I got there around three hours before the first field trip started. I parked my car in line and headed into the show. I purchased my tickets, a scrub brush, a piece of carpet, and a gallon of brine before heading back to the car. I placed all my stuff in the trunk, filled out my trip ticket, and wandered up the road to the mineral processing plant to take some pictures.
This place was soooooo cool. You would have really appreciated it, I think. Sadly, it was protected with fences and did not photograph well. I'll add some pictures to this when I get home.
I wandered around some more, bought some pretty little things from various venders, picked up some maps and flyers on what to expect of the field trips, and on places to hike in the surrounding area, and then went back to the car.
At 9am we started the caravan out to the site. We drove down roads in between these huge brine lakes. Some of them were dry, some of them weren't. There was this loud bang every so often, like some sort of explosion, and I was continually convinced it was the sound of one of my tires blowing out, even though the road was well maintained. Lol! It turns out it was propane cannons to dissuade birds from landing in the lake.
At the end of Old Injection Road was a large salt flat for us to park on. There was a long trough full of brine water for us to wash our crystals in and on the other side of it, laid out in long lines were big mounds of gooey black mud. The whole place smelled of sulphur, and the mud sucked the shoes right off my feet.
I found a spot that looked good to me, threw my carpet down on the mud, and got to work. The mud was just full of crystals. I found almost entirely hanksite. I'm sure there was other stuff in there too, but I of course did not read the educational materials for this one before hand, so I wasn't entirely clear on what I was looking for. Plus, this mud is thick and tar like, so if it wasn't really apparent that it was crystal shaped, it wasn't even on my radar.
There were people who had been coming to this thing for decades, and really knew what it was they were looking for. They pulled out some amazing clusters of gigantic hanksite crystals. They were super impressive, I did not find anything that awesome, but I'm beyond pleased with what I brought home.
I filled my bucket up and went over to the trough to rinse some of the mud off of them. The trough however, was packed. There were people everywhere, and I was not about to waste any time battling my way through the crowd. Instead I hauled all my stuff back to my car, pulled my brine out of the trunk and did some cursory cleaning in the parking lot.
It was WAY harder than anticipated. (to be continued)
I feel that I should preface this response with: I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of brining minerals is, although I'm confident it's some sort of acid/base thing, and much like any other debriding agent, including toothpaste, it is a mystery to me. (Unrelated note: I have a serious problem with eating my toothbrush...I use it and chew on it until all the bristles come it and lodge in my ridiculously oversized tonsils...I'll try to include a picture...) : what are these crystals of which you speak, what is their significance in your life, and how can I get one? You probably can't ship that sort of thing...it could be yellow cake in disguise...these photos, I must see them. Did you go by yourself? Is that why the creepy mccreeper was creeping up on you? Whatever happened to him, anyway?
ReplyDeleteI've been hat-making. I made a stark, bleak discovery--all heads are not created equal. Furthermore, my head is apparently very small, and other heads are not well represented by mine. So I guess I've been making ME hats. I'm going to try a new kind of stitch soon...something cooler than half, single and double crochet... It started as a way to help me quit smoking. Now it's just a nervous habit. I'm not quit, smoking that is. I was trying to make you some things, but I always get so discouraged and depressed. Maybe a fun box would be a good place to start...
Mom is excited to have me around more.
Jays cat, as I've taken to referring to her as she more and more reminds me of blegh things, is kind of loopy from not smoking anymore. He was getting her just blitzed out if her mind daily, and now she's just not the same. Still chubby though.
Pig has a horrible limo, which he developed after Kay fed him I guess four or five pot brownies--I dont know, I'm never consulted--and he fell from the top of the raised garden.
We'Re about to vote...mom sits us all down and we democratically vote together, so as not to cancel out one another's votes. It's both very clever as well as very...counterproductive to the whole process of voting...wish me luck. <3 you!
Lol. These minerals are precipitate minerals and as such, they will dissolve in water so we have to wash them in brine instead. The crystals are of no significance, other than that I wanted to crawl around in the mud finding them. As far as I can tell they have no, or at least limited real world value, but I love them anyway. I will gladly send you as many as you would like because, obviously, you are my favorite. I'll try and get some more pictures up before the weekend. I did go by myself, which was awesome. This is where the creeper found me, which was...less than awesome. He's not totally gone yet. He still calls, but at nowhere near the frequency of that first week. It's super irritating, and I'm continuing to ignore him.
ReplyDeleteHA! Yeah, all heads are most definitely not created equal. I always use needles that are a couple of sizes larger than the yarn calls for so that my hats are extra stretchy. That way I don't have to worry so much about whether or not they'll fit someone else. I don't know if that would work in crocheting or not. Boxes are always a good bet with me. I can never have enough boxes.
My cats are super irritating right now, and are both distinctly 'not right'. But I did get some sleeping pills so at least now I can sleep through their shenanigans.
I'm sorry poor pig man has a limp, that sounds terrible. How long has he had it? Shouldn't it have gone away by now? :(
That voting scheme your mom has set up is amazing/ridiculous. Hope it went well! Love you!