Lunch:…………………..$6.25

Gas:……………………..14.40

New Exhaust System:..$187.50

Being able to tell another rockhound adventure…….priceless.

Colorful Trip

Several years ago, my cousin and I decided to go out on a rockhounding excursion.  He was a young lad somewhat interested in minerals, so I wanted to take him to a place that he would find interesting, a place that would make an impression.  We headed off to the Strickland Quarry (which is now closed).  I thought this would be an interesting place for him to see, as the quarry itself is a rather impressive site.  The quarry is a large hole in the earth, with a pond of sorts at the bottom.  I thought he might find the mine dumps interesting too.  They were large mounds of white rocks resembling hills.

The drive down was a good opportunity to chat.  I think we were both anxious to be there.

We neared the quarry entrance only to see blue lights flashing all about.  Voices echoed over two way radios.  There must have been about twenty police cars and rescue vehicles and ambulances.  I asked what had happened.  Some kids had decided to go scuba driving in the quarry, and one of them did not come back up.  I never did find out if he was found.

It was definitely not a day to be at Strickland.  So rather than just go home,  we headed further west.  to The Roxbury Iron Mine.  We parked and walked along one of the paths in the park.  We approached the furnace, a fairy impressive structure that still stands there, only to see in front of the furnace what looked to be a wedding ceremony.  The ceremony was quite striking, as the people there seemed to be (please forgive my ignorance) from India.  The men had turbans, and the women worn bright colors.  They spoke a language that must have been their native tongue.

We tried to "tip toe" around the wedding party, as they were in the path along the wooded area.  Luckily, we did not seem to disturb them.  We proceeded to explore near the mine dumps and latter called it a day.  What a colorful day it was.

But Wait...That Car Can't Swim

It may be a common expression to 'look before you leap' Perhaps a similar piece of wisdom can be applied to driving and even more so in unfamiliar territory.  I was driving alone one day, trying to find a yellow beryl locality. I had a fairly good description of how to get there.  I took a turn off the quiet country asphalt road, onto a narrow dirt road that had tree cover on both sides.  A short distance further and there were small trees anf thick brush hugging each side of this dirt road. I saw water ahead that was flowing over the road.  It did not look very, but covered the road for two or three car lengths.  My though was simply to drive through it and continue to the quarry.  I did not realize how poorly I had judged the depth of the water.  I was driving slow and cautiously.  Then when about half way across, the car's motion just stopped.  The wheels were spinning fast, but no change in my location.  I pushed on the accelerator, but the car only jerked a small distance forward while the tires were racing.  I looked to my left and the water was much deeper than I thought it was.  A small bit of water was leaking into the car's interior.  I was near a state of panic, but at least thought clearly enough to devise a plan. 

I would try to drive in reverse, but at a slower speed.  Then I would immediately change and go forward, immediately changing back to reverse.  I was continually repeating, and the car was in effect rocking, moving a bit further each time.  I had decided that I would keep at this and not stop until the car was again on dry land.  I was willing to settle on my final destination on either side of the water, but had to keep trying until I made it out of the water.  I did not like the idea of possibility of being on the far side of the water, but had to get the car out of that water.  If I stayed in there, my guess was that the car at somepoint would stall out and not start again. 

The car finally while in reverse, climbed back onto the dry land.  I sighed. Relieved. The nuisace of have to drive in reverse until I reached an area wide enough to turn around in did not frustrate me. I was happy just to be able to drive away, even though I never made it there that day.

Tiger Eye Story

As a young lad, I had read that tiger eye with its naturally golden color, when heated sufficiently would permanently change color to a dark red. I had a small piece of golden tiger eye and so proceeded to place it in the oven.  It might have been in there for an hour or more at the highest setting.  I then removed the stone to find that it was still golden yellow. 

Since the oven produced no result proceeded to hold the stone with tweezers directly over the flame of the gas stove top.  I tried this a couple time with still no results other than a tired arm.

Next I tried a flame directly from an alcohol lamp on the chance that the flame temperature here might be higher than the stove top.  I didn't know what the temperature difference was, and for that matter, as of the time of this writing, still don't know.  I kept my guard up a bit watching the flame, but none of its flickering brought me the desired results.  I still had a golden yellow stone.

I had an old electrical piece that looked like it was part of a hot plate or base of some kind of coffee pot.  It was made of ceramic with wire coils running throughout  I placed it on top of an old metal bread box in our basement.  I placed the hot plate on several thin, rectangular, metal pieces, and also one of these metal pieces on top of the electrical device with the golden tiger eye on top of that.  I let it sit there for quite awhile and went off nearby doing another project.  Some time went by as I busied myself alone in the basement.  Suddenly, I hear my mother shouting, "I smell smoke!" 

I turn to see smoke and flames shooting out of the hot plate!  I hurried and opened the cellar bulkhead grabbed some nearby potholders (I had used them previously with the oven), and grabbed my project by the lowest of the metal plates running out of the basement with it all in hand. 

There were several inches of snow on the ground that day.  I threw everything onto the snow.  It made a notable hiss, as the heat from the items melted the snow and melted their way quickly to the ground.  Catastrophe averted.  End result: One piece of red tiger eye, that I've kept to this day.