The Prospector gettin' gold fever and a dog named Shorty

We woke up to this.

Rain clouds and a bit of blue sky... but no smoke. I wish I could, somehow, let you breath the difference in the air.

Talk about silver linings. It was an unexpected front coming from the Pacific. Wonderful, cool and blessed moisture for the fire weary mountains to the east.
I took my coffee outside onto the deck... hot coffee with foamy milk. My favorite way to start the day.

I watched the sky and breathed in the air. It seemed like the beginning of a whole new season. A tinge of Fall was in the air.
After breakfast the Prospector left, on his ATV to help a neighbor and another friend, dig out a new spot on the creek where they suspect nuggets are hiding next to a vein of quartz. He left with some panning equipment and high hopes.
I opened up the house and let everything air out. Even our bathroom towels have a slight aroma of smoke in them. A week of smoky mornings had left a residual smoky smell inside the house.

I just couldn't sit still any longer. I had to see what the guys were doing over there, so I put the dogs in the backyard and drove over to our neighbor's place.
I was greeted by one of my favorite dogs. His name is Shorty. He's a Corgi mix.

This is one of the smartest dogs I know. He is also well trained and he loves people.
He greeted me when I got out of the car and decided that I was going to be his project while I was there. Maybe he was just ready for some female company. Every time I turned around, Shorty was there with me.
My neighbor took me over to see the glory hole and showed me how they were following a quartz vein through a crack in the bedrock. It looked like a great spot to be digging.

 Don't get too excited about this. It's a dirty business, looking for gold is. I just can't glamorize it. When I was a kid I loved to tromp through the creeks near my house. To the dismay of my mother, I was always going down to Grayson Creek with my friends, or by myself, and playing ... as if I was the only person in the whole world that lived there and I was on my own. My friends and I started a Nature Club and we would take hikes to the creek. It was part of my early prospecting training and I didn't even know it. Gold panning takes me there again. It's an old memory that still calls the little girl inside of me. Being outside, near a creek... panning... digging in a hole looking for "good dirt" makes me feel strong and young again. It's dirt, some water and a lot of hard work.
 But today I just looked and took pictures.and because I was balancing on some river rocks and trying to take some strategic photos of the "hole", I didn't get any clear pictures. Sorry.
I was having more fun taking photos of Shorty, who was just being way too cooperative and keep drawing my attention with his handsome little dog face.

 This is the area that the guys were working. There's an old cistern that always has water in it from a spring.

This area was a big mining/prospecting area in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The old rock walls,
foundations and cisterns built by prospectors that lived in the area are still evident everywhere. This was part of the great Mother Lode of California. You can feel the ghosts of its famous past.

Wild blackberries co-exist with the poison oak and there is always a feeling of history here.
I walked back to see if any of the guys were getting rich. They showed me there little vials of gold and seemed happy with the morning of work. There are three men in this photo. Shorty's owner is completely hidden behind the Prospector (with the hat on). Shorty is resting. I love the spread out style of his back legs and the smile. He's a happy, gold lovin' dog.

 This is the place where they panned the dirt and rock using a bucket of water (ONE bucket of water) to pan in. Don't let the folks that complain about recreational prospecting and mining tell you that we destroy the land. We are probably more aware of the beauty and ecology of this area than any "environmentalist".
Why would we want to destroy this beautiful area that we live in... and yet, the state had put a five year moratorium on any kind of dredging... even with small 2'' dredges. So they work the little creeks by hand with very little water, picks and shovels.
Mining is a right, protected by the General Mining Act of 1872.
OK, This is not a political blog so I will stop now before I get started.
I took a few photos of the beauty of the place.

And that's when I heard something moving around in the creek below me.
There was Shorty...

  cooling his heals (and half of his body) in the somewhat stagnant water of a creek pond, looking at me as if to say, " Well, I'm hot and this looks like a good place to be while I keep an eye on you."

He watched a leaf and stuck his tongue in the water. He was enjoying his new found swimming hole.

Then he got up, turned around and left. He went back to the guys. He was tired of being my guardian and following me all over the place.
The day was warming up. The sun was coming out and I decided to leave. The guys were being nice but a woman always requires polite behavior and cleaning up of the language. These are nice guys with respect for women. I didn't want to kill the fun of their male bonding get-together so I said "See you later." and left.
As I drove out I had to stop and take a shot of this old mining cave. I've never gone into it.

It always looks kind of scary. I expect a bear to come charging out, but so far... it has never happen. It might make a great wine cellar.
I drove up through my neighbor's gate and onto the main road.

 

Carl and Cutter would be waiting for me and not happy about the "other" dog smell. They know Shorty. He has come to visit a few times. They all get along really well. But I will get the "where have you been and what have you been doing." wet nose once over from both of them  It's routine. 

Congraulations to Diane Nyad. She's the 64 year old who finally swam the 110 miles from Cuba to Florida  today. Here's to determined older woman who never quit.

The Rim Fire is 40% contained tonight.

Gold is at $1.392.00 today and on the decline. But as the old poem by Robert Service goes... 

"There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting;

   It’s luring me on as of old;

Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting

   So much as just finding the gold.

It’s the great, big, broad land ’way up yonder,

   It’s the forests where silence has lease;

It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,

   It’s the stillness that fills me with peace."

Wild Blue Lupine Morning

"It's Spring fever. That is what the name of it is.

And when you've got it, you want... oh, 

you don't quite know what it is you do want,

 but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"

 ~Mark Twain~

I know this quote well. I understand what Samuel Clements was saying. He died in the Spring of 1910 in Redding, California. I live in the same part of the country. I know what he means. I hope that he was looking out of a window filled with Lupine when he died.
I love winter here. I love the mildness of our weather, the hope of snow and the ability to hike and walk in December and January... but, Oh spring. I feel its joy when I walk outside. The birds that choose to nest on our porch, the green hills, the wildflowers and the fragrance of this place. It's a sweet "heart ache" and it's there every year for all to see and feel.

The Prospector was weed eating the old goat run and came in to tell me that he left the blueish purple Lupine standing so I could take some pictures of it.
I walked down to the vegetable garden with my camera and went through the gate to the pasture below, sitting down in the field where the goats use to roam. For five years our goats did not leave these flowers for us to enjoy but, in exchange, they cleared the land below the house. These flowers were tasty delicacies for them. I could always find the flowers elsewhere on our road. I didn't mind that the goats enjoyed them so... if only I could see Brownie and Murph' down there again. I miss the boys.

"Our spring has come at last with the soft laughter of April suns..."

~Byron Caldwell Smith, letter to Kate Stephens~

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. 
~Rainer Maria Rilke~

I know the thrill of the grasses when the rain pours over them.

I know the trembling of the leaves when the winds sweep through them.

I know what the white clover felt as it held a drop of dew pressed close in its beauteousness.

I know the quivering of the fragrant petals at the touch of the pollen-legged bees.

I know what the stream said to the dipping willows, and what the moon said to the sweet lavender.

I know what the stars said when they came stealthily down and crept fondly into the tops of the trees.

~Muriel Strode, "Creation Songs"

I know. I know.

Yes, I know.

Three and a half hours until the New Year

Having a small child with you for a few days is like... life before you retired. There is no excuse for not getting up early and you better have your clothes on and be ready for anything. It's all about the unexpected. It's about having the right answer for the questions and making sure that there are apples, carrots and chocolate milk on hand.
And then, when you think that you are doing it all wrong...

You get this... flowers picked "Just for you, Noni."
Kind of makes "Hi Noni!" at 5:30 in the morning a little more palatable.

Friday, since we got up SO early, we drove over to WalMart by 7:30 a.m. This is a really good time to shop. There was no one there. (I must remember this.)
Little Bean needed another pair of shoes or boots to hike in. We found a pair that he liked a lot.

Pretty cool don't you think? He fell in love with them. The only problem was that they weren't waterproof and I didn't have any waterproofing spray to put on them, so they got kind of wet on the hike. At least he had his own shoes to put on later while these dried. We also bought watermelon toothpaste and some Trident sugarless gum that didn't "sting" like Noni's spearmint gum did.
Little Bean has the most amazing toothbrush. It it a battery operated brush that lights up with flashing lights.  Red for a minute, then green ( or yellow) for another minute and you are suppose to keep brushing  until it changes color again. This way you brush long enough and don't have to count the seconds and minutes. I can't remember the brand but it's really a great idea for kids.

The Bean helped Papa with some chores.

He got a refresher course on what Poison Oak looks like in Winter.

 Without leaves, poison oak looks different than in the Summer so we showed him the bunches of bare branches and where it grows. Well, it grows all over the place. It's so prolific, but by the end of our walk he was pointed it out and staying away from it.
He wanted to know why the deer didn't get poison oak if they were always walking through it. I said I wasn't sure but they were probably immune to it.
"What's "immune" mean, Noni?"
"The deer are around it all the time so they build up a resistance to it."
"You mean that they don't get it if they touch it?"
"Right, they just don't seem to react to it."
"But I do?"
"Yes. Noni does too."
"OK!"
Oh good. I must have said the right thing. Immune... resistance... react. Words that could have gotten me into trouble. But he was OK with my assessment of the situation. 

Then we went on a hike to the top of the mountain. It was beautiful and cold. We walked up and over into an area that has a seasonal creek and had a mining operation years ago.
Bean walked with his grandpa down to the creek and jumped on a log that was in the water... and then over to the other side.

He was really good at balancing on one foot and then the other. He never complained about anything and did what Papa told him.

I love this sweat shirt. It kind of fit the day.

We lifted an old wheelbarrow to see what was underneath. We would NEVER do this in the summer. Might be a Rattletail under it. But there wasn't anything except a worm or two.

Can you see how dark and shiny the Bean's boot was? It was soaked through. We should have bought rain boots.
We walked back across the creek and up to the top of the hill. Then we continued on up the road to an old cabin that we have watched slowly collapsing for 16 years.

It was a one room cabin that someone actually lived in. I found Irises in the area, years ago, and transplanted them to our garden. There were bed springs and a sink inside, and an old water tank on its side. Pretty soon the earth will take back the wood and the rusty springs will disappear too.

The Bean was rather quiet standing there with Papa. It's kind of sad to see a house, that someone has lived in, just go to pieces. It's like the lives of someone, who bothered to build a little house and try their luck at finding gold, was at its end. The dream had died. I hope that they found something and that living in this beautiful place was worth more than gold to them. It had been for us.
We turned back and walked along the ridge.

For the first time he ran ahead of us. We found a tree with clumps of Mistletoe in it, but too high to pick.
Little Bean finally said that his feet were cold, so we started back down to the house.

 "Come on Papa.We need to hurry"

When we got back to the house we had to soak Little Bean's feet in bath water to warm them up and change clothes. After lunch Papa took a nap and we went outside to do a little dancing.
This is called the "Running up the dirt hill" dance.

 Look at that form!

This one is called "Skateboarding on a dirt hill." His dad use to do this on a BMX bike.. at warp speed. Use to scare me to death watching his father do tricks on his bike.
 I was glad there was no skateboard or bike underneath the Bean.

He nailed the landing and them...

The Bean did a graceful " half turn in the air". I think the special tongue movement has something to do with this amazing skill. I think it's inherited. The Prospector's grandmother always did this when she was concentrating on something.
And then.... the landing.

"Perfect"

 "Yes, it was."

"I'm cool."

Then the Bean made a "Play yard" out of salvaged wood.

This was done with pieces of wood that were in a pile near the old goat house. Don't tell me this generation doesn't have any imagination... that they can only play video games. He made a balance beam, a teeter totter, and two rocker boards to rock back and forth on. He would survive if the world lost its power grid... as long as his feet weren't wet.
Then we cleaned up, went in the house and had some "quiet time" before dinner. (This was for Noni.)

After dinner we had a fire in the chimenea stove outside.

 I LOVE sitting next to a fire, on a really cold night, outside. The fragrance was like camping in the mountains.

We don't build a fire outside very often. It's usually too rainy in the winter and not even allowed in the summer. But this was the perfect night.
Little Bean was excited about being outdoors and watching Papa building a fire.

Little Bean was outside, on a cold winter's night. He was lovin' life.

 The Chimenea was hot and happy.

I caught this photo with my new Nikon D5100 camera. Those were sparks and the camera followed the pattern of the sparks as they disappeared into the air.
Little Bean walked around with a flashlight trying to find animal eyes below the fence.

He said that he saw something move in the area below a pile of tree branches.. 

That's when he came back and sat with me again.

He wanted to know if wild animals could get though the two fences.

I told him "No. They are afraid of people, the Christmas lights, the dogs and PAPA."

Then he disappeared , leaving the flashlight on the chair. 

Guess where he was?

I guess he decided that being with Papa and Cutter was a better idea. They were all sitting on the couch INSIDE the warm house.
I sat out there for a few more minutes while the fire burned itself down. Then I returned to the house. It was nice and warm. I could see the fire from the living room. It was almost gone.

What a great way to end the day.

Little Bean left Saturday afternoon. 

His Dad and his brother came up and got him. 

It's kind of quiet around here.

Noni and Papa slept until 7:30 on Sunday. 

  Carl and Cutter keep looking for Little Bean.

We have lots of chocolate milk left... and lots of good memories.

See you soon Little Bean. 

We love you!

Three more hours to go...

 Happy New Year Everyone! 

I hope that it's a good year and that it brings good health and many blessings to all of you.