Gold Panning!!

 I used to go gold panning.. so much fun.  But that was with my last husband, and many years ago. We would go 4 times a year, spring and fall... before kids got out of school and after they went back to school. The reason for that was because we liked the one particular place and if we went when school was out, it was crowded with people,  but when we went no one was there but us!! It was wonderful!

Here is a picture of me down at the river 'doing my thing'  lol

 

I didn't have a good camera way back then so sorry that it isn't very good,  but,  that is me gold-panning.  :)

We kept a box in the back of the camper that had our gold pans,  old sneakers to wear in the water, bug repellent, bandanna to tie back my hair, tweezers, and little skinny bottles with cork stoppers to drop the little specks of gold into.  Those things were always there just in case, at anytime we decided to do this.

Speaking of bug repellent.. there were some bees there that I loved!  There were some sweet-smelling plants out in the water and these bees loved it there. But when I sat down on the edge of the river, they came over to check me out. They would sit on my knees and it was like they just watched me pan,  even pretty dragonflies would do that.. they'd sit on the edge of my pan and watch.  Of course I would talk to them and the bees.  Some times the bees would sort of bumble up and down my legs, just checking me out!!  They never, ever stung me!! They were big fat ones but they weren't Bumble Bees.

When we pulled in somewhere, my husband would start setting up the camp site,  but I would grab my pan and stuff and run down to the river!!  I couldn't wait! lol  After awhile he would call out to me, 'coffee's ready'! I'd go back and he'd be sitting on the picnic table, the radio playing some cool music and sipping his coffee.  

At the place we wound up at most often there was a limb hanging from a tree right close to the picnic table.  When he would turn the music on, even if we were sitting right there, the birds would come and sit on that limb right by us and just sing and chirp with the music. I thought it was amazing! That's why it was my favorite spot to go to...  and because of the bees and dragonflies! lol

I am so hoping I can find a picture or two from back then to include on here.  We shall see.  I know I did have some stuck in a folder on my PC  somewhere.. besides the one at the top of here.

We would of course have our dog Duke with us. I'll post a picture of him too. He was big!  Once when he was gone on one of his adventures he came back stinking like horrible garbage and we wondered what he had gotten into!!  We started in the direction he came from to check it out, and he took off and showed us where he had been... an old, long-dead dear!  He had been nosing around in it..  wallowing in it, I think!!!

We had to get into the river,  all three of us, and get him cleaned off!!  Of course later on,  while I was floating around on a raft he thought it would be great fun to dump me off of it,  which he did!! LOL He slept inside the camper because I didn't want him getting into trouble during the night!

Well,  I have hunted and hunted for the pictures I wanted to show..  one of my dog ... but I can't find them!!!

I'm going to go for now..

   Hope you enjoyed this even without the pictures...

                          See you next time.............