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So, breaking myself into the new jeep. It runs, well, with a few quirks. The Passenger door doesn't open. Sorry Hitchhikers. And the door behind drivers doesn't open. And don't dare try and lock the drivers door or you'll spend hours crunching yourself in other doors and crawling over rubbish to get in. Which I have done and learned the hard way, this jeep, just keep it messy enough no one wants to break in.
It came with a single key. And I would jostle it and think to myself "I should get another one cut" - but - I've never lost a vehicle key in my life.
Until Monday, when I did, and had to pay the dealers to cut me another, $80.00 worth of "Ouch" in a hard lesson learned.
It overheats going up logging roads - just like every other one I've owned. Top up the rad fluid. Same problem. Clutch Fan need replacing? Maybe, but, god-damned - every time, every single one, wtf is up? I'll investigate a few other things first. There's no way - unless I find a solution - that this is getting to the top of Crystal Mountain, and - well, it's time. Overdue. There's a big dig gonna happen and great things will be found...
So, expeditions, twice to Revelstoke, Nakusp, the Valley, other areas, a few new roads, no great discoveries on the old ones; one new area I found of promise seems to hold great potential for giant quartz crystal clusters. None found, as of yet, but - well, the ground is good - and looks right, big area to be covered, merely need to do some poking with a shovel and pick and see what I can unearth. Sometimes great things are hidden in plain sight.
And so far that's it. Great swarms of mosquitos are everywhere, in town even, and worse upon the mountains, I've bought some "Off" but will definitely need some mosquito netting - there's just too many, this year they're insane. And hopefully it reduces the deer-fly and midge bites as well. Then there's the heat, 34 degrees the other day, sweating buckets, drenched, too fucking hot. These are the terms...
Now, tomorrow back to work, 30 hours in hell to buy myself a few days in the high-swamps of BC...
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Sunday night, done work early and I'm off, break like the wind, my first day off in about 8 weeks.
I'm off to Revelstoke. South of Revelstoke, check out some areas on the logging roads south.
It's raining - the week forecast - the whole month, actually - to be one big wet monsoon, unseasonable - but I have to go.
3 hours later and I'm there, up 25 KM into the woods.
The next morning, begin. Checking every roadcut, there's pegmatite everywhere, the abundant sapphire claims tell me it's here - and while I'm finding pegmatite galore, feldspar, quartz, a little bit of mica and black tourmaline - I'm not seeing it.
Still, drive the 25 KM out, check the road at every cut - always the same.
Now I should note the pegmatites go all the way up the mountains, to the very top, and the paying ground could be anywhere. A lot of is covered in overburden. And it's raining, and to step into the chest-high ferns and bushwack through wet brush - well, not today. So I explore, go further up a few of the roads - more brush, more pegmatite get maybe 35, 40 KM off road and I start to get a little nervous, this is a 2 day walk out, through miserable weather with minimal supplies - and my trust in the jeep is so far reasonable but cautious.
Soon enough I'm sure it will be abandoned, but - given the weather I'm not taking chances.
The road up, abundant pegmatite. Fields of it. Pull aside the moss, admire the feldspars, quartz, occasional patches of schorl, but - a lot of room for searching.
The mosquitos - given the weather, soon make any expedition maddening.
Eventually the day is done, and by Tuesday I've resigned myself that this is not the week for finding. My planned detours for the route back are thwarted by possible flooding and so it's the straightforward valley tour. And coming through Winlaw I spot this:
Of course I stop. Maybe somebody found something on their property and is operating a fee-dig?
The truth is far more boring. The owner of a rock shop in Nelson has simply sprinkled some crystals and pretty rocks around their garden, you find what you like and pay by the pound.
***
Nelson, after the long weekend, is busy, the tourists clogging the streets, gawking, squawking, walking into the streets against lights, line ups grown unreasonable long at every restaurant and cafe, it's intolerable. I was better off in the forest. And the homeless, now raging in the street, only now there's legions, the seasonal influx of homeless people must crowd out the local homeless population, vying for their begging $$$, who knows but if I'm losing patience with tourists how are they feeling about being displaced by the more belligerent populations from other centers?
By odd coincidence my youtube recommends a local (BC) "celebrity" prospectors' video on finding Star Sapphires, and - LOL - I recognize my old pal **** from the Chamber of Mines, and the location - which I'd hammered countless times before in a fruitless search for unremarkable crystals I'd passed over a dozen times before.
So - watch the video, see what it was that I was missing - stop by and rib **** - this 'celebrity' prospector, most likely a very nice guy, certainly his videos seem to promote this, but I rather resent him coming to our turf, if you know what I mean. And I'm generally of a mind to despise any sort of celebrity who needs to sell merch and get likes to fuel his dreams - but to each their own.
The dentist today and the week is over...
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Just recently this popped into my head, I don't know why.
Link: https://www.gawker.com/5839596/gordon-ramsays-porn-dwarf-double-eaten-by-badger
God, I miss quality journalism. The news these days just stinks.
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Now, Yesterday, the day I'd been dreading, long, long overdue trip to the dentist.
Misery squared, an hour and a half of drilling, fillings, the smell of burning bone, suction, mouth - ugly mouth filled with broken and tobacco stained teeth, getting hammered upon, patches of low anesthesia, topped up....
And an hour and a half later, mouth frozen and still stuffed with bloody gauze, and I'm done.
Fucking hell.
All that said - it was misery, but they were remarkably quick and efficient. And while there will be more trips that was by far the worst of it.
The July Long weekend will be now spectacularly long, tourists served by a jack-o-lantern, but - sometimes it's necessary.
Now to work on quitting smoking...
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Tuesday, Wednesday, at the thrift shop. Tuesday riding truck, to the dump, the recycle, load up new donations, bring to shop.
It's not so bad, the driver, he stops at every gas station he passes to go to the bathroom, buy junk food, just take a break...
He's pretty laid back. The conversations, the same, about how nothing ever gets done at the thrift shop, about how underpaid this job is, etc, etc.
The day passes.
Wednesday, in the shop, now unpacking, sorting, all day long, the donations that have come in, it's an unstoppable tide. I've made Michael a going-away t-shirt, "painted it myself", ridiculous, he in turn has found a pewter prospector/donkey on a big chunk of Pyrite, so we're in a way even.
And - by 4:00 I'm done, until the fall at least, where I'll be content to do this on a volunteer, less full-time basis.
My summer draws nearer and nearer...