6/25/13: Life grinds on with the coin club.... I met a guy there who is beginning to divest himself of his coins as he is moving in a different direction... Hot Wheels/Matchbox cars... I have a bunch of them still in the box and hopefully, as I no longer collect them, we can get together and do some horse trading that will benefit us both!! More info as this unfolds!!

5/7/13: Things have been fairly quiet lately, I was elected to the position of Membership Officer. Jane still attends the meetings after her religious education classes, what we older folks called catechism back in the day!!, and her mother or I will pick her up and bring her to the Coin Club afterwards.  Her mother brings her home right after the auction so she can get to bed at a decent hour as it is a school night and she gets to tell her mom about everything that has happened at the meeting as well as anything that she bought. She's a dog lover and if she finds coins or stamps with dogs on them she is there to buy if she can!!! I get to stay and clean up after the meeting ends!! OH BOY !!  :~/

9/17/12: Jane gave her 2nd and final report at the Titusville Coin Club, having completed her Jefferson nickel album, and reporting on it to the club members, she has graduated as a full-fledged YN and was given a Presidential Coin album to fill and keep. she is still YN, but doesn't have to give reports every meeting anymore. She is a runner for the auctions and earns club bucks which she can use at any vendor at our club meeting and in the auction too for any purchase she wants to make. <very proud Dad-Ohs!>

I picked up a 1962-D Franklin Half-Dollar in really good condition...also very cool!

9/18/12: was gong through a roll of pennies from Walgreen's and found a 1996 Peruvian Nickel, 5 centimos to be exact!! very cool.

11/20/12: Jane was working the monthly auction as a runner, for which she earns youth bucks which she can spend on anything for sale in the club or in the auction, which is what she did tonight... she purchased a penny and a 2 penny from Haiti, both from the 1800's and she is totally psyched to have been able to purchase the coins for her collection!!! She was skipping around the room when the hammer went down and she got them.

9/5/12; was going through some rolled pennies from the bank, TD  Bank re-rolls their pennies instead of buying from the mint, and I found 5 40's era Wheat pennies, 3 Canadian pennies, and a 1980 Netherlands 5g coin, just shows you never know what you will find when checking your coins.

8/29/12; Finished my first batch of rocks,  about half of them came out really nice the sapphires didn't come out well, they still have a coating of matrix on them, going to re-tumble them for a couple weeks on medium grit to see what happens. Will post pics of the good stuff soon as I can. The pet wood is really nice looking along with a piece of Labradorite, my new fave rock to tumble!!

9/3/12; Found an interesting website/forum to join, Rock Tumblers Hobby, you can click their link at the bottom of this page. It's full of friendly people and years of advice & knowledge for the new rock hound.... like me!!

11/26/12; Just finished my first batch of mixed Montana & Lake Superior Agates (aquarium to 1 inch in size) and they only took 8&1/2 weeks to complete, with a lot of trial and error... Special thanks to the great people at RTH forum for all the help with tumbling. You should check out the forum, really great people with tons of info available!! Banner at bottom of page.

4/22/13: I just got a delivery of stone from The Gem Shop .com and I love the material.... wild mustang picture jasper  & Salvia purple agate which is a translucent stone with a purple cast to it... cuts nice and looked so nice in the picture I had to get some to try!! I recommend them to anyone looking for rough!! Good prices and fast shipping with great quality!!!

5/7/13: Things  have been moving along pretty quickly with the rock hounding... I've tumbled the following stones with success... Labradorite, Royal Blue Sodalite, Lake Superior & Montana Agates, Quartz (Clear & Rose), Bahia & Inca Agates, as well as some Dalmatian Jasper. I have begun looking for new stones to tumble and have so far found 4 more varieties to try once I purchase them. (I buy in 5 pound minimum quantities so I can use my big tumbler, QT66) I have also begun taking cabochon making classes as well as wire wrapping to give me more things to do with the rocks we collect!! I am really enjoying it a lot!!

Jane has begun to learn to use the trim saw to cut small stones and trim slabs for me. she was thrilled to be able to cut her 1st piece with out me looking over her shoulder the whole time.