  It has been reported that slow dynamic nonlinear elastic relaxations, widely
thought to proceed in proportion to the logarithm of time since mechanical
conditioning ceases, recover at a diminished rate at early times, with a time
of transition that varies with the grain size of the material. Here we recount
new observations at short times, in the single bead system, in cement paste and
in sandstone and mortar. Notwithstanding the limits imposed by finite duration
ring down such that the effective instant of conditioning cessation is
imprecise, and the corresponding ambiguity as to the time that relaxation
begins, we find no reliable sign of such a transition, even in samples of large
grain size mortar similar to those described elsewhere as having clear and late
cutoffs.
