Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Greetings from Weardale.

Today begins bright and clear with a slight autumn chill in the air. From the front atrium of the cottage there is much "cheeping" from a couple ducklings that Jonina is attempting to raise for Bob and Mary. It seems that one of their ducks laid a clutch of eggs that are starting to hatch, but hasn't shown much interest in being mother once the little ones emerge. So, along with a rescued hedgehog, Jonina now has ducks.

Yesterday morning I spent cleaning and trimming specimens in search of some good ones to carry back to San Francisco with me, while Joan, Jonina and Kerith went up to the Safeway in Consett for provisions. About the time I had had enough of muddy saw water spraying all over me, they returned, goods in hand. After some discussion, they all headed back out to visit the Eggelston Gardens in Teesdale, and I drove down the dale to the mine.

Cal had spent the morning working in the area of the Dipper that was producing the large untwined green fluorites. Unfortunately, the fluorite seams that are giving us these things are highly fractures and we have yet to get too many intact crystal clusters out. Cal's morning experience was, unfortunately, no different. Byron spent most of the day working at the main tunnel face, trying to recover any specimens that may avail themselves before we turn Dave loose to drill again. There are several pockets exposed but unfortunately most were coming out in a condition similar to what we were getting from the Dipper. Too bad, because the fluorite in at least one large cavity was an attractive blue-green color. Hopefully we will find more. Byron found a smaller pocket with some green fluorites, which I managed to collect a few decent specimens from, however. Dave had drilled the northern tunnel in the West Cross Cut, which was shot at the end of the day.

After heading up the dale, Byron and I made what we had thought was going to be a quick stop at the Golden Lion, only to become ensnared in a discussion between a local miner and a fellow from Cornwall as to who had the best miners. This was one that obviously could not be won, so we made our apologies after the third round and headed back to the cottage, where Joan was getting dinner on for all.

Today Cal and I have a 10 am appointment with the Durham County Council planning commission, so will most likely be a day of bureaucratic machinations. We have been trading application paperwork back and forth with them for over a year and hopefully things will get settled to everyone's liking. Dave and Byron will likely get to drilling to main face so we can push the tunnel forward a bit more in the time remaining this season.

Today's photo is of Cal "moving rock".

Stay tuned for more…

Cheers,

Jesse & the crew.

Go Back