Two Things I Learned This Week...

 Macy and I couldn't comment all week...

It was awful! 

 I missed you guys so much. 

Then a couple people told me to uncheck the gmail stay signed in box...

and BAM, I can comment again.
YAHOO!
 

 If you know me very well you, know I've complained about the wind in Iowa....

It turns out the reason it's so windy here is...someone installed great big fans!

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I'll be back on Thursday with Part Three of What Happens in Vegas...The Dam Tour. 
If you missed Part One or Part Two you can pop over to them or scroll down.

I hope you are having a great holiday weekend.  Don't forget to thank a veteran...

Collecting 350-400 Million Year Old Shells...

 Rockford, Iowa is home to a treasure...the Fossil & Prairie Park. 

K and I spent a Saturday afternoon exploring this awesome park. 

This was the first spot we maneuvered down to. 

We immediately began our quest...to find Devonian shell fossils.

We decided we really wanted to go here... 

So we climbed down this!

 And we discovered this!

Check out how the fossils are sticking up on little mountains of clay!   

This former quarry was used from the early 1890's to the 1970's to extract clay for brick and tile making.

 This was our haul...

The park fossil hunting identification guide showed seven kinds of fossils...

We think we found examples of all of them.  :)

Crinoids were the smallest and hardest to find...K found these.  I found none.

The park covers about 400 acres...We'll be back next year for sure!  We didn't even get to this part of it...

Do you like to collect rocks, fossils or other bits from nature?  Where do you like to go to collect specimens?

ARE YOU STEREOTYPING YOUR SETTING?

Are you stereotyping your setting? What do you think of when I say Iowa? Corn fields, right? Before I moved here that’s what I thought too. During one of our recent Harley trips I discovered there's a lot more to Iowa than flat corn fields…

Nathan, Kristin, and Angela Ackerman have some wonderful posts about the importance of setting. As a historical fiction (wannabe) writer, setting is key. The details must be right. Research is a priority. My good friend Jessica has a great post about her quest to get setting right for historical fiction she's working on.

My research comes from visiting England, digging  my way through antique shops, questioning family and friends, reading books from the time period in England (both fiction and non-fiction), and hunting on the web for more information.

How are you making sure you aren’t stereotyping your setting? Please share…

P.S. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

BARN QUILTS...

Barn quilts....Have you heard of them?  Do they have the where you live?  I don't know much about them.   They certainly brighten up the countryside.  I don't go anywhere without my camera...getting my husband to stop every time I want to stop is a whole different story.

Do you have a barn quilt or a special memory involving your family hanging one on the family farm?

THE GREAT PYRAMIDS...(and one more day to enter the three wishes contest)

As you travel across this great country, do you ever see things that surprise you?


Last weekend I discovered the Great Pyramids of Iowa. These massive mounds were right out in the open. There were no national park signs to recognize these amazing monuments. Who built these pyramids, I asked myself. Did immigrants from Egypt build them to honor of their homeland? Did aliens from the future build them? I scanned the parking lot looking for a tour guide. I had so many questions…

Apparently, the National Park Service is falling down on the job. I couldn't find the park ranger or the gift store.  Each year, thousands of people flock to The Field of Dreams in Eastern Iowa. Imagine the volume of tourists who would flock here to see the Great Pyramids, if they knew they were here. I was shocked to find there wasn’t even a self-pay box with a self-guided tour brochure at this great monument.

 
Slowly, I put two and two together and realized, this must not be a National Park…it must be a State Park. That would explain everything.


The lack of a park ranger was not going to inhibit my excitment.  I (cautiously) got out of the car and approached the pyramids. I didn’t want to disturb any wildlife that might have relocated to the pyramids for the winter.  As I neared the pyramids; I noticed the grains of sand used to build these particular pyramids were HUGE. I’ve been on lots of beaches and played in my share of sandboxes, but this was a very different type of sand.

Tomorrow is the last day to enter my three wishes contest. Follow the link and perhaps you’ll be one of the winners.