Metal Detecting

I received one of the coolest gifts ever this Christmas, a metal detector from my parents (the coolest Christmas gift was my niece Jill a few days before in 2005). I have logged several hours with it now and am becoming more comfortable. I have spent most of the time in my parents yard, but have also briefly been to frisbee field in Cherokee Park and up around Hogan's Fountain. So far I have found exactly a dollar in change. My first find was a 1977 quarter in my parents backyard (pictured below). I also found a 1926 wheat penny back there, too. Besides coins, I have found to chunks of metal I want to identify before I discard, a wing of a toy airplane, a McGregor jacket zipper, two metal toy cars. I plan on keeping the blog updated on my various finds with more pictures to come.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

UK Basketball

For anyone who reads this blog and is a big UK Wildcat fan or is just plain dumbfounded by the reaction of some UK fans to the current basketball season, let me be the voice of reason.

• Tubby Smith is a good basketball coach. However, he was never going to keep UK at the Top 10 level. Top 25, maybe.
• Gillispie is not playing with the same guys Tubby had last year. Morris is gone, Meeks has been hurt & Jasper has not played a game this season and probably won't.
• Our 2 star seniors are mediocre to good.
• One of our best Freshmen and "future stars" elected to transfer6 games into the season.
• Our best player, and freshman, Patrick Patterson did not play against Houston due to an ankle injury.
• Our best players off the bench are Jared Carter, Perry Stevenson & Michael Porter!!! You can't win alot of games with that.
• With that being said...it is still disappointing so far, but anyone who understands the game won't panick until 2 or 3 years from now if things haven't improved.
• I predict Kentucky will play much better this year if they can get a full healthy starting 5 in Bradley, Crawford, Meeks, Jasper & Patterson.
• Gillispie will have several Top teams in the next 5-8 years. Just be patient.

Know Your Local Geology!!! The Tabler Quartet

Mark & Kim's house also lies atop Louisville Limestone from the Middle Silurian. However, just off to the east you will find Waldron Shale indicated by the narrow gray strip & Laurel Dolomite (pink). Both of these are also Middle Silurian. The orange is the Drakes Formation (Upper Ordivician). The small brown area east of Edgeland Road is fill. I am curious to know what the fill is...gravel?

"Drakes Formation (0d).-The Drakes Formation consists of four members: Rowland, Preachersville, Bardstown, and Saluda Dolomite Members. The Rowland and Preachersville occur in the eastern part of the Outer Bluegrass region, and the Rowland, Bardstown, and Saluda occur on the west side. The Drakes Formation is composed of dolomite, limestone, mudstone, and shale. Dolomite, dolomitic limestone, and mudstone are most abundant and are commonly composed of silt-sized grains, are sparsely fossiliferous or unfossiliferous, partly laminated, and locally mud cracked and ripple marked. The Bardstown Member, which makes up only a small part of the total Drakes, is composed of fossiliferous limestone in irregular or nodular beds thinly interbedded with fossiliferous or sparsely fossiliferous shale. The Drakes Formation generally ranges in thickness from 20 to 150 ft. In south-central Kentucky, it is locally cut out by the unconformity at the base of the Devonian rocks."

Know Your Local Geology!!! The J-Town Foundation

This is a map of our neighborhood in J-Town just off I-64 & Hurstbourne. Though fairly boring, the interesting thing about this is our apartment lies right on the edge of Sellersburg/Jeffersonville Limestones(Middle Devonian) indicated by the dark blue and Louisville Limestone(Middle Silurian) indicated by the light blue. Obviously with all the development and parking lots, you cannot notice anything. But I imagine if you were to follow the contact boundary, you would find signs somewhere in the region.

Know Your Local Geology!!! The Highlands/Tyler Park

Here is my Mom & Pop's neck of the woods. I never really thought about the change in elevation surrounding my parents house until now. I just saw the backyard as a great sledding hill and the street provided hours of vehicular entertainment during snow and ice storms. Now, I get to see a map of "what gives?" Our street sits atop Sellersburg and Jeffersonville Limestones(Middle Devonian - Upper Devonian), but just to the south, overlooking Tyler Park, you see Louisville Limestone(Middle Silurian). This would be the steep cut we see in the alley behind the house (when I think of all the times I slid down that hill, I never realized I was falling back in time!!!). Once you get to Castlewood, you have entered Lacustrine deposits from the Wisconsinan-Quaternary period. Knowing this, I can now picture a huge lake engulfing Tyler Park and across the lake you could yell to people who live up on Summit Avenue. I never realized my parents owned lake front property.

Know Your Local Geology!!! Nelson Co.

Having driven Hwy 245 between I-65 & Bardstown on numerous occasions, I have become interested in the noticeable change between Limestone and Shale in the road cuts as you enter into Nelson Co. I have decided to compare the local underlying geology of the places our families live. This is a map of Tom & Peggy's neighborhood just outside of Bardstown. Their respective neighborhood lies atop New Albany Shale and Beechwood Limestone (member of Sellersburg Limestone). This was deposited between the Middle Devonian & Upper Devonian slot on the Geologic Time Scale. The surrounding area in purple is Laurel Dolomite located in the Middle Silurian time frame. The hills to the west, plainly seen from their home is the Borden Formation(Lower Mississippian) which is more erosion resistant Limestone and part of the same series of formations of Muldraugh Hill near Ft. Knox.

More to come...

2007 RedsFest

This past Friday & Saturday, three co-workers and myself stayed in Cincinnati to work RedsFest at the Duke Energy Center. We had a booth set up with ticket and All-Star Game information. We also sold ASG hats, baseball cards and game worn jerseys. It was fairly successful and we had plenty of interest. The event was huge. Numerous vendors and sponsors were set up as well as interactive games and simulations for kids and adults. The biggest draw of course was the autograph sessions. Thousands of people lined up through the mazes of pipe and drape with memorabilia in hand. Each day when the doors opened, it was a stampede of red & black, baseball bats, duffle bags, memorabilia and over-weight guys in Barry Larkin jerseys as fans of all sorts sprinted for the head of the line. The Reds new manager Dusty Baker, Marty & Thom Brennaman (radio), Wayne Krivsky(GM) and numerous other current Reds were on hand to answer questions from fans. I also saw George Foster at a booth signing autographs for charity. I wish I would have had the George Foster bat Mark, Kevin, Steve & I had when we were little. I think we still have one in mom and dad's basement.The event was done very well. The displays were very interesting and the memorabilia stores would make and sport fan nostalgic (my favorite was a big framed picture of Nolan Ryan holding Robin Ventura in a headlock punching him in the face, signed by Nolan Ryan). I will always be a St. Louis Cardinal fan, but this event made me realize how much I used to love the Reds. I think it has rekindled some of my fanhood.

Think Snow...or Else!

Think Snow!!!!

Well, it's almost mid-December and I have not personally seen a single snowflake. I think perhaps the snow gods were miffed because the leaves stayed on the trees so long this year due to the draught. Just like Calvin & Hobbes, we must appease them. So...do your part. Burn some leaves or do a snow dance. Go dismantle a snow plow or poor cement into a salt truck's dispenser! Think snow!!!I find it odd that Calvin's parents sort of look like my parents...hmmmmm.

Colorado Pictures (1998, 2000)

These are some of the pictures I had from Colorado when Jeff, Adam and I went out there. I put them to The Mountains Win Again & Escaping by Blues Traveler. They have been my favorite band since I first heard them while living in Colorado. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I guess I associate them with the Rockies. One of my friends at the YMCA of the Rockies (where I worked) was a big fan. I had heard of them, but never listened to them. I saw them on SNL while out there (we only received 2 stations) and a week later we went to see them in Denver at the Paramount Theater. We bought standing room tickets for $20 right in front of the stage. This is when John Popper was ginormous and all the original band members were still alive. They are still great in my opinion and John Popper's solo stuff is pretty swanky.