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On my way to Rye Patch last Thursday morning about 1:17 AM I was on 395 and observed a meteor or 'fireball event' that was just incredible. I now see that there is a video that does not do it justice. Before I put a link to that video and those reports let me tell you what I saw and how I reported it. This is what I saw: About 20 minutes north of Ridgecrest on 395 I had just gotten out of my car. As soon as I opened the door I could see it coming. It was several objects burning in the sky with 6-7 separate streaks. It was a dark night and no moon. It was perfectly clear where I was and I thought I was just looking at a huge screen TV. The height seemed to be that of a commercial jet but this was much larger. It didn't remind me so much of a meteor as it did space junk. I guess we'll find out more about that later. It was just a coincidence that I stop at this particular time and place. I probably would not have seen it or I would not have seen as much of it if I was still in the 4Runner. Most of my report is in the report itself. So, what do you do when you see an 'event' of your own? Well, I drove all night to go looking for some gold at Rye Patch so that is what I did. That night I had to sleep. The next night I had a chance to get on the computer and ask the question 'What was that?' Where do you go, what do you do online to report something? As it turns out you go to REPORT A FIREBALL at the American Meteor Society. https://www.amsmeteors.org/ When you get there you can click on Report a Fireball. You will get asked a series of questions to describe what you saw in a technical way that will let the software develop a map of the event as you and hopefully many others saw it. You can upload pictures and video. You can also search for events from all over the world. So, I reported and I didn't see my report with the others. As it turned out there is a pending report file and if you don't state it as they are compiling it then your report will not be added. I now knew my event number was 4094 so I edited my report and it was added to the 29 others and still counting. It was a very, very neat experience. The video now posted on YouTube is only 1/100th of what I saw. I had better than a front row seat. I was in the middle and there were no heads or clouds in my way! Here is the report link: https://www.amsmeteors.org/members/imo_view/event/2018/4094 Here is the video: https://www.amsmeteors.org/videos/?video_id=1445 Mitchel

This is why we dont play around mine shafts kids!. Tom H.

Glad it wasn't deeper and/or longer; almost looks like a baby's butt

He will be glad to know that, Tom. Jerry is a heck of a nice guy, my friend and I hate to see this happen to him. Grubstake

Dern! Will be praying for him to get over this. Not a fun thing to have. Tom H.

I went out with my toddler yesterday to get some carving wood. We wound up at an old haunt we used to go to years ago. We hit the jackpot on crinoid fossils and I found a sweet fluorite crystal with some awesome purple colors. My son found a half bucket full of those hairlip barnacles but I only found a couple. We got a lot of nice lavender and purple fluorite pieces suitable for shaping and polishing too. The photo does not do it justice. There are some really nice purple inclusions in these crystals.

Sounds like you have been a hard working man for many years. I think it's great you used your talents to get you to a place where you have some peace of mind, and room for Christmas with family! You have paid your dues my brother, may you spend the rest of your holidays with whoever you wish. I love that phrase of yours.... Life is short. Do what makes you art a lot.

Sorry I couldnt post a link in the post. Thank you AU Seeker.

Yes, He needs prayers if you pray, this is a really rare thing, and if its not brought under control, you just stop breathing in your sleep. Its treatable, but not cureable. He is in the hospital, Emanuel in Turlock Ca. Grubstake

I thought it might be interesting to share here the journey of helping my friend Fred get an iron meteorite classified. I posted this on another forum, but thought some folks here may get something out of it as well. Items quoted in italics are direct excerpts from emails written by the parties as indicated. _____________________________________________________ In 2013, with the assistance of Geoff Notkin, Fred's iron was sent to Dr. Laurence Garvie at ASU for analysis. I don't have an exact date, but as is often the case with meteorites it can take a long time to have them studied. A year passed, and in May of 2014 we all followed up with ASU to see if they had time to look at the iron yet. By the end of June 2014, Dr. Garvie informed us that he had sent a small piece to Dr. John Wasson at UCLA for INAA analysis. Dr. Wasson only runs a few INAA studies a year, and each study takes about 4 four months to complete (two irradiation sessions and two weeks data acquisition). In July of 2014 Dr. Garvie wrote that the INAA run was scheduled for August, and that he had "...etched a small end piece and am now not so sure that it looks like a Campo. I’ll see if I can snap a picture soon and send it out. I may even be seeing a heat affected rim around one edge -which would imply the stone is fairly fresh. If I use my imagination, I even think I see some patches of fusion crust." Unfortunately, Dr. Wasson receives several "new irons" every year that turn out to not be so new, but rather someone trying to pass something off as a new discovery. By November of 2015 the iron had still not been analyzed, so I contacted Dr. Garvie and asked if he could return the iron so that we could pursue other avenues to have it studied. The iron was sent back to me in December 2015. I reached out directly to Dr. Wasson and learned that he had actually analyzed the first sample and had asked Dr. Garvie for a second sample, which was sent to him by ASU at the same time the entire mass was sent back to me. Dr. Wasson had other irons with priority for his INAA runs, but he informed me that he did intend to further analyze the samples in March or April of 2016. He also asked Fred to provide the accounts of the iron's discovery, it's total mass, and other pertinent information. On May 23, 2016, Dr. Wasson was finilizing the INAA data acquisition and the results were indicating similar composition to Campo del Cielo, however, he noted that there were "...hints of small differences" and asked me to send one more sample for a follow up analysis to be performed in the next INAA run set for spring of 2017. I sent the mass to Montana Meteorite Laboratory to have a sample of clean iron with no inclusions or weathering products prepared for Dr. Wasson. We also had several slices of the meteorite prepared, as well as a type specimen to be donated upon conclusion of the classification process (a picture of these pieces is included at the bottom of this post). Below is a picture of the final sample sent to Dr. Wasson for analysis: On May 25, 2017 I received the following email from Dr. Wasson: "Michael I have the data. I haven’t yet fully digested it, but I will try to do that on the weekend and then prepare a note for you and Fred. The bad news is that, like the first data, the composition seems to fall within the range of Campo irons. This means it will take additional work to show that it is worthy of a name. I’ll write you soon. John" The results of the INAA analysis are presented below: Cr Co Ni Cu Ga As Ru Sb W Re Os Ir Pt Au µg/g mg/g mg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g ng/g µg/g ng/g µg/g µg/g µg/g µg/g Bart iron 11 4.49 65.3 157 88.5 11.0 6.6 255 1.22 446 4.9 4.13 7.5 1.468 Bart iron 25 4.46 67.4 111 90.7 11.1 6.8 339 1.28 382 5.1 4.08 8.8 1.446 Bart iron 18 4.48 66.4 134 89.6 11.0 6.7 297 1.25 414 5.0 4.10 8.2 1.457 While these results also showed a strong similarity to the Campo iron, Fred's account of this iron's discovery was reasonable and substantiated by other parties, so the wheels of science ground on. I was contacted again by Dr. Wasson a year later on June 18, 2018. He was preparing a paper on iron meteorites with similar compositions to Campo del Cielo and he was including Fred's iron in his study. In order to be included in scientific literature the iron must be recognized with an official name in the MetBull. I received an email from Jérôme Gattacceca, Editor of the Meteoritical Bulletin of the Meteoritical Cosiety, on June 21, 2018, informing me that Fred's iron was before the Nomenclature Committee and they were considering a Nova number for it unless we could provide a precise account on how the meteorite was found. I sent Mr. Gattacceca Fred's story of how he came to be in possession of the iron and assured him that a type specimen would be donated to UCLA. On June 22nd the vote was opened by the Nomenclature Committee to decide between a Nova number or Elmore County. On June 30, 2018, the meteorite was approved and entered in MetBull 107 with its official name: Elmore County https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=67626. On July 2, 2018 I hand delivered the type specimen to Dr. Wasson at his office at UCLA.

Bummer :-(

Back from GB. Lots of trash, little screws, nails and bb's...no gold....the cans that was laying round this area had some solder dots on them....I could tell I was not the first one there, lots of unfilled holes....not as many now. Had lots of fun and will go again , got run off by the wind picking up.

We have manzanita and mahogany at altitude and I use it a lot! Some of those old twisted pieces don't need anything to make them look awesome. ----- I have always held a steady job and it drove me nuts. I have PTSD and not having any personal time off drove me crazy. I went over 20 years with only weekends off and my last job I would work 40-50 days in a row every day without comp time or flex time. I could put in 50 hours in a week and have 20 days on duty and the college where I worked (NMSU) would demand I take 15 minutes of sick leave to have lunch with my mother off-campus. The faculty there got 11 days off for Christmas Break but I worked every day and Christmas eve too. I worked every single holiday and about 2/3 of the weekends and could not get them to consider allowing me comp days off for the weekends and holidays I had to work. I was sick of getting up every day and going to that deserted campus to sit and fiddle away my weekends while my boss made six figures and showed up three days a week. I could not make ends meet working 50-60 hours a week at a professional job and I was very unhappy. One day I decided that I was going to do what I was good at or starve to death trying. I cashed in my retirement fund, built a studio and put together some tools. I can hardly rub two nickels together today and I still work 50 hours a week but I am doing what I want to do. And I don't have to ask permission and take sick leave when I need to go to the bank or get a haircut. I may very well starve to death but it will be on my terms. I worked for myself when I was a young man raising my son and I was really happy. I built custom homes and ran a carpentry crew. I simply did not have time to meet someone else's schedule being a single parent so I had to work for myself. I could not find work that would allow me the schedule flexibility that raising a child demanded. So I started my own construction business and hired people to do most of the work. When my son was old enough to go to school I thought I was supposed to go to work at a job and make a living. That was just a fairy tale. I worked but I never could make a living. Everyone around me got comfortable on my sweat and I went home to a shack with a few sheckles. Today I sell everything I make and people tell me how talented I am rather than how much personal time I am going to have to give up. Folks are amazed at what I create and they smile. 1/3 of my work days are spent in the desert and 2/3 are spent in my studio sawing, sculpting and hammering. One day a week I spend at our fantastic local crafts market meeting smiling people and talking about happy things that bring joy. I have not had a bad day yet since I decided to be an artist. I have spent zero time answering to some corporate ass kisser who is only concerned about their 401K and how many days they have left until they retire comfortably. Now I have time off and can spend an afternoon with my elderly mother and don't have to ask permission and give up my vacation time to do it. I can hunt with my son and don't have to work 40 days in a row to get the time off. And this year for the first time in my life I am going with the family for Christmas for four days to a mountain cabin near Greer Az. to relax and enjoy the holidays. It will be the very first Christmas that I did not have to work in about 4 years. The very first Christmas EVER that I did not have to give up vacation time or sick leave to go with family. Life is short. Do what makes you art a lot.

Too old to worry about scars. Between, hernia repair, rotator cuff surgery with three titanium pigtails, elbow surgery where they cut the head of the radial bone off, three titanium pins in my hip. Hell I'm good to go! That's all minor stuff compared to some of our compadre's that have had open heart surgery and by-pass surgery. I feel darn lucky that all the stuff I have had done was just day surgery stuff. Doc

Boy that is healing nicely Doc. You could always say that you were in a bar fight but you should see the other guy. Leave old Lizzy alone, she's Trump's pecking partner. Old Tom

Glad to see that both Fred and the specimen endured, and survived the classification process. Though it takes years unless you have juice, it is the right thing to do, and encourages some of us to submit cold finds that we are sitting on, even though that process can be quite trying. I would like to see investment and creation of a non-university, private lab, staffed by a salaried meteoriticist, with a "Dean Bessey" turn-around time ( us old guys remember). I am sure that the volume that would flow to the lab would keep the cost to the submitters low, while paying the staff much better than any university, without cutting into the action of the usual sacred cows that seem to gobble up the bulk of researcher's time and budgets at the usual venues. Let's take the steps to foster meteorite science in our own country, and expand our efforts to bring American finds out of the shadows, and get them classified. Congrats to Fred, and big thanks to Michael and all that made this classification possible. Ben

I don't know, it looks like slag to me...……………… just kidding, patience and perseverance! fred

bob, Meteorites are not real unless science says they are. And yours are obviously not real. Science has clearly spoken. Our opinions here are backed up by every expert opinion you have solicited. They are reinforced by the results of every analysis you have mentioned. Your description of the events and circumstances surrounding the stones make it plain these are not meteorites. If what you say is true then they simply could not be. Why don’t you just go out and find a real one? The kind that science agrees is a meteorite? Start small and work up just like everyone else. If you spent a fraction of the time learning about meteorites as you do creating an alternate universe you would be an expert. You could find a real meteorite with the time you are investing in this folly. Why not stop the silly song and dance and go hunt one down for real? Like the rest of us! You are not going about this like a meteorite hunter. You seem to be trying to figure out a way to make slingshot ammo worth something. You are doing a bunch of irrelevant tests and developing some data on paper to present as “fact”. You aren’t hunting meteorites. You are indulging in a fantasy around these worthless rocks. One can only assume that you plan on using this irrelevant data to convince someone these rocks are meteorites. I certainly hope that no one is fooled. That would be where this little fantasy crosses the line. Wouldn’t you agree bob?

Wonderful I searched prior 1.7 Kiloton I find meteorites and get them published in the Meteoritical Bulletin. Jan 18, 2000 a 1.7 Kiloton meteor crashed in the Yukon Territory on frozen Tagish Lake. A team of reseachers recovered about 200 small pieces equaling about 2 pounds (I Kilo) before the ice melted in May. I hunted Tagish Lake the next summer for two weeks after the fall. I covered about 155 miles of hiking the shoreline of the lake. My technique was a narrow perpendicular grid pattern from lakeside to treeline slowly moving one lane down shore. I started after breakfast and never quit until about 9:30 p.m. daily. The tiaga forest was hopeless. A small nearby lake was also searched where original pieces were recovered. I found everything but Tagish Lake Meteorites. I had float planed in and camped in a tent. I, and others, would love to go to Greenland and conduct a search. Those at the Thule Air Base were fortunate in that would have easily seen it, even in broad daylight or, more likely, late twilight. Last Saturday's meteorite at 2,1000,000 metric tons was a little larger than the Tagish Lake Meteorite at 1,700,000 mt. billpeters

Hey there! I'm Paul, and I live in Casa Grande, AZ....I'm here in search of knappable material in Southern AZ; any hints, tips, maps, etc would be greatly appreciated! I have a couple of trail ready 4WD's, and stand ready to go rock hunting ANY time anyone want's to go......

pondmn, {Jerry Petis} is going in te hospital as we speak, With a Really, really bad case of Myasthenia Gravis, He will be in for atleast a week. to get stablized. It has effected his breathing and he can't eat, can't chew. its related to MD, and is really rare. Grubstake