Gator Girl Rocks

I sell certain of my rock, gem, mineral, and fossil specimens.  100% of the profits from every specimen sale are donated to charity.  Every sale makes a difference.

Information about the charitable organizations that Gator Girl Rocks supports is provided below.  Following that, I have listed some of my prehistoric specimens that are available for sale.

The following are some of the charitable organizations that Gator Girl Rocks works to support.

Abandoned Animals
www.jointanimalservices.org

Animal shelters provide food, care, shelter, and emergency vet services for abandoned and unwanted pets.  I adopted my kittens, Julian and Liebschien, who like to play with my rocks, from our local animal shelter.  Someone had discarded them along a road.  The shelter staff saved them.  I give them a home.  They are a great joy.

 

National Park Foundation
www.nationalparks.org

The National Park Foundation is the official charity of America's national parks.  We try to visit as many of the national parks as possible, many of which have amazing geologic resources.  Some of the National Parks that I've visited include:  Bryce Canyon, Colonial, Crater Lake, Glacier, Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Hot Springs, Klondike, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Olympic, Redwood, Rocky Mountain, Saguaro, Yellowstone, & Zion.

Charity Water
www.charitywater.org

Charity Water works to bring clean, safe drinking water to other human beings.

Gator Girl Rocks Helping Abandoned Animals

After a year of determined negotiating, I was able to persuade mom and dad to let me try to participate in an arts & craft fair.  Then, I had to get my booth and craft approved (apparently, I'm told, juried craft shows are not roadside flea markets).  The people in charge seemed to like my fossil and gemstone magnets so, once I paid for a booth, I was able to participate.

I designed and constructed a variety of unique fossil and gemstone magnets.  Making the polished gemstone magnets took several months to transform them from rough rocks to beautiful polished stones ... that would enhance any family refrigerator, office whiteboard, school locker, etc. and, best of all, at an affordable price.

I also planned some rock, mineral, fossil, and gemstone specimen sales as well as a prize wheel. Over the two day event, I was able to generate sufficient sales to produce a substantial net profit.

I then contacted our local animal shelter to see if I could help their animal foster program by purchasing puppy food, kitten food, cat food, cat litter, and puppy and cat toys to help decrease the cost of the foster program and hopefully expand its use.

These are pictures of my booth at the craft fair and delivering supplies to the animal shelter - where a lot of other community members volunteer their time and talent to help a wonderful staff provide care to animals, some of which have had very hard lives.

Gator Girl Rocks Helping National Parks, Abandoned Animals, and Other People

I've continued participating in arts & crafts shows (where child vendors are allowed) as well as on-lines sales.  During 2011, I used the profits from my hard work to make contributions to Animal Services, the National Park Foundation, and Charity Water.

Specimen Sales for Charity Rocks - Prehistoric Specimens Available for Purchase

The rocks, minerals, gemstones, and fossils in this section are available for purchase.

All profit - every penny - is donated to charity.

The specimens are good quality and very reasonably priced.  Note:  Prices do not include shipping.  See below for shipping information.

Magnet:  Agate (polished) - Semi-precious Gemstone
Eocene Epoch - 38 to 54 million years old
Western Washington, USA

These semi-precious gemstones are agates (chalcedony - a cryptocrystalline variety of quartz).  Agate occurs as a filling within gas cavities and veins in certain lavas or as a replacement mineral within some sedimentary limestones and claystones.

Washington has plenty of Eocene age volcanic rocks that function as host material for agates.  Agates have a hardness of between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs scale and, as a result, weather out when the softer volcanic rocks erode.  Agates can form in a variety of colors depending primarily upon the presence of iron-rich solutes.

I tumbled polished these agates and have mounted them on high quality super-magnets so that they function well and don't slide off vertical surfaces.

Magnet:  Petrified Wood (polished) - Washington State Gem
Miocene Epoch - 5 to 24 million years old
Western Washington, USA

In March 1975, Washington designated petrified wood as its official state gem.

Petrified wood is created by permineralization – a fossilization process in which organic matter (wood) is replaced with minerals (silica), while retaining the wood’s original structure.  Much of the petrified wood now found in Washington grew during the Miocene Epoch, millions of years ago, when the state was swampy and mild, with vast forests of cypress, oak, elm, and ginkgo trees. Although much petrified wood is buried in lake and river sediments and is thus found in mudstone or sandstone, the trees in ancient Washington grew next to large volcanoes which spewed tons of ash into the air when they erupted.  This volcanic ash settled and buried the trees in place; sometimes they were even engulfed by lava flows.

I tumbled polished these specimens and have mounted them on high quality super-magnets so that they function well and don't slide off vertical surfaces.

Magnet:  Fossil - Coprolite (petrified dung)
Miocene-Oligocene Epoch - 30 to 35 million years old
Western Washington, USA

Washington's Weirdest Rock

This may be the weirdest rock in the State of Washington.  For nearly a hundred years, recreational rock collectors as well as professional scientists from around the world have collected and debated the precise nature of these unusual rocks.  Many believe they are prehistoric coprolites (petrified turtle dung).  Not to worry.  The organic matter has been replaced with siderite and limonite, both iron minerals.

I have mounted these specimen on high quality super-magnets so that they function well and don't slide off vertical surfaces.

Donate to Gator Girl Rocks

If Gator Girl Rocks is a resource for you (and how could it not be if you're a rockhounder?), I encourage you to support the website.  Hopefully, this website will have identified helpful resources for you and your family and saved you an enormous amount of time and treasure that you otherwise would have spent (or countless hours looking at ad-oriented 'how to' websites and message boards that are nearly useless).  All donations are pooled with profits from my specimen sales and contributed to charity.  Every penny.

Thank you for your support.