The Story of Lori, Chapter 2

[Emma1017]

Lori, I am so sorry you have to deal with that but I am glad that you are taking care if it!  I know too many who think neglect is the way to treat things.

[Lori Dee ✅]

Lori, I am so sorry you have to deal with that but I am glad that you are taking care if it!  I know too many who think neglect is the way to treat things.

When I went in for my fifth Mohs surgery back in 2019, I asked the surgeon what I was doing wrong. I wear sunscreen, long sleeves, and a wide-brimmed hat, so why am I having all these problems?

He said, "Relax. The damage you are seeing today was done 30 years ago."

I have been the outdoors type all my life. From rockhounding in the desert to camping, hiking, fishing, military service, and now gold prospecting. I don't plan on slowing down yet.

If whatever I do now shows up 30 years from now when I am 98, I don't think I will care much.

😁

[Sephirah]

I read about a farmer in the UK not so long ago who cut his out with a pen knife. For some reason, I have this image of you doing something like that, lol.

I am glad it is something that doesn't spread and you can deal with it without... horrific procedures (from personal experience I am EXTREMELY glad you don't have to have any of that).

[Charlotte Kitty ✅]

So glad to hear it's not the super dangerous type. Sorry you gotta go through them being removed though.

Charlotte 😻

[Lori Dee ✅]

I read about a farmer in the UK not so long ago who cut his out with a pen knife. For some reason, I have this image of you doing something like that, lol.

Not me. No, thank you.

My late-ex-father-in-law had them removed from his scalp by his barber. He was an old farmer who didn't like hats.

So glad to hear it's not the super dangerous type. Sorry you gotta go through them being removed though.

Charlotte 😻

Thanks. It's not a big deal getting them removed. The VA covers it, and the hard part is just changing the dressing afterward when it is on my back, or someplace I can't see. I'll survive.

😁

[davina61]

Do they freeze them? I had some ganglions in my arm pit removed that way.

[Lori Dee ✅]

Do they freeze them? I had some ganglions in my arm pit removed that way.

They freeze them when they are pre-cancerous. I get Actinic Keratoses and Seborrheic Keratoses, so they freeze those.

I declined this trip because I will be applying chemotherapy cream instead. I use a mixture of Fluorouracil and Calcipotriene. It eats pre-cancerous skin cells. I have been hesitating to use it again. Last time, my face looked like ground beef for a few weeks, and it made my skin very sensitive to the sun for about 6 weeks.

But it did clear up a lot of sun damage,

[Dances With Trees]

Glad you'll soon be ready to head back into the hills!

[Lori Dee ✅]

Glad you'll soon be ready to head back into the hills!

Most definitely!

Since this is a new area for me, I had to design a mining plan. In South Dakota, I was able to mine one site for over seven years, so the plan was much the same each year.

I have the basic plan sketched out, but it will be different this time. Flowing water is an issue where I plan to dig. Not too much, but the lack of. So the plan involves digging and screening, then transporting the concentrates to a different location for processing.

I still need to scout where the sluicing will be done. I have some ideas, but I need to get out there and look the sites over.

Nothing is close. The digging site is a three-hour drive, so I plan to camp there for a few days at a time. The sluicing sites are one-hour+ drive away, so closer but not exactly convenient either. No camping allowed there, so it will be just a day at a time. That is not a problem since I will be carrying buckets of dirt with me and can return as needed.

It is raining today, so I will be indoors and continue working on my next book, a gold prospecting field guide. The book is written, but I am still formatting and adding diagrams and photo illustrations.

[Dances With Trees]

My dad had some success using a rocker to prospect in low to no water areas.
I still remember the feeling of spotting that first fleck of gold amidst the black sand.
And I definitely look forward to reviewing your field guide!

[Lori Dee ✅]

My dad had some success using a rocker to prospect in low to no water areas.
I still remember the feeling of spotting that first fleck of gold amidst the black sand.
And I definitely look forward to reviewing your field guide!

Thanks, Anni!

The rockers were definitely "old school," but they worked. Nowadays, dry panning or even dry sluicing uses shaking and air instead of water. The air is used to blow away the lighter dust, leaving the heavy stuff behind.

Jeff Williams does a lot of YouTube videos on prospecting. The guy is a nut, and his videos are very "YouTube"-ish, but he is a certified geologist and knows his stuff.

Here, he shows how to dry pan in the desert:

[ChrissyRyan]

I have found that a great place to find gold, and silver, is at a jewelry store.

No water or pans are necessary. 

[Rochelle]

lol  💚

[Lori Dee ✅]

I have found that a great place to find gold, and silver, is at a jewelry store.

No water or pans are necessary. 

I tried panning in there once. They told me to never come back!

[davina61]

The dust storm from a industrial dry blower has to be seen, a digger bucket full at a time makes a lot of dust!

[ChrissyRyan]

Lori,

Have you been to Wall, SD?

I heard they have a HUGE drug store, and lots of others businesses have sprouted around it.
Sounds "touristy."

[Lori Dee ✅]

Lori,

Have you been to Wall, SD?

I heard they have a HUGE drug store, and lots of others businesses have sprouted around it.
Sounds "touristy."

I have been there a few times. "Touristy" is an understatement. That is all it is is a tourist trap. My first impression was, "This is it?" Wall Drug is huge. I don't think it qualifies as a drugstore anymore. It has a restaurant, gift shops, arcades, etc. There is a lot of stuff outside for kids, like dinosaur statues and playgrounds. It is one of those places you must visit once to say you have been there, and that is enough.

After the first visit, I stopped a couple of times again. I was rockhounding out near the Badlands and stopped to eat and fill up the gas tank.

Trivia note for you:

The town of Wall is named after a nearby tall cliff.

https://www.nps.gov/places/badlands-wall.htm 🔗

[Stottie Girl]

More useless trivia....

One of my relatives was married in the village of Wall near me, so named because the Roman Wall passes right by it. They really weren't trying were they!

That was the biggest, most lavish wedding I have ever been to, there were players there from the local football team as the groom was a former player. Hugely expensive, massive fireworks display. The marriage lasted about a year and a half! Still was a very memorable day. She deserved better.

[Lori Dee ✅]

I have completed my second book, Gold Prospecting: A Practical Field Guide, and it is ready to publish. I will receive my proof copy tomorrow to see how everything looks printed.

I had compiled my notes from 15 years of prospecting, and the articles I had written on my website, reorganized them, and voila. Then I went back through hundreds of photos from my notes, cleaned them up, and used some to illustrate the guide.

It won't be available as an ebook because it would be difficult to see the diagrams and photos. So I went all out and opted for a larger 7" x 10" paperback with premium white paper and full-color photographs. Seeing a gold nugget in grayscale just isn't the same. But that just means my printing costs will be higher.

Now that I have that done, I redesigned my website and am re-uploading the Gold Gallery photo album. I am spending time with each photo to try to improve its look. Many of them are over ten years old and were photographed through murky water. I figured out how to correct that; it just takes time, as it involves several steps for each photo. And I took a lot of photos to document what I found, where it was, how much, etc.

I had another electrolysis appointment today, and have another one on Thursday. To say I am staying busy is an understatement.

I'm just waiting for Memorial Day when they open up the gold fields so I can get out and resume digging!

[ChrissyRyan]

Perhaps the book will be a productive gold mine.