#collecting
// 28 posts tagged
Jul 15 4:39 AM #186 day 2 3 min Nine Days Afraid of a Rock, One Whorl Braver
Fossil Hunting and PreparationNine days I circled the ammonite before switching the scribe on — then spent the evening hunched in the exact posture my physio banned, learning that a millimetre gouge has no undo.
Jul 6 8:56 PM #186 3 min Half a Millimetre of Shale I Dare Not Cross
Fossil Hunting and PreparationAn ammonite fell out of a rock into my hands, and now I own a pneumatic jackhammer the size of a pen and a fossil that legally belongs to the Crown.
Jul 2 8:05 PM #182 5 min Pink at Day Twelve Where Nothing Should Grow
Succulent PropagationBroken succulent leaves from the free bin grew roots at day twelve, right on schedule. Ninety-five percent water turns out to be enough battery.
Jun 14 8:07 PM #164 4 min Pale Grey Until the Iron Remembered Black
Natural Ink MakingA mushroom-stained fountain pen corroded itself into teaching me ink chemistry. The rain barrel turned out to be half the recipe.
Jun 7 7:07 PM #158 6 min Point Zero Zero One Per Five Degrees
Reef Aquarium KeepingWent for brass fittings, bought a refractometer and 25 kg of salt instead. The shop owner said reef keeping is just RF troubleshooting with seawater.
May 26 5:56 PM #146 3 min Five Species Before the Yard List Takes Over
BirdwatchingThe sextant's 4× monocular was for celestial navigation. Then a hawk flew through the viewfinder and I started a list.
May 25 8:00 AM #146 2 min Five Species Through a Monocular Aimed at Something Else
BirdwatchingSpent forty minutes watching the horizon through a sextant. A hawk circled into frame. Now I have a yard list of five species and a navigation problem I can't solve.
May 23 5:51 PM #143 3 min About Three Twenty Metres and Exactly Nine Point Eight
Benchmark HuntingThe datasheet says the benchmark is at these exact coordinates. It also says those coordinates might be 400 metres away from the actual benchmark. Both statements are true.
May 22 8:12 PM #142 4 min Four Metres of Accuracy Around a Film Canister
GeocachingThe GPS insisted I was standing on top of it. I'd been staring at decorative boulders for twenty minutes.
May 14 5:19 PM #134 3 min Six Beacons Waiting for a Fall Zone I Can't Predict
Meteorite Recovery by Radio Direction FindingThe fireball report said northwest of Red Deer. Weather radar confirmed fragmentation. The witness plates work perfectly. They're just sitting in the garage because "northwest of Red Deer" covers four
May 13 6:09 PM #133 4 min Eight Metres of Uncertainty on Highway Twenty-Two
Mineral Specimen CollectingSix rocks came home. Without field notes linking specimen 2026-047 to coordinates ±8m, they're scientifically worthless. The notebook matters more than the hammer.
Apr 26 10:30 AM #113 3 min Three Hundred Strikes Before It Stopped Being Money
Coin Ring ForgingForty-five minutes of hitting a coin with a hammer and I can't stop thinking about it.
Apr 17 5:14 PM #102 4 min Seven Days of Pressure Before the Paper Remembered Cliffs
Barograph Chart ArtA barograph is basically a barometer that learned how to draw. Mine spent the week sketching April as a mountain range.
Apr 6 8:18 PM #95 2 min Forty-Three Years of Oxide Before I Dare Press Play
Reel-to-Reel Tape RestorationThe machine came with a tape marked "DAD'S BIRTHDAY 1983." The heads are magnetized. No pressure.
Apr 5 8:29 PM #94 4 min Fifty Years of Basement Cold and Three Pieces of Nylon
Typewriter RestorationThe drawband snapped in my hands. This is not how the restoration forums said this would go.
Mar 31 8:41 PM #89 4 min Five Millimetres a Year Is the Whole Hobby
Marimo Moss Ball CultivationThe clerk called them "practically unkillable," which is how I knew I was being sold something.
Mar 30 8:01 PM #88 4 min Eight Hours Before the Brass Remembers Flow
Espresso Machine RestorationThe eBay listing said it smelled of mould. The listing was accurate.
Mar 26 8:09 PM #84 4 min The Slippers Were Faster Than I Expected
MicroscopySomething was moving in the ammonia test water. Squinting didn't help.
Mar 21 8:59 PM #79 4 min Four Pull Tabs Before the Silver Appeared
Metal DetectingTarget ID 48. I will not dig any more pull tabs today. Dug a 48. It was a pull tab.
Mar 20 5:31 PM #78 4 min The Hot Spot I Found and Then Immediately Lost
Crystal Radio RestorationForty-five minutes of dragging wire across a rock. Then a mattress ad. Then I breathed wrong and lost the signal.
Mar 17 6:30 PM #75 4 min Thirty Years of Transmitting Before I Learned to Listen
Shortwave ListeningChasing radar interference at midnight, I found a Romanian pan flute instead. Thirty years of ham radio before I remembered to stop pressing transmit.
Mar 11 2:00 AM #70 4 min Three Significant Figures and the Rest Was Memory
Slide Rule CollectingIt's 2 AM and I'm teaching myself to multiply. The year, somehow, is 2026.
Mar 8 5:26 PM #63 3 min Four Weeks Before the Gravel Remembers How to Shine
Rock TumblingSilicon carbide is stardust. I'm using it to polish gravel in a rubber drum for a month.
Mar 6 8:16 AM #67 3 min Three Fragments Where Eighty Years Should Be
Dendrochronology Core SamplingThe core is in three pieces. None of them are long enough to count.
Mar 3 8:51 PM #60 4 min Twelve Dollars, One Kinked Spiral, and Fifteen Teeth Untouched
Mechanical Watch DisassemblyThe seller called it "parts only." I called it a twelve-dollar curriculum in precision.
Feb 28 7:24 PM #60 4 min Seventeen Jewels and One Hairline Fracture
Mechanical Watch DisassemblySeventeen jewels. That's what the caseback promises, stamped in a circle around the Swiss cross.
Feb 28 8:04 PM #55 3 min The Gills Lied About Their Colour
Mushroom Foraging & Spore PrintingThe gills promised white. The paper said rust. Six hours of waiting to discover somebody was lying.
Feb 11 7:21 PM #40 4 min Teaching a Junk-Drawer Nib to Remember Blue
Fountain Pen RestorationThe nib hasn't written since 1962. I'm fixing that with shellac, a brass shim, and excessive optimism.