Get Your 2010 Gem Hunter's Showcase Calendar

ANNOUNCING:

THE FIRST ANNUAL RHSI ROCKHOUND CALENDAR: THE GEMHUNTER'S SHOWCASE CALENDAR 2010









Featuring a beautiful gem of the month specimen picture from our RHS1 membership and associates. Specimen information - where found and who found it - plus contact information of picture's contributer. Monthly list of Rock Shows including city and building of show and contact information of the Show's organizer. Daily reminder of which states are having shows that particular day. Daily reminders of Holidays, daylight savings time changes, commemorative days.

You will never find another calendar so suited to your favorite obsession - rockhounding. Decorate your walls, or those of your loved ones, with a beautiful monthly picture of the finest specimens of minerals. No need to remember those show details - they are right there where you can find them any time you need them.

YOU CAN GET YOUR OWN 2010 GEM HUNTER'S SHOWCASE CALENDAR - RIGHT HERE

WILL YOUR FAVORITE STONE WIN A PLACE ON THE 2011 GEM HUNTER'S SHOWCASE CALENDAR?

STAY TUNED IN MAY FOR THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CALENDAR MONTHLY SPECIMEN PICTURE CONTEST AND SHOW SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR THE 2011 RHS1 GEM HUNTER'S SHOWCASE CALENDAR.

YOURS NOW FROM Rockhoundstation1.com WHERE WE'VE BEEN ROCKING YOUR WORLD SINCE 2005.

BUSTED!

The liberal media is getting "NewsBusted" and it's a great time!

"NewsBusted" video updates from the team at the Media Research Center are loaded with sarcasm, wit and one-liners about politicians, Hollywood elites, and the liberal media -- just what the doctor ordered. Better be ready to laugh to keep yourself healthy because after the big HealthCare Reform goes through you sure won't get any medical treatment!

Click here to start getting NewsBusted updates:

http://www.mrcaction.org/543/signup.asp?PID=22713700&NID=1



...........

Pelosi and the Pope

The Pope and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were on the same stage in front of a huge crowd.

The Pope said, "Did you know that with just one little wave of MY hand I can make EVERY person in the crowd go crazy with joy? This joy will not be a momentary display like that of your subjects, but will go deep into their hearts, and they will forever speak of this day and rejoice."

Pelosi seriously doubts this, and says, "One little wave of your hand, and all people will rejoice forever?? Show me", she said.

..so the Pope slapped her.

-

Food Has Less To Do With Weight Loss Than You Think

You diet, you exercise, you are doing everything but losing those extra pounds. Why the heck is it so hard to lose weight? Why is it so darned easy to put it on?

The diet industries want you to think it's all YOUR fault. They will hook you up to every diet plan ($$) that you could ever imagine. We have calories drilled into our heads - followed up directly with calorie burners ($$) of every kind.

Calories might have been a leading factor in weight control several decades back - but they aren't the main problem these days. Fat isn't an illness, a lack of control, or a disease.......it's just a symptom of some major things going wrong that diets and drugs ($$) aren't going to do much of a twit about in the long run. In fact - many of the reasons that you can't lose weight or that you are putting weight on far too easily haven't even got ANYTHING to do with food!

Okay - I'll admit that there are people who just really eat too much. But there have always been people that have just plain eaten too much. The percentage of people who are fat because they just truly overeat is very small, though. Over-eating doesn't begin to account for the recent rise in obesity statistics. The fact is that the statistics for the percent of overweight people have close to tripled in the last few decades. What has changed in the last few decades that is making us, and keeping us, so fat?

It's still true in today's world that you have to burn calories that you intake or you will get fat or stay fat. It's also true that people are finding it harder to burn calories than ever before. Conveniently, there are lots of pharmaceutical drugs ($$) out on the market now that will burn those calories for you. There are a lot of natural remedies ($$) out there, too. Both have one thing in common. If you stop taking them your body still isn't going to burn calories by itself so the problem is going to just recycle on you. You will either stay fat or you will have to take spendy remedies for the rest of your life - remedies that might also have side effects. Sweet, eh?

The only way to lose weight in today's world is to find out what our marvelous pharmaceutically owned medical complex isn't telling you about why you aren't burning calories and fight those causes.

Some of those causes will shock you, too. There are loads of them. Some of the reasons are pretty scary. Others aren't so frightening. You can't do much about any of them until you know what they are and which ones are affecting YOU. You may find there are several reasons your body has decided to store calories instead of burning them.

You can diet until you can't see straight, but until you know why your body isn't burning the calories you are taking in, diets aren't going to do much but frustrate you or give you some heavy duty mental complexes.

If you are having a problem controlling your weight and are sick of the diet run around you are getting, I have some information that will make a whole difference in how you look at weight control. I'm not going to tell you how to diet - well, I do give some tips on foods because food IS still relevant to weight, but this isn't a diet manual.....it's a manual that tells the different reasons your body is storing instead of burning calories. As I said earlier - many of the reasons don't have one thing to do with food. Once you know what reasons may be affecting you personally, you can actually fight against calorie storage in ways that will actually make a difference.

When you are ready to get down to some serious insight to why you can't lose weight -

Get THE SKINNY ON FAT: RIGHT HERE

White House Calls on Citizens to Report Health Care Opposers

I haven't been here in awhile but after seeing this I thought the rest of America should also see it as well.

Right there on the White House blog - we are being asked to report videos and emails, etc that show opposition to Obama's health care bill. It's not enough that he is trying to push it through without letting anyone read the damned thing - now he wants dissenters reported? And what are his plans for dissenters? Censorship? Prison? Concentration camps? Maybe just a nice little list for use later on? Perhaps we'll just be denied health services later?

Perhaps Mr. Obama should be informed that the real way to dispel myths about this bill - if what they consider "suspicious" is actually myth - is to give people time to READ it. For some reason he is against that notion. Why is that?

Here is the URL to the White House blog that asks for us to start our Narc activities:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/

Here is a link to a site where you can easily contact your own representatives to write to them about this Orwellian garbage. www.congress.org

Below that is the letter I sent to my rep in case you need some help deciding what to say about it:

I just found this on a government website and am furious.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things

So you want us to start reporting people who don't agree with what the government is doing? What kind of Orwellian fiction am I reading here? I would like an explanation for your blog post request to start reporting emails, videos (k.e. Americans). What are your intentions? Jail? Concentration camps? What exactly is this nonsense?

This needs to be explained - and real soon because it's going to be on every person's website in this country very soon. This is the most Hitlitarian thing I have ever seen come overtly from the White House. If we are no longer allowed to oppose the government when they intend to take actions that we don't approve, you need to come straight out and tell us that you have rescinded our inalienable rights.

I am waiting to hear a valid reason this travesty is considered even remotely constitutional. It would seem more than slightly imperative at this point to tell this "Leader" of ours that the Health Care bill will NOT be signed until it can be read and discussed thoroughly.

NOW - you all have a choice. You can run and report me for not liking Hitlitarian motives being used by our Government - or you can report the White House blog post to your own representative who is being pressured to sign a 1000 page document without reading it first. I'm betting they have no clue that this was posted.

Doesn't it make you wonder what we will be asked to report our neighbors for next time around?

I Can't Believe I Lost That Agate!

This one is mainly for the rockhounds in the crowd but I'm sure others can relate to it.

Last weekend I went hunting for the elusive Ellensburg Blue agates. It was my first time out for them so I was just getting oriented to the area in general. There was still a lot of snow in the upper regions so hunting was a bit more sparce than I had hoped.

Now I have hunted agates in Oregon and Idaho a lot. In fact, I used to live about a half hour drive from Graveyard point. When I think of agate hunting I think of walking around and picking up all sorts of great stones just laying around the countryside. Even if I actually get into digging, it's the same thing - scores of great stones just under the surface. So what did I think when I went after the blues? Heavy sigh.

I wish I had known then what I know now. For one thing, blues are rare. Even if you are in the correct area for them, you can consider ANY find a good one. Had I known that, I'd have stayed in one place longer and might have picked up a bit more treasure despite the snow limitations.

I did find one small one - and the rest of my lesson comes in after I got that little gem home. It was only the size of a penny or so. Nice blue though - very pretty little thing. I thought that maybe I'd send it to a pal back East for a "sample" of what I'm doing out here. Long story short...I ended up losing the stone. What I found out next put me into a futile search for this little thing.

It seems that blues are worth up to $100 per ounce! They are not only very scarce, they are very hard - 7.5 on Moh's scale. Put that beautiful blue on top of that hardness and you have a lapidary's dream stone.

For the life of me I can't figure out what the heck I did with it. After checking the front "rock garden" where I figured I tossed it and turning up no blue, I searched inside the house. I have searched every area of this place I can't think of anywhere else I might have stashed it. It's gone.

Lesson learned. Check out the rarity and value of what you are going after before you go -- and keep your finds until you find out their value when you get em home.

Guess I'll be going back next week.

Exploring Rockhound Sites in Okanogan County, WA

The weather was fabulous, so how could resist the trip into Northern Washington this weekend? I decided to check on a few rockhound locations I saw listed in an old rockhound guide from the 50's.

Okanogan county is reputed to be a rockhound destination from way back when. Of course, way back when, people didn't have to deal with closed roads and private property like we do now.

On our trip we found that in the area of Conconully, anything we had seen on maps or guides that indicated mineral areas were now private property. That was okay - we had as long as we wanted to be out so we continued North to the Windy Peak area.

From the time we got North of Conconcully until we got back to the Riverside area, the wildlife never ceased to amaze me. The animals were so unafraid. I sat at a picnic table which I ended up sharing with some baby birds of some sort. Not sure what they were but their heads were still covered with white downy fluff so they looked large for their bodies - very cute. They had no qualms about resting on my head or arm whatsoever. At a lower altitude lake, a turtle sat on a rock beside me, seemingly completely unconcerned that some humans would have bagged him for soup - or just cooped him up as a pet. A baby chipmunk also seemed quite content to eat some of my snacks with me without any thought that I might be dangerous. Butterflies fluttered around me and landed with no cares.

Munchie didn't notice the birds..or the turtle...or chipmunk.......but he saw the bear.....

Getting to Windy Peak which is near the Canadian Border, I was astounded by the devastation from fire in the area. The road to the mountain was closed and I can't be sure if that is due to fired damage, winter road damage, or if the Gov just hasn't opened their fee booths yet. As far as I could see, though, if the road is re-opened, you will be paying to drive it - or even to park and walk in for that matter. It seems to be a popular enough area for the Gov. to want to collect fees for access roads to the area.

With Munchie in his advanced age and on heart meds I knew he wasn't going to make a several mile walk in - especially with some of the steep climbing that would be necessary, but I figured we'd walk for a ways and I could check out the rock on the way to see if I could snag something impressive. We were about an eighth of a mile from the car when I stood up from checking out some rock and I saw the bear standing right in front of me. It was a baby, very small, cute, and curious. It would have been fun to pat it, but my only thought was "this is too young, where's momma?"

I started to retreat slowly, calling Munchie to me. He saw the bear and wanted very badly to play with it so once I had him by the collar, getting him to move back up the road toward the car was no light ordeal. The little cub was making matters worse as it decided to follow us. That's when Momma showed up, charging up the road toward us. I didn't want to scream at the baby and scare him away because mom might have taken it as aggression toward her kid, but I also knew that I had to get distance from this little guy....fast. That's about the time I remembered I had doggie treats with me and grabbed one out of my pocket.

I threw the treat toward the cub and it stopped to see what it was. When he picked it up I threw a handful at him and kept retreating at a decent pace without breaking into a run. We were on flat ground and I didn't want to alarm that big brown for anything. Munchie still wasn't helping matters but I was able to put enough distance between the cub and us to relieve the situation. When mom got to her cub there was enough distance between us that she stopped her pursuit. Her baby was safe so she seemed fine with giving up a chase that would have ended with tangling with a human and a large dog..especially with a few more doggie treats left to munch on with the cub.

Thank God for small favors. We were back at the car by this time and I wasted no time in getting Munchie inside and getting us out of the area.

I made two notes to myself about that area. The first is to call and see if the roads are open before I go back, and the second......take bear deterrent with me next time. That was too close for comfort. It just completely escaped me that I was going out in the wild at a time of year that mom's were protecting small young ones. Had the bear been a grizzly instead of a brown, I may not have been so lucky in my retreat.

I decided to head back toward Riverside and sleep on lower ground that night and do the Tunk and Mcgaughlin canyon trip the next day. Mcglaughlin looked promising although it was way too hot to do much scouting. I will definitely return there when the weather cools a bit again. I picked up a few square crystals of something metal - probably pyrite, and one small crystal of what looks like schrol. This is not an area for summer hunting though. I could see waves of heat rising from the canyon and think we might have been able to cook our lunch without a fire with no problem in there so stayed to the canyon rim until the heat drove us out of the area.

Tunk canyon was a disappointment, with most areas that looked like good hunting being posted private. The heat prevented me from searching as much as I'd have liked to, though. I'm sure more exploration later will turn up some primo area not yet posted private. I will definitely do some research before I return to the area.

The last day of our trip we visited Omak lake and I am really glad I did. The lake is Caribbean blue and just breathtaking from the road above. The walls of the slopes around the lake are pink and grey to purple granite which is peppered with minuscule garnets (by minuscule, I mean you won't see them without a magnifying glass). These gems may get larger in some areas of the lake, but I didn't see them from our area. The walls are steep and you can't just walk around the lake easily but there are points you can reach on foot with some hiking.

All in all, though I didn't find my dream cache, the trip was a great one and I found many places that I will be going back to for further hunting. I would urge anyone hunting East of highway 97 to keep your hunt for cooler weather. West of 97 is a great area to escape from the heat, though. Go prepared to meet wildlife. And please - be careful with fire and take your trash with you when you leave.

Skin Care Reality Check

It just boggles the mind what people will do to skin to keep themselves looking good. Unfortunately, most of what they are doing is very beside the point - and even dangerous to their health at some points.

Skin is an organ - it's not just decorative wrapping. Yet day in and day out people are buying some of the most useless toxic manufactured crap that corporations can provide (at a price, that is) and smearing it all over this vital organ for the sake of beauty. When that fails they go for face lifts or plastic surgery. Billions of dollars are being spent on magic potions that do nothing for the organ which the money goes to preserve. Years down the line the consumer wakes up broke and looking worse than ever - with skin that is not able to function as meant to in order to keep the body functioning correctly -- and looking like beef jerky.

So here is the reality check.

If you you had skin integrity in the first place you wouldn't need a face lift or to shoot poison into your skin in effort to look better. Slapping toxic goop all over it isn't going to do much but mask damage - and cause more in the long run.

If you are tired of being led by the nose and financially drained by corporate skin care moguls, it's time for you to learn how to keep your skin healthy in the first place. Secrets of Beautiful Skin and Hair Revealed will teach you what you need to know to prevent, and to reverse skin damage.

Remember - skin damage is ORGAN damage. You can't fix that with poison. You can't bring it back to health by slapping chemicals on it.

If you are ready to stop spending money on manufactured smoke and mirrors and start building healthy skin integrity:

FIND OUT MORE AT --http://www.salssecretsrevealed.com

Real Answers to Question from @LoriSinger and Discussions With @jmkane

Wow - I sure am glad they have this blog for us. It's just impossible to cover some questions in 140 characters. So I've put real discussions of issues here instead.

LoriSinger @HEYSAL What is your take on the galactical alignment of 2012?

Our galaxy is definitely moving into a galactic alignment. What this means is that our arm of the galaxy is moving into a parallel position with the center of the galaxy. The arms of the galaxy wave a bit and we will experience this alignment in 2012. What can we expect?

We will be directly in the path of cosmic wind from the nucleus of our galaxy when we are in alignment with it. The effects are not completely known, but we could experience some pretty intense magnetic upsets at the least. The damage that can actually be done to us, of course, will depend. We aren't protected from the sun's radiation by our magnetic field as some people believe - it's the atmosphere that protects us.

At the N. Pole where we would be most vunerable to radation there is little change from the amount of radiation that hits earth elsewhere. Were it the magnetic field that protects us, that would not be the case. You can liken radiation passing through the atmosphere to particles passing through 10 feet of cement. So the amount of damage a cosmic wind will cause, will be determined by the amount of radiation it contains. Hopefully, we will be able to withstand it. We may find our planet heating up, but our sun has been strangely inactive this sun cycle.

Cosmic wind might bring another problem - clouds of cosmic dust. Ever seen dust hit a flame?
Think of clouds of dust blowing across the sun. Holy cow. Hopefully there is enough disturbance in these clouds to keep them small so we only see flares rather than major combustion.

It was predicted that this sun cycle was going to be the strongest in recorded history -- politicians were hoping for it because it would have reinforced their "warming" propaganda and scared the average human silly. The fact that there is more ice at the N. pole right now than in the last 15 years is down played and even just not mentioned. Instead the areas of both poles that are actually warmer or melting are pointed to in an attempt to continue the idea of warming.
In actuality - those areas that we are hearing about are sitting on mantle plumes (molten lava pockets under the surface), some of which are errupting. Warming? LOL, yeah, molten lava tends to do that.

Lot of smoke and mirrors political con artistry going on to make us accept warming as a fact. The truth is - The number one greenhouse gas is evaporated water. C202 concentrations are result of warming, not the cause and much damage can be done to plants (and result to us) if you cut C202 concentrations during warming. Fatal mistake. And -- ever see what one night of freeze does to a crop field? With our population reaching 7 bil, we better damned well hope our crops don't freeze. We already have one billion people starving to death. Sooner or later people will catch on to the fact that when they already have 4 children starving to death, they really need to stop having kids. A few crop failures and it's not going to be money that stops people from eating.

The actual crisis we are facing is due to population numbers - we have gone beyond carrying capacity in many areas - not warming, but human damage destroying us.

Now as far as the Mayan "world end in 2012" aspect of the alignment -
Both the Mayan philosophies of religion and daily life were based on energy. Each day had a different energy quotent. Their normal calander which covered, I believe, 56 years (or close to it) wasn't long enough for them to figure out certain aspects of their actions so they built the longer calendar - the one purported to predict the end of the world in 2012. I have seen that they did predict a major transformation for 2012 - but see no evidence for the "end of the world".
IF they were still here today, I believe they would be working on the next calendar - that's what we do when calendars end.

What the new cycle will be is hard to say. Are we going to "ascend"? It is thought that the vibration of the earth is increasing - enough of an increase would change the material nature of the planet. No religion necessary - if everything is vibrating faster, everything will go and we aren't going to notice much change around us. The problem comes if we are not increasing our vibration as the planet is. Is this a possibilty? Who the hell knows.

Being over carrying capacity has done one thing for this planet - we are poisoning almost every inch of it. Our poisons and garbage actually change the nature of subtle earth energies. There is a grid of energy called Curlew lines. These lines are not visible to us but our animals sense them.
A dog or cat will not sleep on a Curlew line - I will never sleep anywhere my dog won't. Curlew lines are not the healthiest of energies for mammals, although some insects do very well around them. Furthering the equation is that our poisons change the resonance of these lines, which could very well effect our own resonance.

Back to the Mayans. It appears, from the fact that they disappeared without trace and, considering that homes with dinners half eaten on the tables were found, they did so rapidly as well. Did they "ascend"? Who knows. They might have found a means to create a group ethos that allowed them to resonate at a high enough frequency that they just litterally disappeared. It seems that is what they were working on - but I'm sure there would have been no way for them to know before the fact just how close they were to acheiving lift off. The complete details of their predicted transformation are not completely clear to me. A lot of speculation - I'm looking through as many validly translated documents as I can find - finding many writings that speculate far to wildly and not many REAL document translations online.

So what can we expect in 2012? Anything....including nothing. But it will be interesting to find out.


@jmkane - continued discussion about gold and crystals

Your Sergent's gold could have come from many states. You can find gold in 33 states - while a few states contain only traces, many states have large concentrations: California, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, Georgia, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada for just a few...........
Crystals - Yes, Arkansas has an area (actually called Crystal Mt., I believe) which produces some very large excellent quality quartz crystals. Fine crystals can be found throughout a stretch of about 150 miles in that area of the Mts all the way to parts of Oklahoma. Most of the areas are privately owned now but there are some fee digs down there that are extremely popular and there are a few public lands remaining which a hunter can have some luck with.

Arkansas also is the home of Daimond Crater State Park - the only public diamond mine in the world. Many people are pulling some very valuable diamonds out of that place - many are fancy diamonds (diamonds that are colored rather than white/clear).

Washington has several areas for fine crystals also - and I will be going camping for a few days to find some within the next week. Very possibly tomorrow or the next day. Getting my gear together now, as a matter of fact.
For others reading this, I am reposting the link I tweeted you - it is to my August 2006 newsletter. I was able to interview the photographer that was enlisted to photograph the largest crystals found in the world. The photos he sent me are just phenomenal.
http://www.rockhoundstation1.com/newsletter016.html

I myself have hunted for crystals, gemstones, gold and fossils in about 10 states and am hoping to add 2 states to that list very shortly: Arkansas and Utah. Economic collapse not fun here so I might have to put those on hold for a bit.

Business and Play

First the business -
If you look at the post below this one, you will see I got my site www.salssecretsrevealed.com back up, but had a little snafu. Uh...gee....I wonder why nobody contacted me to tell me my contact button doesn't work.............(yes, I'm kidding - other than the part it doesn't work). I will be fixing it today so if you have wanted to ask questions, you will be able to. Thanks to my pal who knows my email to my rockhound site for notifying me.

Now the Play -
For anyone planning on going to the Vantage, WA area:
If you are planning on 4 wheeling the Whiskey Dick area, you will need a really high test rig or will need to walk in. The road is a mess and the ruts are extremely deep. I have a Vitara and after risking the first 100 feet of the ruts found that those up ahead were impassable for me. Looks like it was washed out this winter and who knows if the Wildlife or Parks dept or whoever is "in charge" over there will fix them.

I checked out three listed areas for petrified wood in that area and not one of them was open to the public any longer. Of course, the park isn't - but several other locations are now listed "Do not Trespass and I was not in the area long enough to research whether those are valid signs or just decoys.

RANT TIME -
It makes me furious that our government takes control of public land - tells us when we can go there and when we can't - but doesn't fix roads. If they want to be in charge of what isn't theirs to be in charge of - then they should damned well get off their asses and take charge of it.
Washington is full of roads that they have decided they have control of but let become so bad they are impassable.

When I was shown "Plan 21" - the plan the government has for herding us into small territories and keeping us off of public land, I laughed and said "yeah, alright, whatever". I'm not laughing now. I've been coast to coast over this country the last few years and everywhere I go we are no longer "permitted". While I realize that there are people who are just irresponsible and do some damage - why not just prohibit those and leave the rest of us the hell alone. Sometimes they choose to preserve paths - and those we now pay 32 bucks a year in WA for the privilege of parking nearby.

Is there anywhere left we can go - anything left we can do without the Federal Vacuum cleaner emptying our pockets for? When did public land become land that the Federal Government gets to do anything they please with?

This is beginning to feel like life in Germany circa 1940.

Petrified Wood Trip Report and Hope For A Sick Dog.

Hi everyone. Sorry I've been out of it lately.
My nearly 12 year old Rottie decided to have congestive heart failure. The day I took him to the vet I thought for sure that I'd be putting him to sleep - he was hopelessly sick, or so I thought.
Once the diagnosis was confirmed the Vet put my little old guy on Vetmedin - which is a new drug that is new here since 2006.
I have to say, I am flabergasted at the change in Munchie. It's like he's 6 years old again, spunky, strong, and wanting to go rock hunting EVERY DAY! I've been watching carefully and we do a bit more each time out and so far he's had NO adverse reaction to exercise - and yesterday was extreme.

Publish Post

I have to say - I know he only has so long, drugs or no drugs, because he's already a Rottie Methuselah but at least we are getting some extra quality summer time for his final days. If he didn't have any quality time left I might forgo the price of the meds and let him go because he wouldn't be happy if he didn't get his adventures, but the quality of life this stuff has given him
is worth every dime - and it's costing a lot of them, trust me on that one. Vetmedin isn't cheap - but if you have a fuzzy friend whose illness is right for this treatment, you can give your pal a fine finish to a good life with this stuff. (for those of you who buy my eguide to natural skin care - the money goes to keeping my best friend alive and feeling good so your money is going to two worthy causes - yourself and a great furry personality).

So...........about our trip yesterday. We (Munchie and I) went to Saddle mountains after I did some study in some older books to find out where the hot locals for petrified wood is. I wasn't equiped for digging - just wanted to poke around and see if I could find some on the surface and maybe come back and dig another day.

Well, you know how new locations are. I found a nice little cache of stuff where someone else had cordially dug and left some nice specimens behind. With my backpack loaded to uncomfortably heavy for the mile and a half hike back to our car, we made a slow exit from the area. I looked back and studied the area after we got back to the car and found that I walked a heck of a long way when all I would have had to do is climb a couple hundred feet down a hill. Go figure. Of course, I went back and got another pack full after finding that out.

After that we drove around the mountain for awhile and talked to a few of the other hounds that had the same idea for the day as I had. They were not being as fortunate as I was. It seems from what I have read, and after talking to these folk that not too many people who visit Saddle Mountains ever really find anything there. Of course, I have a guess about why this is.

Saddle mountains are quite steep and arduous to walk around on. It's not a stroll through the park at any stage of the game, not if you are going rock hunting anyhow. I'm assuming that many people that go there just plain don't get far enough off the road to find anything. The place is highly visited and to think that you can get out of the car and just stroll the easy areas to find anything is a bit optomistic at best. Even the stuff I got "close to the road" was one meanly steep treck, but a welcome one after a mile and a half walk out to the car on the first visit.

There are other areas of Washington that involve much less vigorous energy and strength, so if you are a light weight at climbing up and down sometimes very steep treks, you might want to consider someplace beside Saddle Mts. to rockhound at.

That said....there is a big variety of wood types in that area. I got everything from green opalized to black, white, and brown opalized, to agatized browns - all in one location. I've never seen such variety in one spot before. I didn't find any rounds, but it would stand to reason after the years of popularity of this location that any rounds left in the area would be won only by digging - and then only the first digger in any location. I also think that in the particular spots I was looking only one seemed as if it may have contained any rounds in the first place. But nice wood is nice wood - even the smaller pieces. You can fashion a lot of nice articles from small pieces of wood with the right lapidary treatment so a nice find, to me, is a nice find, even if you can't saw it down and build cabins out of it.

That's it for this trip report. Stay tuned for info on more trips - mixed with some miscellaneous other info and rants, of course.

Rockhounding Quincy Lakes, WA

I'm going to pass up all the political ranting this time around - just want to talk to the rockhounds in the group as promised when I planned my excursion to the Quincy Lakes Area of central Washington.

Sorry I didn't come back sooner - but my best friend and rockhound buddy, Munchie, got pretty sick. I thought I was going to lose him, which is not a surprise because Rottweilers aren't supposed to live 11 1/2 years as he has. His diagnosis is congestive heart failure, but he's been put on diuretics and they are making him feel much better again. Tomorrow he will get his x-rays to make the diagnosis official, and then will get some meds that will prolong his life with quality. I am hoping we have the summer to explore and really make wonderful before he checks out of this berg.

Our day in the Quincy lakes area was quite eventful. I hadn't realized there was so much fabulous opal down there. It seems to mostly be derived from wood replacement from what I can tell. I actually got a few pieces that were very obviously wood - one round and a few pieces that look like petrified bog.

At the lakes themselves there are many trails. If you plan to go there, do note that if you want to park in the rec area to take off on your hikes, you have to have a permit so get one before you go. We wasted some energy walking in that could have been used better later in the day.

On the north end of the lake chain there are a few old opal digs. Most of it is common opal and not very revealing of any petrification of anything - but it showed the possibilities of the area.
We headed south from the lakes to Silica road....because, well - the name of the road was just plain intriguing coupled with opal digs. On the portions of Silica road just north of highway 28
there are a few mines. Judging from the white powder soil, I am presuming the mines are talc rather than opal, but then again, from the amount of opal, they may actually be opal mines.

While the mine areas themselves are off limits (might be able to get permission, haven't checked yet) there is a lot of land very close to them that is not posted, so we stuck to those areas. I found a few white mounds and dug in for some pretty sweet results. The petrified round I got isn't the best wood I've ever seen but still has some of the rings and it's solid. Much of what was in the area was pretty flaky - the layers would not take a cut. The surprise of the day was digging up a few chunks with a pretty bright flash of colors. It is layered so is the type used for doublets and triplets rather than whole cabs, but I sure didn't expect to see it.

Most of this opal is green and brown, but I did get one piece with orange bands - almost red enough to qualify as fire opal, but not quite there. Again - enough to get my nose open.

All in all it was a good day. While I probably won't go back to the lakes themselves, I expect to go back to the Silica Road area again - and probably to the areas across the river close to the petrified forest park there.

If you are a rockhound who is reading this - the forums, photo gallery, etc on my site are down for repairs right now but will be back up soon and most of my trip reports will be listed there. I will drop a line here, though, and let everyone know when that is back up. There are portions of the site which are still online and you can find those at:
www.rockhoundstation1.com

Rockhounding Season....Finally!

It seems like years since it's been spring. As an avid rockhound, winter can be excrutiating. Here I am in a new area, so I was able to do much hiking in the lower lands near town, but am finding that there isn't much to hunt right here. I have to take it on the road, even though I don't have to go far - I have to go where winter hits harder, which means I had to wait for spring.

After a nice winter storm warning for Western WA yesterday, we've finally gotten an all clear for this weekend. The storm seems to have stayed in the mt's so I am off to Quincy lakes as planned this weekend to hunt. Rumor has it that there is petrified wood and varied crystals (sounds like quartz from description) to be found. Judging from its location from the petrified forest and the terrain that I passed by on the way south of the area once, I'm sure that the reports I've heard aren't too far from truth. But, if you are a gem hunter, you are probably quite familiar with those who want to be helpful and give information, but have not one clue of what they are saying.

Quincy lakes area is one I had already picked out as a good day trip on my own, so if the reports of wood and agate aren't correct, I won't be overly disappointed. Not as much as if I had actually planned the trip around someone's advice to go there, anyway.

Yeah - I'll put this in rant mode for just a bit here.
Why the hell do people insist on giving you nice little hand drawn maps and pinpointing locations as terrific areas to hunt if they don't know firsthand that there is something there? I've taken some real wild goosechases - some that took quite some time and gas to drive to, just to find that the person giving me the "tip" had never been there firsthand - or just plain lied about the area. Do people actually think that you aren't going to notice that they are way off once you get somewhere?

After loads of really bad leads, I've finally learned how to weed out the bad ones from the good ones. It's not always the novices that give the bad leads - the experienced hounds can be the worst of the lot. Not sure whether they just want to appear more knowledgeable than they are and feel you won't ever really go there or whether they think it's funny to tool you around, but when I talk to an experienced rockhound and they give me a tip, I take it with a huge grain of salt unless we are planning to go together to the area. If they are willing to go, I can be sure of what they are telling me. If they won't go, too, I usually put the trip in with one that I've already planned that takes me close enough to check the area out a bit but don't make it an only destination. I learned not to make tips a sole destination a long time ago.

Anyway - if you haven't ever been somewhere and picked up good specimens with your very own hands, don't draw maps and send people off to a dead zone. Some people have a hard time getting free time to go and it's really mean to make them waste it "snipe hunting". If someone sends me on a wild goosechase, I will post online all about how lame they are so nobody else gets caught in their idiocy.

End of rant.

Well, as I said - I picked this trip out on my own. It's not under snow and it's in a good locality so no one can do me any damage if they tell me they found something there and it turns out not to be the case. It's spring so I will enjoy a nice hike in the sun with some warm weather, but as any rockhound knows, I'm out for the find. I'll be back to tell everyone what I find out about the place -- and maybe before that. Never know what politicians are going to do to rant about in the meantime.

If anyone out there has hunted Quincy lakes and are okay with sharing info, drop me a line about what you found and which of the lakes offer the best hunting grounds. It's a big territory, so I'd like to narrow the field down as much as possible to start out.

Mititia for the People and the Home Veggie Garden

I haven't been ignoring you all - just a tad under the weather. So is my 1 and a half year over life span dog, so I have been using my reserve energy to save him. I'm feeling better - more importantly, so is he. So with tragedy averted for the meantime, on with business.

I want to point out a website that is of extreme importance to all American Citizens - and I urge every military person who reads this blog to visit this website and pledge to defend Americans. The website has become massively popular over just it's first few days - what a relief to citizens! It urges all military to sign a pledge to defend the citizens of our country against our own government waging war on us. Military persons who take the pledge, pledge their service to the freedom of the American people and against service to any particular president.
If you are in the military - please go there and take the pledge and let us know you are there for us, not for those who would render us prisoners to treasoners. Here is the URL:

http://www.oath-keepers.blogspot.com/

For those of you who really don't know what to make of BILL HR 875 - the bill reputed to be a means to seize and arrest people for growing food in their own yards -- the following link offers a very well written look at the issues involved in this bill, as well as into who exactly it is that is putting this bill on the agenda. If this bill didn't bother you before, you might be interested in a better look at the bill's founders and lobbyists.

http://www.breakthematrix.com/node/34346


That's about all for today. I'm getting ready to get my old buddy out for a good intensive stroll. It's the end of March and still pretty cold. If I call Gore, I wonder if he'll supply me some of that warming he's trumpeting about. With seasonally record colds still hitting the weather channels here, we could use some of it.

Faith and Earth Trashing

Forums create some keen and sometimes rather unwelcome insights into people's views about our planet. In one thread on my favorite forum we're talking about what shambles we've made of our earth and the desperation of our current situation. One person came in and actually stated that it is okay that we trash everything up because Jesus is going to come back and God will make the planet new.

Okay.....uh....it's OKAY to trash the planet up? Ready for the rant?

I have to hand it to that person. This has to be the stupidest statement I have heard from anyone on behalf of any religion.

Frankly, I don't think the rest of the planet is really "in tune" with your concept of your deity. I happen to be a bit familiar with the Bible myself and I have never seen anywhere any indication that it is okay to trash the place up just because of end times, the rapture or a planetary renewal.

I keep getting this weird image of Jesus coming back, driving around dumping fast food bags and wrappers out the car window, and telling everyone in the car that "It's okay, Dad will clean it up." Sorry, lady - I just really can't get my mind around thinking that will happen.

Now, if I understand correctly what I have read - life, as well as this planet, is a GIFT. Trashing it up does not seem like an exemplary way of showing thanks to the creator for this amazing gift. I'm betting that he intended us to take care of his gift to us, maybe. I'm assuming that a deity as glorious as we have been told God is, would not be thrilled about trash, pollution, toxins or any other form of disrespect for his perfection or for his gift to us.

While it is, according to the Christian faith, true that the rapture is coming, what makes you think with that attitude that the Rapture will do one damn bit of good for you? What makes you think that after feeling free to trash up that gift that you aren't going to be standing around in the trash wondering where everyone else went? Maybe God's just going to look at you and say - "No way do I want that slob running around trashing up my place, too". He might figure that you are so in tune with chaos that you might just be more comfortable elsewhere.

When he gave you fish to nourish your body, do you really think that it was okay for you to turn them poisonous with mercury or to endanger their existence with estrogen-imitating sunscreen chemicals or chemical fertilizer (pretty much the same thing actually)? Is it okay for you to poison our air and our ground and crops which in turn poison the gift of your body and jeopardize the life that was also a gift and was meant for you to cherish? Is that how you cherish it?

The fact that he has to renew anything itself should stand testimony that maybe we just aren't worthy of renewal. If you look into more energy based philosophies and sciences, the bad energy being produced by these toxic wastes and our general mishandling of our gift actually lowers the vibrational rate of those around them so the actual act of polluting in itself is a self induced proscription against any state of enlightenment we might have hoped to achieve.

It doesn't matter whether you are a Christian, Hindu, or Mayan based faithed believer -- trashing out a planet is disrespectful, illogical, unhealthy and just plain wrong. To the person who feels that it is okay to trash the place up all we want to because Jesus is coming back -- we wish that you would go see him right now and save us from having to clean up your mess. I'm pretty sure, HALLELUJAH, your Father won't be to thrilled if you leave it for him either. If I were you, I'd be looking for a job that will be secure AFTER the rapture, too.

Arrested For Smoking In Your Own Home?

Back in 2001 when we started getting our rights pulled out from under us at frightening levels, I had a dream.

I was sitting in my living room having a cigarette and a swat team burst through the front door. I was absolutely terrified and was trying to blow my smoke into a pillow.

The dream frightened me so bad that I woke up in a sweat and screaming. My friends thought it was pretty funny. Like that could really ever happen in real life, right? .....Right?

Just the other night I was watching TV and, believe it or not, there is legislation in the works to make it illegal to smoke in YOUR OWN HOME if you live in an apartment.

What is equally incredible is that they were interviewing people on the street and we have a bunch of citizens who are such idiotic droolers that they thought it was "a good idea". The reason for this conclusion? Smoking is bad for you. They don't like the smell of smoke. They are worried about second hand smoke. They are worried smokers will burn their apartment buildings down.

HEY - IT'S TIME FOR YOU COMPLETELY OUT-OF-TOUCH, EXTREMELY IGNORANT, AND HYPOCRITICAL SELF APPOINTED LITTLE NAZIS TO GET A CLUE AND WAKE THE HELL UP.

First off - have you been living in the country in the last ten years and been so able to escape reality that you haven't noticed that every time another right is taken from us they use subjects that people are extremely opinionated or emotional about to get their fascist crap over on us?
Are you so drugged moronic that you really don't realize yet that once they are allowed to rule we can't smoke in our own homes that there will be other things that they will disallow in your own home -- and that those things will be things that affect YOU lifestlye. It will be too late to worry about it after you allow them to rule against smoking though - hypocrite.

WHY DO I CALL YOU A HYPOCRITE IF YOU SUPPORT THIS TYRANNY?
Maybe it's because many of the people that thought that it was a "good idea" were so furiously fat that it was ludicrous to hear them talk about themselves and "health" in the same sentence.
I'm also betting that they drive cars - which cause dangerous pollution (carbon monoxide).
They also use electricity and stoves - maybe space heaters. All of those can cause fires. So get rid of them - NOW.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION -- I am SICK of you pissing your dangerous pharmaceutical drugs into MY water supplies. We need swat teams to burst through your door to take them away from you and cart your toxic butt off to jail if you are using public water supplies to dispose of your toxic waste.
The same is true if you are using toxic chemicals to clean your home or in your personal care products. You are too toxic to be allowed to suck oxygen - lets make YOU illegal.

If you were so worried about your damned health you wouldn't be over 100 pounds overweight - you wouldn't be on drugs, you wouldn't eat half of the crap you put in your body or use the toxic products you are more than happy to subject your "health" to.

What you are is a bunch of little wanna-be dictators. You want the right to make people live exactly as you want them to live. Screw the constitution - YOU KNOW WHAT IS BEST.

So you're so freaking smart -- you get your little pea brains in high gear and answer the following questions:

Over 60 percent of all Japanese men smoke - yet they aren't dying of lung cancer - why?
Why is it that over 60 percent of all lung cancer victims never ever smoked?
(Notice that these percentages are over HALF)
Why is it that people have been smoking for hundreds of years -- this country was founded partially on tobacco farms - yet only in the last few decades have lung cancers started to fluorish -- and they aren't alone, a lot of other diseases are becoming rampant as well -- and they are not diseases you can be fooled into thinking correlate to smoking.
Why is it that lung cancer cases are on the rise even though the amount of smokers has been on the decline for decades now?

If you want to get a brain instead of a will to control you will do some REAL research instead of just absorbing canned propeganda and you will find that you have been lied to. You will find you have been completely duped about what is making you sick. Maybe once you find out the truth you will give your fat little self-righteous body a workout and start protesting for the truth.

Until you get educated enough to realize faulty logic in propaganda, I sure don't want you messing around with my rights. You don't like cigarette smoke, fine - I don't have a problem with that. Some people are allergic and smokers need to have some respect for that.

But when you start agreeing it should be legal for the police or government to monitor MY personnal habits or preferences in MY OWN HOME -- you are out of line and I have not one problem with seeing your fascist asses marched right out of this country. You want to be a fascist - go where they are appreciated. I prefer to live in the Constitutional Republic that I was taught this country is SUPPOSED to be and I prefer the people making my rules to be better educated than you have shown yourselves to be.

It's YOUR OWN FAULT - Call to Action.

Have enough of us lost jobs yet that you might finally be ready to do what is necessary to secure employment in the USA?

If you are sick of seeing jobs go overseas - it's time to stop acting like idiots. Period.

It should have become obvious to anyone who isn't completely sitting in a corner drooling that the Government is not doing a lot about the situation other than making empty promises. That means it is up to the people - who are in control of the situation in the first place, AND are solely to blame for the situation in the first place - those people are: THE US CITIZEN.

If you are using the services of ANY company which is outsourcing jobs, the situation is partly YOUR fault. Why do you need to use a telephone service that outsources jobs when there are services available that do not do so? Why do you need to connect your computer using a service that outsources jobs when there are services available who do not do so? Why do you need to connect your televisions using a service that outsources jobs when there are services available who do not do so?

When corporations do things that the public does not approve of - they can be stopped merely by refusing to use that service. You can scream to the heavens about outsourcing until you turn blue and choke - but as long as you are using those services those companies aren't going to care from hell to high water if you don't like it. Your fellow citizens will continue to lose jobs until you get off you idiotic ass and DO something about it. It doesn't take a college degree or an "in" with the local politicians to stop this travesty.

All it takes is for YOU to pick up your phone, find a service that does not outsource, sign up, and CANCEL the service that DOES outsource your jobs. IF you don't pay these people to outsource your jobs, they can't function. They will go bankrupt.
Period. What would happen if X corporation lost hundreds of thousands of accounts overnight because they are outsourcing?
That's right, even if it didn't completely flatten them, they'd be in major trouble.

On the other hand, the companies that do not outsource would get a major thanks for keeping jobs in the US. They would grow and flourish, and because they would understand that you switched to them because they don't outsource (which you would boldly tell them when you sign up) - they would KEEP the jobs here.

It should not take a genius to figure this out. Yet I see even people losing their jobs to outsourcing companies buying services from the SAME COMPANIES THAT OUTSOURCE THEIR JOBS. How the hell can we ever expect to get a government to work for us if we are too stupid and lazy to work for ourselves?

The next time you want to open your mouth and scream about outsourcing -- stop and think about what companies YOU are buying services from yourself. If you are buying from an out-sourcer -- YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

DO YOU "GET IT" YET?

Curiouser and Curiouser

The vile weather has forced my rockhounding exploration to a halt, but has given me some time to catch up on what our politicians are up to.

I didn't realize that 9 states actually declared sovereignty. All you hear about is New Hampshire's resolution to secede.
We've been told that they can't legally do so, but according to them, they have full rights. I'm sure they know what they are saying and I sure wish right now a lot of other states would get on the band wagon and put in like resolutions. It's way past time for sovereignty. We need to let them know at a national level that we won't have any part in any fascist scheme that is cooked up to corral us in as slaves of the state - and by state I mean the Global Union.

HR 645 might be worded nicely, but it just reaks of concentration camps and with so much talk going on about martial law there isn't one American who should be able to sleep soundly at night until that thing is defeated. Who knew in 2001 the real terrorists were sitting in the White House?

Idaho gets my thumbs up today. They just sent a Cease and Desist notice to stop the gun tyranny. It sites what the purpose of the second ammendment is and reminds our thug-in-chief that we aren't going to give up our guns. We have those not only to protect our families and homes, as we have a God given right to -- but also to protect against a hostile Government, which is now apparent is exactly what we have. Here's the declaration:

http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2009/HJM003.pdf

WAY TO GO IDAHO!

Crime figures released from Australia since they were robbed of their arms in the late 1990's (I believe it was 1996) show the same results as DC saw -- no legal guns make crime skyrocket. Not to mention the fact that it will make it a lot easier for them to march us all into those camps that HR 645 makes way for once we get fed up enough with them robbing us blind of every nickel we could use to feed or house ourselves with that we try to take them out of office. Of course, if the Fairness Doctrine passes - we'll never know because no one will be allowed to speak of these things anymore. I guess the corporate media complex hasn't done a good enough job keeping you and I from finding out about all the treason going on at the top. They need to stifle anyone who would ask a question such as "what happened to the constitution?". If Obama can get the military to pledge to him instead of to the people as has been rumored is on his long agenda, we won't be wanting the answer to those questions anyway.

But rest assured, it's all okay - because on the eve of socialized medicine it is also now okay to give drugs to people to allow them to commit suicide and Obama's going to educate your kids from the day they are born. Of course, youth too old for diapers will be "encouraged" to "volunteer" in community service. Nothing to worry about at all. Why, if you get sick and can't afford a doctor or are too old for the workers programs, they will soon be able to just end your misery for you in a way that is cheapest for society - and your kids will be well trained to know when it's time for Mommy or Daddy to be put out of their misery - maybe they can even arrange to do the family pet and the parents at the same time and save a lot of hastles.

Now I'm not going to say it's ALL going this way. There are a lot of individuals in office right now that are just as disgusted and terrified as you and I are and they are working on getting America restored to its constitutional grandeur. States are declaring sovereignty, Texas is taking it upon itself to defend our border even though the Federal government seems to think the violent chaos is good help in supporting their agenda. Ron Paul and a few others are working on having the FED abolished. Idaho's cease and desist notice is a grand call for the constitution. It is rumored that a bill to make English the National language is resurfacing and will go far to reinstate natural born Americans in positions with the government, in social services, medical, and customer service positions that are now off limits to anyone that doesn't speak Spanish. Prosecution is being sought for Bush and his pals for the crimes they commited in office (Atta Boy, Dennis - we're with ya all the way).

We are definitely a Nation in danger, a Nation in turmoil, and it has become apparent finally to even the most brainwashed of citizens that there is a major resistance brewing. When I see posts and YouTube videos made by people of military training that are more and more often telling us "we are behind the people, not the government" it makes falling asleep at night with the assurance we won't be pulled out of bed at 4 am and herded to a military "emergency facility".

But we can't depend on the military guys who will go out of their way to defend their families before government agendas. At some time, yesterday maybe, it would be a good idea for each American -- and I mean every damned person in this country to contact their legislators and tell them that you expect safety, freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right to raise your own children the way you see fit, and the right to a say in how YOUR money is spent. When a legislator tries to defend your constitution, their mailboxes should bulge with thank you notes. When they vote for bills that violate your constitutional rights they should be swiftly booted out of office whether it was a bill you liked or not. Remember - when you support the usurption of someone else's rights, it endangers yours as well. NO politician should remain in office after voting UNCONSTITUTIONALLY. If all we can get some of those people to understand is money, then start taking them out of office when they vote against America so they won't get those sweet, massive, life long pensions they look forward to whether they have been of any value or not.

Well, I guess I've ranted long enough. No, I'm not done. I could rant all night about how fascist Americans have allowed their politicians to become. But I won't because I'm going to try to get some sleep tonight and it's going to take hours to get my blood pressure back to normal after thinking about what is going on in this country right now. I am hoping that my fellow countrymen and women will finally turn off their televisions and stand for something - make things happen and take back our country. I always thought that was what an American was supposed to be - supposed to do. Am I wrong?

Fair MY Royal Hinie, Rose Quartz, and Pretty in Air Pollution

First off --
The Fairness Doctrine is back and if we don't stop it and stop it now the only news you will get online or off will be under hard fisted censorship. If you think it's outrageous that all the mainstream media is now is a huge private advertising campaign, how do you think you'll like it when blogs (um...like this one) get zapped because they say something we aren't allowed to say - not allowed to know. There isn't anything fair about this doctrine - just another fancy, sweet, comfy name to disguise the stench and venom of a Fascist rule. This is it. Stop it now or forever hold your peace - or go to jail if you aren't good at keeping your real thoughts out of print or off radio waves. If you don't know who to contact in your state, go to http://www.congress.org and you can find out who all your state representatives are and their contact information. This is important stuff people - we need EVERYONE to stay free, not just a few who you think can do it for you.

Okay - on to the stuff the rockhounds and green zoners want to know.

With the sun shining and temperatures soaring to the high 40's it just seemed right to get my daily dose of Vitamin D on the mountain tops North of town yesterday. I've only been here (Wenatchee, WA) a bit over a month and we've had snow most of the time so I haven't gotten to do a lot of rockhounding yet and everything here is new territory to explore.

It was awesome on the mountain. Still a bit chilly but not freezing. A bit muddy, too but dry enough to be walkable. Munch and I (Munchie is my pet rot and best pal) strolled around the top where it's more like walking gentle hills than climbing mountains - getting there is a heck of a haul though. This mountain (Burch) is practically made of quartz from what I can see. Not one drop of agate, jasper, or crystals that I could find but I did pick up a few real nice chunks of rose quartz. To be honest I've seen better ones - none compares to the rose quartz in S. Dakota, but this was nice so I brought a couple of chunks home. At least I got to bring something back even if it only makes it to the rock garden out front. Not bad for winter in the North. There are metal flakes in the quartz in some places, too. Some of it's mica, but there's also pyrite so I'm in the mind that somewhere in the streams downhill there might be some gold. There is gold in this area - I live about a mile or two from the old gold mine.

While I was on top I also had one awesome view of the town below. It's not that large of a town, maybe 40 thousand at the top of the numbers, but more likely closer to 30 thou. The layer of smog coating the town was astounding though........and, yep, oh yeah - here comes the rant.........

How the heck can anyone with one drop of sanity worry about C02 - which is not a pollutant, but a natural gas that is actually necessary for plants and protects them during times of warming - when there is so damned much other crap in the air? This town is a canyon/valley so the crap gets trapped, but it's still in our planetary air once it gets blown off. . Factory soot with god knows what in it - carbon monoxide, which IS a pollutant and a very toxic one at that, for just a few examples. Fortunately for us, it only collects like this once in a while when it's real cold; there's a lot of people who live in that crap 24/7.

It' really makes me wonder what people are thinking when they live in or go to cities where the air is like that all the time and then they talk about not wearing make-up because it's not good for their skin. Got big news here - make-up is a lot better for your skin than that crap presuming you are using the right make-ups without any hardcore toxic chemicals in it. You wouldn't catch me out dead without make-up walking around in that pollution.

Sure, yeah, make-up can choke your pores - but I'd rather have a bit of talc in my pores than that black gunk in the air choking them. I know the ingredients in my make-up and they are non-toxic. I know the chemicals in that smog are toxic. It isn't bad enough that the smog will coat your skin -some of it can soak in and cause some major damage. I'd much rather have that stuff coating a protective layer of non-toxic make-up than my skin where it can process me into a facsimile of someone auditioning for a spot in a California Raisins commercial.

So if you are running around being green by not wearing make-up you better think twice about the condition of the air in your area. If you wipe your face when you come home and your washcloth has black on it, you'd be doing yourself one fine favor to go grab yourself some nice non-toxic, cruelty free (not tested on animals) make-up. It will protect you from the poison while making you look alluring...uh...if you apply it right. Some of it can even protect you a bit from sun rays so you won't be tempted to slap any of that highly toxic sunscreen all over yourself.

If you are worried about make-up clogging your pores, rest assured, it won't clog them any worse than the toxins in the air. The trick is washing it off. You need to wash it off well. I can't tell you anything further about that because it's in my skin care guide and, darned it, call me greedy, but I am not giving away ALL of my secrets free. The main point, anyway, is that it's good to be green, but still need to use some common sense about it. The earth has become a toxic waste dump and you need to think about whether what you are doing for yourself is really as productive as it might seem to be on the surface.

Secession, Sunscreen and Irony

Okay, I guess I have this thing working, remedially at best, but working.

It's a bit hard to be a techno-idiot in this day and age. It's a bit hard to try to live without technology though, even if it baffles you. We have kinda gotten way from what's real in a major way. If you don't think so just look around at everyone who our politicians have thinking these bailouts" and "sustenance packages" are actually a good thing. Thank God the situation has gotten so bizarre that people are starting to smell the coffee. Now it's just a matter of getting word out when we find the little piles of BS that have been spread around to infect us. I'm out to toss a few of those piles back in the owner's yards in here. So pick up a shovel and and come along with me and help clean up this mess.

Congratulations - New Hampshire on your Secession Bill, Resolution 6. Hopefully, the rest of us will be falling in line behind you before all guns are only owned by our military and police and pointed our way as our kids sing Obama anthems while they march along to their forced public service duties or, if they are old enough, the military, because by that time all that proposed excitement comes down we sure won't be allowed to say much about it.

I keep hearing people wishing their politicians would "learn" but nobody seems all to interested in doing any teaching. Just bitch at em and then re-elect em and let em raise their own salaries practically yearly. My question is when will the PEOPLE start learning? Thought we did that during WWII but it seems I am mistaken. The Bushes would have never have set foot on US soil again let alone take the highest office had that been true. If you're happy grazing and chewing your cud on the way to the slaughterhouse, this blog isn't gonna be for you.

It's time for everyone to call, fax, mail, or email your reps and tell them to get your state resolutions up and running, too. Everyone wants American Freedoms - Everyone needs to stand up for them - yeah that means you, too. Even someone totally worthless can write an email.
You can find your reps at: http://www.congress.org

Somewhere down the line someone was able to rig us up to believe that the only way to have value in our lives was to own more than the guy next door. It's backfired in a darned big way. People will buy any crap that they are told to buy now - no matter what it will do to you. Look at sunscreen -- oh yeah, for those of you who know me, you know I'm on my way to one major rant -- so why don't I just get to it.

I saw this commercial on tv yesterday for this event - a walk to protest breast cancer. Yep - we are doing our part to "speak out against breast cancer". Bet that cancer will just run when it sees we are speaking out against it. I am betting a bit further than half of the people involved in this silliness will be just smearing on the sunscreen while they walk. Yep - go out and slap on a good coat of the very stuff that is now linked to elevations of breast cancer and all other forms of reproductive system diseases and malformities to protest the diseases. That's logic American Style. Hallelujeah.

Not only do sunscreens have tons of synthetic chemicals that mimic estrogen (yeah slap a good dose on your little boys, too) but also a nice bunch of carcinogenics and some stuff that alters DNA and fudges up your genes as well. It also keeps your body from absorbing Vitamin D3 from the sun. Deficiencies of this vitamin/hormone/regulator is deadly. If you are in doubt about that just take a look at the stats that show how diseases and syndromes of all sorts are on the rise and parallel the rise in the use of sunscreen.

So why don't we hear about it? After all the medical community supports it (although many doctors and health institutions are now changing their minds) and the FDA approves it. Well - look at how much money the manufacturers are spending to get it out to us. They spend fortunes that could support whole communities to lobby for it. If you attend an FDA event related to the study or approval of this toxic waste you will quickly find that it was funded by the very sunscreen manufacturers that the FDA is supposed to be monitoring. Guess who funds research on the products? Gives grants to researcher? Supports our Educational factions?

Somehow, the pandemic disease and malaise caused by Sunscreen/Vitamin D3 deficiency finally got so alarming that independent research got into the picture. Somehow this REAL information started getting to doctors and to the public and it's spreading, but obviously not fast enough - because we've got a whole bunch of women in pink t-shirts on the MARCH against breast cancer, slathering sunscreen all over themselves so they don't accidentally get any of that healing Vit D3 that could save them from it.

Now forgive me for not thinking more highly of the people actually misled enough to actually waste their time participating in this event as I know they are just responding as our money sucking non-profit sectors have conditioned them to, but....um...wouldn't it make more sense to see these pink shirts all gathered at the steps of the FDA building screaming their lungs out about the sanctioned use of deadly chemicals in their skin care products? I mean, if you're going to fight the disease, shouldn't you go after the faction that is responsible for the proliferation of the very crap that causes it? Can't you can feel just as good about marching in ways that really might make a difference as you can marching in some half-assed show that isn't going to do much of anything but raise more money to sustain non-profit staffs. How bout marching to raise money to lobby the hell out of Congress to do something about the out-of-control favoritism for the money of the sunscreen manufacturers? Match em buck for buck and maybe we'd get something done, eh?

Of course, if we wanted to be real smart about the whole situation, we'd just boycott sunscreen manufacturers in the first place.

Sure - some people burn easily and some are gonna be in the sun longer than is good for their skin, but how about letting your body get an adequate amount of Vitamin D3 before applying protection - and then use natural blockers that won't make you sick as a dog or kill you - or stick on a wide brimmed hat and some clothes when you've had enough sun and just forget about painting any goop on yourself for a change, just in case 5 years from now you find out it is deadly. Maybe when you've had enough sun you might just consider moving into shaded areas?

Well that's my take on it all. Go ahead and have your marches and make a show out of it. Support your local non-profits no matter where their money goes or how much value they are adding to life with them. Do as you are programmed to do, put your money where you are programed to put it. Use whatever products are pitched to you by a corporately controlled Medical community, FDA, Government, and Media.

When you are really serious about breast cancer - or any other disease, maybe just stop using the crap that's gonna give it to you. When you are tired of the BS - get rid of anyone at the top that slings it. If people are getting sick in ways or numbers that people didn't used to get sick you can bet your sweet toxins that there is a Corporation behind it and a Government approval to back them up if there's money in it for them. You can bet BS supporting causes of illness will infilter into every bit of information you read or hear at all levels of "public interest".

The bottom line is that if people start getting sick en mass in ways they didn't before - look to what chemicals and products are being pumped into them that weren't before, then spread that word everywhere you can spread it. With enough of us finding truth, they can't kill us with lies.

Hi Everyone

Just getting set up right now - I'll be back in a minute.
The sun is shining so I'm gonna soak up some Vitamin D3 while I have the chance.
The computer is always here - sunshine isn't. Trust me on that one.