Earlier we had met up with our dear friend Bill Mitcham. He was going to be down the road at the Hogg Mine for the day. He invited us to stop by later to shoot the breeze so that was next on our agenda. This was a nice change of scenery for the newbies plus a great opportunity for them to see a very famous historic mine. Upon arrival we ran into another one of our rock loving friends, Pete Mailman. We really enjoyed talking with him again. He showed us a stunning Aquamarine gemstone that he had cut. This was from a beryl crystal that he had found on a previous visit to the Hogg. Thanks Pete for allowing us to see and photograph your beautiful stone!

After a nice lunch break and fellowship with friends we got back to work. I continued on in the pocket which had produced some very clear crystals for me earlier.

Katelyn and Ryan decided to pace themselves by scratching through the tailings piles. I was amused at some of the comments coming from the freshie group. My sister made two of the funniest of the day. She likened going through the tailings piles to vultures scrounging for what is left. Also, earlier when we first started digging she said, " This is like digging out of prison. You know how in the movies when they sit with a screwdriver and chip away at the cement block walls, and it takes months even years to get through it, that is what this is like." ....... But I didn't hear her complaining when she started pulling out those super nice clear crystals. She did admit that she would be going on future digging adventures.

As the day wore on, the new diggers grew confident. Ryan even tried his hand with the mattock.

Kelley and Mason found a pocket they were both interested in. They had a screwdriver duel to see who would get it .

We dug for a couple of hours more but it was getting very hot.

I started to see the signs of "tuckered-out-itis" spreading within the group.

Even the natives looked unhappy.

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