Christine O. Gregoire and Washington Dirt 2

I knew she wouldn't let me down! I received my dirt from the Department of Natural Resources, Geological Department today, located in Washington State. The funny thing is, they sent it to Ms. Gregoire, only to have her mail it on to me! Thank you for all of your efforts, and especially to Gary and Carol for making it all happen. The dirt is beautiful and will be bottled up and placed in my collection to join all the others very soon. You are appreciated!

Nancy Crumcakes and Cinnamon rolls

Lots and lots of dirt has arrived since my last post. I've been so excited to be able to start posting about each of them. Sadly, my mind and heart want to get right to it, however, my MS ridden hands are not cooperating this week. So, it's taken me a little bit of time, but I am committed to catching up pronto. My first shout out is to Nancy Crum aka...Nancy crumbcakes and cinnamon rolls. We have never met but have a mutual acquaintance. Not only was her dirt from Woodland Washington fun to receive, but the home made cinnamon rolls were D-lish! Thanks to Nancy for the dirt AND the cinnamon rolls!

I get by with a little help from my friends

Working for the Hampton Brand of hotels is very rewarding. Not only do they do an outstanding job of marketing (thus the title of this post) but they also bring in some great clients for me to meet. A couple of years ago when I was the Director of Sales, I got to have some really special people stay at our property. Because they were extended stay guests, we at the hotel got to know them very well. One in particular was John Cornish. John had a true appreciation for my dirt collection because his line of work is in the mineral industry. I really believe when I first told him about my collection he thought I might be pulling his leg. But after some details that I offered him he became a believer and told me that I should really get started on categorizing, labeling, and journaling about each of my samples. To help me out he quickly gave me samples from his hometown too. So John, in case you are reading this, YOU were the inspiration and motivation for my blog site! John has LOTS of connections within the industry and gave me the following links to some websites that others might be interested in viewing. I was surprised to find out that there is actually one entitled sandcollectors.org. Maybe some day, there will be one called, dirtcollectors! Either way, I know I couldn't have the great collection I do if it weren't for the John Cornishs' in the world. Shown below are his donations from Port Angeles, Washington and Hollywood Beach. The black and white grains remind me of salt and pepper. It is so beautiful I'm afraid the picture doesn't do it justice. Another website of interest John suggested is mindat.org. I am sure there are many more. If you know of some, send me the link and I will gladly add it on. There is so much out there to explore! I can't find them all by myself, but I get by with a little help from my friends.




Port Angeles, Washington
Hollywood Beach

Major League DIGS

My good friend Julie Hatch recently published an article in Owlz Illustrated celebrating the 100th anniversary of the tune, Take Me Out to the Ballgame. I love the song, but just send me some dirt! My friends Judge Smith and Even Steven are such big baseball fans that they made a goal before they die to attend one professional baseball game in every major league park there is. I encourage this behavior! I just remind them to be sure to grab me a sample of the field before ordering their first hot dog and suds! The following shows dirt from Major League Ballparks. As you can see, I only have a FEW more to go... Keep me (and my dirt) in mind next time you go to enjoy America's favorite pastime. Oh, and just a suggestion, but maybe it's time we re-write the tune:

Take me out to the ballgame
Got to get some dirt now
Just pick a base it don't matter to me
I'll be happy if I get all 3
So just put some soil in my jar
I'll be grateful you know
for it's GOT TO GET me some dirt
Or why bother go?

That one's for you JULES!

Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)
Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Anaheim Stadium (Anaheim Angels)
Shea Stadium (New York Mets)
Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)
Candlestick Park (San Francisco Giants)
Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Fulton County Stadium (Atlanta Braves)
Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Devil Rays)
The Kingdome (Seattle Mariners)

So much DIRT, so little time

So, now that I have my first 100 bottles filled, I figure I have to decide on a way to blog about each of them. 30 years to collect all of it, (so far) I guess I shouldn't worry about how long it will take to display it on a blog site. Since I have dirt from all over the world, I thought about listing the samples from each continent. Then, I thought about organizing it by themes. For example, LDS Temples, Vacations, Baseball Stadiums, or Beaches. But just like dirt, random and ever changing, I will just post what comes to me next. That having been said, here I go!

This photo shows the very first samples of dirt I collected.

















Mount St. Helen ash, and Loomis, California.