My(Gold) Buddy...

When I first read about the GOLD BUDDY recirculating system, I thought I might want one, but hesitated. Finally, I gave in and ordered one. One of the best deals I ever made.
Since I bought my GOLD BUDDY about 7 years ago, I have sat at the house, listening to music, or whatever, and ran a LOT of gravel through this fantastic little machine.
Quite often, I run across a dry stream or even a wet one, that I don't have time to deal with, so I just get out the shovel and a couple of empty buckets to fill with material. It's back to the house to do what I need to do at the moment, and WHEN I have the time, I set up my Buddy(GOLD BUDDY) in the back yard and go to work...
The GOLD BUDDY, eventho small, will easily run a bucket of gravel in a couple of hours...AND it doesn't miss much. Ever so often, I stick a pan under the end of the sluice to see if I am losing anything. NOPE! About time I look up again, guess what is laying in the top of the sluice, just under the screen...A nice little piece of GOLD.
I, honestly, have had better luck with my GOLD BUDDY, working at home, than with a couple of, LARGER sluices, I have in the shed.
Now, that I live in Arizona, which does NOT have a lot(hardly any) running streams, I can still grab a bucket here and there, and take it home to BUDDY...
MY BEST BUDDY!

Accidently found...then LOST!

A couple of winters ago, I was wandering around down somewhere near Quartzite, Arizona. Tried metal detecting, but some many people have left their trash behind, which makes detecting difficult, if not impossible.
I don't remember exactly where, but I went for an early morning walk, picking up and inspecting rocks along the way. Suddenly, I came across some strange looking pieces of volcanic rock, smooth, black and BUBBLED...Humm? Never seen anything like this before. Sort of like Obsidian, only flat, with bubbles.
Strange, but I didn't think much of it at the time, since strange things are common out here in the desert. It wasn't until some months later I was reading one of my old Gold Prospector magazines and opened up to an article about PSILOMELANE...
There it was! The very same type rocks I saw that day in an UN-REMEMBERED place. It turns out that Psilomelane is used to make some very nice jewelry, but also becoming very hard to find. Probably worth a good bit of change...IF I could ever find the place, again?

Got out the Blue Bowl...

Here it is, June, I've got gold fever, and stuck in Kingman, Arizona with no water, except out of the faucet.
Had a dream last night and got to thinking about all this sand around here, and know that there is fine gold in a lot of it. Have to do something about this gold fever...
All of a sudden, I got this bright idea. I would use the BLUE BOWL I bought some time ago...IN MY KITCHEN!

Well, it doesn't take up much room, and I can pick up and run samples from anywhere. All I have to do is carry around a small bucket and pick up samples whereever I am, bring it back to the house, classify it down and run it thru my BLUE BOWL.
It is only a temporary relief from my fever, but at least I am DOING SOMETHING. I figure, eventually, I will hit a hot spot, find gold, and go back with a bigger bucket.
Gold mining in my kitchen? If the word gets out, the guys in white jackets may be coming after me...and my gold!

Hot weather...BUT...

The days are getting pretty hot now, BUT I read where they found some HUGE nuggets in California(right next door) and I am wondering IF, maybe I shouldn't take a few days off, from doing nothing, and shovel some gravel? Hummm!

Now, every time I close my eyes I will be seeing a large nugget gleaming up at me from the bottom of my dredge.
I'm not getting rich on Social Security, and with the price of gold(UNBELIEVABLE), I may just do the IRRESPONSIBLE thing and head to the nearest running creek in California, since we don't have too many of those(creeks) in Arizona

Killing time...

As trivial as it may seem, whenever I have NOTHING ELSE to do, I just go for a walk and search the ground for whatever coins or odds and ends someone may have dropped along their way. People have been losing things for a LONG time, and it's not necessary to go on some planned adventure to the wilds of whereever to look for lost treasure.It MAY BE right under your feet.

The larger, shinier coins, have most likely been spotted and picked up already, but people seem to, either miss, or refuse to stoop over for a penny.
Get out your current, updated, coin book, and you might find out it was worth bending over for this one.
I always carry a current edition with me, because I, usually, can't wait till I get back home to find out what treasure I have just found.

Getting out of the House...

When the sun came up this morning I just knew I had to get out of the house. The weather was warm and there was a slight breeze to whisk me along the way.
I loaded up my Whites Metal Detector and set out for a somewhat remote spot I had recently discovered. There had once been an old house there, but since, ancient history. Hummm! Wonder what might be buried around there? Already, my pulse was racing. Just thinking of the lost treasures I might find. There was no stopping me now...
The drive took about an hour total. It was a bit warmer by the time I got there, but who cares? I just KNEW I was going to find something. Something lost and valuable.
I got my White's tuned up and started moving the search head back and forth, knowing that any minute I would find my fortune. I was only about 5 minutes into my search when I got a loud signal. Oh boy! This was it! I was there.
It took me a couple of minutes to unearth my prize, which, unfortunately, turned out to be part of an old rusted tin lid. Rotten luck, on the first hit...
Feeling a little disappointed I started to fill the hole back in, but something caught my eye. Whoa! What is this? I decided to run the seach head over the hole one more time before I finished cleaning up my mess(filling the hole).
Again, I got a signal, but this time a bit deeper. I was excited at the thought that my luck was not all bad. Maybe, this time?
I pulled the dirt from the hole with my hands, being careful not to lose anything. One handful, then two. There is was... all darkened and caked with dirt... a coin of some kind. My heart was racing as I slowly wiped the dirt from my treasure.
Oh Lord! I couldn't believe it. As I wiped away years of dirt that had hidden it, I could see it was a silver coin...But what?
When it was cleaned as much as I could for now, I saw that it was dated 1877 and was a silver dollar. Maybe not a fortune, but not bad for a morning out...
Between my heart beating from excitement and the sun getting higher in the sky I knew it was time to go back home, but I knew I would be back. Somewhere here, were more untold secrets, and I HAD to find them...

Finding Treasure...

I guess most of us dream of, someday, finding a treasure and becoming independently wealthy...
What will it be? Gold, Silver, Jewels. Not necessarily so! When you stop and think about it, Treasure, and the satifaction of finding it, comes in many different forms.

With visions of all that wealth, WHO would ever think of stopping to pick up a penny? A Penny? Yep! Being a coin collector, I know that if you pick up the RIGHT penny(rare), it can turn out to be worth more than a lot of jewels...Just the ADVENTURE of looking and finding, is very rewarding. Feel your pulse quicken, when you dig up something lost long ago. Imagine the history behind it and the stories it could tell, if only it could talk?
If you admit it, the real thrill was just getting out of the house and feeling alive. Just being and feeling alive is worth more than all the Gold and jewels ever found. Be thankful for the day and KEEP LOOKING, for your next adventures...