August 3, 2014 Diamonds, not of the baseball kind

Sunday August 3, 2014

 The cup by the sink in the small room....  I declare it mine.  And don't tell my maternal human... but the cup with the green thing in it... I see her squeeze it before she puts it in the cup, but I will fish it out and then that cup is mine too.

 Let me give you a few of our most common phrases right now:  Don't jump on the stairs; Don't slam the doors; Pick up your clothes; Wash your dishes;  Then, the exchange between Spouse and Hunter:  Don't leave that there, you will knock it over.  Oh no I won't... Ooops!  Oy...  They are good kids, but...

After my morning walk, we got ready for our day.  Our goal is to go to Herkimer and do some diamond mining.  When I told Parker not to bother taking a shower today, it was like I took away his birthday!  Parketta was not amused!  But since we were going to be pounding rocks, why waste the time primping.

 The ride to Herkimer is beautiful.  Lots of green, farms, pretty wood houses with tons of character.  A stream here, a meadow there.  The diamonds at Herkimer are not really diamonds.  They are crystals that are perfectly faceted (unless you pound them with a hammer!).  It is not too crowded, but you know the big stuff has been taken already.  

 You have the option of pounding the rocks in a cliff, pounding rocks on the ground, or sifting through stuff on the ground.  I had my own rock hammer, and they give each person a sledge hammer.  I probably found the most, but Parker found the best.  It is physically demanding.  I told Parker it was good exercise, like pumping iron.   It was not too hot, but it was warm.  It is like a treasure hunt.  The value of the diamonds is not much but the allure is undeniable.  Parker went in with a prissy attitude but ended up really getting into it.  He totally manned up.  Hunter just goes with the flow.  He instantly got into it.  I was proud of them both for how they attacked the rocks and were willing to get dirty.  Even Spouse took out his frustrations with the sledge hammer until his knee started bothering him a little.  Then he pulled out the banana chair, and napped under a tree.  As we got ready to leave, we heard thunder in the distance and we did get a little rain on the way back to Hannah.

 When we got back to Hannah, we all got a good shower.  I soaked our diamonds to try and clean them.  Who knows what will happen to them from this point on, but it was a fun experience.

The boys went off to fish again, then another rumble of thunder.  Then some lightning and some more thunder.  Then the rain.  Still no boys.  Then the RAIN!  I saw them running with their fishing gear across the grass, wet as could be.  When Parker said he had to do '#2', I gave him an umbrella so he could go to the head.  We weren't giving him a pass to use Hannah's head as it was registering as full.  We knew it wasn't but, at this point, we must be careful what we put in until we can dump it tomorrow. 

 

He starts to go outside.  'It's flooded' he says.  Parker... those are puddles.  You will not get washed away.  'There is lightning and an umbrella is a lightning rod'.  Parker, it is way off, would you like granny to hold the umbrella and escort you?  What a good granny I can be...