Cohabitating.

     It’s been one year since my girlfriend moved in.  I realized, when it first happened, that I had been living alone, for so long, I had forgotten how to live with someone else.  I’m not saying it was good or bad, just different.  In the last year, my man cave has been slowly transforming.  The design edges aren’t as rough.  There is a cat litter box in the kitchen, women’s underwear in the bedroom and enough hair care products in the shower to have a ‘My Little Pony’ party.

     The initial move was tough.  People don’t understand how small 980 sq. ft. is and my girlfriend was no exception.  After bringing in countless pieces of furniture, chachka and the like, she quickly realized that she would need to trim down significantly.  Even with my minimalistic life style, most of the space was already filled.  Large amounts of compromise happened over the little amount of space.

     The Co-op has by no means been transformed into a finished product.  It is still a work in progress.  The difference now is that things have to be a joint decision and not a unilateral whim.  The good news is that if I plummet to my death, off of the ladder of doom while putting something in the attic, my lifeless body won’t be lying at the bottom of the steps waiting for my neighbors to call the police because of the smell of decomposing flesh.

 

70 Million Years in the Making.

     R., the girls, and I have taken up the hobby of fossil hunting.  Yeah, I know what you are thinking, ‘Fossil hunting in NJ?’.  Ironically, the first dinosaur for exhibit in the United States was found in NJ in the 1800s.  It was a Hadrosaur (Named for Haddonfield, NJ).   

     Our journey into fossil hunting started because I saw a preserve on the way to a golf outing.  I couldn’t remember the name when I got home, so I searched for preserves in the area and found a place named Big Brook. 

     That weekend the kids and I jumped into the car to do some recon.  Arriving at the preserve, we could see the trails leading to the water and heard the sloshing of screens and sifters. Running into a young man dressed like Indiana Jones, we found out that everything from sharks teeth to dinosaur bones could be found at the location.  Feeling silly, that we did not bring any gear, we decided to come back the next day with R.

     The following day was sunny.  Armed with our water shoes and dollar store colanders, we arrived at the water.  When I was younger I did some shark tooth hunting at Sharks River Park but it left me ill prepared for Big Brook.  We stepped into the cold rushing water and found what we thought was a decent spot.  Immediately we began to pull up interesting rocks and pieces of ancient sharks’ teeth.

Within fifteen minutes of arriving, we found our first whole shark tooth.  It was awesome.  We started finding fossilized squid, brachiopods and other goodies.  All of us were excited about our finds.  We each picked our favorite five (Park regulates amount of fossils taken to five per person) and left.

      As excited as R, and I were, the kids were interested enough, that they wanted to go back a few days later.  Again, we were amazed at the items that we pulled up from the underbelly of the currents.  We even got to see an ancient clam bed on a river wall.

      It was time for a kid project, so we headed off to A.C. Moore to pick up a shadow box and some stickers to create a display of our newly found treasures.

      Looking at the shadow box now, we kind of laugh.  Since then, we have purchased some real sifting screens and trowels.  We have found several more fossil hunting locations and have sifted perfect shark teeth, shells, jaws, spines, vertebrae, Brachiopods and even an early dear skull.  We’ve also met many interesting people and have learned much about the items we have collected.

     Of all the treasures we have found in the river, the best was a hobby the whole family enjoys and it was only 70,000,000 years in the making.

Creative Thursday - Self Portrait in a Mermaid's Purse and Praying to Hatch

Self Portrait in a Mermaids Purse.

Praying to Hatch