Happy New Year

I for one am glad this year is over with. Hope things are better in 2013.  Damn politics.

Resolutions are made to be broken. Can't hurt to try this way. Never worked the other way around.

My sentiments exactly. Getting old is the pit's.

Got a couple of inches of snow last night . Most has melted and supposed to be sunny tomorrow. We needed the moisture.

Hope you all had a good Christmas, now a Happy New Year.
Granny.

Merry Christmas Everybody

 Granny and Phillip wish you all the best this season.

Another day in AZ.

Who has the right o way?
The snow from the weekend finally all melted but we got another skiff last night.  Cold this AM. Too windy to be out. So this AM has put Phillip in a funk. Maybe he can start making the Xmas candy he has been talking about.  Last year he did the same thing and waited til a couple days before Xmas to make some fudge.  Who knows about him.  I'm gonna play a game and maybe read a bit.  I might even pretend to crochet another pair of slippers for myself.  My old ones have got a hole in it. Sheeesh! 
Granny

Balancing acts.

 These granite boulders are as big as cars. This area may have had a cover of tree trunks and limbs added by the Indians for shelter.  Its a large enough area between them for at least two rooms. The floor would have been on solid rock.  We did find a few chips and pottery here around the rocks on the outside.

 This huge boulder that must be about a ton, is just perched up on top of another big boulder. Looks heavier on the right side so what keeps it perched there?

This one really had us baffled.  This baby is as big as a volkswagon, sitting up on this other massive boulder.  Great balancing act, right? So many huge boulders.  We looked all over for artifacts and maybe petroglyphs. No glyphs and no artifacts except a few chips and pot shards. The Indians were here but this wasn't a major encampment.  A bit of a disapointment but you never know unless you go.  Got some good rock pictures though.
Granny

AZ morning.

Got a couple of inches of the white stuff last night.  May get some more today.  We do need the moisture.  Clouds keeping the cold air aloft.  Not too many more days til the shortest day of the year.
Granny.

A little humor.

 What's a bit of blackmail,ehh?

 There are times I think I might have O.D.'ed on these trank pills. Not so much any more.  Not a whole lot to laugh about these days.

 

Wouldn't you know it?  Shit!!  Santa don't come around any more since I grew up. Any way....

The winter seems to have caught up with us.  They  predicted a nasty snow storm for yesterday and today.  We did get some much needed rain and a small snow flurry but the white stuff passed us by I think.  Snow is still on for tonight according to the weather forecast but when I last looked out it was clear.  Will probably get colder than ever with no cloud cover and the wet ground. Maybe warmer by Monday.

Night all, Granny.

Indian country

 Phillip and I hiked up to the top of this ridge.  Lots of rocks as you can see. We walked all over looking for dwelling places and petroglyphs. We did find where some Indians had lived back in the boulders but most of them must have lived in the foothills below.  We did find pottery shards, chips and 4 good arrowheads and quite a lot of broken ones.  Too many cows, deer, elk and pigs up here to step all over stuff.  I found one good arrowhead just a couple of inches from being stepped on by a cow. Interesting stuff up here.

 We found only a couple of rocks that had this orange moss on them.  Why just two and what makes them any different to have moss when there were many other rocks of the same material up there.

This is a type of cholla cacti called a stag horn.  There are a number of different kinds of stag horns.  Some I have posted before. All in all it was a great day.  Not too hot as the sky clouded up before we got back to the rig. It was along day for me and quite a hike as well.  Finally getting my breathing and strength back.
Granny.

 Now here's a feature I want in my new log house.  Sure didn't see one in the old log house below.

 You do remember this old log house and these old folks don't you?

This is pretty much how I spent my day today.  Yesterday we went arrowhead hunting.  I found one good one and a broken one.  For a change Phillip didn't get any.  He did get some pictures of an area where the Indians hung out.  I have to reduce them yet so I can put them on the blog.
Granny.

Must have had a security update that wiped out the security settings for the blog.  I haven't been able to access it for a while.  Had to go in and reset all my security settings.  Pits.
 Any way on thanksgiving day we went up to one of out favorite hunting areas.  Phillip found this in a place high up on a bench.  He had been there before but hadn't found the petroglyphs The rock has some kind of crystals included in it.  Weird stuff.
Had thanksgiving dinner on the following saturday.
Granny

Life goes on in AZ.

Yesterday was volunteer day at the church and senior center. Seems like a long day but it runs 9 to 2 for us.
Not as bad now as it was when Phillip had to take care of the garden before we went down.  The old bat that was thinking she ran how we were to package up stuff, went back East to visit for turkey day.  I took the lead and changed how we could fill the bags a lot quicker.  She always had each of us filing our own bags. Open the bag, try to hold it open while you dump  in 2 cups of rice, beans and popcorn or what other stuff that came in bulk and had to be measured out. then twist the bag and add a twist tie.  I had one gal open bags and hold it open so another could fill it then hand it off to another to tie up. We were done in less than half the time it took before. I tried to get her to see that it would go faster if done my way but I think it's a power trip for her. Since she works there and I'm only a volunteer I guess it goes her way unless the gal who runs the program tells her to do it the way we did yesterday.  I'm just an old frustrated manager, I guess. But it runs against my grain to do shit the hard way.

Went up to Prescott this morning to pick up a few groceries then went out to Williamson's valley since we were up that way. Went to where we have looked a lot for arrowheads and found some other people there. As usual Phillip had a crisis attack.  How dare they go where we wanted to go.  Any way I said lets go back down the road and go thorough the gate and take the road that goes back behind the area where we wanted to go in the first place.  Gate has sign, please close the gate so we knew property owner didn't care if we went in.  We didn't go too far in because road deteriorates to cow trail fast and we had the pickup. Not as high clearance as the 4 runner.  I found chips and pottery right away.  2 arrowheads and 4 broken ones. This saddle has drainage's going 3 different ways.  Huge broad saddle.  Phillip took a hike as usual and he more or less scouted around.  Found a lot of small encampments. He only found 1 good rrowhead and a bunch of broken ones.  He said he covered a lot of ground to see just how much the Indians had stayed there.  This canyon has had lots of Indians staying here or they moved around it a lot. There  are still massive trees standing in some places and where we were today had been logged off.  Huge stumps show how big the trees were when harvested.  Stumps rotten bad so they were cut a long time ago.  Most of the trees in there now are less than a hundred feet high and not more than 2 or 3 feet around.
Bed time so goodnight all.  Granny.

Yep! More rocks.

 This beauty is an onyx geode with rust colored sagenite in a beige agate center enclosing an amethyst crystal core surrounded by bands of blue,pink and beige fortification agate. A rare and striking fist size specimen.  Other half has been sold.

This specimen is a section of an thin skin onyx geode. Blue agate with brown sagenite crystals above a band of pink, lavender and white plume agate that has rust color sagenite crystals inclusions. The center of this large geode had onyx,agate blades around pockets of agate with gold color druzzy quartz crystals in them..
Parts of this beauty sold and parts traded. Quite unusual and rare.

Phillip and I went down on the desert where it was a lot warmer and spent the day doing our thing.  Phillip off hiking and me scouting for arrowheads and digging crystals.  When my legs got too tired to bend over and pick any more I took to my chair and read. Phillip found a new Indian encampment about 4 miles away and picked up 6 nice arrowheads plus a few broken ones.  Going to have to take pics of his latest finds one of these days.

Oh! I almost forgot. I took a loaf of bread Phillip's friend the goat keeper gave him for turkey day dressing (was moldy) and I tossed it out for the chipmunks.  I had to laugh at the darn things.  There were 6 of them, grabbing slices of bread and going off in different directions.  One little guy was running like crazy and stumbled over the slice of bread he was carrying. He tumbled ass over end a couple of times , then got up, stood up on his hind legs and looked all around as if to see if any one saw his accident.  Twitched his tail then grabbed his bread a dashed off.  I would have taken pic's but Phillip had the camera. ( still have to process and size them yet). Like I needed to get more crystals.  I still have a bucket of them sitting in front of the house left there from this spring.  Should have given Monty's daughter a zip-lock bag and let her fill it.  Hell!  My brains just weren't working that day.
Granny.

Fall, fell, fallen.

Fall has fell!! Fallen?  Anyway if Phillip had grown pumpkins this year they would have had frost on them this morning. I wanted cooler but not down and out cold.  I'm going to have to get out the darn old electric blanket soon now and put it on the bed. At least we didn't  get the snow some smart ass weather forecaster had forecast. We did get some rain though and it was sorely needed.
We had planed to go down on the desert but the rain dampened that idea. Phillip decided to make pies instead. He made blueberry and apple pies. We had some limes given to us but the lime pie Phillip made last year, he didn't like, so he wouldn't make any this year. I found a recipe for a key lime pie using eagle brand milk.  Maybe he will try it yet.  Got to get a can of the milk first.
Bed time.  Nite all, Granny.

Brain- echos.

I named this blog brain- echos because brain-echos can be dreams or memories.
Well, I had a brain-echo last night.  A weird one.  I dreamed I went to the Netherlands in search of some long lost ancestors. I was asking people on the street if any of them were related to my viking ancestors but they didn't understand English. I was getting frustrated then finally reached in my purse and took out an instrument that looked like a cell phone.  I then asked the questions I wanted into the thing and it translated it into the language of the person I was speaking to.  Then the person told me their answer and the thing translated it to English. Cool instrument. Made good sense in the dream. If anyone was related I don't remember.
Granny.

Lifted off the web.

It' the darn truth.   Granny

More rock-ology.

 The rocks above are onyx nodule's. They are formed in pockets in the lava.  These nodule's I dug have centers of blue agate with red and gold sagenite inclusions.

 The yellow oolitic agate formed in this pocket also has tiny red sagenite needles in places and it makes some of it look orange. A dirty calcite crust has formed on part of this specimen.  Phillip found better smaller pieces of cutting quality here.

In the lava pocket here, Phillip found this piece of cavity filled with sparkly quartz crystals. Lots of stuff has eroded from the lava beds but some specimens take a lot of work to collect without damaging them.
Granny.

A little rock-ology lesson.

First I want to thank all of you for the birthday wishes.  Love ya for it. I'm now 4 days older than I was last Thursday and I feel it.

These specimens were collected about 3 years ago. Still have a lot of them wrapped and stored in the shed. Never got pics of all we collected here. This is a mile square ranch we got permission to collect on and we don't take anyone here. So many different kinds of material in this area and lots of arrowheads.  You could pick up a 5 gallon bucket of chips in a hundred foot radius. I have picked up and tumbled lots of them. We went out yesterday and picked up the key to the gate and did some more hunting. Found some beautiful purple oolitic agate.  Pieces too large to pick up. Will have to bring large maul to get samples.  Didn't take pics. Picked up some small pieces of green agate with red and yellow moss.  Must have been favored by the Indians as I could find only chips and small pieces.  Couldn't find the source. I stayed fairly close to the truck.  We can go anywhere there is a road with the rig and pull off. No cross country driving. Usually park by the corrals or loading chute.  No cows around those and the ground is usually bare of grass. Lots of cow trails to follow and look for stuff.  Small bluffs and some lava domes where no grass grows. This is where we find most of the specimens. As usual Phillip took off on a hike. He took some pics that I haven't processed yet. He also found 5 arrowheads.  I only found 2 broken ones. I think the cows step on them and break them around the loading chutes.

The rock above is a broken onyx geode with hex crystals in the center.  What's unusual about them is the fact they have flat terminations instead of pointed ones. We have found rhomb shaped crystals here and hex also but they usually have the pointed terminations. Sample about the size of a grapefruit. Sample is specimen only.  Has no value as gem material. Definitely a rarity.

the rock above is an onyx geode with blue and white agate filling.  Has black, gold and red sagenite inclusions. The sagenite has formed tiny rosettes instead of the usual needle- like formations. The sample has some minute holes in it.  Portions cold be used as gem material. Not a plentiful material like it was found. Seems to be quite rare here.

Rock below is an onyx geode with alternating onyx and gold and dark red sagenite banding.  Center is purple agate with red sagenite inclusions. A black and white band  of tiny sagenite crystals surrounds a center pocket of clear agate with dark gold and cream mossy inclusions. A very definite rarity.  This piece is about the size of a large grapefruit.  Other half was was sold. We are keeping this half as a specimen. 

Phillip was hiking.

 While I was sitting, Reading and soaking up peace and quiet, Philip took a long hike and found these things amongst others.  Broken Metate and monos.

 Had to get a Picture of this red bush.  Leaves look similar to the wild current bushes up in Idaho and MT.

This is a whole metate he dug up.  Too bad it is in about 2 miles as it looks on Google.  This is on a huge ranch we recently got permission to hunt rocks on. I found some almost clear chunks of quartz and some green quartzite.  One broken arrowhead but Phillip had to go far inside to get these photos and 6 good arrowheads and scads of broken ones. A lot of hunters scout the places close to the road where I was.
We may be able to take people here for rocks.  Still up in the air about that. Too many deer and pig hunters in the area yet. Trailers,tents, motor homes in almost every place there is a spot big enough to put them.  Although this ranch abuts BLM land and with so many hunters out and about, I have yet to hear a gunshot.  Deer and pig tracks all over the place. Phillip got pics of the pigs, but the hunters never seem to see them.  I think they never get off their ATV's long enough to look.
Granny.