I told you so.

Had to go up to Prescott today. Snow down here had all melted before the sun went down yesterday. Got to the top of the pass and there was still snow there and also down in Prescott in some areas. After doing our shopping Phillip decided since we were already up there, why not go out to the valley and look for arrowheads. I said it's apt to be snow covered. He insisted it would be melted out there. Well to make a long story short, it was still snow covered under the trees and trees were everywhere. So He's pissed and decides to try another area. I tried to tell him it was about the same altitude, but no we had to go see. You guessed it, snow. We stopped at an area lower down to look and suddenly I was 3 inches taller. Gooey mud. I got back on the road and stomped most of it off. Phillip fit to be tied because I can't get all the mud off. Pissed again, we head home because he thinks we might look at a place closer to home. ( could have went there in the first place). This area isn't too far from where we live. Have found arrowheads here before but not today. I stayed pretty close to the rig because by this time the wind had come up. Phillip took a long hike to work off his mad. Just another day at the Hanks mad house. I could have said" I told you so".

Granny.

What a day, What a day!!

We were working in the shop and had the door closed because it was a bit chilly with the wind. About 1:30 or so we decided to go in for lunch. Opened the door and what started out to be a breezy cloudy day turned into a blizzard. Too warm to last long. Better knock on wood because it can drop 30 degrees before you can blink down here. Said to hell with it after lunch and decided to play puter games. Downloaded another game called Beetle bomb. Haven't opened it yet.

May go up to Prescott tomorrow and pick up a few things if it don't snow a foot or two before morning.

Granny.

Baby

This little cutie may just be an offspring of a critter that might inhabit the caves in the afore posted picture.

More from the canyon.

These pictures are from another branch of the canyon. There are huge holes and caves in this branch. A lot of them were probably used by Indians for living in and a good many of them have already caved in. God knows what may be living in some of them now.

Look at the cross bedding of the deposits in the layers of this exposed bluff.

This hive is way high up in an opening in the face of this bluff. Phillip had to zoom in quite a bit to get it. These honey combs are about 3 feet long. Too far up even to hear the bees.

This bluff looms high above the last mining camp we got to that day. Just look at all the layers of silt that make up the strata. Makes one wonder how many years this was in the making. Is one layer a representation of one year or what? How many years did it take to turn to rock?

Phiip has more pics of this area to be shown at a later time.

Another windy and partly cloudy day today. Will maybe get more done in the shop.

Granny.

Now this is a rock!!!

This is a massive slab of agate in the bottom of a wash. It would take 2 Phillips to lift the thing. Phillip knocked a couple of chunks off it and brought one to show me one day last week (i think). I was picking out pieces of pink agate at the time. Gonna have to figure how the best way to break it up to get it out and back to the rig. We would like to keep it in as big a chunks as we can. Just down from the agate is an area of solid white opal bedrock in the creek. Some of it is quite glassy and gem stone quality. Much to big to break anything off of. Still lots of small chunks of the white opal all over. The Indians favored it over the agate for tools because it was much easier to work with. Lots of the arrowheads are made of this.

Was windy and partly cloudy today. Wind was blowing from the east at a pretty good clip but the house is in the way so the shop didn't get blasted too bad. We did some rock cleaning. Still have a bunch of crystals to wash the clay off of.

It got cloudier and windier as the day wore on. Came back in for lunch at 1:00 or so and stayed in and played puter games. Finished "Tibet Quest" I have been playing it for over a month off and on. Was fun. This evening

Phillip and I was playing the newest game I downloaded, " PJ Pet detective" another hidden object game. Now it's time for bed.

Granny.

Thought for the day.

Another Sunday coming down. Guess we will finish what we started in the shop yesterday.

Granny

Thought for the day.

Just take each day as it comes.

By the way, CONGRATULATIONS JAKE.

granny

Finally!!!

This is the last weekend for hunting and they were all crowding into all the campsites that we passed on the way home yesterday. This was on a thursday yet. No chance to find anything or a good place to park off the road with all the hunters out this weekend. Up in the 50's up here on the bench and you'd think it would be too warm to hunt. We figured it was definitely too warm to hunt down on the desert so we went down there today. Took a new road and wound up way out in the middle of nowhere right up to a damn fence so we never could get close to the hills we could see off in the distance. So much for exploring a new area. We decided to go on out to where we found the big smoky quartz crystals while we were in the area, and not waste a day as well as gas. Was up in the 70's down there and Phillip was in shorts as usual. Not me, the trees have to leaf out before it's warm enough for shorts for me. There are huge quartz fields out here and you have to really look for the crystals. I found a few and one was a perfect black, heavily etched and clear as can be. I found where there were huge pieces of crystals that the Indians had chipped on but couldn't find where they came from. So much erosion has taken place so hard to figure out. One can only go uphill from a find and hope you locate the pocket they came from. Much easier said than done with the ground literally covered with quartz. There are quite a few chips of different materials the Indians used and I found one perfect obsidian arrowhead. Phillip didn't find any cyrstals on his treck but he did find an outcrop of blue to grey and white agate that has a lacy pattern in it. The Indians must have loved it because there are chips of it all over.
Finished up the last of Phillip's Orange pie and now it's bedtime.
Granny

THIS IS MIND BLOWING

Let me know if you figure this one out   THIS IS MIND BLOWING Someone needs to figure out how this works! Amazing. To all my gifted friends. This stumped me. If you can figure out how she does it please let me know. I never even touched the cursor on my chosen number.. I just looked at the number and she still got it! This will drive you crazy! Click here: Regifting Robin

Till death do us part?

Today was volunteer day for Phillip and I. One day a month we both do our duty for the seniors of Yarnell and Wilhoit . He drops me off at the senior center then he goes up to the church and totes the boxes of commodity foods for all the old folks , out to their cars. Meanwhile I fill plastic sacks with rice, beans, 4 onions and 6 potatoes. Then I put 1 or 2 chicken hind quarters in plastic bags. This stuff plus canned foods is given once a month to qualified seniors. When Phillip picks me up, we could have lunch here but we usually pack a lunch and go out looking for rocks when we are through. Phillip is'nt too keen on eating with all those people. When I was living at the Boulder Motel and at Mrs. Potters place I used to work one day a week here at the senior center. Sometimes serving lunches and sometimes working the thrift shop. I can't work here now but I will volunteer a day a month.
Went out toward the river to look for rocks. Nada.
Granny

What a day, What a day!!

A friend of Phillips called and wanted to take a ride in his "new to him Jeep".  When he got here his wife was with him.  I thought " what the heck, I can restart the game download then we could go out in the shop." Not to be, we were going with the guys.  Damn tight fit in the back of the Jeep with all the gear, but we did it.  Went out to the canyon because they wanted to see how the Jeep did it's thing in 4 wheel.  This is one rough riding bitch in the hard back seat.  We tooled around for a bit then stopped to look for arrowheads.  Now everybody is 10 or more years younger than I am but they decided that the best place to search was up on a real high bench.  Took me twice as long to come down as it did to get up. I did find a perfect dovetail birdpoint and another whole one as well as 3 broken ones.  Phillip found a couple of birdpoints.  Jim and Sue didn't seem to get the knack of looking real close.  This was a bad place to start a new hobby because there are too many rocks, chips and pottery pieces that it is very hard to see any thing. Coming out we were still in the rollercoaster twisty turny part of the road when we came up to the top of a hill and came face to face with a huge Peterbuilt grill.  We had to back down a hill and around a bend to back up into a wash so the thing could get past.  Big semi tractor pulling 2 long trailers loaded with hay.  Followed by a semi tractor fork lift.   Had to wait a bit for the dust to settle.  I think I almost peed my pants when I saw that thing in the road.  It was so wide it took up all the road. It's so narrow anyway through this area.  I was glad to get home I'll tell you. I think I will need a cushion seat for a bit.  Almost 7:00 when we got home.  Good thing Phillip had planned on his favorite supper.  ( leftovers)!!  I"s way past my bed time and I'm pooped.
Granny

How tired I am!

We took some clients out today.  Went up to Williamson valley for some of the fine grain quartzite.  They wanted some of the green stuff that looks just like imperial jade when carved.  One of the couples had bought a letter opener Phillip had made and another couple wanted to get some to send overseas to get carved into a dragon or something.  The guys tagged along behind Phillip and I kept the 2 gals company while searching lower on the ridge.  One gal had a bucket and was picking up the chips the Indians had left.  I did find 2 broken arrowheads even though we have searched the area many times before.  One of the gals found a nice piece of quartzite that was pink, green and white.  Soft pastel colors and the size of a cantaloupe.  Real nice.  She also had a bout a half a bucket of chips.  In the small tumbler she has it will take her years to get them all tumbled.  Anyway she had a good time. When the guys got back and stowed their finds they were hot to go home.  Phillip and I stayed to look for arrowheads in another spot where we haven't taken anyone else. Phillip found a tiny bird point and I found zilch.
I did find a wild allysum (sic) blooming. There were some other tiny pink flowers, don't know what and some little daisy like flowers as well.  Can spring be far behind?
Granny.

Dragging my ass again.

And I drug it for around 2 miles over wash and up and down.
We went out to where they are going to do the mining on the bench above the canyon.  If they dig all this area up to process it for gold they will destroy a whole lot of Indian encampments. We want to find as many arrowheads and stuff before they do.  I found lots of chips of the prettiest pink agate the last time we were out there but never coud find out where the Indians got it.  Found one source today and dug for such a long time for good pieces that I got a blister. Even the tiny chips retain the pink color after all the time since the Indians chipped on it so it should be color stable.  I was digging away when Phillip came to where I was and showed me some real nice agate that was brown, cream and white. Said it was just down from where I was digging. I did run onto a few pieces where I was  but not in big chunks.  He found massive chunks and took pics but he left the camera in the car when we came home so I will have to process them later to put on the blog.
It was a nice warm day today. A bit cloudy but not heavy clouds.  We saw a couple of cayotes and a cardinal that was on the ground eating mesquite beans right by the side of the road. It was a male, and he didn't even fly as we passed him.
They are so beautiful.  We also saw a big buck drinking out of a water trough put out for the cattle.  He just looked at us as we drove by.  I told Phillip we must have been invisable for the animals to just look and not run or fly.  Lots of blue birds. Must be on their way up north. Right now they are filling up on bugs and beans. I had my chair out by the rig and was resting up from lunch and they were almost at my feet hopping around on the ground eating.
Well it's past 8:30 and my bed time so I'm going to drag my ass to bed.
Granny.

One of THOSE kinda days.

Cloudy, windy and cool.  Just another sunday coming down.  Decisions, decisions!  To play or not to play puter games or work on editing pics.  Puter games just won out.  Granny

Down in the canyon.

Still a mite cool and breezy but sun was shining.
The indians must have loved it down here in the canyon.  So many places to go and things to see.  I did some digging around here before and found a broken pottery smoking pipe.  Yesterday i found a broken paint pot , broken matate, and a piece of an effigy. Just the back end.  May have been a bear or some other kind of animal.  Phillip found 5 arrowheads that had some damage.  All obsidian.  Lots of chips and ash is at least 3 feet deep in some places.  Most of the stuff i found was in a deep fire pit.  Very interesting place.  Would like to find something whole for a change. I'm going to have Phillip take a picture of my finds because my camera decide to have fits. Lens won't retract now and it just makes grinding and growling noise. Just my luck.  If I didn't keep it in a bag all the time I would think it might have got dirty. Shiiiiit!
 Granny

Sheeeesh.

Here it is, almost 8:00 

 PM, and it isn't a damn bit better than this morning.

Thought for the day.

My sentiments exactly.
Granny

Happy Valentines day.

I hope you all had a nice day.

Was cool down here and we had wind and rain. Was going to go down and do the laundry and since down there on the desert we would have went out to Date Creek to dig a few crystals.  Would have been too nasty so will have to do it another day.  Stayed home and finished the puter game " around the world in 80 days". Finished the 3rd journey and glad to get it done.  It is a very frustrating game by the time you get to day 79. Day 80 and 81 on the 3rd  journey  are the pits. Challenging game though.
Granny

Artic Express.

DAMN COLD

Had it all today.  Must have come down from the Arctic circle.
Had to go into Prescott for some groceries and it was much colder up there.  Damn I came down here to get away from all this. Going to have to turn the electric blanket on tonight to warm up the bed. We go down to congress to do the laundry. hopefully it will be warmer down there tomorrow.
Granny

Ooops!!

A whole lot of blank space between the last posts. What happened I don't know.  Shit just happens.
Granny

Down in the canyon.

This is another pic that I posted before. Seems to be fossilized twigs or roots.  These came from a formation of bentonite near the top of the canyon.got pics out of order. Damn!!

This hole was down in the canyon and went way the hell and gone back in.  Who know what animal may be using it for a den.

I know I posted this pic before. Jeannine was wondering what this fossil is.  I don't know for sure but it looks like it may be a root of some kind. Maybe a different piece of wood that didn't petrify but just fossilized but not showing wood grain.  They are hard like rock and in with the fossilized bones.
In case anybody is interested in looking at this area on google, the co-ords are...  34 19'10.73"N   112 30'02.29"W
This is where Phillip first found the fossils.  Jeannine, if you go directly up this canyon you will come out at that place the realtor took us up on the top of a ridge up thru the timber.  There is a house up on that ridge now and you can see it if you zoom in.
After we googled the canyon we found a road that we could get the rig up into the canyon  by not going down the very steep road the ATVers use. Some rally neat old mine sites and arrowhead hunting up there. Last time we were up there Phillip found 4 arrowheads and I found a couple of broken ones and a mono.  There is so much area to look but it will take a lot of time to begin to cover it all. 
Down below the housing addition on the main road in you can see a road taking off to the left that heads over to the canyon.  That is where the steep road goes down.  Up on the bench they drilled a well for a new mining clam that has been located there.  We talked to a driller to see where the bounderies were posted at. Guy said people from Kansas located the claim and plan on working it.  He said he drilled 40 feet to water and the gravel layer on the top of the sediments was only 20 feet deep.  That would be the pay dirt material.  People claim there is only flour gold here on the bench.  I wonder if a 160 acre claim only 20 feet deep will contain enough gold to warrant mining it. Not all is gravel, and some hills and stock ponds exist here as well.  It will be interesting to see what comes of this operation. Lots of arrowhead hunting to do here before they dig it all up.
Granny

Revolting developement.

Yep!! There are days like this.

Pics from the canyon.

This is the remains of an old miners cabin down in the canyon. The forest service has burned it down. All of the old mine equipment has been removed for salvage. We saw a lot of old ore rock around a shute and in piles here and there but there is no mine anywhere around the place. The ore rock must have been mined somewhere else and processed here, although there is no sign of any mill tailings. Maybe milled and shipped somewhere else for refining. Place called " Trail's end mine".

Another view of the main cabin.

Remains of an ore rock fireplace. Must have been real nice at one time.

Looks like fosillized roots. They didn't petrify. Weird anyway.


Granny

What???

I posted this picture on the 4th. Did anyone catch the old man in the photo? He's not hiding, he is in plain sight. Phillip and I saw him when we first looked at the pictures.

Granny

So true, so true!!

That's my story and i'm stickin to it.

Cool and crispy morning.

Supposed to be a partly cloudy day so we went out toward the river to a favorite arrowhead hunting area.
I got skunked and so did Phillip. We did find some real nice agate though.
You can tell it was cool aloft because of the ice crystals in the clouds. It was beautiful and I didn't know if the camera would pick it up or not.
Granny

Damn weather.

Damn!! Colder this AM than in Rathdrum. I will either have to play puter games or clean house. Hmmmm.

Granny.

More from the canyon.

Good thing it was. I wouldn't want to meet it in there now if it was alive.

Wonder how many years it took to erode all this?

Hard capstone chunks must weigh tons. It keeps the softer under rock from eroding too fast.

Cool area.

Granny

What???

Now is this a good business venture, or what???

Well blog me that!!

Today we had it all. Sunshine, rain, hail and snow.

Had to go to Prescott and pick up a few things. Went on out to a favorite arrowhead hunting spot as long as we were up that way. Ground still frozen from the last snow storm up that high but we did get some looking in before all hell broke loose. Forecast was for partly cloudy. Got cold and nasty not long after we got there. I did find 3 nice arrowheads and 2 broken ones. Phillip got 1 nice one and a couple of broken ones. I was lucky because I stayed fairly close to the rig but Phillip got wet because he was hiking way up on the top af the ridge. He took shelter under a big pinon pine but decided to come back down anyway when rain turned to snow. At least he wasn't wearing shorts today. Kill the weather gal on TV.

Granny

Canyon views

Lots of strange formations down in the canyon.