My last outing, A Weekly posting Options

[Woody]

Looking for Amazonite and Crystals

It was suspossed to be a real cold & crappy day around here according to the weather station so I was all set-in for a boering weekend. . I got up and it was cold but clear. Then I listened to the weather report again and it said the snow should start falling around noon. I figured I had about 5 good hours of usable time so I headed up to the local spot in the hills. I wanted to work a spot that I had found the week before and know there is still some "items of interest" left in it. It was a little chilly but that hill will turn up the heat quick. I never made it to my intended spot. As usual, I don't take the same path up the hill twice. I kind of zig-zag up it to the height I want to be at then shoot straight accrossed. This time I stumbled into a different area that hadn't been worked and showed good amazonite. I figured to shoot my entire 5 hour wad at this new sight and call it a day from there. But the expected fowl weather did not set in as expected. So after working that area for awhile I set off in another direction. This time I went prospecting for crystals. By prospecting I mean, randomly digging a small hole here and there and see if something looks good. I trapsed up and down the hillside and found two more spots that had been worked for Amazonite but did not look promising for any good grade specimens. One hole I dug did produce some crystals. I brought back around 70 bits and pieces. All in all I was very satisified with my Saturday. I got to put in around 10 hours of hill time on what was suspossed to be a crappy day and found more areas that need worked.

In the pic you can see the Amazonite clearly but the other crystals are, well kind of lumpy. I believe they are "Pseudo-morphed" or something. Not sure. Anybody got any guesses?? Later, Woody

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[Woody]

Sunday, July 10th.

I Had a Great day digging Crystals this weekend. In fact, it was possibly my best day ever. I had to stay in close to home because I had to turn in my truck on Sunday for more repairs. “Hopefully all that mess is over with soon”. I had spent about 5 hours up in the hills and was just about to stop and call it a day. A strong rain storm was moving in and I was working a spot right on the crest of a high mountain. I hadn’t found much and was kind of disappointed. I was beginning to think all my prior visits had cleared this hole out. Then my workings broke through into a cavity. At first it was only a small Mouse hole. I stuck my finger in and could not feel the end. I worked the edges a little and was able to sneak a peek inside. I could see the sparkle of crystals inside and I could tell the hole widened out. I was like a kid in a Candy Store. Could it be I finally found my first Crystal Pocket? I quickly broke the edges away some more. I stopped only for a brief moment to take a couple of pics with my phone camera. “Just my luck I forgot my camera in the truck”. Crystals quickly started popping out with ease. Soon I was able to get my entire hand inside and could feel no end to the back of the pocket. More pics, more breaking away at the edges. Every time my hands go into the pocket crystals seem to just fall into them. Sometimes I had to let go of one or more of the crystals in order for my hand to fit back through. I am reminded of a story that my dad told me;

During the Vietnam time frame, my day was stationed on an island in the South Pacific somewhere. He said that the locals would catch Monkeys by making a Monkey Trap. They would drill a hole in a tree and widen out the hole. Then they would place a Peanut inside the hole. When the Monkey would grab the Peanut, its closed fist would be too big to come back through the hole. The monkey would not let go of the Peanut even when someone approached. “Good to know if you’re ever in the Jungles of the South Pacific.”

Now with all of its fury, the storm starts to cut loose. No way am I stopping for just a little Downpour. But the Lighting is getting super-close. I have to concede that I soon must seek shelter. The rain is coming down in buckets. The Lighting is so close that there is no space between the flash of light and the Crack of the Thunder. Now I am able to put my arm into the hole up to about my mid-bicep. I can’t feel any end with my fingertips, only the smooth sides of crystals. I work feverishly to stuff handfuls of material into my backpack.

That’s when I had to stop and have a good chuckle. I was out of control! No way should I be doing it like this. I was poorly prepared at best. I didn’t have wrapping paper to protect the good ones. I was throwing everything into the same pocket of the backpack. I was breaking up clusters as I was bringing them out and not paying attention to what went where. Yes this was really cool, and yep that storm was getting dangerous, but that did not mean I had to grab it all and run. So I had to make a hasty retreat. Before I left I stuck my arm in as far as I could and still felt more crystals. I then hid my Crow Bar as I did not want to carry around a Lightning Rod at the moment and beet-feet off that hill top. Only after I was about half way down did I reanalyze I had made yet another mistake. I forgot to block the hole. No chance of anyone hurting themselves in it but anyone will take one look at that now rabbit sized hole and say, ALLLLL RIGHTTTTT!

And I have to wait until my truck is finished before I can go back up there. I will not sleep well tonight. Have a good one, Woody.

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