February Birthstone: Amethyst (and, surprise! Jasper)by Lauren BlyskalAmethyst As we enter February, love is in the air, and there’s much to love about the traditional birthstone for this month: Amethyst.…
January Birthstone: Garnetby Lauren Blyskal Birthstones corresponding to a person’s birth month has both modern and historical ties. Historically twelve gemstones tied in with biblical times and in the 1st…
Display Bases for Your Specimensby Sigrid Stewart and Steve Blyskal We are discussing bases for individual specimens which will help to organize and display your collection. Not every rock, mineral,…
Dinosaur National Monument Road Tripby Sigrid Stewart Most photos by Steve Blyskal Building photos from www.nps.gov/dino/index.htm My husband Steve Blyskal and I go to Colorado often but once in a…
Summer is Coming (So Work on your Collection)by Sigrid Stewart Originally Published in the June 2022 Backbender’s Gazette Yes, summer is coming and what’s a Texas rockhound to do? In…
Rock Story – a Poemby Sigrid Stewart Originally published in the December 2021 Back Bender’s Gazette AFMS Editor’s Contest 2022, First Place Adult Poetry SCFMS Editor’s Contest 2022, First Place…
School Collectionsby Steve Blyskal This article originally appeared in the February 2021 Backbender’s Gazette SCFMS Editor’s Contest 2022, First Place Original Adult Article Advanced When you enter the HGMS clubhouse…
A Tucson Show Exhibit by Steven Blyskal This article originally appeared in the July 2020 issue of the Backbender’s Gazette In 2019 I decided I wanted to put in an…
USING A WATER GUN by Steve Blyskal This article originally appeared in the March 2021 Backbender’s Gazette What I like to use for cleaning mineral specimens is the high-pressure…
Heliocoprion, Buzz Saw Shark, In Texasby Neal Immega This article originally appeared in the January 2021 Backbender’s Gazette Occasionally, I do really well by doing good. An email came from…