I (finally hit) ONE nice heulandite pocket, my first of the dig. It came from right at the base of the flow... (from it) three plates came out, one appears damaged as it came from the base of the bucket, the other two are much nicer and one is truly fine! Today is the first day really seeing any color (in the heulandites), though most have been as solid nodules. As we approach and will likely finish this cut and its mining, I so very hope we'll get some exemplary production tomorrow, otherwise I'm hurting!... Lots of quartz geodes big and small (today). Several with very fine drusy... (some with) larger crystals, some even amethystine in color. I (recovered) some decent (quartz) fingers and kids rocks, though I sure could have collected more if there'd been another me. (We) had trouble with the Excavator again and had to (get a fuel filter) delivered. With this installed we were back up and running (again)... I'm not sure I mentioned it yet, but the rock has sure changed... monstrous boulders... 5000 - 7000 pounds. We'd never seen anything like this before... (My friends) came up to visit and to bring me a wonderful steak dinner. How nice!!!... It's now 10:51 and it's getting late, tomorrow is another busy day and maybe our last with the Excavator. Fingers crossed, we really need a good day!

These were the first indications of things changing, solid, richly colored heulandite nodules. When they appeared my hopes soared thinking things were finally changing for the better, how right I was!

This is the largest fine quartz finger thus far collected from the claim. This photo was taken at home, but as you can see, while as yet uncleaned, the specimen is basically ready for display.

Friday the 10th, Thank goodness, it finally happened, we hit and hit good! As we mined we began to find solid nodules of colored heulandite and then soon thereafter the pockets started to make their appearance. One right after the other, just like in the good old days. Things were coming so fast and intensely that at 10:30 I had to request a break. At 10:30! I was tuckered and started to feel better. This kept up all day long, pocket after pocket and then sometime during the day it dawned on me, I actually had production worthy of the name. Very, very cool! During the course of the day we opened another large pocket, this one big enough to make those mentioned previously seem small in comparison. This one, the largest pocket thus far opened on the claim, was fully 7 feet long by 30 inches wide and 20 inches tall. It was a mordenite pocket that additionally yielded (from) the floor, plates of thin(ly bladed) stilbite... overgrowing a dense druse of laumontite. Some portions of the pocket were spotless while other areas showed collapse and contamination. I took several photos (most were blurry and out of focus and again) thought to myself, darn if only it'd been mineralized by heulandite!

This photo shows the monstrous wide open dimensions of the largest pocket thus far found on the Rat's Nest claim as we opened it up. This pocket was 7 feet long!

A nice small group of calcite crystals on mordenite. As can be seen in this photo, some calcite is late stage and forms after the pockets have naturally ruptured and are often found spanning fractured plates, for this reason many calcite's are lost, breaking at this natural area of weakness.

(That) afternoon, (the front end loader operator showed up) to collect some of (the) flagstone... which is produced from... above the horizon where we're digging crystals. (This is) beautiful, perfectly flat 4 inch thick rock that breaks into slabs up to 3 feet wide by 7 feet long which they'll use at home for paving. I'm trading this material to help defray my mining expenses... anything to help.

Pocket after pocket, production continued at a feverish pace right up till the time (we) called it quits. (We'd definitely be mining tomorrow). I took a small break down at camp and then headed right back up for more fun... (Scott) left Reno and would arrive sometime this evening. In the twilight glow I worked away at the rock and literally was not there for more then 10 minutes when I exposed the finest heulandite pocket as yet recovered from this year's dig. It was a whopper at about 20 inches in diameter and lay just beneath the surface. As is typical, it was fractured and with very little effort I was soon collecting several large plates... I was ecstatic... soon thereafter Scott arrived.

These are the large, fine flagstones which come from the waste rock.

Here's one of the plates fresh from the hill as collected from the near surface pocket found just prior to Scott's arrival.

My production pile just prior to the pocket parade on friday...

... and my production pile just prior to start up on saturday morning.

Saturday the 11th, Today was another 100% awesome day where both Scott and I were flying from pocket to pocket... around noonish, Scott opened a killer pocket. It lay in a small group or cluster of pockets and became exposed as Scott collected a pocket before it and broke through and into this killer pocket beyond... its beauty was really beyond compare and truly it's like had never before been seen from this property. The heulandite was bright and pinky orange and just as transparent as ever one could wish for and associated with bright white snowballs of mordenite and along the back wall, spanning a fracture, a multi-inch long line of golden- amber colored calcites. Truly a magnificent pocket! We all stopped to gawk... after all this... we called it quits and headed into town... We had the Rib Eye Special (and it) was very much appreciated... It had rained fiercely though thankfully we missed the worst of it while we were in town. When we got back, camp was a bit trashed and everything was soaked.

Sunday the 12th, I'm up... at 7:33 after making cocoa and draining water from the tarp. It's overcast with a slight breeze... I headed up to the pit, Scott was still asleep and met (my operator) who had just walked up... we talked for a bit and then I had him bury the working face and make me a road into the pit so I could get my truck as close as possible to the piles I'd be working in the days to come. And then that was it, (he) was gone... and I had lots and lots of work ahead of me... (I began trimming ) and (Scott and I) talked while I worked and endured cold driving winds before once again opting to head to town for dinner. We were back around 10:00 and went to bed soon thereafter.

Monday the 13th, As I write it's 8:11 and I had a decent night's sleep. Scott is up and I've my cocoa cooked. Next we'll head up to the pit where it'll be a full day of trimming. And where yesterday had been freezing, today it was hot, hot, hot! I trimmed until 7:00 and then called it quits and headed down to camp and tidied things up and then we went to town, again! Where I got us a room and dinner. It was nice and as I watched the thunderclouds and rain through the window out towards the claims, I was happy I was inside and out of the elements, if only for a little while.

Tuesday the 14th, I woke early and just relaxed. Eventually we both got around to moving... and said our good-byes and Scott hit the road for home... after I finish (around town, it'll be) trim, trim, trim!... there is so much to do; a daunting amount! I trimmed until just before 10:00 and then came down (to camp) and promptly went to sleep.

Wednesday the 15th, It's (Gloria and my) anniversary today. I heard the coyotes baying this morning like old friends saying hello. It's now 7:43 and it's slightly overcast and a perfect appearing day. My hands are sore, pulsing with the blood that runs through them. I feel beat; fatigued... It takes so very long to complete this stage of production. It's 8:50 and I'm heading up to the cut to begin my day, my cocoa all drank. There are lots of beautiful blue birds and butterflies about this morning and they both seem to have appeared over night... It's 5:30 and I've been breaking rock all day moving from the north to the south... working up everything as I go. I've lots to do, but I'm getting closer to the area (where) I've been doing my trimming... and when I get there everything north of me will be done, needing only packing to finish up completely.

As I walked across the (hillside)... it's been awesome watching the hillside about me explode in butterflies. It's so pretty watching the swirls and swarms of colored wings. Unfortunately... the mosquitoes showed up too. It's now 9:37 and I'm (mentally)... complaining about my oh, so tender hands... It's a beautiful evening, excepting the mosquitoes and I'm up in the cut with a beer beside me enjoying the evening as it unfolds about me. This is truly a beautiful, beautiful place!

This is a grand overview of main working area from atop the tailing pile. The big pile to the right and lining the slope to its left are unworked specimens still raw and in need of trimming. The tight white bunch in the center of the photo has been trimmed up and to that piles left is the area I break apart the big rock.

This is my work area for breaking up the big ones. I use a 10 pound short handled sledge to begin if needed or if fractures are present, I slip a screwdriver in and whittle away. Hundreds of pounds of excess rock is discarded during the trimming process.

An overwhelming treasure trove surrounds!

These seemed to be the flower of choice for the butterflies that descended upon me and with so many of them between the cut and camp, it was always an enchanting journey back and forth between the two!