downstairs on a book shelf and yes it is purple and looks just like it was cut and polished but is raw and unrefined just as created. There are green amethysts on HSN, I noticed. I wonder why green quartz did not get its own name.

had no idea amethysts come in green, didn't even see that in any of my mineral books....will have to scan these stones and post a pic (as soon as i figure out my password to ftp)...

Howdy Geo Wolfie I saw that you visited Natural Bridge Caverns - I visited that place many years ago in my yoooth and the whole thing was super cool - I loved going to tourist caves in Texas and Arkansas. I did some caving in Enchanted Rock (more like crawling through granite fissures) and that was fun/exciting until my flash light went out and I sat around in darkness until some other folks came along. Real smart... But anyway, was indestructable back then... Fun to read about finding neat rocks. 73 de Mike r-c-i

in the caves you aren't allowed to touch anything, i think the touching police show up and everything, flashing lights, totally embarrassing, but this $12 bag of rocks was the cat's meow....my kids were watching ME pan. and the whole time i was talking about how this was so cool and stuff. then i started thinking about all the water running around that thing and ALL the dirt stuck in the channels so i wanted to pan that too, my kids were digging up dirt from it and throwing it in the sifter....good thing i wasn't around during gold fever! i'm too clausterphobic to be rooting around underground and then to have my flashlight go out? oh no, it'd be over then! my dad was telling me about all kinds of caves in the area (we used to live near Ft Sam Houston ages ago)...have you heard of the cave with no name supposedly somewhere off of Bandera Rd (maybe into Bandera County)?

There is a tunnel straight thru a mountain in eastern Kentucky. It has a similar name which is why I asked where yours was. I do want to go see it but I also do not like being underground with no light at the end of the tunnel. I'd have had to recite every book I ever read to get thru a blackout like Mike had. Brrrrr!!

What's the name of the Eastern Ky. tunnel. Can you name some precious Ky gems?

Agates are the KY state gemstones. There are few if any others since most of the state is covered by limestone from the inland sea. Natural Tunnel is the name of the natural train tunnel in eastern Kentucky.

Have you been to many Ky caves?

Not inside them yet, though Mammoth will be on a trip soon. I've been in caves outside Tucson, AZ and in Luray, VA. Very nice but I really do not like being underground.

I do.

A Spelunker amongst us. Actually on a hot day they are lovely and cool. I guess I am still afraid of the dark? I just don't fancy being buried alive in there or losing my way. Wever see "The Englidh Patient" ? That's why!

natural bridge is pretty muggy. it was 70 degrees but the humidity left you sweating......yes, i've seen the english patient!

Dying alone of lack of water and food in the dark is not my favorite way if I have a choice.

me neither because there may be beautiful water but you can't drink it, what kind of irony that would be!

Just like the water everywhere and nothing to drink (paraphrasing) like New Orleans and now Pakistan. How many places on earth can catastrophes happen and us pay for them? I suggest zero but I try to keep solvent.

it's just running its cycle again.....of course, there are predictions in the Good Book, but you can't let that panic you. how strong was that EQ again? i saw some of the coverage but didn't sit down and really take it in (and tired of watching bad news).

found it-7.6 with a 6.2 aftershock......any concerns about tsunami?

it was between 7.6 and 7.8 Richter. If it had been anywhere else yes, but the direction of the shock waves do not disturb the water so much. I did check on that right away 26 aftershocks so far. The complaints of the victims sound terribly familiar.