?

?

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Dig'n dirt....for no profit

Hmmmmmmm....what could possibly be wrong? Two nights in a row I slept through thunder an' lightning, rain pound'n on the roof, bark'n dogs.....Yee Haw!!!
Note: Like I tole old "peasky", it's gonna rain for 5 minutes. It rained almost 8.

Boy howdy, you should'a see all them black clouds. It's gonna rain like the dickins. No it ain't. Maybe it will. Not a chance. It didn't. But the temp fell enough for me to put on a long sleeve shirt. A "great blue norther" as we call 'em in south Texas is headed this way. Well, it weren't really a great blue, it was more like a little pinkish sprinkle an' only a few degs temp drop.

This was Mouw Mouw after he growed up into a adult. When I got Mouw Mouw, he was a tiny little cat puppy, no bigger an' a half a handfull. Remember that chicken photo I posted a couple days ago? Well the dad gum chicken beat hell out of Mouw Mouw. Stab him in the arm with a spur an' got infected. Poor Mouw Mouw died a year later.

If'n ya ain't never been "dry wash'n" for gold, this is what it looks like. This dig was in a area where gold is almost on the surface....run off from the surrounding Rand Mountains where gold was discovered in 1896. Ya see, what ya do, is dig a big ol' hole an' ya throws the dirt in a "gold machine". An' wally, you got gold.
These are prospect holes I dug in a few days of dig'n. Sure didn't get rich from all that work. Empty pouch. End up with what the old timers call a "ten dollar day".

The "gold machine" in action. If'n I could dig dirt fast enough, this dry washer could process 500 pounds a hour. Leaving nuttin but gold, black sand, a few jewels an' some heavier rocks in the riffle tray. I throwed the little jewels out with the rocks an' stuff  'cause I didn't know nuttin bout jewels.

I tole ya once before bout my dog Beaudreaux. He was abetter prospector than the old Billy Bob. Ya see, we was set up in Gohler Canyun. I was shovel'n dirt bout a hunnert pound a hour. Boudreaux was dig'n under a greasewood bush. Hunt'n critters I suppose. I says....I wonder if'n theres any gold in Beaudreaux's diggins. I pan out a good pan full an', wally, we got gold.

How did I get on gold prospecting this morn'n? It was easy, I was look'n for some pics to post....and there was prospect'n pics. Well, why not, prospecting is ....was one my fav hobbies.

Speak'n of hobbies, did I ever tell ya I build a airplane?


12 comments:

  1. Ohhh Wheee, I love to prospect for gold. I haven't been for a few years, going have to go back and give it a try. Maybe this winter. I don't dig in the summertime in the desert (grin).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Summer time is the best time to dig for gold. Everthing nice an' dry. That why they call 'em dry washers.

      Delete
  2. Sounds like a great hobby and see you got rich too!
    Living in that nice motorhome.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL...yeah right rich. I may be rich in some ways, but $$$$$, not so much.

      Delete
  3. You built an airplane? Did you fly it? Brother and son are building a Buttercup and we are debating on whether or not the back pasture is long enough to take off and land!
    JF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I sure nuff did build a airplane Julie, but it is a remote control jobber-doo. Carry it in one the compartment in "Sally da house". An' nope, it ain't never see the ground from the air.

      I also builded a Mississippi river boat. Remote control of course.

      Delete
  4. That was a "beautiful eyes" cat, Billy Bob. I like cats BUT I have dogs, so no cat.

    I'd enjoy more gold-prospecting stories. Ah, I would enjoy prospecting for gold myself. I have a tiny fat nugget; least I think it is gold. Once here in a tiny mountain stream, I watched many gold flecks floating along; haha, least I think it was gold!

    Nope, can't remember no airplane building story; tell us about that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had lots of people threaten to steal Mouw Mouw. He was a "perfect" cat......if'n there's such a thing.

      If you thought you seen golf "float'n along" in a stream, what ya really seen was mica. Gold don't float.

      Delete
    2. Wonder what it was? I have mica chunks in a rock collection. It is prolific not too far from me but it has never had a gold color - so I don't know what it was moving down the stream. Anyway, Billy Bob, you shattered my confidence that it was gold flecks and here I have always wanted to go back to that very tiny watercourse and verify it somehow...no need to now. Yet, in my health drink, the gold dust does float.

      Had a guy ask permission to pan for gold along my creek bank. I certainly doubted there being any but found out differently. Not worth the possibility getting a broken ankle on those rocks though. nuh,uh. Shucks, I can't even walk down to see any fisheees these days.

      Yeah, Mouw Mouw looks "the perfect cat". I had "Gypsy", a perfect creature, long ago - a Valentine's Day arrival, who lived to be 17.

      Delete
  5. BB, if you have that machine with ya, I got some good spots in mind about a hunnert miles north of ya?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anony....after my heart surgery (2008) I ain't been able to dig dirt no more. Gave all my equipment to another prospector. Boy howdy did I make his day.

      There's only "some" gold in NM. Arizona an' Ca. have the real stuff....if'n ya can find it.

      Delete
    2. Gold in NM and Tx is a good repeating golf swing.

      Delete