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Kootenay Co-op Radio
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Link of the day
- Hits: 1067
Have to recommend this. In Alberta, it was CKUA, although seldom did I ever really like their music I appreciated that it was local. Local to Alberta.
Kootenay Co-op, it's local to the Kootenay's, more specifically Nelson. And the DJ's, while not nearly as professional as those on other stations, are a lot more interesting, as is their choice in music. Which is their charm. Found myself rivetted more than a few nights driving home after a long day up the mountain/down in the valley, their music just struck a chord.
Listen here: https://www.kootenaycoopradio.com/
Smoky Mountain
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1197
Monday, an early start, back to the Smoky Mountain. On the 6:30 Ferry to the East Shore. The Ferry, packed with Alberta Plates. Me and Chris, we're the only BC Plates on it, and this - when the locals are advised to minimize travel, are under lockdown - it's infuriating. Albertans have a bad reputation, but has any other province ever worked so hard for it? Fucking Albertans. I'll come back to that, another post, I promise.
We make the site, begin the dig. Frantic shoveling, sifting dirt, repeat. Some good finds, large crystals, some an inch and a half wide, 3 to 4 inches long. But no great quantities, of digging, cutting through roots, tossing 100 pound boulders down the mountain. This is OK, but the motherlode isn't here. Maybe close.
Chris finds an old pipe - maybe 140 years old, more even, in some of the dirt he's sifting. Small bowl, missing the mouthpiece. Cool.
A long day, shoveling, sifting, then home, clean up the finds:
The photos are poor. The crystals - big, but - well, not enough, and I've found better. The good crystal shapes can advertise the cut-and-polished stones, which might be the way to approach it, but - I'm thinking -next trip, more pick-axe - less shovel, less grief with the roots and topsoil, and it will get me into the bedrock a lot quicker. And more walking around and exploring, because for sure we haven't gotten into the good stuff, these are just the early showings...
Kootenay Crystals & Gems
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1095
Saturday, time to try and unload some of the countless crystals & rocks I've collected. Chris comes along, for wherever I've picked up one he seems to find 2, and he as well wants to get rid of some.
The Stall:
Made the sign myself. The big crystals in the back and in the egg trays are Chris's, he got into the glory-hole of fucking pockets.
Now - I know, I know. It needs a lot of work, lights, signage, colored new-age blankets, candles, etc. And probably I should do it but I have a suspicion - long weekend be damned - that this, during the pandemic - is an exercise in futility.
Which it is. Over 5 hours we manage to sell a couple of crystals, Chris a pendant, covering the costs but nothing else. There are people, for sure, but they're staying in their cars, nothing is open on the landing, not the ice-cream shop, the chip truck, not the restaurant, or the bakery, nada...and so my effort anticipated, not generated, the return.
But - for the few that stopped by, an impressed geologist who begins to tell us of the crystals he found in Northern BC and then tapers off as he sees Chris's behemoth in the back. And a young girl who tells us she collects them with her boyfriend, won't say where, but clearly they're not finding anything like this, she buys a crystal.
Play crib, shoot the shit, fold it all up. Another day. Maybe the next long weekend, but I'm pretty sure my time is better spent digging and finding than sitting on my ass and selling so I might have to cut a deal with one of the local consignment shops or jewelers.
***
Sunday, Easter Dinner. Stormy, a pain as always, completely unwashed, smelly from 10 feet away, he's losing it, slowly slipping away, I compare him to my Father, Dagmar, the same age but infinitely more vigorous, he's not got long left. And he's annoyed I've invited Chris as well, some days I have more patience than others.
Arrowhead
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Images
- Hits: 1071
A short walk on the beach, looking for arrowheads or flakes. Nothing. Then, just leaving the beach and the daughter's calling and I spot this:
An inch long, napped on both edges, point broken off but you can see the percussion marks (divots in the chert - where it was pressed to flake and shape)
I have every suspicion this is going to be a great prospecting year.
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