It must be Monday.

I started a load of laundry. Loaded up the dishwasher... why isn't this thing running? What's wrong with the washing machine?

I received a text message from the Property Manager. There has been a water main break, and they had to shut off the water to the entire property.

Yup. It's Monday.

Quote from: Lori Dee on September 15, 2025, 03:17:59 PMIt must be Monday.

I started a load of laundry. Loaded up the dishwasher... why isn't this thing running? What's wrong with the washing machine?

I received a text message from the Property Manager. There has been a water main break, and they had to shut off the water to the entire property.

Yup. It's Monday.

It's hard to think of a bright side when the water is cut unexpectedly.  But I can think of one thing - at least you weren't in the shower with a head full of shampoo when the water went out 😁

Quote from: Liz K on September 15, 2025, 03:35:57 PMIt's hard to think of a bright side when the water is cut unexpectedly.  But I can think of one thing - at least you weren't in the shower with a head full of shampoo when the water went out 😁

Well, as much as I hate doing laundry...

"Oh darn, there's no water. I guess I'll have to do anything else!" 😂

But now, the water is back on and the laundry is done. Yay!

I did two loads myself today.  And it was too windy to hang clothes on the clothesline.  Gale force winds with 60+ mph gusts until Thursday.  Had to hang them inside.  At least I won't lose anything.

Quote from: Liz K on September 15, 2025, 05:52:50 PMI did two loads myself today.  And it was too windy to hang clothes on the clothesline.  Gale force winds with 60+ mph gusts until Thursday.  Had to hang them inside.  At least I won't lose anything.

I had to check your country code to see if you lived in Wyoming. 60+ mph wind there is their daily "breeze".

The Wyoming license plates show a picture of a cowboy on a horse. People think the horse is bucking. Not true. The wind is blowing them over!

https://www.dot.state.wy.us/files/live/sites/wydot/files/shared/Motor%20Vehicle%20Services/2025%20Plate%20images/2025-4-DIGIT-TRK.jpg

I washed three loads today.  Lights, darks, and my bras. 
I hang dry the bras but I do wash them in the clothes washer.

I had plenty of water!


Chrissy

Quote from: ChrissyRyan on September 15, 2025, 09:36:02 PMI washed three loads today.  Lights, darks, and my bras. 
I hang dry the bras but I do wash them in the clothes washer.

I had plenty of water!


Chrissy

You were more ambitious than I, but you just returned from your business trip, so that is understandable.

I learned as a kid to air-dry bras because the heat from the dryer is bad for the elastic. My mom told me that. Which made me wonder why her bras were different from my "tighty whitey" underwear. Boys' underwear had these wide elastic bands around the waist, but women's underwear had just thin elastic bands. So shouldn't I be air-drying the tighty whities?

She just gave me the "Mom look," so I left the room. 😀

Quote from: Lori Dee on September 15, 2025, 09:57:42 PMYou were more ambitious than I, but you just returned from your business trip, so that is understandable.

I learned as a kid to air-dry bras because the heat from the dryer is bad for the elastic. My mom told me that. Which made me wonder why her bras were different from my "tighty whitey" underwear. Boys' underwear had these wide elastic bands around the waist, but women's underwear had just thin elastic bands. So shouldn't I be air-drying the tighty whities?

She just gave me the "Mom look," so I left the room. 😀

Well those tight whites likely cost a lot less each than any of our bras.  So while they might last a little longer air drying them, the bras will for sure and will prolong their lives.

On a few clothes hangers I can seem to hook on a lot of bras to dry.

During the pandemic I saw pictures of people who made "face masks" out of bras.

I laughed and said those must have been old or wrong sized bras as using good bras you can wear to make face masks would be quite expensive.


Chrissy

I have a drying rack that folds up. I used it while camping and at times when I was between housing. I put two coat hooks on the side of my camper, and the drying rack would hang from them. It was handy to hang towels or wet clothes from.

I still have it, and it will hold about ten bras. I usually do laundry often enough that I don't need the rack. Any doorknob will work. 😂

I did 2 loads after the weekend away, my new machine doesn't have a wash/dry program like the old one so had to do a dry after the second load. 2 1/2 hrs!!!!! still most of it was okay to put away after, I would have put it on the clothes dryer but ran out of room. There is a clothes line in communal garden but as Liz said it was blowing a gale and I have no pegs!

I have heard of events being postponed due to rain.
It appears that today the rain has been postponed due to a lack of interest.
I'll be making a scouting run out to a popular rockhounding site... if I don't get rained out.

With all of the budget cuts and layoffs at the National Weather Service, who knows anymore?

I found it totally amazing that Taylor Swift had concerts in the pouring rain.
3-1/2 hour concert at Foxboro or Gillette stadium, home of the New England Patriots.

She did at least six rain shows in the Eras tour.  That is a lot of money made by not refunding sold out shows!

It was hard for me to do 15 minutes of gardening to plant a rose in the rain after a day of golfing.
The clothes immediately went into the wash as I took a warm shower!

The weather doesn't prevent me from prospecting in most cases. I have been out in the rain, snow, and even blizzards. I am more careful in new areas because I don't know how reliable the Forest Service roads are. We have had quite a bit of flash flooding in the past few months, and I don't want to get stranded.

I don't do much rock hounding in the winter because the rocks get frozen into the ground. Gold panning is different. If the river is flowing and I have enough water running through my sluice, it's all good. I dig the gravel from the river bottom instead of the shore.

I made it "out west" and did a little bit of hiking in the San Isabel National Forest. I'll have to check to see what the elevation is there, because it was quite a bit cooler than down in Canon City.

I have some pics I will upload in a bit.

Instead of following the hiking trail, I hiked along a dirt bike trail. The hiking trail is used by a lot of people walking on it, so anything of interest has been picked up long ago. People who use the dirt bike trail are not walking slowly, and not looking at the ground. As dirt bikes climb hills, the rear tires knock dirt loose, which then gets washed downhill into gullies and small "traps". This trail showed these traps full of black sand. So I scooped up enough to fill a one-gallon zip-loc freezer bag to bring home and test.

It will be a slow process. First, I will screen everything down to #50 mesh. That is where the mesh has 50 holes per inch, so each hole in the mesh is 1/50th of an inch (approx.) After checking the screen, I will carefully remove the black sand with a low-powered magnet. If you use a strong magnet, it will pull the sand up in clumps, which could trap gold. So slow and steady. Then the final step will be to pan off any light dust and look for visible gold. If none, then I dry it and look at it under the stereoscope at 40x magnification.

I will be surprised to find any gold in there. But there is a possibility that some micro gold is mixed in with the black sand.

OK, enough yammering... pics coming.

Did you think I forgot? 🤪

This is in the San Isabel National Forest, south of Canon City, on Oak Creek Road, looking east-ish. Blue skies. Fresh air. 74 degrees. What could be better than that?



Google Earth tells me the elevation was 6,942 feet above sea level.





It started to rain, so I headed back down. I got back to Pueblo and decided to have my favorite meal.

Breakfast for Lunch at the Village Inn.



I'll post an update when I know how my sample turned out. I don't have much hope of finding anything in it. I am considering running it through the Gold Cube instead of panning it.

Mike Pung, the inventor of the Gold Cube, told me that he designed it specifically to deal with black sand. He would frequently prospect the shores of Lake Michigan, which is notorious for black sand, and he tried to figure out ways to beat it. After many years and many prototypes, he came up with the Gold Cube design.

Black sand is the bane of every gold prospector because it is iron and heavy. It sticks to the bottom of the gold pan, making it difficult to separate the sand from the gold. I have developed a technique with my panning that does a good job, but the Gold Cube does it while I have a sandwich. 😁

I will have to make a run to the home improvement store to get the tubs I need to set up a recirculating system. I used it in my garage, and when it was brutally cold out, I set it up in my bathtub.

In my garage, I had a kiddie pool, and inside that a mixing tub (concrete or compost), and inside that a plastic washtub.



The water is pumped from the kiddie pool up through the Gold Cube. The sand and light stuff gets flushed out the bottom into the washtub. The heaviest material will settle there. The water overflows into the mixing tub, carrying lighter sediments with it. Since the water moves more slowly here, those sediments will settle here. That tub overflows into the kiddie pool. The water gets muddy colored due to dissolved solids, but it is still efficient.



Now, where did I put that sandwich? 😁

@Lori Dee

Dear Lori:
I really like the pictures that you shared and posted....
      ...you live in a beautiful area of the  country for sure.

.... and because it is now approaching dinner time here and I skipped
lunch because of a very busy schedule today, I also
really like the picture of your Breakfast for Lunch at the Village Inn.

HUGS, Danielle [Northern Star Girl]

Hi Everyone

Laundry washing or another colloquial term "washer women", is just another task that I don't mind doing.  So in my case it is two separate loads.  Whites and colours are separated.  So they question you must be asking is, what about my bras?

The majority of mine are white and cotton, with no wire and placed in a bra bag.  So they will go in with the whites.  Any special bras for those special occasions are hand washed as they are only worn for a couple of hours.

After buying new bras I will wash them separately to ensure that no colour will run.  If they have any color like beige, they will be washed separately.

Best Wishes Always
Sarah B
Global Moderator