WINDFALLS

For a Geode Time

If you think of minerals only in terms of recommended daily allowance, and if rocks means nothing more than the word that follows on the, then the time has come to visit the Lapidary Shop. The shop’s stock of guides to gem trails, fossil hunting, and prospecting may give the countryside new appeal even to the novice rock hound. For the more advanced or ambitious, the Lapidary Shop carries gold pans, geologists’ picks, rock-polishing equipment, and dazzling specimen minerals for collection. Get out and fool with Mother Nature- she’s dying to show you her géodes. The Lapidary Workshop, 3418 Greenville. Open 9-5:30 Tue-Sat. 821.0170.



Best Wrecks

Before the days of implosion – the likes of which took down the Baker Hotel -a wrecking company’s livelihood depended as much on what it salvaged as on what it tore down. Doors, window frames, fixtures, and tubs ended up in the wrecking yard, eventually to be recycled into other homes and gardens.

Not a place for the impatient or easily fatigued, the Orr-Reed Wrecking Company maintains five full acres of vintage wrecking yard. Those brave and thrifty souls who restore old homes will find lots of heavy old doors and small stained-glass windows as well as new “gingerbread” woodwork. Handypersons will find used lumber a reasonable substitute for new, while the zany may wish to pick up a footed bathtub as an outdoor party cooler. Orr-Reed, 1903 Rock Island (off Industrial before Corinth St. viaduct). 428-7429.



Expedition Erudition

Want to take out-of-towners someplace besides the School Book Depository and the Kimbell? Want to dazzle friends with a native’s knowledge of Paluxy, Tolar, Granbury, Luckenbach, and Bandera? If so, Cathey Yar-brough Sims’ book Texas Turn-Arounds makes the best companion to a road map since permanent folds. In 18 pages, Ms. Sims details 17 day trips and as many other jaunts for long weekends. The book is particularly useful for its historical sketches and up-to-date accounts of what’s to see. Available in bookstores or call 368-7427.



Belt Em

Sonny, Gene, and Red didn’t go into the rattlesnake hide tanning business just because of Texas Chic. For seven unsung years they turned out belts and hatbands in spare hours taken from full-time caboose driving and working at Cleburne’s Miller Brewing Company. But this just might be the year of the snake. Tanned with their special process, the belts, hatbands, and even guitar straps coming out of Rattler One will never dry out and are guaranteed to stir up some interest on the dance floor. Call Nolan Jones. 651-7682.