Star athlete

It seems like this spring the weather is colder than last year. Last year it seemed colder than the year before and the one before that colder that the previous year. I think that if I searched climatological records I would find that it is just my imagination playing tricks on an ever aging mind. I think about when I was young and I had a tough time trying to understand why dad would always get the blues in the spring. It has always been the time of year when my thoughts were gearing up for projects I had planned for the warm weather months. I stood staring in the mirror this morning, my back aching and wondering where I was going to come up with the energy to start the concrete placement project in the new sempervivum propagation bed. Then it came over me that I wasn't staring at myself in the mirror, I was standing there looking at dad. Wow, really? Now, don't get me wrong I am not saying that I have become my father, far from that, and truth be known he was a hell of a lot more a man than I'll ever be. That's why I could never understand how springtime always got him down. It has occurred to me that it's all about growing older, and the older I get the harder it is to get spring fit, body and mind. With the snow gone a guy wants to get out and start in on the projects he was planning all winter long. 

I'm in a springtime funk, and my first inclination is to curse the cold temperatures, and go back into hibernation. I just have to remember that although dad's back ached and he suffered from the springtime blues, that he never went back into that hibernation. He always seemed to pull himself out of the house and fire up the rototiller. He always hooked the irrigation system, and drug out the hoses. I think that with that in mind I shall get over the springtime funk, and start those projects. Damn, I'm getting old, and I find myself giving these prep-talks each year they get less convincing, but I am gullible so I can talk myself into almost anything.

I wish that I could pile up some of the rocks around here and come up with a time machine. Wouldn't that be great? I'd set that old way-back machine to the early 70s when I was young and healthy, a star athlete and everyone was in awe of me and my extraordinary athletic abilities. Yeah....OK so there were never any of those abilities extraordinary or otherwise. Jeannine was good at her sports, gymnastics and Mike played basketball, Phillip was good baseball player, Bruce and Jake great wrestlers but I could barely walk and chew gum. Well I could walk, and sometimes I had  Bazooka Bubble Gum, but I had to separate those activities. 

I did have one shining moment of glory as an athlete, when I was in school, and the P.E. class was playing dodgeball. There was a day that I won the dodgeball game in spectacular fashion and saved my team from running laps in the gym. Sure I'd love to tell the story, let me set the stage.....It was 1973 springtime rain forced the P.E. class to the gym where we did our usual exercises before splitting into teams for some good healthy competition. The sport of the day chosen by our teacher, Mr. Pixler was that ever wonderful esteem building game, Dodgeball. [losers run laps] I always hated that game, just the name Dodgeball, implies that one needs to be aware of  balls and that if you can't dodge a ball you would be hit with one. Two things right there that I had major difficulty with, being aware, and dodging, not being very good at either, meant that I would once again singled out by Kevin **** on the other team, and nailed in the side of the face with a burner. In those days I was real small, being the next to the shortest boy in my class, towering over Don Devine by a whole 1/2 inch. The balls are placed on the center line, the whistle blows and the gym erupts in the thunderous sound of 29 white shorts clad maniacs running to the line. The only thing out of place was number 30 the boy running the other direction, yeah you guessed it, number 30 was me, hauling ass the other way to the safest corner in the gym. I had this brilliant dodgeball strategy  in mind, one that served me well in the past. My strategy was one where I would basically hide the best  I could, cowering in the corner behind some of the biggest kids letting them get picked off before me. In past games it always worked out that I was standing there hoping not to be seen by Kevin *****, when some bigger kid jumped aside and Wham, I get nailed in the side of the face. I would usually go to the bench and sit, the perfectly round red spot on my face stinging  like heck. This day was going to prove much different than those from the past, I don't know if it was that all the cosmic requirements were met, perhaps the stars all lined up just right. Possibly it was just that the bigger kids I was hiding behind were slower than normal and they were all picked off one by one until I was left alone on my side of the line facing the last player on the other side... that's right Kevin ****.  Kevin**** always had a serious hard on when it came to making the smaller, and weaker kids feel the pain. So there he is staring me down from twenty feet away a great sneer forming on his lips, looking like he had his Wheaties for breakfast, in fact looking like he had double Wheaties, probably beating the hell out of some smaller kid so he could eat his too. I unfortunately didn't have Wheaties that day, I always hated Wheaties, almost as much as I hated Dodgeball. I start to rethink my run to the corner and hide strategy, as the balls started to fly, most missing and hitting the wall only to bounce back completely back to the other side of the line, where he would grab them and throwing them back at me. This type of game play continued for what seemed like hours, him burning balls at me so hard that there was little chance for me to get my hands on one before they rolled to his side. I ran back and forth across the back wall of the gym, trying to not get hit True Dodgeball.  Yelling and screaming could be heard from both benches, his side was saying "Get him!! Get him!!" My side was saying "Hanks you wuss!! grab a damn ball and throw it!!"  The support from my team was indeed overwhelming, and I knew that I would have to make my move soon. Like I said this play went on for sometime and after a while Kevin **** being an incredible lump of crap, that never had to try his hardest to win because he usually chose to face down the smaller, and weaker opponents in these one on one situations, started to get tired. He had started to walk to the ball, often turning his back on me and crossing the entire distance of his side to pick one up. His throw was starting to get slower,  the years of taking the easy way out picking on smaller kids was beginning to catch up to him. I on the other hand was growing up with Mike as a brother, and that gave me some special help dealing with this type of individual, anyone that knows Mike understands what I'm talking about. Kevin**** turns his back on me and slowly walks to retrieve his next missile, certain that it is only a matter of time till he clobbers me good right in the side of the face. He failed to noticed the ball that was slowly rolling my way, almost ready to cross the line and become my  first chance make a throw in the game, not counting the chances I missed hiding in the corner.  I decide, "This is it." and I make my move. I run to the line and squat down waiting for the ball to roll just a few more feet, my arms outstretched reaching as far as could. Kevin ***** makes his way to his ball, picks it up and turns around. The look on his face when he sees me there in the middle of the gym, the ball I'm reaching for still several feet away, was something that I'll never forget. A triumphant smile replaces his little sneer, and he gets a new boost of energy, possibly the second bowl of ill-gotten Wheaties kicking in at that moment. Quickly he rushes over and kicks the ball away before I can reach it, he pulls back to throw, suddenly he realizes he is too close so he steps back a few paces. I try to move but the thought that I am in trouble is at that time still forming in my head, as I look up and see the throw, a real burner. The ball smokes toward me as I try to stand it hits me before I can move, right in the stomach, right in the ole bread basket, and sticks. Being in the squatting position it was like my belly was a catcher's mitt and the ball stayed in the pocket. Game over. 

Yeah, that's right glory was mine, kids hooting and hollering, my team clapping me on the back, Kevin ****'s team shoving him as they took their laps across the gym floor, telling him he was a wuss. Even Mr. Pixler had to shake his head, smiling as he led the class into the locker room.

For someone that never won anything, never made a lay up in basket ball, never hit a home run, never won a foot race, that was finest day of my life up to then, and I cherished until.......Well until the next day when the weather was much nicer, and we went outside for P.E. Mr. Pixler lined us all up and said count off to six...1,2,3,4,5,6, the class was calling out, afterward we were separated into groups according  to the number we called, I was a 6 so I stood and watched 5 other groups of kids hit the line and run a three lap race, each of the winners taken aside to run in a final race. As I go to the line I look around at my competitors in the race, I can't believe it but it's all the special olympic types [including me] from the class.  I start to think that the stars are all lining up again for me, I can beat these guys. The whistle blows and I am off the line first and take the lead, as we reach the turn around point I notice that Mr. Pixler sees that I am in the lead, his head popping up from his clip board a surprised look on his face. We turn and run the other way, I remain in the lead, the last lap comes and as I turn and start the down the home stretch I still lead the pack quite comfortably. As we get closer to the finish line I can see Mr. Pixler's face become bright with excitement the light in his eyes shining a huge smile urging me on. I wonder if he was thinking to himself  "Damn I'm a good teacher,  just look how far Hanks has come"   The second day in a row I could be a winner, I can almost taste the victory. Then in a brief moment all I can taste is blood, as I trip and make a face plant in the turf, splitting my lip, the the pack of competitors unfortunately not even coordinated enough to dodge my sprawled out form laying there bleeding from the mouth, run right over the top of me. I don't think that a single one missed stepping on my back side, as they raced to the finish line. I stand up with the red glow of humiliation deeply burning my face, ten perfect foot prints on the back of my P.E. uniform, the other kids laughing their asses off Kevin **** laughing the loudest. My glory from the previous day a definite thing of the past, I could no longer see Mr. Pixler, who was obviously trying to avoid eye contact. 

That was a just one of those thrill of victory stories turning into the agony of defeat that we all have heard before on "The Wide World Of Sports"  It seems that you don't have to be a star athlete to experience either one.

Yeah, I guess I  can do without that time machine after all. Just this star athlete memory has brought me out of that funk. Spring blooms a new attitude I guess.

Spring! or is it Summer?

Hard to believe that just a week or so ago we had snow coming down. They even had a skiff in parts of Phoenix. Today it was 102 in Phoenix. It was 78 up here on the bench. Kicked the garden back into action.

I had Phillip take the old Dish Network dish and fill the holes with liquid steel so I could use it for a bird- bath. Turns out they like it. There is another old dish out in back of the shed and I will have him do the same with it.. I have an old pedestal from a planter, so I think I will put that one on the pedestal. I will have to put a heavy rock in it or the wind will blow it off. Wind blew the planter that I had on the pedestal before and broke it. That sucker wasn't light by any means. Wind blowing up and down this canyon can get wicked at times. Neighbor next door just put up a giant wind powered generator. What he don't use he will sell back to the power co.

Good deal, but takes Money to make money. I bet that gem wasn't cheap.

Phillip cut some of the agate from Montana. One nice one Dave found. I tumbled a few slices of it to sell. Pretty pink to lavender stuff. Should sell good.

He has been doing some sorting and cleaning out of the shop. About time. I wanted to do some silver work but had to move a ton of stuff he had set aside to work on later and later didn't look any where near. Every time I clear a spot to work, He fills it with "laters".

After they came and took Steve's trailer away I had a bunch of junk to bag up for the dump. Phillip had to move cases of water and all the heavy stuff. He sure accumulated a lot of junk in the short time he stayed with us. I guess he will stay with his Sister in Texas til the end. He has a reoccurring brain tumor. Maybe next fall Phillip can find a new rockhunting partner. Some of the places he goes are just too hard for me to get to anymore.

Jake; get back to me on the magnets. Granny

Wild Pigs

Steph was wondering about Wild Pigs. They are all over the southwest. We have them in the yard all the time. Mostly they are on the desert but they are spreading up into the mountains too. When we were up panning last we saw some but they were too fast to get pics of. We get deer, cattle and of course lots of dogs here in the yard as well. One must have a garden fenced if you want to keep it. Don't fence the flowers so some will get eaten. Here is a web site where you can learn more about these wild pigs.
http://www.jenniferjo.com/javelinas_main.htm

Jake when you get a lot of fine gold in black sand, I will tell you how Grandpa Prescott extracted the gold from it.

Wanted

If any of you people up North run across an inner tube, be it car,truck or bike , hang on to it for me. Check out the thrift shops maybe. I want to cut it into small pieces to use as cushioning in the tumblers when polishing rocks. Can't find any down here. Also no wrecking yards near here.
Granny

This scam is a new one out.

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/contest/oprah.asp Don't know if any of you got this in an e-mail yet but I checked it out and found it to be a scam.

Wow!! Global warming?

This is global warming? We woke up to an inch of snow this AM. Should have got pics, but was so dreary looking. Melted fast when it starting pouring rain... Gonna be a few mud days now... Its still at it out there. pouring down the slight chance of rain we were supposed to have.
One of these days I'd like to get stepping stones put in all the way to the shed and the shop, then I wouldn't be tracking all the mud in with me. One good thing, won't have to water the garden today, maybe tomorrow either.
They were having a big dig down at Stanton this weekend...Play heck getting in the 5 miles of dirt road to get there.
Would have went yesterday but some guys came to get Steve's 5th wheel out of our yard. Had to be here because we didn't know them.
The Iris will be loving this rain. They are about to bloom. Too bad all I have down here are the purple ones... They are not the great big hybrids either.
I was watching the birds yesterday. They are doing the nesting thing. A pair of doves are building a nest in a bush growing under the big Hackberry tree in the front yard. The female is so picky at what she is using in the nest. She will pick up and discard about a dozen twigs before taking one she wants. There is a sparrow who is picking at the mat in front of the shop. pulling out the fibers for her nest. All the strings, threads and lint under the clothes line has dissapeared into the nests around here. There are a pair of Cardinals who have been here since we came. I don't know where they have their nest but it must be close. They stay around all year.
I always see the pair but never see any young ones...There are mocking birds in the oak tree out front and in the neighbors yard. They sure are the noisey ones... Phillip says they sing all night long but once I get my hearing aids out I never hear them... Phillip built a 2 family bird house. He still has to put it up...The wind and rain ruined the old one he had...He had it in a tree. I think he should fix a shelf on the side of the shed and put it there. The birds build nests under the eaves in a couple of places so it should work for them. One pair of sparrows has a nest on the outdoor telephone bell box. It's been there in use for years... He could put it above the security light. the birds always want to build a nest on top of it.
Righ now there are a lot of wild Ageratums blooming out in the yard... When I get the seeds from Bill I want to get them in so they will be established before we leave... Once they are growing the summer monsoons should keep them alive til they go to seed. I got the Hollyhocks growing this way... Only trouble with them is the darn wild pigs seem to like the roots... The ones I planted next to the Agaves are the only ones the pigs leave alone...I need a BIG pig trap... They say they are good to eat...

Wildflower seeds

Here are some of the wildflowers that we have in the mix for this growing season. We will share some of the mix with anyone interested, just let us know soon. We will start planting for this season very soon, so if you want some of the mix better let us know before it's gone. Some is already spoken for but we have plenty left. [for now] Sissy collected seeds from several of the seed patches that we grew last year, also some seeds came from the multitude of mixed wildflower patches that we had growing around the place. 

 We also have around 50 different varieties of Sempervivum [hens and chicks] that have multiplied greatly in the past two years. We will be moving them all into propagation beds this spring so, we have plenty to share, and since we will be digging them all up, it would be a good time to speak up if you want some.

Wow...things are looking up

First, before I forget....Jason, we loved your skiing video. Actually we have enjoyed all of the pictures that we have been seeing. Huh.........I haven't seen any pictures of any actual gold though!!

Bruce and I have been busy. We have had a few days of nice weather lately and Bruce has been working cleaning up downed trees that toppled over during the winter storms. He has been extremely happy to be able to get outside to do stuff. In fact, it is 9:05 PM and he is just now coming in the door downstairs. We are supposed to get some rain over the next couple of days, so he will probably get a bit grumpy if he has to stay indoors much.

I have been working on a quilt with my neighbor friend. The center square in each block was made her her grandmother back during the depression. She came across the embroidered squares when she was cleaning our her grandmas house after she passed on several years back. A few weeks ago, we had discussed working on a quilt project together and ta-da, here we are working on a quilt that has her grandma's blocks in them. Anyway, we are having a blast. And we already have other ideas for quilts projects in the future.

I had to take my sewing machine in to get it worked on. The darn thing got to where it wouldn't sew 8 inches before it got all bunched up. the guy did a terrific job. I would almost swear that it sews better now than it did brand new!! Sewed up a cute little summer outfit for Rhiannon today. It is one of those that Donna cut out when she was up here visiting. I think I will pull out one of the dresses and pinafores that she cut out to sew next. That will be my project for tomorrow!! Good night all. Oh and if i don't get back in before; Have a Happy Easter. Jeannine

A lot of Bull

So Today I took pictures of the two antler sheds that Steve picked up in his meadow. The smaller one was from last year and the larger one, of course from this year. Same bull elk just a year apart. The picture of the bull facing the camera was our bull in winter 2007/2008 the side shots are the same bull this winter. Last winter he broke a tine sparing with another bull, I have pictures of that sparing match.

Last year we were fortunate enough to be able to watch 7 bulls throughout the winter. This year we only had two return, the 4 point from last year, and a bull calf. The 4 point was a much bigger 5 point this year and the bull calf was a small spike. We had to wonder what became of the 6 point herd bull that wintered over last year. Possibly in a freezer, along with the several other bulls that did not return. We also had to wonder what the 6 point might have looked like this year had he shown up. 

Learn something new every day.

This is a picture of some weird kind of lichen... I don't know if it looked different than this at some time but it lookes more like a skeleton of a sort. It was soft, or I should say pliable.

This is another kind of lichen. It was on wood. Most of the lichens on wood are usually green. A lot of different kinds of lichens up there in the woods by the creek. There are big patchy grey ones and on some of the rocks that are grey and red.

This is some kind of weird seed pod growing up from a crack in the rock. I have no idea what kind of plant it was.

Some strange pics this time.

Jake I was not bored by your comment on the lasers. I found it quite informative. I hadn't the foggiest idea how lasers worked. All I know, in my dream i cut agate filled geodes from the size of a walnut up to the size of a tennis ball. Like a hot knife thru butter. Your last comment answered the thing I really wanted to know about how they worked. I knew they beamed but what the other end was like I couldn't imagine.
The blue beams are high end? Well leave it to me to not only dream weird, but high as well.

Let there be sunshine

Finally we get sunshine, mud season coming to an end, we were able to grade the road. That is always such a great feeling, to know we made it through another ice and snow season. [crossing fingers] The deer are coming back, into the yard and the biggest bull dropped one side of his antlers in Steve's meadow yesterday. He told me that he watched the 5 point walk into the meadow with both sides still attached then when he wasn't looking it dropped one side. Steve now has the same side shed of the same bull two years in a row. It has grown quite a bit since last year, I'll get pictures and post them later.

We are able to get the puppies out for a running poop-a-thon, now that the mud is retreating. We have been having some issues with the food we have been feeding them. After having some soft poops for longer than we like to see, I started to think that the Canidae dry kibble was the problem. I found out after looking online that the Canidae ingredients were changed since our last litter. The new formula was not agreeing with the puppies. I also found out that there is a class action suit against the company because of the ingredient change and how it effected some dogs. I was pretty P.O.d because after that dog food scare a few years ago we thought that we had picked a decent quality food for the puppies. The same food that we have been feeding Baggs [the mother] as soon as she becomes pregnant, for three litters. So it was back to the drawing board to decide what food to use. I found a website a while back that offers a independent analysis and subsequent review of most major brands, of dog food.   http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/   I don't know how to make this a link, perhaps someone can help me with that. The site has pretty detailed analysis of the ingredients and in some cases offers a review of the food. 

I have been perplexed with the dog food that the Veterinarians always seem to push, even at our Vet. office we see stacks of Hills Science Diet, and at other Vet. offices I've seen Iams brand foods. I did research into those brands and found them to be really a pretty poor quality food. So I wondered why the Vets. always seem to push them. I got an answer when we met a lady that worked as an assistant then as a C.V.T. Certified Vet Tech, she told us that there are only a very few Vets. that are animal nutritionists. She told us that although a Vet may be more than qualified to save your dog with knowledge of medications available, surgery, or other treatments, that most know little about proper nutrition. I can't say for sure if she was correct with that statement, but I still had to wonder why many Vets. including ours pushed foods with such inferior ingredients, and fillers that are controversial. Then she told us about the kickbacks that the dog food companies were giving the Veterinarians. Some even get these great expense paid trips to Hawaii, and other forms of payola that keeps the dog food on the shelves at the Vet. clinics. Their clients see the food when they take their pets in, and think that it must really be a quality food, otherwise the Vet. wouldn't be selling it.  They buy it at an extremely marked up price. Later they are at CostCo or someplace where they see it at a much lower price, so they think "great deal" and start buying it in quantity. It's a win-win for the dog food manufacturer and of course the Veterinarian doesn't come out too bad either.

We have always fed our dogs with some of the more inexpensive brands, Atta Boy, Western Family, as long as it has a 21% protein or above, we try to mix the high protein formulas with the regular formulas. But when we started selling puppies for $500 we decided that we should give the buyers a puppy that has the best nutritional start in life, that's why we feed Baggs the good stuff when we determine that she is pregnant. So with all the good intentions and little knowledge we bought a more expensive brand that we thought would be better. We were very naive at the time thinking as a lot of people do, "The more money we pay the better the dog food"  Then we hear that there is a lot of dogs sick and dying from tainted ingredients of some major brand named foods. We searched through the list of brands that may be tainted and sure as heck there is the food we had been feeding, on the list. Talk about being bummed out, [pissed] we vowed that we would never again let our lack of knowledge cause us to buy the wrong  puppy food. So I started an online search to make sure that never happened again. I read reviews until I was going stir-crazy many of those written by the dog food manufacturers. Not really a good and honest source of info. I found that each dog food company had all the rave reviews you might ever want to read about their brand, and some of them would even compare their brand to other brands, always showing how their food was tons better, and how you would have to be a fool not to but their brand.  It made me think of the labels on some dog food bags that gave a feeding amounts for dogs using size [weight] as the criteria for that amount. I remember thinking that the amount they were claiming I should feed my dog was entirely too much food. I decided that if I were to feed my dog the amount that they were calling for she would be overweight in no time and I would have to buy food again before I got paid. I continued to feed her the amount that I always had, and she lived to be almost 16 yrs old. I guess the point is, never trust the dog food manufacturer to tell you what is the best food or the proper amount to feed your dogs. They have the bottom line as their top concern. If you keep that in mind then the picture gets a little more clear. 

Some of the forums that read were helpful, but the majority were B.S. and just irritated me. The thing about online forums, is that a lot of times actual fact based discussion takes second place to the blathering rhetoric of some silly agenda. The first thing I found was for every online forum there are dozens of breeders ready to attack anyone asking questions.

Anyway this isn't about the online forums, that's a whole separate topic of ranting, maybe for a later date. I just wanted to point out that it's one thing to use the dog foods that probably wouldn't rate high in ingredient analysis, such as the brands we feed our adult dogs, brands like Atta Boy, and Western Family, after all we have been using those brands for years and our dogs all lived into their teens. It's another thing to pay out the ass for a brand that you think is really the best food out there when it's absolutely no better than the Store Brand. Don't be fooled into buying an expensive brand of dog food, that isn't as good as some less expensive kinds available.

Our neighbor has a big blond dog that had some serious skin issues, that they had been to the Vet for several times, the Vet gave them medications, [pills, and creams] to fix the problem. They were sad to see that the itching and the sores continued. One day, after seeing how much Buddy [blond dog] was suffering with the condition of itchy dark purple blotches on his skin. I came home and typed "My dog has itchy purple blotches on his skin" into google, it took about three minutes to determine that he had an allergy, more than likely a food allergy.  The answer was to change his diet to a hypoallergenic  brand of dog food, one without certain grain sources that many dogs are allergic to. He could also be given Benadryl to relieve the itching. I told my neighbor, but he was stubborn and wouldn't listen to me because he was feeding both of his dogs food that cost $45 a bag and he claimed that it was the best food out there. Well the soreness and itching went on for a year, then one morning while having coffee over there, I noticed that Buddy had pulled out a bunch of fur and was really uncomfortable. I mentioned the Benadryl again, my neighbor rolled his eyes and blew me off again, but his wife was there this time and when she heard about the allergy thing, she went right to the cupboard and pulled out Benadryl . She gave Buddy a dose and they noticed an almost immediate relief to his itchy skin. When they told me that it worked I emailed them a link about dog allergies. A couple days later Buddy was eating a new food, a hypoallergenic  brand of dog food.  And guess what! It cost about the same slightly less than the brand he was allergic to. [go figure] That was about 5 months ago and Buddy is doing great he has grown back all his fur, it came back in dark on his sides like it had apparently been when he was a young dog, the purple blotches lightened back up and they can pet him again without him going nuts trying to crawl out of his skin. 

The moral of the story is ,,, "Always listen to what I tell you!!!"  No just kidding... it's "That the wife is always less stubborn and always listens to reason!!!!"  No No No, [in that case yes] The moral of the story is... "Never assume that a certain dog food is best, just because you paid a lot of money for it!!!" 

Denver Car Show

Well we are not ready to buy a car just yet, but it doesn't hurt to see what's out there. So why not check out the stuff rolling off of the factory floor by going to the car show. Before moving to Toledo, OH the only car shows I was interested in were the "Classic" variety with Packards and Model-T's and such. Well, out in Toledo which is not far from Detroit they really get into these "New" car shows. After going to a few of these I found they are more fun than I thought. Here are a few pics from the show in Denver.



Here is my truck (well probably five or so years from now).

Steph wants a bigger truck than me!

Just kiddin' Steph actually has her eyes on a Subaru Forester.

There's gold in them thar hills.

We went up prospecting again yesterday. Did much better . Not going to get rich but did get a few pickers. Phillip remembered the sluice and the sucker tube and did real good. I stuck with the pan. Most of the pickers came out of roots of a beech tree I dug under. I clipped the roots and panned them out. The are quite fiberous and act just like a net. When I reached my limit, I went off taking pics. The one above is of Manzanita blooms. Most of them are not blooming yet but this bush is in the rocks and gets reflected heat.

This is the first fiddlehead fern I saw coming up. Mostly all you see are the dead fronds at the base of the rocks and beneath the big pine trees .

Looks kinda like a big snake, huh? Just a weird rock formation up the creek a ways.

Here is my pal the chipmunk. I took this pic the last time we were up panning. Didn't see him this trip. Got more pics for another time. Granny

I love cruizin' through the trees.  Especially when it is a nice sunny day and with a nice base wax on.  Oh yeah, I wish I could have helped Dad with some of that snow.  Without a doubt I could have put that snow to good use.

About the snake

This snake was hell bent on just getting away. I really wasn't that close to him. I was about 4 feet away and I put the camera on zoom and held it close to the ground. I couldn't even tell if the snake was even visable in the lens. I just snapped a shot every time he stopped and stuck his tongue out. Out of 11 shots, this was the only one that showed his head. The rest were flops.

As for the turtle, he was down on the desert. I have never seen one up here on the bench. I forgot I took hem the day we went down to the desert to take pics of the wild flowers. About 5 years ago we ran onto one out and about and Phillip took pics of him. He fed him part of his sandwich and got the pics when he stopped to eat. I got some great shots of a Gilla Monster a few years back.

We went up gold panning yesterday. Thought the woods would be still full of nuts looking for gold with one hand on a gun. We were in luck and had the creek to ourselves. As usual Phillip got the gold and I got sore legs and back. Oh I did get one tiny picker and a lot of fine gold. I guess the nuts gave up when they did find much. You could tell by where the dug their holes they would come up short handed. Phillip probably would have gotten quite a bit more gold but he didn't have the sucker tube. He thought it was in the rig but it was in the back of the ford. Should have looked. But Hey! It was all my fault you see. I should have reminded him.

When I got my fill of the prospecting I went picture hunting. Got a cute chipper on a rock, I gave him a piece of cracker to pose for me. Granny