Grand Sable Dunes hike

This past Sunday I went hiking with Jamey and Lois.  Our original intent was to hike from Sable Lake to Lake Superior and back.  However, as we made decisions during our hike, we ended up in the northeast corner of the dunes.  So we decided to head for the bridge across the river near Sable Falls and then we hiked back the trail along the river to Sable Visitors Center and back the road to Sable Lake.

We decided to hike the dunes because there was enough wind in the dunes to keep the bugs down.  It was a beautiful evening.

While walking over to the dunes, Jamey found a snake that had been run over.

There are wild flowers in the dunes -- everywhere.

A couple of old telegraph poles....

Notice the blue light.  Is it a UFO or a reflection off the lens?

Notice Jamey up on the dune....

Along the way we found and feasted on wild strawberries.  I didn't eat much that day so as we climbed up and down several dunes, I think I really needed the energy we got from eating these small, but very sweet treats.

Sunset...

All About Supermoons and New Agate Hunting DVD

A supermoon happens when there is either a full moon or a new moon that happens at the same time that the moon is closest to the Earth.  As everyone knows, the moon's orbit around the Earth is not totally circular.  It is elliptical. The closest the moon comes to earth is 225,623 miles (363,104 kilometers). The farthest away it gets is 252,088 miles (405,696 km) from Earth. On average, the distance from Earth to the moon is about 238,855 miles (384,400 km). However, the moon is moving away from Earth about 1.5 inches (4 cm) per year.  Last night the moon was 225,623 miles from earth.

The result is that the moon appears and is in fact larger when seen from earth.  The moon will not be so close again until August 10, 2014. Supermoons occur about once every 14 full moons in a full moon cycle.

Superrmoons appear around 14 percent bigger and 13 percent brighter.

 

 

 

Below are the pictures I took last night from Sable Lake.  I was heading off to bed when I noticed that I could see the moon through the trees.  Even though it was late, I jumped in the car and drove over to Sable Lake to get a few pictures.  It was partly cloudy, but the brighter moon was able to shine its way through the clouds.

 

 

Today I'll announce to those who do not know that I am in the process of producing a new DVD.  When I started this project three or four weeks ago, I thought that all I had to do was to convert the information and graphics included in segment 2E of the Online Rockhounding Adventures.  It is not quite that easy. 

The DVD is about how to find Lake Superior agates.  During the 15 years that I've operated the Gitche Gumee Agate Museum, I have helped thousands of people learn how to find agates.  Information has been relayed via books, lectures, classes, the new Online Rockhounding Adventures, and interactions with museum visitors.  One thing is clear: people learn more effectively with visual teaching methods rather than the written word.  The DVD uses pictures to train your eyes and your brain to recognize agates.  Most beginning agate hunters try too hard -- while on the beach they attempt to look at every single rock.  The net result is that they get visually burned out and end up spending too much time picking up pretty rocks.  This method does allow you to occasionally find agates, but it is not the most efficient hunting method.  Instead, you should scan the beach for agate characteristics and let the agates find you.  The DVD will feature close up pictures of what rough agates look like as well as several series of pictures of rocks on the beach wherein the only thing moving in the pictures are the agates.  This visual method demonstrates not only what rough agates look like, but also how they really do look different than regular beach rocks.

I am about half done and so far the movie has 362 slides.  It is taking longer than expected because I am going to narrate the DVD.  Once the project is done, I will have DVDs for sale at the museum, on the webpage, on Amazon and Barnes and Nobel web sites, and at other retail outlets.  I will also publish it to the Online Rockhounding Adventures in the movie format.   It is not interactive like the other segments, but it will be viewable on all portable devices.  All those who purchase Adventure 2 will have access to this version of segment 2E.

I no longer estimate when I'll finish these projects.  I've never produced a DVD before, so I don't know how much time it will take to finish adding the graphics, add the narration, and adjust the timing of all the slides to match the narration.  Keep watching this blog and I'll let you know when the DVD is available.  I am hoping, however, to complete the project in the next few weeks.

CITES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon
http://www.metahistory.org/images/moonorbit.gif
http://www.space.com/18145-how-far-is-the-moon.html

Lake Superior Beach and Garden Progress

For the first time in a few weeks we had rain in Grand Marais yesterday.  Everything has been so dry, so the ecosystem really appreciated it. 

The other day a family hired me to conduct my regular rockhounding class.  A good time was had by all.

When most people agate hunt on the beach, they usually look at the rows of rock at the high water mark.  One of the class participants found a seam agate in the layer of rock exposed in the mini-bluff up the beach.

 

 

Friends, Jamey and Lois, are splitting my garden with me.  Given my schedule, it helps to have two other sets of hands.  Since I didn't have a garden last year, we had to clean up two years worth of weeds.  While working, I must admit that the mosquitoes were worse than I have ever seen.  Bug hats and/or bug shirts were a must.   We found out while sitting in my sun porch that the mosquitoes as well as a few bees were getting in the porch.  Some probably entered the porch when we were going in and out, but we discovered they were also coming in the air vents that run the length of the eaves.  Below is a picture of a collection of bugs Jamey killed while we were sitting in the sun porch.

Here are a few photos of the garden beds after we finished weeding.

 

Here are a few pictures of the garden after two weeks of growth.  In the first photo below you can see peppers and pole beans.

In the south bed we have tomatoes, peas, pumpkin, butternut squash, zucchini, pickling cucumbers, lettuce, carrots, parsley, celery, radishes, thyme, and dill.

The east bed is dedicated to tomatoes.  We hope it is warm enough this summer for them to ripen.

The pole beans are coming up!

The tomatoes have some flowers starting...

The iris in my yard are in bloom...

...and the rose bushes are growing like crazy.

Madagascar and its Minerals

Many of those who have visited the Gitche Gumee Museum know that in addition to local rocks and minerals, I feature minerals from all over the world.   Three of the most popular minerals I sell are from Madagascar.  These include Ocean Jasper, which was introduced to the world at the Tuscon show in 2000. This mineral is a variety of jasper which contains variably-colored orbs or spherical inclusions or zones.  Ocean Jasper formed in highly silicified volcanic rhyolite or tuff when quartz and feldspar molecules developed in radial aggregates of needle-like crystals which provided the basis or seed for the orbicular structure seen in this kind of jasper.  Ocean Jasper was found in only one place in the world, a site along the northwest coast of the African island Madagascar. The location which held the Madagascar ocean jasper was only reached by boat when the tide was low.  Unfortunately, the deposit was quite small and has been mined out since 2006.

The pictures below I took at the Tuscon show:

 

After the deposit of Ocean Jasper was mined out, the mining companies scrambled and looked for more deposits.  They did not find any more Ocean Jasper, but they did find a brand new mineral called Polychrome Jasper. 

 

 

More recently another mineral has been found in Madagascar.  There is a special variety of labadorite called spectralite.  It has more "flash" than labadorite that is exhibited in a wide variety of color.  Previously, most of the spectralite was from Finland.  Unlike ocean jasper and polychrome that is found in the northern part of Madagascar, the spectralite deposit is in the center of the island.

 

 

 

Madagascar and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the southeastern coast of Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world), as well as numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90 percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. Unfortunately, the island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population.

 

Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BC and 550 AD by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo. These were joined around 1000 CE by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into eighteen or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands.  The main ethnic groups are:

 

26% Merina

15% Betsimisaraka

12% Betsileo

7% Tsimihety

6% Sakalava

5% Antaisaka

5% Antandroy

24% French and others



Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting socio-political alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles. The monarchy collapsed in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island regained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, termed Republics. Since 1992 the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo. However, in a popular uprising in 2009 the last elected president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign and presidential power was transferred in March 2009 to Andry Rajoelina in a move widely viewed by the international community as a coup d'état.

In 2012, the population of Madagascar was estimated at just over 22 million, 90 percent of whom live on less than two dollars per day. Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state.

Other Madagascar facts:

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, approximately 226,656 square miles (587,040 square kilometers). The only larger islands are Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo.

Madagascar has two seasons, a hot rainy season which starts in November and last until April and a cooler dry season which starts in May and last until October.

One of the most interesting Madagascar facts listed here is that almost all OF the animal and plant species found on the island are unique to the island. These plants and animals have evolved into some of the oddest forms found on earth.

There is a tropical rain forest on the eastern side of the island.

The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo. It is also the islands most populated city.

Madagascar is a poor country. The people face many problems including malnutrition, poor health care, and a poor educational system.

The island has a narrow coastal plain which gets higher as it gets inland. In the center of the island are mountains.  The islands highest mountain is Maromokotro. It is 2,876 meters high (9,435 feet).

Most of the population (52%) maintain their indigenous religious beliefs, 41% are Christian, and 7% are Islam.

Millions of years ago Madagascar was part of the African continent. Over time it broke away and reached the location it is in now (approximately two million years ago).

Madagascar has lost approximately ninety percent of its original forest land since humans arrived on the island about two thousand years ago.

Madagascar was home to the largest bird in the world, the elephant bird, until it became extinct in the 17th century. It is believed to have been over ten feet tall (3 meters).

 

 

CITE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar
http://interesting-africa-facts.com/Africa-Landforms/Interesting-Madagascar-Facts.html
http://imgc.artprintimages.com/images/art-print/ostrich-struthio-camelus-and-elephant-bird-aepyornis-with-a-man-and-hen-in-a-row_i-G-49-4916-5VW9G00Z.jpg
http://abcnews.go.com/images/US/gty_elephant_bird_egg_mi_130328_wblog.jpg