New year.

Have a good one.

Love ya'll, Granny

New Year comes.

All the best.

Love ya'll, Granny.

Night

Love ya'll, Granny

Merry Christmas.

Ever since Phillip came down here we have spent almost every holiday,
out and about. Not today. We stayed home because I took a header and
twisted my bad leg. Hurts like hell to walk on it.
Phillip cooked a fantastic dinner. Ham baked with apples and yams,
broccoli, and pumpkin spice cake for desert.

Got a Doc. appt tomorrow but plan to go sit in the sun and read while
we are already down on the desert. Phillip will go hiking as usual.

Hope you all had a wonderful day. Love ya'll, Mom and Phillip.

Morning!

Love ya, Granny

Hi!

Hope yours was better.

Love ya, Granny

Yep

Love ya. Granny

Howdy!

Getting cool up here on the bench now and finally getting down to nice
weather on the desert.

We decided to take a trip on down and look for some rocks and
arrowheads. Was real nice. I tried to dig a few crystals but the
ground is just like concrete. My arn will be sore tomorrow. Afternoon
ir started to get too warm in my sweat shirt so I took it off and
tossed it over to the walker. Damn! Missed it and sweatshirt fell
on the ground. Right on some of the real innocent looking grass. Oh
No!! There was some old dead tansy weeds hiding in that grass. Damn
stuff has little burr seeds with a long sticker thing on rhem. Ah
crap! All over the insude of my sweat shirt. Well there goes the
next hour picking those darn things off. I swear they were mating and
reproducing faster than I could pick them off. Nasty damn things.

Well I did get a few crystals, but for a change, Phillip came back
from a hike empty handed. He didn't even get any pics although we did
see a wild donkey cross the road in front of us. Phillip stopped the
car and asked how he was doing. He just stared us down. Oh well, he
just wasn't socible. I'm surprised he didn't run.

I'm tired, Love ya, Granny

Morning!

Love ya'll, Granny.

Today

Love Ya'll, Granny

Hi!

Have a good day.

Love ya'll, Granny

Howdy!

Love ya'll, Granny

Thanksgiving.

Hope you all had a good day.
Love ya'll, Granny

Howdy!

Love ya'll Granny

Tuesday

Love ya'll.
Granny

Howdy!

This is an alligator juniper. It has so very many warts and scars on
it. Would make some awesome furniture I bet. Phillip should have put
his rockpick up to show you the size. If I had been there I would
have stood by it. Natures attempt to heal.

Indian summer here right now.
Love ya'll, Granny.

Life.

Some days are like that

Love ya, Granny.

Yep!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY.


Granny

puzzle

Most people don't get it. I didn't.

Have fun
Granny.

Again.

Happens every time.

Granny

Limits

Granny.

Tepee!

We have found lots od teepee rings here in AZ, but this was the first
one that was still mostly intact. Phillip found it the other day
along with painted pottery sherds and chips. We have not found
painted pottery in this area before either.
Granny.

Puzzle.

Phillip found this in an Indian encampment, along with pottery sherds
and chips. It was made from a white clay. About 1/2 inch thick, then
incised about 1/4 inch deep for the lines, then baked. It is almost
like ceramic. Was hand formed because you can still see some
fingerprints. He couldn't find the rest of it We wonder what it was
for and why was it broken. Strange. Originally must have been about
6 inches around. What's with the triangles? Just a design? Wonder
what was in the middle. Wish I knew an expert on things like this.
Granny

Huh?

Hey! Is anybody out there?
Granny

fall.

Well fall has fell, or fallen which ever. But it done did it anyway.
Still dry as a bone. no rain for well over a month. Hope we get some
before too long. All the hunters are out and about. Some are
careless with fires. That's some fire in CA. Worst I have ever heard
about. They need some rain bad there too.

We went up in the mountains to prospect this AM. Phillip didn't get
much, but I collected 86 cents Checking around the campsite with the
metal locater Was windy and got even windier as the day went. we
left early because I hate being up in those 300 and more feet tall
trees when the wind blows. I don't care if they do stand the wind, I
can't.. Call me chicken, I don't care.

Take care all, Love ya, Granny

Stuff

Phillip found this dude when he was on a hike. Said he was about 2
inches long. I wish he had put something down for reference. Even
his rockpick would be better than nothing. Oh well!

Today is Columbus day. Ever wondered what this country would have
been like if he never came here ? Mavbe our ancestors would have
settled here first since they were Vikings and they did come here
first. They just didn't stay.

Had a crazy dream last night. Dreamt some old Lady gave us a puppy.
It had a green collar on it, with a four leaf clover on it. She said,
" His name is Lucky". Turns out the puppy was a female not a male.
Lucky... Strange dreams?

Love ya, Granny

So you want to e a prospector...Part 10.

We worked on that upper ledge for the next few days.  It was a bit cloudy and cooler so we did the cleanup before we went in for lunch.  Worked out fine because then while Jeb napped I could shovel off a bunch of overburden for the next day's run.
 One day while we were working I saw Jeb pointing off toward the road.  There was Stan, taking the dozer from the pit up to work on the road to the quartz blow out.  Then  they took a front end loader and a dump truck up to get the big chunks they wanted.
Next day I put a elk stew in the crock pot before we went out to work.  After clean up and when Jeb took his nap, I was just going out the door when in walked Big.  He put a box of stuff in my hands and said it was stuff his Sister had picked out of her garden.
Good grief, He looked like death warmed over.  He stood there a minute then I told him he looked tired and to go sit a while and I would make him a cup of tea.  He went on in and co lapsed in a recliner and leaned back.  He said to me,   "Sonny,  Whatever you are cooking, sure smells good."  I asked him why he didn't stay a while longer with his Sister but he told me, she fusses to much and it was wearing him out.  Then He said to me,  " Sonny,  you know I ain't afraid of dying, but I sure do hate to feel sick and hurt.".  I felt so bad for him, I was almost ready to start bawling.  I took him the hot tea and told I him I knew just what he meant.  He closed his eyes, so I went back to the sink and  checked out the box from his Sister, cleaned the stuff up and put it in the fridge.  When I went back out to talk to Big, I found him sound asleep.  When I took the cup from his hand, It was cold as ice so I went and got a couple of blankets and covered him up.  Just then Jeb got up from his nap and came and sat at the table.  I poured him some coffee, and he mentioned how bad Big looked.   I put some chopped cabbage in the stew and started to make some CDQ bread.  We would have hot biscuit's and cinnamon rolls for breakfast too.  Jeb just sat there, smoked his pipe, drank coffee and  went "mumphh" a few times.  Then he said,  " You planning on a real late supper?" I said , " No, same time as usual, why do you ask?  Then he say's,  " cause you are just now starting bread."  "  Oh ye of little faith.  My Grandma gave me this recipe and it will be ready on time, you'll see."   " Hey, is that can milk you are pouring on those rolls?  How come you ain't pouring it on the other pan too?   I said just wait, and you will find out everything."  I put some frozen peas in with the stew, put one pan of cinnamon rolls in the fridge, and sat down with Jeb and had a cup of coffee.

A hour and a half later I took the bread out of the oven and Big woke up. He said he had a bit of trouble keeping food down, but for first time since his treatment,  he really felt hungry.  He was glad he came home. We had hot rolls with supper and gooey cinnamon rolls for desert.

During the next few days we got the upper ledge cleaned off and went to work on the clay filled gravel in front of the big rocks.  I had removed the big wedges and let the one big rock fall forward into the hole in front of it.  We almost had it all cleaned up now.  Time to move the sluice up stream.

I told Jeb, I had to go back to town and catch up on my rent and get some more work clothes and boots.  Jeb told me to pick up my check at the office, and then he told me,  " why don't you think about moving up to the house.  No rent, and then I could kinda keep an eye on Big too..  I told him I would consider it while I was in town.

I took some frozen huckleberries and went on down to the office.  Darcie gave me the check, and I was flabbergasted at the amount.  I said,  " are you sure this is right?  She said,   "Yep, your share less expenses., but still have funds outstanding from the crystals, white quartz boulders, and the guy wants the huge blue grey boulder that's big as a Volkswagon up by the drag line and another big mottled brown one up there too.  Those will be as spendy as the white quartz boulders." It pays to be a prospector, don't it?"

In town I told Marge I was going to move on up to the mine.  I cleaned out my apartment, got new clothes, went to the bank then headed on back to Montana

Yep I was going home. When I got there, Jeb said he was glad I was going to stay.  He told me he hates winter and his old bones hated snow mobile riding, he liked working with our gold processor in the winter, and with all the flour gold in with the white quartz sand he had kept seperate from the rest, they would be hard pressed to get it all cleaned up. this winter.

Yep!  I guess I was really a prospector now.  I had worked harder in these past few months, than I ever had before, but I loved every minute of it

The End..

Birds

The other night I was sitting on the side of my bed and was looking
out the window. I could see a flock of vultures flying around the
house. Then about a dozen decided to roost up in the trees by our
house. Next morning when we were going up to the hills, they left and
flew to the east. Strange, last night when I was getting ready to
go to bed, 3 huge flocks of vultures flew over and went to the east as
well. This is the first time I have seen them gather up this far
north. Usually they gather down on the desert before they leave for
the winter. They are a bit later this year too. Seeing the flying
sround the house kinda spooked me to say the least. Just another
strange thing happening.

I have another, so when I get some pics, I will put them here on the blog.

Love ya, Granny.

Birthdays...

Today is Bill's and Lisa"s Birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

So you want to be a prospector?...Part 9

Well we started out to go back to the house when Darcie called us back.  She said she almost forgot to give us a box of vegies that one of the locals had brought in.  She also said she forgot to tell me that she sold the cluster of quartz crystals I brought in from the big quartz blowout I found.
  I was glad to see some fresh vegies.  I like frozen ones but fresh is better.

Back up at the claim, Jeb said to help him get the contraption up on the bench then I would be free to start supper.  "don't fix a big supper he said, since we had such a big lunch."  Out in the shop we hoisted it up and propped the side so he could cut it off. I went on back to the house and found Max waiting at the door with another baby rabbit.  Darn things still having little ones this late in the summer? Any way I told Max he wasn't bringing the bunny in the house and closed the door in his face.

In the box of vegies there was tomatoes, cukes, and 2 big zucchinis.  I decided to make some zucchini bread first. When I got the nuts from the freezer, I heard the chipmunks chirping.  Sure enough, they were out on their shelf begging for nuts.  They didn't have the run of the house now because Big had made a wire run over their shelf.  The little house on the shelf had an opening to the outside where  Jeb had built a well insulated nest up under the eave.  The chipmunks could go out, on their outside shelf and wait for Jeb to come out the door, then jump over on his shoulder.  Big, did put a tiny trap door in it so they could be fed some goodies once in a while.  After I put the bread in the oven I gave them some nuts and a few raisins.  I went on ahead and made a batch of gazpacho salad, and got the stuff ready for zucchini and eggs.

Just as I was taking the bread out of the oven I heard Jeb coming into the house.  I heard him say to Max,  You put that rabbit down, you're not bringing it into the house.  okay, then stay out there." Then he came on in.  He said he was going to clean up, then rest his eyes a bit..

Jeb sat down in his recliner, got his pipe ready, put it in his mouth and leaned back.  For the life of me I don't see how he keeps the pipe in his mouth when he is sleeping.

While we were eating supper, I told Jeb that Darcie had called and  the guy who bought the crystals  liked the pictures of the white quartz blowout and wanted to come up and get a close look at it.  He is looking for some more big chunks to carve.  He said the ones the drag line brought out of the creek were too fractured to do what he wants do with them.  Good thing I gave Darcie those pictures.   Jeb said, that they could look all they want, but if they want big chunks, they would have to find their own way to get them out.   Jeb got up and cut off a big hunk of zucchini bread, buttered it and chomped away.  We took our coffee and sat by the fire for a while.

Next morning we took the contraption out to the sluice and Jeb screwed some pieces of wood to the inside of the sluice so he could wedge it in good.  Got some burlap under it and put a loose piece of re bar under the side he cut off.  When it was all in place, I went up and opened the dam at the head and then I started to put the gravel I had dug out the day before, at the head of the new piece. The clay seemed to stay in the squares in the re-bar and the water dissolved it pretty good.
We kept at it til I had gotten all the gravel I could reach here.  We called it a day and went on in the house.  Jeb cleaned up and went for a nap. Since it wasn't all that hot today, I went back out and climbed up above the two big boulders and looked to see if I could dig some gravel from out in front of them. I climbed on top of one when the darn thing started to slide a bit.  I reached up and grabbed at a bush to keep from falling and the darn thing pulled right out of the ground, bringing a bunch of gravel with it.  Wow, there was an other ledge above the one were were working on and it had been covered with over burden.  I cleaned off an place on the over laying  rock and decided to sample the gravel to see if it had any gold in it. I panned a couple of pans and did find some fines in it. I'll check with Jeb and see if it would be worth working instead of moving upstream right now.

I had just climbed up out of the creek when Stan came up with the carving artist.  I took them back up to the end of the road to the clear-cut area.  The old logging road up the draw, left of the clear-cut was not in real good shape.  We had to walk a ways to the big white quartz blow-out.  I thought that artist guy was going to have a heart attack when he saw the blow-out.  He wanted it all.  Like Jeb said, he would have to figure a way to get it out, in big chunks to boot.  Stan did a bunch of measuring, and took some more pictures so he and Darcie could give the artist a quote of what it would cost him. I was content just stand back and watch them.  I did point out the area where I found the crystal cluster, then I went on back to the house.  I'll let Stan take care of it now.

When I got back to the house, Jeb was up from his nap and ready to do the clean up. I told him about Stan and the artist and about the new gravel find.  He said,  "Sonny, I'm going to leave this up to you about the upper ledge.  If you want to do it, then we will.  The clean up wasn't too bad despite the clay problem.  In the morning I would have to rig up some sheet metal to put across the sluice so I could remove the over burden and flume it across the sluice to the stream and let that take it downstream.

Next morning Jeb  and I got the metal set up then He said I was on my own because he was going into Wallace to take care of some business.  He was taking the last gold to the processor. I spent the rest of the day removing the over burden, then shoveled a big portion of the un-covered gravel down to the ledge we were working on before. Going to feel like a big fool if we don't find any gold up there.
Since I was alone, after cleaning up, I just grabbed a sandwich and went off the work on my computer.  I was keeping a journal of my time up here and needed to up-date things.

Next morning I went outside and came almost face to face with a big black bear.  I could see Sammy jumping around and playing with the darn thing.  What in the world was going on.  I called her to come in the house but she and the bear just played, then they both ran up the road and into the timber.  I called but she wouldn't come back.  Jeb will have a fit if that bears kills her.  I waited a bit then went on down to the creek  I was glad I had the rhino.  It beat trying to out run a bear on foot.

I worked, shoveling the gravel into the sluice and then jumping down to clear the race ever so often.  Not a whole lot of big rocks in this gravel.  Not much black sand either, but an abundance of white sand. Lots of quartz pieces as well.  I stopped around noon for a sandwich the went back to work.  I was still at it when Jeb came back about  three .   He was surprised to see how much I had done.  I told him about the bear and Sammy.  He just laughed ans said,   "that was just Bruin.  I picked him up as a tiny cub.  He was almost dead.  His mother was dead and there he was by her body just starving. I thought he was long gone by now. He stayed in the dog house with Sammy when he started eating dog food on his own.  He wouldn't hurt a flea." "  Darn it Jeb, you could have told me about that darn bear.  I almost fell over when I saw him"   "slipped my mind." Jeb said.  Lets see what you have for a clean up.  After Jeb panned it out, he said,  " Not bad there , Sonny, not bad,"  Looks like you are going to be a prospector yet.

To be continued.

Yum.

Fried bread with peach jam. That was for lunch.
Granny.

update

Finally getting some big heirloom tomatoes that the birds haven't
pecked or the slugs haven't got into. Love those tomato sandwiches.
Granny

Yeah!

Makes you wonder.
Granny

Hot?

You think its hot where you are?
Granny

Monsoons.

Monsoons can be the darnndest things. You can't always tell when you
get up in the morning what the day might be like. It might be a
beautifull morning. Not a cloud in the sky. Not a cloud on the
weather radar, but pretty soon, the hot air rises and hits the cold
air aloft, then seemingly, out of nowhere, the clouds begin to build,
turn black, then the sprinkles start. Next, all hell breaks loose,
the lightning flashes, the rain starts to pour out of the sky like the
floodgates have been opened. Water everywhere, running like a river
all over the place. You never know when, but when the temps get over
85, and there is a bit of humidity. There it is.

Idaho

What's going on now? Is Idaho blowing up? 51 earthquakes in the last
36 hours in Soda Springs, Idaho/

Yesterday

Yesterday was food bank day at the Senior Center where Phillip and I volunteer.
Real strange stuff brought up from Pheonix.. We got a Big pallet of
strawberries, A Big pallet of some kind of Aloe Vera drink in half
gallon jugs, a pallet of cantalope, small and oval shaped, the usual
bread products and a pallet of chopped collard greens in gallon bags.
Trouble is, only about 38 people showed up to get food. Most were
gone on vacation or something. Gal who runs things was trying to get
people to take cases of melons and flats of berries. Not many takers
in these old folks. Guy who only has one hand asked Phillip if he
would ask the gal if he could have another flat of strawberries
because he could get his neighbor to make his up into jam if he got a
flat for her too. Gal who runs the place told Phillip to take 2 more
flats out to his car along with a couple cases of melons. The old guy
could give them out to his neighbors. He took 2 cases of collard
greehs for his chickens along with a BIG box of bread for them. Seems
like NO body wanted to touch the Aloe Vera drink. Me neither. Well
it would keep til next week ok. We got a flat of strawberries and
bread. I did take one cantalope the see what they were like.
Needless to say, Phillip has been busy cleaning and fixing berries for
the freezer. He even made what he called Strawberry long cake. Just
finished off a dish. So good.
Take care, Love ya, Granny.

So you want to be a prospector...part 8.

I was getting hardened in, slow but sure. As the days of aches and pains stretched into months, along with the ministrations of Big, I was getting muscles I didn't know existed till then.  Oh, I knew they were there really but quite unused and undeveloped, but prospecting really brought them forth.  We had been working that shelf above the creek for a long time, and it was getting close to just becoming a solid rock face now.  Oh there was still gravel there but it was getting harder and harder to get to, with all the bigger rocks the glacier had piled in that bench area.  We were down to figuring out another way to get at it. Jeb didn't want  to move the sluice upstream quite yet.  We had been working hard, but we also had time out for  Big and I to go down to the Regis and the Clark Fork river to fish, when Jeb went to Walace to take the gold to the processor and do business there.   I also went to the end of the road to the clear cut and picked 4 gallons of huckleberries.  I wanted to take some to Marge when I went back to town.

This morning Big said he was going into town for his cancer treatments.  He would be gone for a week. He said.  Jeb had been sitting there at the table drinking the last of the coffee, and smoking his pipe.  He pointed his pipe at Big and said,  " be careful, you don't have to drive back if you don't feel good.  Just take it easy."  He looked at me and said,  " Big will stay with his Sister there in Woodland Park,  in Walace close to where I live.He don't really have to hurry, You and I will be able to make it til he gets back, I'm sure." I nodded my head, I know we will make it I was thinking.

After Big took off, Jeb said,  " we need to do things a bit different now.  Lets go out to the shed and pick up some different prospecting tools.  We are now down to where the work will require a lot of work on your knees.  Your knees are a whole lot younger than mine so I'm going to let you take care of this  part."
At the shed we got some gads and a small sledge hammer. Jeb said to get 4 of those big wooden wedges and the green rubber coated canvas gloves. This along with some large sturdy screwdrivers and an old fireplace poker, a couple chunks of foam rubber matting and we were all set he said.

Back out at the workings, we took all the tools over to the bench.  I Sad to Jeb,  "I don't think this one rock is holding up this over hanging rock, but I do think this bigger one up ahead of it a ways just might be doing it if it isn't just solid bedrock."  Jeb looked and said, " you just might be right there Sonny.  You're learnin, you're learnin.  Jeb went back to the other side of the sluice and I took the sledge and gave the bigger chunk of Ryolite rock a couple of good whacks.  It broke loose and broke into 2 pieces.  Jeb said to hand them over and he would put them in the tub and wire brush them good.  I broke a few more smaller rocks and handed them to Jeb to do his thing with, then put the chunks of foam down and went to work cleaning all the gravel out of the deep grove the glacier had carved out of that solid granite,  I cleaned, scraped, swept every thing I could find in the crevice.  That left 4 or more huge rocks the glacier had piled in the way.  I was starting to clean out in front and under one of them, when I could see what the big wooden blocks we brought were for.  I took two of them and pounded them in under the one big rock.  I looked over at Jeb, and he was nodding and smiling.  Yep! I'm learning, I'm learning for sure now.  I raked a pile of gravel from under and between the boulders, then got up and tossed a shovel full onto the sluice.   " Hold it!  Hold it! yelled Jeb. This is got to be pits for now.  This has too much clay in it to run like we have been doing.  Let's call it quits for now and think about this."  We left the clay there above the riffles for the water to dissolve and went to the house.  I was going to make another pot of coffee when Jeb said,  " lets go down town and talk to Dan there at the pit.  He may know how we can fix this with out moving the sluice back down stream a ways and putting in Hungarian riffles to break up the clay.  We don't have the room to do it where the sluice is now. I don't want to if we don't have to."

We got in the beast and headed to town.  We got down to the pull out where the drag line was working.  There was a red pickup parked there. Mike, the drag line operator must have gone to town for lunch because his truck was gone.  There was a guy walking around the machine and then over to the hole and looked in.  He must have looked up and saw us, and was slowly walking back up the hill.  Jeb Pulled out his pipe, stuck it in his mouth.   That's when I pulled out my little camera and took a couple pictures of the truck and plates.
Guy came up, stuck out his hand, that Jeb ignored and said, Howdy.  I'm with the BLM and was just up here checking out these mining claims, to make sure they are operating legally. Got to check this, and two other claims up this creek and the abandoned mine at the end of the road."  Jeb just went Mummph, mumph a couple times the asked the dude how how got thru the gate.  Dude said he had the card from the Forest Service given to his office for this purpose.  Jeb went Mummph again and asked him if he knew where he was. He said he was just checking out the Blue Mountain Mining claims. Jeb went Mummph again then said,  " Mister, I don't know who you are.  You don't have a BLM vehicle, and you are not wearing a uniform,  I need to see some ID if you don't mind.."   Guy said he  works out of an office and don't wear a uniform. Don't have his BLM ID with him at the moment.  Said his name was Bill Orr.  Wanted to know just who in the hell we were to question him anyway. Jeb told him we were the owners of this property, and he was trespassing on private property.  Guy said bull,  the Forest Service boundary started at the gate, and he was going to call the Sheriff.  Jeb told to to go right ahead and we will wait right here for him, although it might take him a couple of hours to get here.  But if he would like, Jeb said he would call the deputy who works part time down at the Post Office there in Blue Mountain.  He could be here in a few minutes.  Besides, he told him the gate was a private gate and the Forest Service boundary was still up the road another quarter mile.  he also told him his information about the claims and abandoned mine were way out of date.  There was no abandoned mine.  Just a patent he owned. I took a couple of pictures of the guy before Jeb finally told him if he knew what was good for him, he best turn around and go back to his office and get things updated.  I guess the guy figured out he better leave while the getting was good.

We waited till he was back thru the gate the piled back in the beast and went down to the pit.  When we got there the red pickup was there.  The guy started to get out then got back in and left.  When we went in the office, Dan wanted to know what that was all about.  Jeb brought  him up to date then Dan said,  " Bill Orr, huh.  That guy is as crooked as a dogs hind leg.  He's a buddy of that Hank fellow who worked here a few years ago.  I had to can him when I caught him with his hands in the riffles of the trammel.
Jeb told Dan what we had run into up at the diggings. He thought a minute or so then motioned us to come out side to a big pile of junk.  He tossed a few things around then came up with a contraption he had made for a trammel sluice.  It was bigger than what we needed but Jeb said he could cut some of it off to fit our sluice.  It was re-bar that was welded into 3 inch squares with a couple pieces of angle iron welded on top.  Dan said  to put it in the sluice with the angle iron pointing up stream.  then put our gravel in the race above it but to break the gravel clumps up the best we could, and let the water do the works.  A bit slower but more effective.

We went on down town and had lunch with Darcie and Stan.  Jeb told them what happened and that we needed new cards made for the gate and gate reprogramed. She could call Big and tell him he needed to pick up a new card when he came back.  They said that that guy Bill Orr had been all over town asking questions about the claims and the old abandoned mine.  They figured he knew all about everything but was just snooping.  He didn't get much in the way of answers here in town.  Darcie wondered who gave him the card he used on the gate.  Time would tell there, when somebody couldn't get in. She worked a bit on her computer then got our new cards from the printer and gave them to us.  Said she had made 4 extra cards for the ones who needed them.  Any one else had to stop here at the office before they could even try to get in.

We took the piece of stuff Dan gave us back up to the house, Jeb had to get it cut to fit so we could try it out.

To be continued.

Yum

These grapes turned out great, but the green ones we bought for
thompson seedless turned out to be a damn wine grape full of seefs.
Pisses me off
Granny.

Oh! Oh!

Digging under rocks could be hazzardas to your health.
Granny

peaches

Phillip picked the peaches and has been canning them and making jam.

So you wanna be a prospector, part 7

I could hardly believe my eyes.  Here was a beautiful  open glacier bowl.  The lake had drained til only a small pond remained on the far side of the valley.  The old lake bottom was now a meadow with an A frame cabin, a big house, several large metal buildings, a wind turbine turning slowly in the breeze coming up the canyon.  There were solar panels on all the buildings as well.  There was also a BIG propane tank.  This place was well self contained.
The road split here.  The forest service road continued around the hill and wound its way all around the glacial bowl, weaving in and out of the different canyons on its way clear over to the small lake on the other side. There was a bench above the lake and the mountain side was not as steep here.  I could see where the forest service had made a small clear cut area above it in one of the far canyons above the lake.  It was an awesome sight.
We dropped down a well graveled  lane toward the house and parked in a graveled area in front of one of the metal buildings.  I got out and stretched, and all at once a red bullet blew out of a big dog house by the building.  Ears flopping and tongue hanging, a beautiful Irish setter danced all around Jeb.  He petted her and then she bounded over to me and pushed her head under my hand.  I petted her as well  Jeb said," this is Samantha, or Sammy for short. She is only two years old and full of pep.
 She was still dancing around when two big black monsters came charging towards us. If they hadn't been barking I would have thought they were bears. They had burst out of the A-frame cabin, followed by a giant of a man.  Jeb said," the beasts are Pete and Repeat., they belong to Big there."
The giant came up and grabbed my hand with two hands that were as big as baseball mitts, and pumped it up and down a dozen times. He said, " you must be Sonny,  Jeb has told me all about you.  I'm Lester Bigelow.  everyone calls me Big.  I figured you guys ate lunch in town so I decided to take a nap  .So glad you want to be our new partner.  I was a pretty active partner till I found out I have cancer, so we decide to get you to help us.  I can't do the prospecting much any more but I will still be the chief cook and bottle washer around here. Come, lets get your gear and get you established."  We grabbed up a bunch of my stuff and went in a side door, to a mud room.  Washer and dryer and hooks on the wall with coats hanging above a bench with boots and slippers under it. This opened up into a very large room that was a kitchen, dining room, living room combo.  Very tastefully furnished. with large comfortable looking furniture. Jeb had followed us in with some bags he set on the kitchen counter. We picked up my stuff, because Big said he would show me where I would bunk. All at once the dogs started chuffing, and looking towards the open door.  There sat a big Siamese cat with a baby rabbit in its mouth. Big looked at the cat, and said, ' Maximilian, I told you  to leave that rabbit alone.  Now put it down."  The cat just looked at him and Big stomped his foot.  The cat put the rabbit down on the floor but did not let it go.  He just made a high pitched growl..  Big stomped his foot again, then the cat let it go, and it scampered out the door.  He then sat there and washed his face while the dogs raced around and went after the rabbit. The dogs came  bouncing back in the house and one of the beasts about bowled me over.  All at once, Big stomped his foot, slapped his chest, and  yelled, " Ten Hut". Holy cow, I couldn't believe my eyes.  The dogs stopped in their tracks and sat at attention  He then said, ' places".  The dogs all went to a certain spot.. Big looked at the cat who stopped washing and just stared at Big who stomped his foot again.  The cat opened and closed his mouth a few times, looked to me like he was saying, " yeah! yeah!, yeah! "  Then he went in the living room and jumped up on the back of a couch. Big looked around then said, " at ease, then they all laid down  "That's much better now , things were beginning to get a little out of hand here."  Big smiled at me, and said, I was in the Marines, and old habits die hard.  Come on and lets get you settled."  We started down a hall along side the kitchen when Jeb called, "  You guys get acquainted, while I take a nap."  then he disappeared through a doorway at the rear of the living room.    Big and I continued on down  the  hall where there was a nice big bedroom.  Had a bed that was made up.  I dropped my bedroll and Big said,  "you won't need that,  Jeb don't do laundry, but I do.   Let's get the rest of your stuff in here Sonny, so you can it it organized."  I said,  "the name is Joe,"  Big got this weird look on his face, so I just said,  " Oh  hell!  Just call me Sonny."  We went ahead and carried the rest of my stuff in the bedroom, while Big was telling me how Jeb picked him up in Wallace when he was there visiting his Sister.  Jeb spends the winters in Wallace when it's too cold and snows too deep to prospect.  " Jeb said I looked like gold and asked me to be a working partner.  I was at loose ends about then so I said, sure, I'll be a prospector if you think I can. " That was a couple of years ago.'
'  Jeb  found an outfit that could process the tailing's from the old mine and recover the gold.  They cut the hill back and recovered all the mine walls they could find, so now there isn't a shaft any more but a large pit., but they got enough gold for Jeb to finish up the place like he wanted it.  We have set up a working area just below where the creek drains out of the lake.  Been recovering some nice gold from a high bar area.  That's where you will be working with Jeb.  He is really itching to get back down in that old hole he worked in when he first came up here.  You can bet he will too as soon as the dragline gets all the big boulders out of there. I doubt if it will be this year though, but there is plenty to do at the place we are now.  When you are done with your stuff, come on out to the kitchen and keep me company while I start supper.."
I got my stuff all stowed away and did a bit of exploring.  There was a small bathroom off the bedroom and I put all my personal stuff away.  There was a big book case with lots of videos and a small tv set.  A good size desk where I set up my computer, then I went looking for Big.  He was busy making chicken pot pie for supper.  Smelled darn good.  Big said,  " I hope you can cook because when I'm gone to Spokane for treatments, you will have to do it if you want a decent meal.  Jeb's       idea of a 3 course meal is a cold can of pork and  beans, a loaf of bread, and pot of coffee."   Well I figured I was ok there because I did know how to cook somewhat, and told Big so.
Later, Jeb woke from his nap and we had supper, sat around the fireplace drinking coffee and talking till I was almost out on my feet.  We went off to bed.
The next morning I was awakened by a whiskered face looking me in the eye.  Max was sitting on my chest and mewling at me to get up.  I drug myself out and looked outside.  Hell, it was still dark out there. I started to go back to bed when Big said, " I sent Max in to get you up, hope you don't mind.  Breakfast is ready, and you will want to eat before we go down to the working area.."  Oh crap I thought, You wanted to be a prospector , huh?
By the time we were done with breakfast, and what seemed like a dozen cups of coffee, we  got on an ATV and headed off toward the lake.
They had a long tom set up and Jeb showed me what needed to be done.We would trade places ever so often to  relieve the monotony. I had to fork the bigger rocks out of the race so the riffles could do their work, as well as keep the tailing's from piling up too deep at the end of the long tom.  All the while Jeb was shoveling gravel onto a grizzly and then transferring the gravel under it to the head of the sluice.  I was beginning to find I had muscles I didn't know I had, and they began to gripe. We traded off jobs.  I was beginning to really work up a sweat while Jeb looked a fresh as when he started. He handed me some gloves.  Said I would get blisters if I didn't use them.  Darn, I didn't think of the and looked at the faint blisters that had already started on my left hand.  Rats!  That was stupid of me.
  I shoveled and shoveled, and still I saw that Jeb was standing waiting for more gravel.  My back was about to break and I was feeling I was going to faint, but damned if and old man of 85 could do this then by damn so could I. An hour or so later we switched off again.  I think my legs are rubber, they don't want to move. I scrabbled down to the race and took up the fork again. I figured I'll get thru this if it kills me.
About an hour or so later Jeb called a halt.  Said, " It's beginning to get hot here about this time of  day and we quit for the day.  Time for lunch and a nap, don't you think.  We can come back after the sun goes behind the hill and do the clean-up.?"  I was too pooped to even answer him.  I was sure glad we had the ATV, because I could hardly move.
I got cleaned up for lunch that Big had ready. He had made sandwiches out of elk roast with roast dripping juice for dipping. Sliced tomatoes, and huckleberry pie for desert. I was moving very slow, and Jeb went off to take a nap.  All that hard work had hardly fazed him.  Big said,  " Hurts like hell huh?  " Now that's an understatement if I do say I groaned."  " Well Big smiled, strip to the skivvies and lay down here on this sheet.  I'll fix you right up."  Oh great I thought, looks like he will finish me off for good.  That's what I get for wanting to be a prospector.  Big had a bottle of some foul smelling liquid, he knelt down beside me, poured some into one of those huge hands and then began to stroke the back of my legs from the ankles to the back of my butt. Did the same thing to my arms and back. always pushing gently toward my heart.  Told me to flip then did the front side the same way. He then told me to wrap the sheet around me and go sit in one of the fake leather recliners, lean back and let the stuff do it's work.  The stuff in the bottle must have been liquid fire because I felt I was going to burn up.  Big said, to wait a couple of hours the I could take a shower.  I did as he said the the next thing I woke up to the smell of  meat cooking opened the sheet and looked.  Nope it wasn't me.  Big said,   " the heat should be gone now so you can shower."   Well I'll be darned.  I was a bit stiff, but the real aches were gone. I was surprised as all get out.  I expected to be a basket case for sure.  The cure was a bit scary but it was worth it.  I headed for the shower.
After supper, all three of us went down to the diggings to do the clean up. Love those Rhino ATV's.
I leaned against the side of the Rhino while Jeb and Big took out the riffles and put the carpet in a tub of water. They bounced it up and down swished it around and around then took it out and put it back in the race. Put the riffles back, ready for another day. Then Jeb dumped most of the water from the tub then put the gravel into a super sluice.  They refilled the tub and handed me the gold pan.  Wow!  I felt like a king for sure. They almost trusted me to pan this out without losing the gold.  That I could do.  If I did it with the old metal gold pan, surely I could do it with this pan.  I paned it down to a lot of black sand.  Jeb said to tip the pan almost on it's side and work it back and forth in the water. Had me shake it all back in the pan and do it over again.  Damn, this was a whole lot easier that with the old metal pan.  I finally got most of the black sand out and Jeb said to see what we got.  I did, and then the gold showed up all along the top of the pan.  Not bad for a day's work they said. I'll have to take their word for it.
Well they both said, " how does it feel to be a prospector, Sonny?" "   Hey!  Feels great", I said.

To be continued.

pics

On his last hike, Phillip found some flowers we haven't seen before.
So cool, Granny

So you wanna be a prospector, part 6

We went out to get into our rigs.  Jeb went to this big old Dodge power wagon.  Looked like a holdover from the army.  I looked at it and asked Jeb if I needed a  high clearance rig like that, mine is 4 wheel but not a beast like that.  Jeb said, ' No sonny, your rig will make it.  There's a good road to the mine now."
We started out of town and turned up a street that looked like it was going to the gravel pit, by the signs on the side of the road.  Met a huge truck coming down the roads toward us. A fork in the road we took led us  up a long grade, then a wide switchback up to the top of the glacial moraine.  We came to a fork in the road and took the fork that a sign said was the pit road. Jeb said to leave my rig here and come to the pit with him.  I climbed up into the beast, and. we went thru a gate and took a road along side the fence instead of the road heading down into the pit.
Jeb said, " this is the pit.  The trucks come up here to load up then go out the bottom road.  This all started because I needed a settling  pond. This property was owned by a rancher who said it was more a pain to recover his cattle from the timber than it was worth so I made a deal with him and got it.  I talked to The guy who owned the Blast pit.  He mined the basalt lava pit up the road from town.  I needed to rent a dozer to make the pond. We made a deal.  He said for good fee cut and he would provide the dozer and some equipment to start mining the gravel.  Worked out good for both of us. Then we hit a huge black sand layer.  Had tons of it on our hands.  Darcie suggested we put some in 100 pound bags, and she went on the net to find out the best way to market them.  One worker at the pit tested the sand and found there was a bit of gold in it so he let it slip out.  Soon we were selling bags to people who were too lazy to go out and find a place to pan.  I finally added a giant  trammel to wash the gravel. Recovers quit a bit of gold now and then depending where they are digging  at the time. Well lets head on up to the cabin.  I will make one other stop to show you something."
 We went back to my rig  and on up the road to another fence that had a solar powered gate, went thru and up the road another quarter mile or so where Jeb stopped again.  There was a road here heading down to the creek.  Down below us was a big dragline pulling massive boulders from the creek. Jeb said, 'this is where I spent the first two years up here. Came up with an old dude I met in Wallace, Idaho.  He told me about the place and how good the gold was, so we came up the next spring. There was an old abandoned gold mine way up in the canyon, but the road up there was so overgrown there was no way we could get past the top of the mound where the pit is.  We had to pack in the rest of the way. Had a couple of wheelbarrows and made a number of trips to get here and set up camp. The old timer had been up here about 5 years earlier with another guy who mined with him and told him all about the mine and so forth. He crushed a hand and they had to leave before they had got no more than 7 ounces of gold. Old guy wouldn't go back again, so I took and chance and came up with him a few years later.  We found a lot of gold just up from the water in an old gravel bar.  I got one nugget weighed 8 ounces, shaped like a babies fist. and another fan shaped one of 3 ounces,  We cleared about  twenty grand, not counting my big nuggets  The gold was good all right but I damn near killed myself getting it. All this happened around six ago. The next spring when we came, we were more prepared to get the rigs closer to camp.  Had a chainsaw and cut a road almost down to the creek.  We brought materials for a long tom, and corrugated metal for making a sluice. We worked like crazy and got the long tom set up. The old timer and I took turns shoveling and working the long tom foe rocks and removing tailing build up. The gravel bar petered out but I found a high bar bench  groove about  ten feet above where we were working.  We use some of the metal to  flume the gravel down to the long tom. Had a devil of a time getting a wheelbarrow up there though. We got a few big nuggets but none as big as the ones from the year before. The gold was good but was getting harder and harder to get to because of all the huge boulders.  We never once found bedrock. .We wanted to see the mine, so we cut a trail along the side of the creek up higher on the bank.  Mine was about a mile on up the creek.  We had claimed the creek almost up to the mine boundary. When we got up to the top, I was flabbergasted at the sight. As we stepped out of the timber, there was this huge bowl carved out by an ancient glacier.  Here was an old glacier lake bottom with just a small portion of the lake left. Big meadow with a few blue spruce in it. and the remains of a couple of old buildings. One of the most beautiful spots on earth I thought at the time.  The mine was on up the canyon farther.  The old door to the mine had almost rotted apart.  We took our lamps and went in.  It opened up to a huge room .  They had mined it out and all the side veins as well. I had a good flash light with me and shined it around as well.  On the sidewall i caught sight of a sparkle.  I picked off a chunk.  This was some of the same material like the rock I gave you. .
That winter I went to the BLM and found the mine had been patented  and  had no tax payment made in years. I bought the patent for ten grand.  Six hundred and forty acres. Found there was an easement for a road through forest service land.
The old timer said he couldn't take another trip up there again, so I was looking for a new partner. Trouble is, I wasn't going back to prospect, I was going back to get up to the mine with a road..
I came back next spring and hired a couple of guys to help me clear out the old road to the mine.  We were cutting down deadfall and clearing it out when a couple of forest service guys came up and wanted to know what we were up to.  I explained I bought the old mine patent.  One of them said that was impossible because the forest service owned it by default and was going to cut the timber on it that year., We went around and around about it and they threatened to call the sheriff .  I told them to go ahead, because I had proof I had bought and paid for the patent. One of them finally called their office, and got set straight.  I had bought the patent just in the nick of time.
We all went back to town to get it all straightened out.  What a waste of time I thought.  We went to the BLM office and finally made a deal. They could have certain species of trees from the patent if the put a good road in to the place. A few days later the bull dozers came and pushed a good wide road in.  Put culverts in places where the old road had been completely washed out.  Two weeks later I was ready to start clearing out the old buildings from the meadow.  That was where I wanted to build my self.  The timber cruisers were working at getting the trees marked.  They wouldn't start cutting until late fall and winter.
I put the two guys I hired to work cleaning up and digging the holes for the foundations. I had the concrete poured. and then got a crew to build my cabin.  I was ready to star putting stuff into the place getting ready to start looking for more gold the following spring.  Really needed to because I had almost spent my last dime setting this up. Next spring I had to get more gold or else..'he said.
We got back in the rigs and went on up the road.  When we came out of the timber, I gasped.  Cabin my aunt fanny, here was a big house..

To be continued.

Part 5. So you want to be a prospector.

I got started on the way out of town.  I always did like the drive over Lookout pass.  I decided to stop at the top for a break.  Walked around a bit then sat down on a bench for a short while to enjoy the morning sun and the fresh air.  I wasn't in that big a hurry.  All at once a big beautiful, German Shepard dog came running up to me dragging a leash.  She stopped in front of me and put her paw upon my knee.  I reached out and petted her and said," What a beautiful lady you are., Where did you come from."  I looked up about that time and saw a young woman looking for the dog.  She spotted her over by me and came running. She said, " There you are you bad dog," as she shook her finger at her. She said, "I hope she isn't bothering you,  I stopped to get a rock out of my shoe and the next thing she was gone."  I laughed and patted the dog some more.  I said , She is a beautiful lady, what is her name?"  "  That's it .'  "she said. " Lady' .  I petted Lady again and asked if she was on vacation.  She replied, " No, she lived in Spokane with her Father and they were going to Billings, MT . to spend a few weeks with her Mother, before she started college." . She wanted to be a nurse. She asked if I was on vacation to which I said," not really, I'm on my way to a new job." " Doing what", she asked?  " Well truth be known, I'm going to be a prospector."  "Wow",  " That sounds interesting,  oops, there's Dad waving to me, gotta go.. Come on now Lady," she said as she ran away.  " cute kid," I said to myself.
Back on the road again, I slid a disc into the player and  was singing along with the  Confederate Railroad. ,  who needed a little time out for bad behaviour.  I finally got to the right exit, went into the tiny town and saw the sign showing the way to Blue Mountain.  5 miles it read.
The road left town and went up a short hill then out onto a broad valley.  Looks like all ranch land. . Road ran along side a creek for a ways then up another rise.  Way up the valley I could see the mountains.  Darned if they didn't look a bit blur.  Must be from all the blue spruce trees growing there. Down out of the side valleys were long broad mounds  of  glacial debris 
Around a short bend, there it was.  The big town of Blue Mountain.  Population 753.  Looked like about 6 or 7 businesses.  I passed a building with 2 old gas pumps, a mercantile, post office combined. I saw a barber shop, beauty shop, gift shop combo as well.  A cafe crowded in there between it and a parking lot. Most of these buildings were up on high foundations, and most were on the same side of the street.  Had an old fashioned covered boardwalk along in front of them. I spotted the Blue Mountain Mining Company building.  I parked, climbed the 3 steps to the boardwalk and went to the door.  A screen door mind you.  Guess they don't have air conditioning.  Went inside and was greeted with a, "Hi there Sonny.  Just in time.  Just got here a while ago myself."  He was sitting there by a table over in an alcove, with two other people. " Come on in and meet  Darcie and Stan Edwards.  They run this place." " Hello there Sonny, pleased to meet you", said Stan. " Glad to meet you too. but names Joe," I said as I smiled at Jeb. Darcie said, glad you could come ..Err Joe.  Jeb here has been telling us all about you."  "He tell you I'm gold?'.  "Matter of fact he did mention it,"  Darcie said as she smiled at Jeb. After introductions were over, I looked at Jeb and  Said,  " Blue Mountain Mining company is a sand and gravel business?"   "Ah, no Sonny.  It is owned by the mining company but is a  separate business, I'll tell you all about it later."
A burly guy burst in the back door, another screen door as well.  " Howdy folks!" he exclaimed.
" Load me up again there Darcie.,  looks like I will be hauling all day.."  " what about the other guys Keith," she asked?   "They will be hauling ballast from  the blast pit today."   Darcie entered some info on the computer.  The printer buzzed and clicked and Darcie handed him some papers.  "So long folks" he said as he went out the back door .
I must have looked as puzzled as I felt, because she said, " there is a huge parking lot out back for trucks.  She no more than got back to the table than another dude popped in. Darcie went to the computer and said, " What can I do for you today Jim?"   "Well Darlin, you can give me ten bags of your black sand and two bags of your pea size crushed white quartz."  Printer hummed and spit out a paper she handed him.  " See ya later Darlin" then he was out the door.
"Black sand," I said.  " what on earth would anyone want with black sand?"  Darcie said, " He uses it to make pure black mortar you can't get with regular sand, even with black dye. That will turn a dark grey."  She had to answer the phone and Jeb , Stan and I talked about my being a prospector.  Darcie went out the back door and a while later she came in with a big tray, covered with a big checkered cloth.  Pulled it off to reveal plates with huge roast beef sandwiches made with home made bread and a pile of thin sliced roast beef that smelled heavenly.  I almost drooled.  I think my stomach thought my throat had been cut, I felt that hungry, smelling those sandwiches.   Darcie said, '  I know I should have asked you what you wanted to eat but never knew a man who didn't like roast beef." "  Oh! this is fantastic.  I didn't realize how hungry I was until I smelled them." I looked over at Jeb wondering how he would manage this.  He reached in a pocket and pulled out some false teeth and clamped them in his mouth.  "don't look at me like that, that pocket is just for teeth." And he went clack, clack.  There were cups of horseradish sauce and a chef sauce Darcie said was spicy, but the horseradish sauce was hot.  I lifted the top slice of bread and drizzled on some horseradish sauce.  The beef was so juicy I could hear my arteries clogging up.  Man this is the best sandwich I'd had in a long time. and Darcie wasn't kidding when she said the sauce was hot.  I wondered if smoke was coming out of my ears. But it was so good.   There was a plate of french fries and I used my fork to snare a few.
 A bit later, I said, " did you know he carries a rodent in his pocket?"  Darcie laughed and  said<  "You met Chester then I take it?"  "Yeah!  Quit unexpectedly I must say."   I told her how and then Jeb told them about Tabitha the shriek and we all had a good laugh. Darcie pulled out another dish with paper plated turned upside down on it.  Off came the plates to reveal a fresh peach pie she cut into four pieces and placed on plates and gave us each one. Pie and more coffee and I was ready to burst. Jeb rose and went into a door across the room.  Stan said,  "So you are going to be a prospector huh?" "Yeah!  That is the plan."  "Well you won't find a better partner, Joe."  Jeb came out and had a tooth pick in his mouth, minus the teeth.  " You might wan't to take a trip back there before we get the show on the road."  He was right, I did.
Jeb and I said our thank you's and we all shook hands.  Stan said, " Good luck there prospector" as we went out the door

To be continued..

Mornin.

Who knows the mood of the day today?

Carry on, Love ya'll, Granny

So you want to e a prospector. Part 4

Montana!  I looked at the card again closer.  Benjamin Jones,  It read.  " You're Benjamin Jones,'  I asked.  "Yep, but only my sainted mother called me Benjamin," he said as he tapped the card with the stem of his pipe. " everyone else calls me Jeb."  " Where in the blazes is Blue Mountain, Montana," I asked?  " Bout a 4 hour drive from here, Sonny.  You take the freeway over Lookout pass and take the ramp off at the first podunk town you come to. Signs there will tell you how to get to Blue Mountain.  Can't get lost, plan on being there at least 3 months."
Jeb got up to go and pushed the stuff I bought over my way.  I stood up and gave him my hand. After we shook hands, he reached in his pocket , got the rock out and tossed it to me.  Said, " This will give you something to think about." Then turned and gimped out.  I tossed the rock up and down a couple of times, then looked at it again.  Yep!  Something to think about all right.
A rough looking dude peeled off from a group of other rough lookers, and sauntered over my way.  " What you say there Sonny,  Got an interesting rock?  Mind if I take a look at it,"  then he took it out of my hand,  looked at it real close, then tossed it up and down a couple of times.  "Kinda heavy, looks like hematite..  Mind if I keep it?" "  Yes, I mind,"  as I snatched it from his hand.  "  A friend just gave it to me."  " Well you don't have to get huffy about it," he grumbled as he walked back to his group.  Wow!  I'm thinking.  Some people have some nerve. Not to mention he ticked me off calling me Sonny. Those guys must have known Jeb and knew he had a claim, otherwise why bother me when they seen him toss me the rock.  Wonder what color they are?
I gathered up my stuff and went out to  my truck and put in in the canopy.  Man I got a whole lot of stuff to get done if I'm going to get ready by Monday.
First off, I have to see the landlord of the apartment I have not far from the lake.  I paid him 3 months in advance and told him to keep an eye on my place. Now I know he won't set foot near it.
When I got home, I fixed myself some lunch then sat down at my computer to make out a list of things I had to do.  I knew I could depend on  Marge next door to take care of things in my apartment while I was gone.
First I had to take my sleeping bags to the laundry.  Next came the laundry right here.
When I got back, Marge was standing in the hall with my mail and wondered why I was home so early.  I had to tell her about losing my job and about Jeb and the mine. I showed her the rock and told about that darn chipmunk. I put some clothes in the washer while I was talking to her.  Mentioned as to how I was going to have to go to a thrift store and pick up some clothes to work in.  She said not to get in too big a hurry there.  She said,  "remember that dude that stayed a while with me last year?"  "yeah, but what has that to do with me?"  "Well!"  she said as she grabbed my arm and drug me out and over to her apartment across the hall.  We went to a closet in her extra bedroom and she pointed at a large box.  " He left and never came back.  Left his clothes here.  He was your size and I bet everything in this box will fit you.  Perfectly good grubbies.  All clean too. You might as well have them since I was just going to take them to the thrift store one day any way."  We went back over to my place and I opened the box and looked through it.  Great, 3 pair of jeans, right size. briefs, socks, tee shirts, and 2 pair shoes.  A bit wider than mine but good enough to wade in the water with.  Great, one thing to cross off the list.  " Thanks a bunch Marge, this really helps me out.a lot. I'd like you to have the stuff in the fridge and freezer while I'm gone, and water my plants too."  I knew there would be no problem there because I've gone the same thing for here a couple of times when she was out of town. "I'll take good care of things while you are gone.  I can't get over it.  You are going to be a prospector."  "Well that's the plan, I said as I started putting the extra clothes in and old duffel bag.
Next day I went and got my sleeping bags and cleaned out the back of the truck. Put some of my other clothes in a bag.  Put my pillow in a clean garbage bag and started to load stuff up in my truck.
I debated about taking my laptop but figured what the heck, it don't take that much room and I Can charge it from the cigarette lighter in the truck.
I sat down for a bit and looked over my list.  Just about got everything done.  The phone rang and I answered it.  It was Julie and she was almost hysterical.  " Joe! Joe! You got to help me" she cried. " This place is a madhouse, you got to come back and take over and fix things."   " Whoa there  gal,  remember I was canned. I don't work there any more."   " But the Boss wants you in tomorrow to straighten things out." she sobbed.  " There are 4 other guys that work there, he can get one of them to do it.  What happened anyway?"I asked?  "The new guy screwed up all our orders and deleted a whole lot of stuff on that computer, he don't have an idea how to use."  "  That's just great, so the cowardly Boss asks you to call me because he knew I would do most anything for you, huh?"  "But Joe, we are getting desperate.. All the other guys quit when they saw how that turkey messed things up and the Boss had canned you for him." Well! I'm sorry to let you down babe, but I have a new job already.  In fact with what experience I have, I'm already a junior partner.   Tell that cowardly Boss, no dice. And karma is a bitch." I hung up and laughed out loud.  Yep karma is a real bitch, Boss. I might have stretched things a bit but what the heck.  If that darn coward can't correct his own mistakes then he has no business being a Boss.
Next morning early I had coffee and toast with Marge.  After a hug or two, I was ready to hit the road.  "You are going to be a prospector now, Well take care and call me when you can," cried Marge  After another hug, I was in the truck and on my way.
Blue Mountain, here I come.

To be continued..

Mornin!

Love ya'll, Granny

Update

We got rain. More than we need and hail, much more than we need.
Lots of flooding. 9 people got swept away in a flash flood. Lots of
damage over that way.

They got the fire bug. Had to shoot him because he fired on the cops.
Glad he is out of commision.

Getting a bit cooler since the rains have started.

Haven't been in the mood to paint, but worjing on part 4 of my story,
even though I don't know if any one is reading it. Going to do it
anyway as it is something to do.

Carry on, Love ya'll, Granny.

Part 3...I hope

Whoa!! " Look at this," I said as the little chipmunk sat on my hand.  Cute little guy, looked at me with his tail flipping all over the place.  Jeb reached over with a finger and rubbed it down the critter's back.  " Take it easy there Chester, he didn't scream like a girl and flip you half way across the room, so he must have a soft spot for critters". " Chester!  Chester!  You call this critter Chester?"  "Well yeah,  That's his name".Jeb said after a mump or two. Chester looked at me, tail twitching, then he rubbed his little paws down his face from his ears to the end of his nose.  I couldn't believe it, he carries a chipmunk around in his pocket.  " Chester goes with me most everywhere,  not like sister Suzy, who would rather stay at home." Jeb said while he pointed his pipe stem at Chester. " you have two of them" I said.  " Yep!  Right friendly little critters they are .  And great company too."   Well to each his own, I'm thinking.
Shriek!  Shriek!  Good grief what is going on?  Poor Chester was flipping all over the place.  Shriek! again, and then,  " Look mommy, a skirl, a skirl, " screamed a little girl about  four years old  or so  as she raced with hands out toward Chester.  Poor Chester jumped from my hand and dove into Jeb's  pocket, as the girl stopped just short of bumping into Jeb. She looked up at him and said,  "You got a skirl and I want to play with him".  Jeb took his pipe out of his mouth and pointed it at the end of the girl's nose.  " Don't know what yer talkin about girl.  I don't know what a skirl is."  " Yes you do, you got one in your pocket, and I want to play with him." She said as she stomped her foot.  Jeb looked over at me and asked, " Have you seen a skirl?"  I mustered as straight a face as I could and replied, " No!  Don't even know what a skirl is."  The little girl stomped her foot again and said, I want that skirl".  This time Jeb stuck the stem of his pipe on the end of the little girls nose and said,  Little girl, go tell your mommy she wants you, scat now." She stomped over to a couple of women sitting on a bench  across from us. Yanked a few times on her Mothers pant leg and screamed that she wanted the skirl we had.  after a a few more tugs her Mom and friend got up and started to walk away.  Mom said lets get out of here before Tabitha , drives me crazy.  Mummp goes Jeb. He pointed his pipe at the Mother and mumbled, "  Lady, with a kid like that, it wouldn't be a drive, be just a short putt."  Then he looks at me and said, "  That's the reason I never got  married" as he pointed his pipe at the women again.

"This is not going right" he said as he transferred the pipe back and forth in his mouth. " I wanted to talk about you maybe coming in with me up at my claim."  "  Been thinkin about it for some time now..  Not gettin any younger, and can't stop mining, tho god know I don't need the money.  Darn gold bug bit me about 40 years ago and the fever is still ragin in me.  I can't do it alone any more, I need help."   "But!  But!  why me?  I asked. " You don't know a thing about me, I might be a claim jumper for all you know."  He took the pipe out of his mouth and said, " Sonny, I got a 6th sense when it comes to people and critters.  I can tell all I need to know about them by their  color halo."   "You mean to tell me that you can tell about people by their aura.  You believe in that,"  I asked.
"Yep! Sonny, I surely do.  Never failed me yet, and you have a gold color sure as shootin."  Well I had to stop and think about this a bit.  Never was picked out by my color before.  Wonder why my old Boss didn't see my color, if I'm so good. Well! Well!  Hope he finds out what he's missing now that I'm gone.  I'm thinking I might as well go with the old dude since I had nothing better to do right now.  I could always look for a job later if things don't work out.  I turned to Jeb and said,  " All right.  I'll try it your way.  What do I do now?"   Jeb reached in another pocket and came out with a card. He said, as he handed me the card. " Bring your equipment, clothes and bedding.  There's a cabin at the claim. with a bed for you.  I provide everything else.  Meet me here on Monday and I'll take you from there to the claim."  I looked at the card, and it read,   Blue Mountain Mining Company,  Blue Mountain, Montana  "Oh boy!  Now I've done it."

To be continued.

Rain

Blackberries. The pic that is. Tried to use the dashboard and for
some damn reason since a bunch of updates have downloaded themselves,
I have had problems with some of my sites. Pisses me off because I
lost what I had written on episode 3 of my story. It just
dissapeared. Rats.

Well we finally got some rain. Wet things down pretty good. At least
the forests got a good dose, but they still won't let people in that
don't live up there. Campgrounds up in the forests are still closed
although they have opened the ones close to town. The big fire is
almost out. They got a grass fire by I- 17 out of Phoenix that had so
much smoke coming our way you could hardly see the neighbors house.I
thought for a while they would close the highway to Prescott off. We
went down below to do laundry and as soon as we reached the junction a
few miles down the road, there was little smoke. You could look back
toward Wilhoit and could see nothing but smoke. It was hanging right
along the mountain. By the time we came back home , most of the heavy
smoke had gone. At least one could breath outside again.

Had 2 apples on the little apple tree, but the hail knocked them off.
Didn't seem to knock any of the peaches off though. There are few
blackberries but the birds got the only few raspberries were only a
couple. The raised beds seem to be doing the trick. The rain didn't
bury everything in mud.

Having toilet troubles. Don't know why the toilet seems to be loose.
Started leaking. Phillip no plumber so still got problems.

I see the heat has migrated up to the north.

Keep cool
Love ya'll, Granny

Montana

A whole lot of shakin going on up there. I read where they had a 5.8
earthquake at Lincoln City. And 8 or 9 aftershocks of 4 or better.
Pretty remote area. When I was up at Daves a long time ago, Julie and
I went down that way to look at some old mines and stuff. Not too far
from a big lake as I recall. There must be a fault zone down that
way as I seem to recall they have had other earthquakes in the same
area before.
I have read that Yellowstone has been having a lot of small quakes.
Hundreds in fact. A lot of the doomsday propfets are predicting the
whole place will blow the western half of the US off the map. One has
even said this will happen on the 28th of August. Will worry about
that when it happens since I can't do a damn thing about it anyway.

Another fire started up by the 4 corners area. Is it the local firebug again?

Hang tighe everyone, Love ya'll
Granny

Firebug

For a while this morning they thought they might catch the friebug.
Fire fighters were working to put out 5 fires he had started in and
near a campground up by the grand canyon. Fire fighters saw him
starting another fire and tried to catch him. He fired shots at them
and got away. The fire fighters and cops couldn't find any vehicle.
He might have a bike of some kind. I hope they catch him before he
set the whole state on fire. Don't know for sure if this is the one
who has been starting all the fires or a copy cat. Fire fighters say
he was a dark skinned man with a backpack. Who knows.

Oh no!.

Hey everybody, I did a dummy and forgot Jeannine's Birthday.
wasn't intentional, just plain forgot.
Hope all is forgiven.
Granny

Another update.

Just heard this morning, when the state is thru with the drone flyer,
the Feds want him. Tuff stuff, this should be a lesson to all drone
flyers.
Granny

Update.

Believe it or not, they caught that A-hole that flew the drone over
the fire. Got his sorry butt in jail and got all his pictures too.
They are wondering if he might be involved with the fire starters or
if he is the one who did it.
Hope this puts a stop to the fire starters.
Granny

So ya wanna be a prospector..

Part 2,

I wandered all over the place, looking at all the merchandise.  Ended up by a table for "Goldfever Mining Supplies   I was giving the plastic gold pans  the once over  I remembered how I used to spend a couple of weeks with my Grandparents in the summer time, when I was a kid.  Grandparents were into rock hunting and prospecting.  I remember going out with Gramps and learning how to pan.  He had these old heavy steel pans. No screen.  Took the first half hour just picking the bigger rocks out out of the pan.  "Dig in there", Gramps world say, " Get those rocks out before you try to pan.  Don't forget to look at them before you toss them away.  Might have a nugget, never know". " Did you ever toss out a nugget, I asked Gramps".  " Almost did one time, way back in 43.  Twarn't very big, bout the size of my thumbnail.  A good 20 dollar nugget, but gold prices were about 35 dollars an ounce back then.  Looked at the rocks before  I toss em since then". I panned my little butt off and was so excited when I did find my first gold.  One would have thought I was a millionaire with that tiny piece of gold in that tiny bottle Gramps gave me.  I guess I just stood there a while remembering how I went out gold panning with Gramps.

Mmmph!  Mummph!  What on earth was that? I turned around and there was one of the most comical looking fellows I had seen in a long time.   An old geezer,with a  floppy brim hat pulled down on a head full of shaggy white hair. Bushy white eyebrows over the bluest of blue eyes. His chin, with a couple days white whiskers, was almost up to his bulb of a nose. He had a long toothpick with a bit of red cellophane on the end, sticking out of his mouth. Mmph! he went.  Wow!  That tooth pick disappeared, a second, then  it reappeared on the other side of his mouth.   What on earth he needed with  a toothpick I don't know because there wasn't a tooth in his mouth that I could see. He moved in closer and put this big hairy mitt on my shoulder.  " Sonny"  he said.  If yer really thinkin about getting some gold, you don't want one of those little bitty housewife pans and plastic screen.  Ya wanna git yerself a super sluice pan and a number 4 screen with a metal screen in it.  an don't forgit , you'll need one of them thar sucker tubes too."   I pulled back a bit, looked at the old dude.  "The name isn't Sonny, It's  Joe,.  Joe Bloe in fact"  " I see Sonny,  Mmuph!  You can call me Jeb."  I must have blinked or something, He takes my arm and says, " come on Sonny, lets git you all set up here". A half hour and 50 bucks later he is gimping along, leading me off to some benches, with half my purchases under his arm.  What else could I do but follow?  He sorta hitched up then fell back on the bench, heaving a big sigh.  "Sorry Sonny" he gasped out, "but this ole bum leg of mine jist don't take to standin to long in one place any more". He had on this old ratty vest with lots of pockets on it..  He started to fumble around in the pockets and pulled out a big crooked stem pipe and began to fill it with an aromatic tobacco.  "Hey old timer" I said,  " you can't smoke that thing in here". " Jist keep yer britches on Sonny,  I don't intend to smoke it,  I jist hang it in my mouth and dry puff the durn thing.  No law agin that, now is there"?  I can't say that I had an answer for that.  "Mmmpf!  Mmmph!  He went, taking big drought's on the blasted pipe. I just sat there, wondering what next.  "You know somethin Sonny? I was jist wonderin how much experience you have at prospecting?"  "you ever been out lookin for gold.?"    "  Well I  used to go out with my old Grandpa, he's the one who taught me how to pan."   "Good, good,  real good  there Sonny, leastways you know what to do, but did ya ever git any gold?"  " Sure I did,"  and I said it with a straight face  I figured he didn't need to know just how much after all, he was still almost a total stranger.  He fumbled in another one of his vest pockets and pulled out a small black rock and handed it to me.  I took it and looked at it, just a black rock to me.  I was thinking  hematite. "  He looks over at me and said,  "what is it."  Looks like hematite to me."  He gives me another look from under those bushy eyebrows and said,  "look closer"  I looked closer, but damned it I could see any thing exciting about it.  He then reached into  another pocket and came out with a gem loop, handed it to me and said,  "look closer".  I opened the loop and peered close at the black stone.  Holy cow,  The darn thing was laced with tiny veins of gold.  What! I couldn't believe my eyes.  I have never seen anything like this before in my life.  " I'll be damned, I said.  This is something I have never seen before. It is gold, isn't it?"  " Yep!", the old timer said.  " Lots more where this came from".  " But this is ore from a hard rock mine, not gold you can pan, so why tell me about it?"   " I' tell you Sonny, if you are willing to help me a bit on my claim.  There is placer gold there as well".  I blinked a few times I guess.  I was thinking, this old dude is looking for a drudge to work his claim for him.  I need a job, but one that will pay.  I guess I must have registered on the old dude that I was skeptical as all get out, because he said, " I don't expect you to work for nothin, I aim to have you come in with me and work on shares."  Now I was bewildered.  What have I got myself into?  I tossed the black rock up in the air a couple of times as I thought.  What the heck, I've listened to the old timer this long, let's see what he has to say. I started to hand the rock back to him but he was busy puffing away on that darn pipe, so I dropped it in the pocket he took it out of.  Holy cow!  The pocket wiggled, then a blasted chipmunk climbed out and sat on my hand.

To be continued