Antler Sheds Vs. Antique Rubble

So, it's shed season here in Central Oregon and that means a good chunk of my family is out in the desert getting dusty and looking for dropped bone. :)

That sounds funny.

Anyway, my parents and uncle have all been successful, duh... they always are!

Good job guys, I'm totally not jealous at all.

Not that I haven't been in the desert....traipsing around, getting sunburnt and scraping the undercarriage of our Envoy on sagebrush. I just haven't found any antlers and that's probably because I get sidetracked by other types of things.

Things like demolished homesteads and abandoned saw mills.

My shed hunting family members are very keyed into what they are looking for (antlers!) and me...well...I've been watching an awful lot of British antique shows and in turn obsessing over blue and white Japanese pottery. So much so that I have been looking in thrift stores for reproductions. So, what do I find out in the desert?

A cache of hand painted Japanese pottery shards. One piece even says "made in Japan".....I mean, it's exactly what I've been looking for, the real deal.

The bits of a Victorian bisque doll face are a bonus, as is the chandelier crystal. I love Victorian stuff! I can imagine these items as they were, opulent in their hand built log cabin on the range. These items were likely made by artisans in Japan, shipped on a boat and then brought by horse to a store...to be cherished by a family and then discarded, to bake in the sun for 100 years.

Not a mule deer shed but certainly a treasure.

I've also found a lot of scapulas which is a word I recently learned at The High Desert Museum (this part of a deer shoulder blade was used by early peoples as a scoop, scraper, squash knife sort-of-thing). Since then I've been saying 'scapula' in my head over and over. It's fun to say and guess what I have now found way too many of- scapulas!

I ought to try saying antlers, antlers, antlers....too bad it's not as fun to say as SCAPULAS!

And of course there are the usual rusty tin cans, feathers, and rocks.

Last weekends' rock haul, my agate Easter Eggs!

Other than that- it's been nice to soak in some blue sky in between the hail and wind and that's it for this desert report.