thanks for the tour, your place looks so nice!

I especially like the giant wooden hand reaching out of the ground in the back yard.

Yeah, that was one of the six trees I had come down during a straight wind storm. I HAD 11 trees in my yard --- the side yard is pretty big, and it lost four and I lost two in the back. The big wooden hand one was my favorite one. I wanted the tree guys to save as much of it as they could----I knew it wouldn't grow back, but I still like it.

and thanks for the compliment! Don't look too closely in any corners, etc. Loads of animal fur, dust, grime, etc. It's an old house.

You rock!

do you guys (BigV and Spexx) have any idea about the rocks? Do you think they are marble, too?

marble + vinegar --> crystals + bubbles (may take a few hours)

CaCO3 + 2CH3COOH = Ca (CH3COO)2 + CO2 + H2O

soak it in the solution or just pour it over the rock and wait to see if bubbles appear?

Soaking a few crystals in a dish might be better.

Gypsum?
Here's a chart

http://www.brainstormeducation.com/i...l#.UMkLKKzhcVo

Marble is limestone after metamorphosis, i.e. subjected to heat and pressure. Same chemicals though.

This looks to be somewhere between the two - slightly metamorphised limestone, or poorly metamorphised marble.

I was going to facetiously suggest that you splash a few drops of hydrochloric acid on it and look for bubbles, this being a standard test for limestone, but I think Lamplighter has a more practical idea.

christmas window

end of hallway

Now I really AM done!

thanks for all your info----it's either crappy marble or crappy gypsum. I;m going to buy bags of small gypsum to put on the rest of the grass (weeds) in that area between the driveway and the side of the house. It gets sun from sunup to sundown and it's difficult to grow anything pretty there---I might be able to do a cactus but I don't like those. so I'm going to put a bunch of small gypsum down thruout that area.

Whoa -- what are all the thingies hanging in the window? I like the spiral one a lot!

Marble?!
You're soaking in it.

as for the rocks.. I'm no expert, but the biggest ones looked like leaverite to me.