Another day prospecting

I have decided that prospecting is a lot like computers. The more you do the more of the toys (I mean TOOLS) you need to play the game well. I guess I have bought about all the “tools” I need to make metal detecting fun, although I still have a ways to go before becoming productive.

I went out this morning and found what I thought looked like a good spot, lots of rock, lots of quartz and caliche. After 3 hours I found two tin cans, a couple of bullet casings and 3 non-descript hunks of metal, so decided to do a bit more scouting.

The “road” I was on did not show up on the GPS but looked to be headed further into the claim, so I followed. We went along fine for a short ways, but then the road headed for the ridge top. The further I went the more the “road” transformed into a quad trail.

It seems the more I drive the Jeep off-road the less inclined I am to turn around. I always want to see if we can make it through and also see what’s over the next ridge. Today the Jeep has a few more brush scrapes and the tires have some more rock scrubs, but we finally made it back to a real road without issue.

Here are a couple of pictures I took from the ridge top. Please don’t be too critical as they were taken with my phone and one was through the windshield.

I love my Jeep, BUT

I really have to say I have never enjoyed a vehicle as much as I do our Jeep Wrangler. With that said I have to admit I am not real thrilled with the way Chrysler handles selling parts for these vehicles.

This tale starts a few months ago, we were driving along and suddenly the cruise control stopped working. Turns out the rubber elbow that connects the vacuum line to the intake manifold finally gave up the ghost. It was still there but heat had taken its toll and it would no longer seal to the nipple on the manifold. It so happens this same vacuum line runs not only to the cruise control but also over to the air conditioning to control the various doors controlling the air flow. I tried to get the elbow at the local auto parts stores but could never find the correct size. I did manage to stretch one enough to get things working until I could get to the dealer and get the correct part. So I head to the dealer and order the correct part, only problem is they only sell the whole vacuum line assembly that runs all the way across the firewall and connects to the AC controls. I bit the bullet and paid $12.90 plus tax to get the elbow.

This last weekend we went on one of our road trips to the Smokey Mountains in TN, hoping to get a little prospecting in. We were taking the back roads just looking and were hoping to find a stream that looked promising. We came to one of those places that required a pass, which we didn't have, so parked the Jeep and did the self registration thing so we could continue. I got back into the vehicle and started it, shifting into reverse to get back under way. When I shifted into reverse it felt a little too easy, like the shift cable had broken or come unhooked.

My first thought was hopefully it came apart inside the car where it connects to the shifter. I now know how to take the console apart and put it back together again. Now I am crawling under the vehicle to see if I can find the issue. There sitting on the skid plate I found what was left of a small nylon bushing/retainer that connects the shift cable to the lever on the transmission. Now I usually don't carry any tools in the Jeep but I was lazy when I was packing the coach and tossed in the tool box I used while on duty at the resort. It's by no means complete but it did have enough tools to allow the console tear down, and between the paper clip, electrical tape and screw I found, I was able to get us going again.

The nearest town (about 30 miles) had a Jeep dealer, so we headed there to see if we couldn't buy the 50 cent bushing/retainer needed. Well once again it seems you can only get the bushing by purchasing the entire shift cable assembly. They just happened to have one. It was a small dealer so it must be a good selling item so $30 later I had the 50 cent bushing we needed. We headed back to the coach where I had more tools to finalize the repair. Oh yeah, did I tell you that was another 100 miles away?

Since we had been on the road for better than half the day, one of us needed to go potty. Now you all know Bud and I can just go along side the road, so this may give you an idea who needed the pit stop. Since it was also past lunch time we stopped at a McDonalds. I parked in the back so I could get out without putting it in park and having to back up while we grabbed a quick bite and relived some inner pressure!

To make a long story short before we could leave I had to crawl back under the Jeep and get the trans back into drive to make the rest of the trip. Did I tell you we didn't have enough gas to make it all the way back? Well we didn't, but I was not going to take any more chances so we re-fueled with the engine running, the trans in gear and the parking brake set.

Once we made it back to the coach, I let the trans cool down while I worked at getting the little bushing out of the shift cable I had purchased. Two hours later I went out to get the job done. There was no way Bud was letting me out without him again so I hooked his leash on the front bumper tow hook, got my little carpet samples out to lay on and crawled back under for what I hopped would be the last time. Since I was on Buds level, and he could get to me from where he was staked out, I got a bath as soon as I was on my back. It only took a couple of minutes to snap the bushing on the shift lever pin and snap the cable onto the bushing. A job well done, hopefully it won't need to be done again for another 85,000 miles.

Wild Flowers Part: 3

Still more flowers from the Falcon Dam State Park.
























This is a grave yard below the dam, on Swordfish Dr. GPS Co-ordinates 26.5347 N 99.1498 W.

Wild Flowers Part: 2

More of the flowers we found along the nature trail at Falcon State Park from last weekend. I did manage to find a couple of names but that's all.

I am hoping that when we head to Hill Country next weekend we will be treated to many more photo opportunities.



Evening Primrose













Lantana, Calico Bush

Wild Flowers Part 1

This last weekend we could not make up our minds where to go and what to see. I remembered seeing tons of tiny little wild flowers on the nature trail at Falcon Dam a couple of years ago. With the wet weather we have had this winter, I was hopping we would be in for a treat, IF, our timing was right. Here a few of the flower we saw on our trip.


I have no idea what their names are, and most you would never see from your car as they are very tiny and easily passed over. I have more and will follow these up in a couple of days with the next installment.

La Sal Vieja or Old Salt

"La Sal Vieja ("Old Salt") is the name given to two salt lakes six miles northwest of Raymondville in Willacy County (at 2632' N, 9753' W). The west lake has a surface area of 2,475 acres, and the east lake, 720 acres; they are separated by a natural isthmus. Coahuiltecan Indians are thought to have been among the first people to use salt from La Sal Vieja. In Spanish Texas these salt deposits were important items of trade between natives and the Spanish."

From The Handbook of Texas Online Click here for the full article.

So Linda and I have been trying, off and on, to see the salt lakes near Raymondville, Texas. Our first attempt was a total loss. All we knew was they were off hi-way 186 between 281 and 77. Since there weren't any signs pointing the way we basically saw nothing other than the scenery along 186.

For our next attempt I did a little research on Streets and Trips and found a couple of roads that I thought would get us close enough to check out the lakes. Since it's been raining quite a bit this winter, the little county roads near the lake were a bit wet to say the least. We really enjoy getting to see the fields and wildlife along little two track roads. Even though I get picked on because the jeep is usually covered in mud when we return to the RV park.

We followed one of the little two tracks along a wooded section and plowed through a number of muddy areas. We finally approached a feeder stream to the western salt lake. The road/trail we were on crosses over the stream, but the crossing wasn't much more than a mud bog. If we had been with another vehicle, or if I had a winch installed on the jeep, I would have tried to make it across. As it was it would have been a very long walk back to the nearest ranch for help. We backtracked to 186 and headed for Raymondville, picked up a little dinner, than headed home.

Our third attempt finally paid off, for me at least. We managed to come across an access site to the area surrounding the eastern salt lake. We left the jeep in the parking area and headed off into the preserve. There were two trails to choose from so Bud and I started down the southern two track followed for a short time by Linda. I'm not sure how far Linda made it, because Bud didn't want to wait for her. The trail eventually headed out of the preserve so we headed back to the parking area.

Bud, being the old man he is, was starting to get a bit warm and tired so I left him with Linda at the jeep before heading down the other trail. I hadn't gone more than 50 yards when I found another trail that split off, kind of running between the trail I was on and the other path we had followed earlier. I could see the main trail headed uphill, so followed it to the top. I couldn't see the lake or any clearing from the crest so headed back to try the other trail.

Well you know what they say about three times being the charm! Here are a few pictures of the smaller eastern lake. We will try one more time before we leave to see the western lake. Hopefully it will be close enough to the road that Linda will be able to see it.

You can click on the picture for a larger view.

Computer Safety Tips

Malware hits all-time high in January

By Vivian Yeo ZDNet Asia
Posted on ZDNet News: Feb 10, 2010 5:33:13 AM

The amount of unique malware tracked by security vendor Fortinet, reached an all-time high in January.

Its distinct malware volume soared to over 9,000 last month, more than twice that in December, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Fortinet collects data from its FortiGate network security appliances and intelligence systems located globally, and compiles monthly threat statistics from the data. ( http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-392235.html)

Does this sound like it's getting tougher to keep your computer free of malware? You bet it is, and not only are there more things to attack you, but the bad guys have been putting a lot of effort into social engineering.

What's social engineering? Basically it's the crafting of a web site to get the innocent to click on a link that's been built to infect your computer with some kind of malware. It may do something a simple as changing your home page to some porn page, or as nasty as a link to install a Trojan horse that will download and install any number of nasty programs that can render your computer basically useless.

I worked on a computer earlier this year that was infected by malware named Additional Guard. It was installed when he was searching for information on a problem he was having with his refrigerator. It created a shortcut on the desktop and would pop-up whenever he opened a webpage, saying the machine was infected with x number of viruses and offered to clean things up for just $30 dollars.

We checked in control panel to see if it could be uninstalled with no luck. I ran a number of free spyware and virus scanners without any luck. I was able to find uninstall instructions but the problem was this malware uses a number of different hidden directories and registry keys to disguise and hide it self. After many hours of work and frustration we rebuilt the laptop to get things working again. Almost all viruses and malware can eventually be removed, but more times than not it is much quicker to rebuild and reload the machine. At some point you have to say enough is enough and just bit the bullet.

No software can protect you 100%. You may have the honor of being the first person to be infected by a particular virus. Current virus software looks for a virus signature to detect the virus, and until a signature can be created everyone is vulnerable. Here are some tips to minimize your exposure and pain when something does infect your machine.

• Make sure you are at the minimum running virus software and keep the signatures updated.

• Run a firewall, at least what comes with your OS, or better yet put a router between you and the internet.

• Backup critical files regularly BEFORE you get infected.

• Be sure all your OS's fixes and security updates are applied. Most of the updates are to correct security issues that have been identified. If you don't want to rely on windows update there are programs designed to check the software on your machine to make sure everything is up to date not just the operating system. Secunia PSI is a free and recommended application.

• Never open an email attachment from someone you don't know.

• Avoid opening attachments from someone you know unless you know exactly what the attachment is.

• Use a standard user account unless you need to use an administrator account.

• Whatever you do, please do not turn off UAC in Vista or Windows 7. That little popup that is so irritating could be your only clue that the web site you just visited is trying to silently install malware on your computer.

OS – Operating System

Malware – malicious software, anything from a key logger to spyware to a virus.

Router – a hardware firewall that goes between your computer and the internet.

UAC – User Account Control, notifies you when changes are being made to your computer, such as installing a program, changing registry keys or changes to your browser.