All about me and the rocks (and the Tiger)…

I started collecting minerals when I was about 8 years old.  We lived on a farm, and the driveway was composed of gravel which had lots of small bits of colorful transparent and translucent material which I thought might be gems.  In reality, the gravel had been contaminated with small pieces of glass which had been naturally “tumbled” during processing, but that explanation never occurred to me at the time.  My Dad, hoping to get me interested in science, analyzed my glass “gemstones” and bought me a mineralogy text.  For next few years we spent many weekends collecting rocks with a local club.  He even helped me with a high school science project displaying fluorescent minerals under both longwave and shortwave UV – in 1958!  If my Dad hadn’t nurtured that curiosity about our farm’s “gemstone” driveway, I’d probably be collecting coins or stamps – Thanks Dad!!

Over the years my interest in the hobby has waxed and waned, with family, work, and other hobbies pushing collecting into a minor role in my life; however, I never could completely clear rocks out of my head (or my basement!).  When I retired from the corporate world, the kids out of the nest, I decided to start collecting again.  However, as the collection grew, more and more space was subtracted from that available – hence the need to reduce the pile by a ton or two!

I’ve been retired since May 2000, and I’ve had a lot of fun with this endeavor!  For the past 26years (as of  2026), I’ve been combining mineral collecting, photography, the internet, and woodworking, trying to enhance and organize my collection (hopefully without digging into any retirement funds!).  Two large lighted display cabinets now house some of my “top-shelf” specimens, at least the ones which fit on a shelf. The remainder of my collection (somewhat over 1000 specimens) will be given away, traded with other collectors, or sold via eBay or this website (as I find the time and energy to handle the photography and logistics).

The best part of this hobby is that I’ve met many new friends – customers, fellow collectors, and dealers – both in person and on the internet.   As far as my free time, I’ve spent somewhere between 0 and 10 hours per day (the low estimate is mine, the higher one my wife’s) with my rocks, camera,  computer, and eBay ; I’m not sure how “productive” I’ve been, but at least it reduces the hobby’s costs, and it sure beats “working”….

Those of you who’ve explored my site in the past know that there used to be a few pictures of my grandchildren here – I’ve decided that any and all family pictures should probably be located in a more secure spot.  The reason: I built this website in late 2000, and the internet was a lot friendlier then than now.   Going forward, I’m going to limit this site to pictures of rocks (with the exception of the picture below).

Finally, to answer an often-asked question:  yes, I did own a Tiger – but it was the four-wheeled kind, not four-footed (pic below)…  And I sold it  a few years ago – when I had my knee replaced, I found I was no longer able to operate the clutch (not enough room under the steering wheel)!  I still needed a toy of course (boys will be boys…), so I bought an old BMW 323i, which was actually a lot quicker than the Tiger (33 years younger!), and had more room for the driver (that would be me) to operate the clutch…  But alas, time marches on – I recently decided to sell the Beemer (I wasn’t driving it much anyway).  And finally, no, I’m not going to change my email or handle…