RHS1 Connector – December 2006
In this issue…Feature Article: – “Wear your loved ones?” — Rockhound Recipes and Tips: -Thom’s column
—Travel: – South Arkansas— Feature Article: – The Crystals of Atlantis —Treasure Hunters Update: -Old Charter Salvage.
FUN FACT OF THE MONTH.
The Next Great Piece of Metal Prospecting Equipment – A Microwave Oven?
That’s right, microwave ovens are the newest piece of real prospectors gear. They work on the scientific principal that some metals melt at different temperatures and some minerals don’t melt at all.
Because rock is made of various elements, Microwaving them will soften some minerals and metals yet will leave others unscathed. The resulting stress on the rock will allow it to crumble easily and be more responsive to grinding, a process which has used energy extremely inefficiently. Because the microwaved rock will fall apart easily, much energy that the grinders previously sucked up in the difficult process will be saved.
Scientists investigating this process have found that some types of rocks respond in as little as one tenth of a second. If further testing proves successful, one company which is ready to use it right away claims they will probably save 50% in production costs.
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Global Rockhound Community
WEAR YOUR LOVED ONES – PASS YOURSELF DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS
No, I am not kidding. You can now leave yourself to your loved ones to wear with love and pride. A company named Life Gems actually has been using the cremated remains of people to make synthetic diamonds. These gems are of the cubic Zircon nature of stone and, as you can see by the pictures, are absolutely beautiful gems.
Now that the process of creating gems from hair has been accomplished, live celebrities will be having gems made from their own locks for sale to the public with proceeds destined for their favorite charities. At this time you can vote on the LifeGem website for which Celebrity LifeGem you would like most to see created.
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Global Rockhound Community
TREASURE HUNTING – OLD CHARTER SALVAGE
“What’s going on now?”
This is a picture of me holding some gold ore in New Mexico..and people ask me if Fitzgerald’s Equipment works. What do you think!
My recent exchange with Don Patterson of Old Charter has left me rather giddy with news and excitement. While the San Salvador treasure has been through political twists and turns (everyone wants claim on this treasure and it is making me wonder what the heck is down there), Old Charter has held tight to their permits and the excavation is still on.
Now Don didn’t waste any time sitting staring in the mirror telling himself how rough it all was…….his team just said “okay, we’ll see ya when we get back” and ran off to get into other mischiefs and fun stuff.
Some of the fun stuff Don and his crew have gotten into include finishing a geophysical survey for Deep Blue Marine. They just accidentally found 3 more wrecks while they were at it. One that comes complete with a “pile of treasure” 35′ wide, 4′ high, and 100′ long”. He reports there are cannons, olive jars full of gold coins, chains, emeralds, etc. Sorry, though folks – you will have to wait just a bit before he gives me the okay to let you know where he’s playing.
Testing on Woman & Ballast Key with Fitzgeralds Navigator…Yes there is a big wreck there.
They are also getting ready to do a survey of Mel Fisher’s Margarita Wreck for Blue Water Ventures of Key West. (no affiliation with Deep Blue Marine). We will be looking forward to knowing about the findings on that one. (*Note to self while writing this to email to Bob Fitzerald and find out if maybe Don is actually a treasure droid that he created while perfecting his Vector Recovery Equipment – surely no one can be this prolific without wiring, even with a Vector in hand.*)
Unloading Equipment on the Dock at Ballast Key..OCS is constantly on the go..doing surveys’ to pay the bills and find new projects.
I was also lucky enough to get a few pic’s from Don that he has given me permission to share with you in case you would like to see the guys when they are just hanging out while in the field.
Thanks for the news and pictures, Don. I am sure everyone else will enjoy it all as much as I do. Nice gold chunks, too – if you are ever in the mood to get rid of any those (to lighten up your dusting chores, of course)……you have the address.
Check out this Rainbow we shot from the site in NM.
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Global Rockhound Community
Hi again rockhounds of the world.
Hi Folks.
Holy cow – we have some absolutely spectacular surprises coming up for everyone very soon. Unfortunately some of them hit at an inconvenient time for us to be able to broadcast them yet, but never fear – we will send announcements to members and post them in the Gazette as we can make them public to you.
For members who have websites or newsletters and need pictures for them, member Jack Cole (alias – Lapidary Rough) has placed a link in the Free Image Database at the bottom of the forums to a vault of his pictures. He has graciously offered these to those of you to use them free of charge. We thank Jack for his generosity and I would also like to say – Wow – some of those snaps are incredible and I can hardly wait to see some of that collection live!
For those of you who are Christmas shopping for rockhound items and stocking stuffers, the RHS1 ProShop is being stocked and installed as I write this. It may even beat this newsletter getting put up on the site – just one little glich to fix first. So if you are looking for field equipment like rock picks, shovels, or gold pans, or lapidary needs such as saws, trimmers, or tumblers, you will want to browse the Pro Shop. After all, breaking and scrapping porcelain plates to get a few streak plates for the field is pretty tedious work when you can just inexpensively order a batch of ready-made streak plates. Keep your eyes open for an email announcing the opening of the RHS1 Pro Shop.
Beings that we have a major holiday season zoning in on us, I would like to wish all a happy holiday season – no matter what holiday it is that you are celebrating. For those of you who have ideas for using gemstones or other natural items to decorate for the seasons, please mail your ideas to us and I will post them on the Gazette so we can all have a chance to give lovely handcrafted items for gifts this season. Be sure that you include your credits and live links to your site if you have one so we can let people know where all the clever ideas are coming from.
Rockin’ the Third Rock – and the Fourth
Sal
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Global Rockhound Community
TRAVEL: South Arkansas
After looking out the window at the snow that is covering the scenery here, I have decided that we should take a trip South to Arkansas this month. Not only is it a warmer place to be this time of year, but they just happen to have a few very interesting places for a rockhound to spend some real field time. One place that possesses the possibility for making a rockhound real happy is Crater of Diamonds National Park. This park happens to be the only diamond mine in the world that is open to the public.
While I have seen conflicting figures, the diamond field is somewhere between 32 and 37 acres. It has produced some widely renowned diamonds, such as the “Uncle Sam” (40.23 carats), The “Amarillo Starlight (16.37 carats), and the “Star of Arkansas”(15.33 carats). Over 100,000 diamonds have been won on these acres, 20,000 just since the area was made into a park. It’s only 4 bucks for adults to get in, and the gems you find, you just carry out. Of course even if you don’t run into any diamonds during your time there, you still have a chance to leave toting some quartz, amethyst, agates, garnets, or jasper.
There is a shop at the park where you can learn what the diamonds look like in the rough or rent digging tools. They will also identify and authenticate your finds for you.
Traffic on Highway7.
For you who really love large beautiful quartz crystals, you just can’t beat the Ouachita National Forest (no, I’m not gonna try to pronounce that). The crystals that come from these forest lands are world famous for their quality. There are public lands scattered throughout the forest for the rockhound to play in. There are two developed dig sites, Crystal Vista on the Womble Ranger District near Mount Ida, Arkansas, and Crystal Mountain on the Jessieville-Winona Ranger District that charge no fee. Public lands are scattered interspersed with private land, so the rockhound needs to be careful about accidentally trespassing. There are fee digs for those who like to go that route, too.
Quartz Crystal,
It is worth note that Gold panning is allowed in many areas, however, there are restrictions regarding the type of equipment you are allowed to use, so it is best to check with the forest service there before going in with anything other than a shovel and gold pan.
View from Talimena Drive.
Fossil hunters don’t need to worry about getting to do their thing while in Arkansas as the state is mostly one huge patch of sedimentary rock of various types. While it is possible to find fossils in the sandstone of the state, you will find much more luck finding fossils in the abundant limestones and shales that dot the state’s landscapes.
Little Missouri River.
For those who like to do a bit of indoor rockhounding, there is no lack of museums in Arkansas. There are archaeological state parks, Hampson Museum State Park and Parkin Archaeological State Park, and Toltec Mounds Archaeological State Park, where you can learn much about ancient Arkansas cultures. There are historical museums and rock museums, and the Discovery Museum in Little Rock which has a combination of rock, fossil, and culture history.
If you are looking for a new outdoor adventure to cap off your rockhounding, you might consider a bit of spelunking in one of the many caves in the state. You can explore some caves via guided interpretive tours, but there are also many to explore which are still walk-in, self-serve adventures. If you explore any caves on your own make sure you have plenty of reliable light sources, water and food, and perhaps a jacket as underground can get pretty chilly.
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Global Rockhound Community
ROCKHOUND RECIPES & TIPS
SAYING “GOODBYE” AND “HELLO”
For those of you who enjoyed Eileen and her Rockin’ Recipes column, we are sorry to inform you that Eileen has decided to leave her column to pursue other projects and life plans which are also near and dear to her heart, and time consuming as well. Eileen shared some pretty spectacular recipes with us over the last year and we will miss her – and if you think that means losing weight, guess again. Because as we say “goodbye and best wishes in all of your endeavors and adventures” to our pal, Eileen, we are extending a hearty welcome to Thom.
I’m not going to tell you about Thom, he is going to introduce himself, but I will say that he is going to keep us eating well on our trips out to places where the quality of the ovens are determined by the size of the logs you can gather.
So without further ado, the RHS1 Network Welcomes:
“RUBS”
As I sit here stuffing my face with Fried Eggs, Bacon, and Home fries, I got to thinking about what I wanted to write about for my first recipe column.
I could tell you all about me and how I came to be here, but that little resource box thing-a-ma-jig at the bottom does that. I probably should come up with an awesome, fantastic, best thing you ever ate recipe, but I’m eating fried eggs and bacon. Not much inspiration there for that. So I decided instead to talk about rubs and give you four dry rub recipes to try out and play around with.
If you think a rub is what you want done to your back after a long day of backpacking, well that would be nice but not what we’re talking about here. Rubs are a combination of seasonings, spices, and herbs that you ‘rub’ on meat or fish to give it more flavor and really kick it up a level. There are wet rubs and there are dry rubs. The wet ones will usually have an oil and or vinegar in them, Some are considered ‘wet’ rubs because they are a combination of fresh herbs or have fresh herbs in them that release their oils and juices while marinating the meat. So here’s four dry rubs for you to try. I used the basic rub on my home fries and the sweet rub on my eggs that I just finished eating. Now that’s eatin’ there.
All four of the rubs are easy to put together. Just add all the ingredients in a bowl, mix them up and you’re good to go. They can be stored in air tight containers and will keep for a pretty long time. As for what you can use them on, well just use your imagination. They’re good on more then just meat.
Basic Rub
- 4 parts kosher or coarse salt
- 4 parts garlic powder
- 2 parts black pepper
- 1 part cayenne
Sweet Rub
- 8 parts brown sugar
- 4 parts kosher or coarse salt
- 4 parts paprika
- 2 parts garlic powder
- 2 parts black pepper
- 1 part allspice
- 1 part cayenne
Puerto Rican Pig Powder
- ½ cup kosher or coarse salt
- 2 tablespoons ground white pepper
- 2 tablespoons ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons dried parsley
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
Dry Rosemary Rub
- ½ cup dried rosemary
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon dried crumbled sage
- 2 tablespoons dried garlic flakes
- ¼ cup kosher or coarse salt
- 2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
About Thom…
Thom Meyer is a retired professional chef who has a degree in Culinary Arts – Also an avid camper and most importantly a person who likes to eat. Lately he has been involved in marketing and building websites when not using WordPress for them, a process of which in some circles he is considered an authority. Among his many websites that he maintains are www.recipes-4-all.com and www.wp-revealed.com
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro”
Hunter S. Thompson
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Global Rockhound Community
FEATURE SERIES:
THE STRANGE WORLD OF CRYSTALS – REALITY AND BEYOND
This month: The Crystals of Atlantis
For a background on crystal energy, it has been found that each crystal, and crystal group vibrate at their own frequency. They can illuminate and direct incoming energies, and store energy (that is they have what is tantamount to a memory file system). When people scry with crystals, they are seeing stored energy, and when they heal with crystals it is the vibration of that particular stone that works on the affected area of the body to correct the malaise. If a crystal is broken or impure, its energies can have negative effects rather than positive. The stone’s memory file also can account for the disastrous effect of “bad luck” stones on owner after owner. So now that we understand a bit about crystal energy, it may not seem so incredulous that theories abound that Atlantis “ran” on the energy from crystals.
Giant fire crystals, quartz crystals 20 feet tall and 8 feet wide, were contained in subterranean tunnels and were grouped three together in triangles. Copper rods were used to conduct energy from the crystals into a grid that could be used for multiple purposes including, but not limited to, heat, transportation, communication, healing, information storing, and weather control. One hundred three sided pyramids made of crystals were placed on energy grid points and drew energy to the earth from space and amplified it, developing a grid of magnetic energy for use in population concentration. Temples were built with domed ceilings in which dozens of crystals were set for purposes of healing and aligning the chakras (body energies).
It is possible that some of these crystal constructions are still existent, buried in obscurity to be found again at a later date. Many sank with the continent itself. A general theory now under investigation is that the strange occurrences in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle can be attributed to Atlantian Fire Crystals which broke during the submergence of Atlantis. Breaking the crystal would distort the energy and cause it to misfire. Crystals of the size and strength of the Atlantis Fire Crystals could very well be able to cause a quick disappearance of a chunk of material the size of a plane or a boat.
Scientists continue to dig to find the answers to questions about Atlantis and perhaps to locate the Fire Crystals themselves. That these crystals were not able to save Atlantis and its people from their watery fate is not a question. Whether they were actually the cause of this fate may always remain a question.
Image credits for this edition: Wikipedia: Don Patterson: USDA Forest Service Ouachita National Forest,
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Global Rockhound Community