Looks like I'm gonna be cheating with this journal. Unlike most I've been reading, I don't think I can write a diary here. One, I've already got a hard copy journal of my daily activities... why duplicate the effort? And two, and most important, I seem to have this huge backlog of things I want to write about. (It's true. I've got a file of ideas I've jotted down for this. I suspect when the time comes, most of them I'll just dump as bad or inane.) And so far (yes, I know I've just gotten started) I haven't used one yet. Things just keep popping up.

Like now. I was working on the logo for this journal, and realized I was sitting here rubbing my little shard of Wyoming jade. At least I think its jade. Its not the really valued apple green, but I think its jade. Its fits nicely in the crook of my index finger, perfect for rubbing with the thumb. The edges are rough, sharp enough to cut paper (I just tried it to see), but its getting smoother and more translucent the more I rub. I have no idea how many years its been sitting here on my desk. It was here years before I even thought of trying to polish it with my fingers. But the dark black is slowly changing into a nice waxy green. Gotta be jade.

I call it a shard because I hammered it off the main boulder. A boulder big enough to bang the front differential on a Ford and not even move a millimeter. That's how I found it. Figured out it might be jade as soon as I bent down to look for fragments of the truck. It had the nice orange and green rind you expect with jade. But it was years before I thought to break a chunk off. Used a 2 1/2 pound sledge, and the rock just RANG every time I struck. Felt almost like I was hurting something alive. Gotta be jade.

Just about every year I stop to check on my boulder. Nobody's dug it up yet. I worry about that some, and suppose I should dig it out myself some time. But then what? File a claim and start working it? Tear up that little piece of country? I ain't that desperate for money. Not yet anyway, but the boys will be heading off to college soon.

When I came to work for this outfit the Ford they gave me to use had been worn out by a fellow who did have a jade claim. And he worked it. You could tell, the whole box of the truck was beaten out from all the rock it hauled. He even left a couple small pieces behind for me to clean out. They were apple green, but the rinds looked like mine. Gotta be jade.

I never met the jade man, but know I would like him. The rear axle of that Ford was all torn apart. Turns out he and another were bouncing their way across the desert and came across a big washout. Would have been miles of backtracking to get back to the main road. So instead he took out his landing mats, made a ramp, and jumped the creek. Rough on the truck, but I understand. I hate driving the same road twice in one day. I hate having to turn around. A thirty-mile detour of new country is better than three miles of backtracking.

All this from one little rock. And you should see some of the stuff I've collected here. I've got material for years!