Gold! To assist the small minning and recreational prospector with where to find gold,how to tell if it is real or not,gold nuggets,gold separation,FREE gold panning tips,Win FREE gold question contest,newsletter,prospectors blog,mini sluice,poop tube,finding gold,gold,equipment and reviews,propsectors blog,which gold pans to use,books on gold,GPOC temporary site,events calendar,dredging, metal detecting,clubs,open prospecting areas in Colorado,rules, metal market charts,gold formations,mining laws and terminology

I have found a number of gold prospecting, gold panning, and metal detecting videos that you may be interested in.  More will be posted as the weeks progress, and we will be adding to them ourselves with picture slide shows and video we have.  Access them HERE  and enjoy!  You will find a thumbnail listing link of all the videos in the library near the top of the page where it says "more videos from MQS".

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Copyright 2006.  hookedongold.com Shirley Weilnau

Visit www.hookedongold.blogspot.com for archived questions, additional information and comments.  Bogspot now also sports videos, news streams, and pictures of gold.

Desert Gold Panning in Prescott, Az.

June 21, 2007.

Things keep disappearing from this site, so the sooner I can be away, the better. Gold is sitting this morning in the $652 range.  All of the pictures were gone from my graphics file, and so I have been busy today putting them back in and getting the catalog items pictures back on their pages.  The Mad Muther vial is on another drive and I will find it today.  www.hookedongold.com will give you the new site. 

June 20, 2007.

Gold is hoovering around $657 today as the central banks continue to sell off gold.  Spain is particularly vulmerable now as they cannot control their interest rates with their currency now the Euro.

As you can see from the date, it has been 13 days since I was able to change this site.  For those of you trying to find things here that are not showing, I can now go in and repair all the damage.  This site may be up for only another month as the charges to keep both is a lot.  However I may keep them both up for the summer.  It will all depend on how much work I can get done on the other one and how quickly.  With the ads down for more than a week and still not being able to get them to work on the new site, as well as the catalog, things are tight for the month.  Thanks for your patience as I rebuild the site and get things separated as they should be.  GPOC will find a new photogallery this week as I get their pictures uploaded into a new album in the next day or two.  The Events calendar should go up this week, as well. 

June 7, 2007.

Well, The move is taking place this weekend or Monday.  It will all be determined by how fast the server switches.  I will put up a home page and redirect you here until I have more pages built.  The redirect address will be hookedongold.clicksitebuilder.com. , so if you can't find us for a day or so, try that one.  As always, check blogspot for anything new when you can't find our pages.  The new server will give me more of everything, but the template will be different.  Rest assured, it will be us. 

June 4, 2007.

Publishing time is over 6 hours this week, and so updates will be slow.  Gold, however, has been trying to reach and stay in the $670 range.  The Arvada Gold Strike Festival will be held in Arvada in Olde Towne located on Old Wadsworth Blvd and between 58th  (Ralston Rd.) and 56th.  Park in the RTD parking lot to the south of the area and walk across the train tracks into the fair, or park in one of the downtonw lots that is open.  A lot will be going on with panning, mountain men, and buffalo soldiers.  If you are in the are, plan on being there Saturday or Sunday. 

June 1, 2007.

Wow!  Am I getting behind!  Found out last night that I had not put up a general calendar for June.  It's there now and I will be putting up July in the next few days.  GPOC page has new pictures on it, and I got my notes together for a few other pages as well.  Along with all of this comes the summer activities and trying to get the site moved to somewhere I can get more information to you.  Gold is up around $666 this morning. 

May 31, 2007.

Gold is back on the rise this morning.  European banks are dumping gold to try to keep the price down.  They can keep it up only just so long, though.  My server has let me know that the builder will be inaccessible June 4th through 6th, but that the live site will still be up.  That means no new blog posts or updates for those dates.  Guess what I will be doing this week?  Updating as much as possible before they lock me out again.  Still working on the change, but I am having problems getting everything to work together.  I spend as much time on it as I can spare.  Be patient.  The move will be worth it!  Updates will be to the GPOC pages, Gold in Colorado, and other general ongoing upkeep.  Interesting fact on gold going up today.  Next week's will be on the blogspot site.

May 29, 2007.

Did ya miss me?  We are back from the Memorial Day Weekend this afternoon, and are unloading in the rain.  The weather was nice for most of the weekend, but there is way too much snow up in the high country and the rivers are all very high with snowmelt and rain runoff.  We wandered about a bit, but did not find much gold.  We did, however, get a short video shot of panning that we will get up on youtube, videogoogle and on site soon.  It's short, but we were only trying to see how much we could do with our camera.  It came out pretty good, except for the shot of the gold at the end.  It didn't want to focus up close very well.  Oh, well.  Back to the drawing board. 

May 23, 2007.

Late on the question page.  We are busy getting ready for the weekend.  GPOC has lost their scarves and is trying to find out who took them home to wash at the Denver Gem show last September.  Territory Days is this weekend in Old Colorado City, so get out there and learn some gold panning!  Gold is around $660 right now and jumping around a little, but staying pretty stable for the week.  Have a GREAT Memorial Day weekend!

May 22, 2007.

GPOC members and those who would like to join the club can now find the memebership application and relsease form on the GPOC minisite here.  You can print it off and send it in or give to someone you know who would be interested in joining.  New pictures of the Point Bar outing will be up as soon as we get all of them and get them posted.  I know most of you are probably tired of seeing all the pictures from the championships, so we will have new ones soon.  Gold went up to around $662 this morning before falling back to $658.  Memoprial Day is coming up and everyone should be out and about with tons of activities.   GPOC will be at Old Colorado city for Territory Days and we will be in B.V. opening up camp for the summer.  The Rock Doc in Nathrop has the store full of equipment and wonderful finds, so stop by and see what  Cindy and the gang have for you.  Don't forget to give Gold "N" Detectors a few hours of your time to see what Bill has in new detectors and used ones as well.  We hear there might be a new Whites in the works.  He has a couple of new caches found for you to see, too.

May 21, 2007.

What a terrific weekend!  Let's Go Goldpanning Days each year reminds us early in our season why we love doing this so much!  We met lots of wonderful people and got to talk with new enthusiasts about prospecting, taught gold panning, and found some gold to boot.  Remember how I have been warning you about the snakes at Point Bar?  Well, I walked up on one Sunday morning sunning itself by the side of the road.  Spooked me real good!  It was stretched out with the tail toward me and the head away (lucky me), and had taken off about 10 minutes later when I walked back by with someone with  a pistol.  Glad we didn't have to shoot the thing so I could continue down the road.  I saw it when it was about 5 feet away and backed up and walked quickly back to the large camp to let someone know it was in the area.  A big King Snake had been seen near the larger camp the day before.  Since they hunt rattlers, we were all on guard watching for the rattlers.  Oh, the snake was close to two feet long, and it looked strange and out of place with the rattles layed out like they were.  Almost like bones lying there, and it was a little greenish gray (about the color of sagebrush)  in color.  Sure gave me the willies.  We had a big turnout for the event and we hope all of you who attended had fun, learned something, and also found some gold. 

May 19, 2007.

WOOHOO!  What a day at Point Bar for Let's Go Gold Panning Days!  The day was sunny and almost hot, there were a lot of people, a lot of equipment, and a lot of just plain fun.  Oh, we did find gold, too.  Tomorrow looks like a another good day on the river, so come on out and join us for some fun.

May 17, 2007.

$656 and going down.  Let's Go Goldpanning Days is getting a lot of response, and it sounds like we will have a very nice weekend with a lot of prospector's coming out to the Point Bar area to start their season, learn about equipment, and have a great time.  We will be trying to get some filming done so we can put up another short film on panning.  Maybe setting up a sluice box, if we get time.  See you on the river!

May 16,2007.

GOLD!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING!  It is sliding downward this morning and is near $667.  I am still trying to figure out how to get the new template up, so be patient.  We will be on our way soon......one way or another.  Getting everything ready for Let's Go Gold Panning this weekend is interesting.  The first serious trip out always is.  The water levels in the rivers are all twice to four times what they were 10 days ago, so be careful.  Six inches of fast water can knock you down.  2 feet can float a car!  Water that comes up fast can take you by surprise and sweep you away.  We have had several gulleywashers here in Denver lately, and people and children have been lost in the fast moving water.  Take care with the high water.  No amount of gold is worth your life.  Another caution about Point Bar.  Watch for rattle snakes.  The area is known for them and they may be molting this time of year.  Which reminds me of the true tale of the lady and her son who fended off 140 rattle snakes for two hours outside of Ft. Luton near the now gone town of Ione (That's an i not an L) here in Colorado.  (shiver)

May 14, 2007.

WE ARE MOVING!  The site was once again down on the weekend.  This is totally unacceptable, and so we are moving the site to a new server.  The domain will be directed elsewhere while we rebuild with instructions on how to find this site until we are ready to go with one site.  Gold is back up a bit this morning at around $670.  Hope you all had a very Golden Mother's Day.  Are you ready for Let's Go Gold Panning Days?  Check out the GPOC page for information I should have had up last week.  This snuck up on me, so I'm a little late with it.  LOL! 

May 11, 2007.

Gold's up at $670.  The Dedging Bascis page has been added to and is now called Setting Up Equipment.  I have added information on how to set up a hand sluice, which is basic to all the other equipment you use in the water, and should help anyone new to prospecting.  Contactme if I can tell yu anything else, or add somethng to the instructions I am not thinking about to tell you.  No question is too dumb.  What seems obvious to me may not be to yu, and I have simply left it out.  Wish someone could tell me about how to download, change, and upload a simple template so I could triple the size of this site and get more information to you.  Everyone seems to think it is so simple, but they always leave out something I don't understand.  I end up sending emails all over trying to get the part I don't get.  LOL!  Same with you.  Do not hesitate to ask!  hookedongold@msn.com

May 10, 2007.

Gold!  Don't be watchin' it rise and fall this week!  Up yesterday to $681.30, and down to $664.80 earlier this morning.  Still down at around $665 right now.  Should 'a sold at 692!   LOL!  Anybody get the news about the possible take over of Rio Tinto by BHP?  Well, BPH says it isn't in the market right now, and that the report was a speculatio by an industry reporter.  The GPOC meeting last night was HOT!  No, I mena the room was hot, but the meeting was only  degrees cooler what with all the outings, Let's Go Gold Panning Days, and Territory Days in Old Colorado City just around the corner.  Point Bar has gotten some work done on it with a backhoe, and some bedrock has been newly exposed.  Woody is looking for reports from anyone working the new areas so they know whether to continue uncovering bedrock, or move on to different projects with the BLM.  Anyone taking a large trailer to Salida will want to stay in the campground at the curve in Salida as getting one of those big things in and out of Point Bar is asking for trouble....or worse!  Remember your Mother's this Sunday on Mother's Day.

May 9, 2007.

Roller coaster city's got nothin' on gold this morning.  It started today around $682, dropped to $676, and is back up to almost $680 now.  This morning has been long on the computer.  I had no winner for the question last week, and with activities bunched up along with Mother's Day, graduations, confirmations, and all, I am going to supsend the Question until next winter.  Everyone is too busy to win gold while they are finding gold.  LOL!  Me, too.  In it's place I will be putting up interesting stories and information about gold, so don't stop visiting the site.  The plan is to put something up each week, but if we are out in the boonies somewhere, I might miss a week or two.  I had this week's page ready to go, along with all the explainations, etc., when the builder lost all of the info.  While I am retyping it, I am going to publish so you all know I am working on it.

May 8, 2007.

Gold is sitting at around $685 this morning, up a few dollars from it's open.  Despite unsetled weather this past weekend, the swap meet was a lot of fun.  Not too many participants, but enough to make things interesting.  We even taught gold panning to a couple of new people and talked with a few about this season and some of the restrictions that will be new this year.  The GPOC page has an announcement about a propsecting class being held at the Western Museum of Mining the end of June.  Reservations are required to attend, so take a look and the GPOC page for more information.

May 4, 2007.

Check the charts and ethics page for some updates on dredging and prospecting requirements, and the beginning of the stream flow list.  Light rain today and gold is up a bit for the weekend to $686.90.  Looks like we will be at GPR's members swap meet and picnic tomorrow if it doesn't rain til afternoon.  No answer to the question yet, so do that search and find it for some nice gold.

May 3, 2007.

NEW!  Check out the gold and panning cons page.  We have a couple of new geode, gold and black tourmaline pendants for sale that are a knock out!  About an inch and a half by three quarters, they have a plating of gold that rings the goede.  One caution, though....the bale is base metal, so if you have metal allergies like me you will have to either change out the bale or use a blocking agent to keep the nickel from giving you a rash.  Nice black tourmaline crystal in the middle with sparkly quarts crystals ringing the inside of the geode. 

May 2, 2001.

May day came and went.  Did any of you get a May Basket full of gold?  Yeah, me neither, and gold was down this morning below $672.  We are winding down the question of the week for the summer.  Last one will be May 23rd, as of right now.  Things are really getting busy for May, and if anything else gets put on the calendar, I will stop the question a little earlier.  It's a lot of fun to do, but it does take about 2 hours every week to find and monitor.  It will be back next winter, and in it's place will be fun gold facts and some history for you to investigate.  My copy and links keep disappearing from the site, so if you find anything amiss, please let me know so I can fix it.

April 29, 2007.

Gem and Mineral show was awesome yesterday, as always.  It is still going on today, so get out to the Holiday Inn and make the rounds.  I found some very nice geode pendants with 24K gold plated on the outside rim and a black tourmaline crystal mounted inside in black and white.  Very nice looking.  I should have them listed in the catalog in a day or so.  Each pendant is different.  Let's Go Gold Panning Days are coming up the 17th through 19th of May down on Point Bar, so put it on your calendar to join Woody and GPOC for a weekend of fun.  This outing is open to the public and is an opportunity to see all sorts of equipment, and get help with what you don't quite "get".

April 24, 2007 part two

Since it is raining and snowing here, I have taken some time today to work more on the "Gold in Colorado" page.  If you haven't been on the page for a while, you will find new information on it along with links at the top of the page and the bottom to websites that will give you information on campgrounds and accommodations in Colorado.  Can't find one with an affiliate link, but these two sites were the ones I felt had the most information.  Hopefully these links will help you plan that Colorado adventure more easily.  Oh, by the way, gold is down around $682 right now.  If it could slide about another $100 by Friday, I could go and buy gold really cheap at the mineral show this weekend.  LOL!

April 24, 2007.

Rain and possibly snow in the city today.  YES, It's April and it is snowing!  While we don't have any right here at the house, it is snowing off and on just to the west and south of us.  Idaho Springs looks like December.  The moutains are supposed to get another 6 to 12 inches for about 2 feet this week.  Run off this summer will be long and the water will be fast, with flooding probably in June.  In addition, the State of Colorado has annouced that it will be draining Clear Creek Reservoir in the Arkansas River drainage this summer.  Expect higher that usual water levels for the entire summer, and muddy water.  Fishing will be effected, and gold prospectors will be dealing with the higher water as well.  Be safe out there and watch the water levels on the Arkansas.  In the past, the water level can rise several inches in the afternoon when Clear Creek Res. is being drained.

April 23, 2007.

Ah, what a weekend!  Have you been having fun watching gold bounce around $690?  Wondering when it might break $700?  Newsletter recipients got a review on what some of the experts have been saying.  It came to my attention this past week that the video of the Colo. State gold panning championships disappeared recently.  Don't know what happened or when, but it is gone from youtube.  Fortunately, I know enough to post it to videogoogle, too, and found it was still up there.  Needless to say, I have re-embedded it on the GPOC page with the link to videogoogle, so if any of you missed it, you can go to the GPOC temporary page and see it now. 

April 20, 2007.

Been watching gold bounce around this morning.  It was up over $693 early and is now down around $690.  The sun is out today.  YEAH!  I was looking at our calendar this morning, and it is filling up QUICK!  This is the last weekend we have free for another month, and June is completely full.  Our LONG winter without finding much gold in a pan or anything else for that matter, is almost over.  This weekend we will be doing the final fix-ups at home before we are gone almost every weekend until October.  We have lots of folks to visit with this summer, and looking forward to meeting all of you.  Good Prospecting you!

April 18, 2007.

How is your gold season going?  Finding gold, I hope!  We have no new gold since Arizona, but next month will give us some better chances (?) of putting gold in our bottles.  The Gold question of the week this week is not a question.  I came across some very important information that you will want to read about how local water boards are getting involved with small mining that you need to read so you are more prepared for what is going on with prospecting and the impact it potentially can have on all mining activities. The link is long and has broken the page while it is up.  Just scroll down until you find the beginning of the page. 

April 16, 2007.

We are back!  Anyone who looked for us yesterday did not find the site as everything with the server was down.  If you do not find us, check blogspot for information.  It is our only way right now to let you know what is going on.  Gold is UP this morning and is at over $691 right now.  It has been higher earlier, but has slipped a bit since the stock market opened.  That makes the spot price for gold around $22 a gram.  If you are looking to buy nuggets of any type, they will be priced at 20% above that and higher depending on the size and where they come from.  The weather is finally warming up here and we are getting some spring days with rain.  The last few months have not been kind to us as far as getting the detectors out, and this next week will begin our summer activities which will continue until some time in October.  May your gold prospecting season be exciting and profitable. 

April 11, 2007.

Well, gold is still holding in the $675 range today, although it was up around $678 earlier in the day.  Snow tomorrow and Friday, (Man, I'm sick of snow!) but the weekend should be better.  If we are lucky, we MIGHT get the detectors out.  Sunday is the HOA Annual Meeting, and if Larry wasn't on the board we could escape!  Alas, it is not to be.  Pray for us who have been housebound and unable to pursue our destiny in prospecting!  Woe to us who have been deprived of our days in the sun with pan or detector in hand!  Glad will we be when our trials are ended and we are one with the montains and rivers again.  Yes, I have cabin fever and am bored out of my skull with housework!  LOL!  Oh, I am also sick of being cold.  Our new grandson smiled for the first times this past week.  We got to overstimulate him on Easter.  What fun to be a grandparent!

April 9, 2007.

Gold has advanced to $676 this morning, even though the outlook for the economy and jobs looks good right now.  Sure hope SOMEBODY is getting out finding gold, cause we sure have not been out very much this spring ourselves.  Between being sick, and bad weather, there hasn't been much time for prospecting yet this year for us.  (Oh, Yeah. There's that new grandson we HAVE spent some of our prosepcting time with.  Priorities, ya know.)  If you don't have your taxes filed yet, you have about a week to get it done.  Got ours finished this past weekend.  Hope everyone had a terrific Easter and Passover Holiday.  We had snow all weekend, but the sun decided to show itself yesterday afternoon....about the time we all went home.  LOL!  Anyone who hasn't looked at the gold formations page should check out the new pictures.  I have done several site updates this past week.  Tweeks here and there. 

April 4, 2007.

Gold is going back up this morning with it sitting at $672.10 just after noon today.  When things got back to normal on the site, I saw that my rules block on the Question page had disappeared and will have to be rebuilt with information.   We have a new page that can take different information I am trying out, so the site will get published several times in the next few days as I figure out how to use it.   So far, no luck.  No winner on the questiopn as yet, so keep those answers coming in. 

April 1, 2007.

Well, the dam on the Arkansas is fully underway just above B.V.  It was a surprise to all of us who drove by and saw the "dam" thing already holding water!  Who knew that air filled pontoons could do such a good job!  APRIL FOOLS!  HAHAHAHAHAH!  Got cha!  We are feeling better, but were not well enough to make it up for opening day.  However, there a several new pictures of gold ready for your viewing on the gold formations page.  I will put up more in a month or so, 'cause there are a BUNCH of them.  Anyone who gets the newsletter has already seen some of them as I get them sized and put into the builder.  You can also see some of them on the blogspot site. 

March 28, 2007.

Gold is back down this morning to hoover in the $658 to $662 range.  We have our end of the season "crud", with both Larry and myself experiencing fevers above 102 degrees, coughing, headache, you know the drill.  Larry woke up this morning and declared he didn't feel as hot as he had been, until I took his temperature and it was down to 101.  At that point he decided not to go to work, and went back to sleep.  He has been up a couple of times since then, but only for about half an hour at a time.  We are getting snow in the city today with up to a foot predicted through tomorrow.  The Arkansas River will be open for motorized equipment this Sunday.  Bond is needed for anywhere on the Arkansas drainage.  Hope you have your equipment ready 'cause the days are getting longer and warmer for the most part, and the river is calling.

March 27, 2007.

Gold is sitting at $662.20.  YES!  After a week of not being able to get in and change anything on these pages, we are finally back up and runnng!  Those who looked for the question of the week last week saw that it did not get posted, as there was no way to post it.  The server has been down for a WEEK!, and we have not been able to change ANYTHING, or even tell you.  Those of you who have visited the blogspot site have been kept abreast of what has been going on.  What a week!  No one would answer any questions about when the site would be ready to publish again, so all we could do was wait.  We're back now, and the new question will be posted tomorrow morning....baring any other new problems. 

March 20, 2007.

Gold is advancing this morning and sits at $652.80 as I write.  LAST DAY OF WINTER!  Get out there and throw those last snowballs, 'cause Spring in just around the corner.  I've been going over some of last year's blogs about this time of year, and we had been out with the metal detector a LOT by now.  Not so much this year, but some years are like that.  Right now we are getting rid of stuff we don't need or haven't used for a few DECADES!  LOL!  Lightening up is sure feeling good, but we still have plenty of "stuff" we can't part with.  Some of it is old prospecting equipment we keep trying to find a new use for.  Some times we are successful......some times not.  I will be archiving last years blog on blogspot, so if there is anything you wanted to see and it is gone from here, you will find it there.  Now, get that equipment ship shape and get out there and find some GOLD!

March 17, 2007.

And a Happy St. Patty's Day to ye!  For those of you who need to be wear the green to avoid bein' pinched on this auspicious day, ya probably will be needin' ta know that those of us who are best at the blarney are so full o ****, and have bin for so long that we no longer are in need of WEARIN' green, as our eyes are green from the mold.  So, if ya be hearin' any tall tales of GOLD taday, ya might be hearin it from us.  Gold closed this week at over $10,456, and is expected to rise like the tide and continue on its' meteoric ride into the stratosphere for the next 1,000 years.   So, I would be gettin' out my gold pan if I were you, and learnin' how to dip it so you can be a RICH man.  In other news this week, eggs were down this past week to $1,045 a dozen as layers gear up for Easter Holidays and there is a glut of the orbs. 

March 16, 2007.

Well, looks like gold has closed for the weekend at $652.20.  WHOO HOO!  We get to make the all out push on taxes this weekend.  I'll bet you are jealous!  We need to get it done so we can escape for panning and dredging when the Ark opens on the 1st.  Warmer weather is making us itch to get OUT!  And not to shovel snow.  I am still trying to decide what to call the GOLD FACT that I will put up over the summer.  Any suggestions can be sent to info@hookedongold.com  Something a bit more snappy or clever would be good.  You will find the Mines and Museum page finished with as much as we know about.  If you know of any mine tours or museums we missed give me a hollar so we can put them up.  Any out of Colorado?  I will be happy to give you some space.  Send me the place where it is located and a short description of what is offered.

March15, 2007.

Gold is up at around $645 this morning and everyone seems to be itching to be out in the creeks, what with the fantastic weather we are finally enjoying here on the Front Range.  I finally have a winner for our question of the past two weeks.  I know it was tough to search out.  I found it while searching for something else, and did not get a quick search on Googles first page, so I knew it was going to be a challenge.  Congratulations to Randy for finally coming up with the anser.  There were several other correct answers that came in after his, and I had ONE correct answer last week from a regular participant who didn't qualify to win the gold.  If you are out there searching these answers out, get your answers in.  I have regular participants, but guess what!  Newbies get a "push", so try it out.  You will have until Memorial Day Weekend to win gold as I am suspending the question through the summer.  It will resume next Oct., BUT I will put up a GOLD FACT OF THE WEEK all summer, so you can still get your gold information.  I encourage you to search out the facts to read the pages they come from. There is a lot of VERY interesting information that doesn't get on the question as sometimes it is hard to decide WHICH question to ask.  We will have great prospecting weather this weekend, so get out there and give your equipment a work out...pan, metal detector, sluice, whatever.

March 14, 2007.

The Hooked on Gold Question of the week will run for another week.  We did not find a winner, and we have been busy with taxes and waiting for a new baby to be born.  Reese came into the world yesterday morning around 11:30 a.m., and, although you all know "Reese" to be a girl's name due to famous people by that name, ours is a boy.  39 hours of labor for Mom, and weighing in at 8 lbs. and 12 oz. and 20 1/2 inches, he is one big boy!  Gold is down again at $641.00.  By the end of the week we will have traveled to Greeley three times and Colorado Springs once.   What we will get for all that travel is a golden grandson, time with golden friends, and lots of talk of gold. 

March 13, 2007.

Well, our new little gold panner is on its' way.  Mom to be went into the hospital this morning at 6:00 a.m. and she is expected to deliver before noon.  Still no word at almost 11:00, but we should hear soon that we are again grandparents.  Needless to say, we will probably be Greeley bound this evening to see the new baby.   Gold is down again to around $648 off its' high yesterday, but higher than early yesterday morning.  You will find additions to the GPOC calendar into June, so go find out what you are supposed to be doing and when.  The Events Calendar page will get updated later this week after we've seen the baby and attended all the meetings.

March 12, 2007.

Gold is down this morning to around $647.  BUT, the weather is UP!  Spring is here and Denver will be in  or near the 70's for at least the next few days.  RAIN this weekend along the front range instead of snow.  The snow was merciful and stayed in the mountains.  We still do not have a winner for the question of the week.  Remember what the site is about, and it isn't light.  The golden ball up in the sky that is blinding today is a very welcome relief from the nasty winter we have been through all across the country.  Try you hand at the question of the week and a chance to win the 2 grain vial of Mad Muther gold.

We have had several people recently request information whose email address were not inputted correctly.  Without the correct email address we cannot send the requested information.  Please be careful with this information and if you do not hear from us within 24 hours, your information may not have been correct and you might want to resend it to us.  We try very hard to get the information to you that you request.

March 8, 2007. 

Gold is back up around $652 this morning.  Several of our nuggets in the catalog are almost at spot now.  Check out the gold page or/and catalog page for a link to a site with fantastic gold nugget and gold in quartz jewelry.  We can get it for about 1/3 off most of their retail prices, so go have a look.  The gold inlay in silver bear that was in the catalog sold fast.  We will be looking at putting up their entire catalog on its own webpages so you can order directly from us using paypal.  Until then, you can email us with anything you are interested in.  Get the details on one of the two pages it is announced on.  I was looking at last years blog and GUESS WHAT!  We were getting 6 inches of snow on the 8th of March 2006.  Today it is supposed to be partly cloudy and about 60 degrees. 

March 6, 2007.

WOW!  Gold sure has been jumping around this past week.  Back up to 645 today, I saw it at 635 yesterday.  LONG week that was short.  Have you ever had one of those?  The gem show is always fun, but exhausting, too.  There were LOTS of people, but few buyers.  The Denver shows are not producing as much money to the sellers as they used to.  Everyone is wondering why.  Do we have too many shows going on one after another, or are there economic things going on.  I find a lot of people buying throw away jewelry.  Good for a season, get rid of it and buy something else. Not much in 14 to 24 K gold, but junk jewelry.  Is the cost of gold too high for Americans to buy?  EVERYONE else is buying gold jewelry, but not us.  How come?  Are we SO sure we don't need a hedge against the inflation that is sure to find us, along with recession?  These things go in cycles and they will come again.  How deep do you think the next one will be?  I don't know, but for me, I'm still buying gold and high quality gemstones. 

February 28, 2007.

Wow!  Did anyone watch gold on its' roller coaster yesterday?  664 back to 686 then to 667.  Still in the 667 range today.  The ground here looks like it is caked with powered sugar, with a lot falling right now.  We could get another 3 or 4 inches before the day is over.  Yippee Skippee!  I REALLY hate being cold!  The question of the week isn't terribly challenging, but I hope you will read the pages.  The information is really interesting and the answer may surprise you.  Since information is what we are about, the question is one way we use to get you to find interesting information about placer mining now and in the past. Also, you can use some of these resources to begin your searches for places to go.  Get that equipment repaired! Spring is a comin' even if there is snow on the ground!

February 26, 2007.

Well, I was weighing out all of the Fairplay gold nuggets and getting them ready to put into sand, and I was suprised to find that one of the nuggets weighs in at a little over 5 grains!  Very nice, and with the copper content in them, they are a little on the brown side, but very nice.  I certainly wouldn't mind finding on of them in MY panning sand, that's for sure!  Larry is itching to run his dredging sand from last year and get the gold out of it, but the weather has been a little windy and we have had other things to catch up on.  Maybe this next weekend while I am helping in the Emerald booth with T.L.E. International at the Denver Spring Gem and Mineral Show, he will find some time to work on them.   

February 25, 2007.

Gold Alaskan Nuggets!  Get 'em while they last.   More of a sampling of what we have available was posted today, so pick up a nugget or a bag of nuggets while we have them at the current price.  Prices inTucson were going up, so buy now, 'cause next year you WILL pay more.  My Alaskan gold is course, yellow, bright, AND cheaper than the Australian pieces of the same size.  Check it ALL out on the gold and panning cons page.  I have found some bigger Colorado gold at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds this weekend at the gem and mineral show there.  VERY nice show, too, so make room on your calendar for it next year.  My Colorado gold find will be used to put some bigger gold into panning bags.  Luck of the draw for the 2 lb., 7.5 to 8 grain concentrate bags, still with ore pieces that fall off of our cleaning processes.  Some of the pieces are 4 grains, so get yours now.  The gold came from the Fairplay area and there are several larger flakes and some small nuggets.  Anyone who knows anything about Colorado can tell you that nuggets in ANY size are a rare find, and usually on private property.

February 23, 2007.

Gold closed for the weekend at $682.90.  A couple of the NEW AUSTRALIAN NUGGETS and the Gold Inlay necklace are up for your inspection on the gold and panning cons page.  I would have had more up today, but they changed my catalog settings and I had to figure out how everything worked again.  It took a little more time than I expected.  That's Ok.  That means you can have more to look at in a day or so, too.  Don't wait too long on these.  Australian gold is very popular and gold is up again today.  Next will be some of the Alaskan gold.  Smaller nuggets, but VERY nice.  Yellow and bright, too. 

February 22, 2007.

Warmer weather is making me itch to get to the mountains, but even thought there isn't much snow on the ground here, there is PLENTY there.  Spring is starting show it's head and it isn't too early for me!  Hopefully, you have put your "snow days" to good use and have your equipment repaired and ready to go soon.  Are all your cons thawed out yet?   Gold is staying up this morning at around $679.  Jefferson County Fairgrounds will be hosting a gem and mineral show this weekend in Denver for those of you who are in the area and might need something to get you out of the house.  I know a LOT of metal detectorists who will be trying to get out in the parks this weekend......even though we are supposed to get some more snow!  Come on SUN!!!!!

February 21, 2007. 

OMG!  Did you see what gold did this morning!!??  $679.90 right now!!!!!   Congratulations to Robert for being the winner of the crystal gold this morning by getting the question of the week.

February 21, 2007.

WOW!  Gold has dropped to $659.60 today and was a bit lower yesterday!  We are pretty well caught up with everything after getting back from Tucson, as you can see from this week's question.  The gold has been gone through and priced and we should get it photographed in the next day or so and put onsite.  Also, the little silver, gold inlay bear necklace.  It's adorable!   The Jefferson County Gem and Mineral show is this weekend at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds and we will be spending a bit of time there on Saturday.  The big Spring Denver show is March 2-4th, so make sure you save some time for that at the Denver Merchandise Mart, as well as two other spots.  I will be in the Emerald booth when I'm not wandering around the show.

February 15, 2007.

Gold is bouncing around today around $666.00, down from about $670 yesterday.   Congratulations to Glenn with 2n's for winning the question of the week.   Well, we had too much snow here yesterday to risk traversing Monument Hill last night for the GPOC meeting.  This morning, the traffic outside was spinning wheels every time someone had to stop for the light and restart.  It was 5 degrees when I got up this morning, and it is now about 29.  We have only been back 4 days and I am already tired of having cold hands and a cold nose.  The weekend looks better, and the first part of next week looks even a little better.  Probably just means we will have another nor'wester come howling in with artic air behind it.  However, I would NOT want to change places with those of you who live back east.  Larry is from Ohio, and his Uncles say that they have had more snow this year than they can ever remember.  For us, March and April are still coming, and they are traditionally the snowiest months of the year.  Don't know what this has to do with gold, but it sure is cold!  LOL!  Gosh, I miss Arizona!  If you want to view a few of the pictures of gold we photographed in Tucson, go to www.hookedongold.blogspot.com to see the latest post.  I also got off on the wrong line when I was posting the Mines and Museums list.  You will find new additions to that page from CREEDE to GOLDEN.  There only about 6 or 7 more to do, so the page will be complete soon. 

February 14, 2007.

Valentines Day!   What a golden opportunity to give gold to your Valentine!  We were able to find some buys at the Convention Center in Tucson that were pretty good.  I have some smaller specimen pieces that are already boxed and marked, some say where they are from, some not, and some VERY nice Alaskan gold from around the Fairbanks area.  Most of this gold is pretty course and shiny, too.  While at the Convention Center, we photographed several large specimen pieces from the Collectors Edge, Mad Muther Mining, (Yup, our own Ed), Colorado Nuggets, (that would be Steve and Bev Rice), and a couple of the diplays that were in the center.  It looks like we have about 20 some odd pictures that will be enough to slideshow.  Also, we photographed a fabulous marble sculpture of a woman sitting on a piano, AND a huge piece of Tiger Eye from western Australia.  The tiger eye and a couple of the specimens are on the blogspot blog.  I have a couple of the Rose Creek oanning pictures on this site as well.  Here, and the Home page, I believe.  All for now.  Candy kisses wrapped in gold foil to all of you for Valentines Day.

February 13, 2007. 

Oh My!  I can't believe it has been a WEEK since I last left a Blog!  Since the 6th we have been even more busy.  A lack of a really good internet connection has had us challenged just to get e-mail downloaded and answered.  Plus having WAY too much FUN!  Too much to blog about today, but I will wet your curiosity for more all of this week on what we did, saw, and what got closed while we were there.  Newsletter people know some of this already.  The 7th found us back at the Fossil and Mineral show at the Inn Suites, where we purchased Australian gold.  Nice big pieces and some that are smaller.  We also got permission to photograph a LOT of fabulous gold specimens that will make their way to the website this week.  We will probably do a slideshow of the pieces for google video, youtube and our own website, so watch for this in the next few weeks.  Too many fabulous pictures to post on the website by themselves, and if we slideshow them we can use someonelses bandwidth to store all of it.  Watch for Australian gold pieces in the catalog, too.  They will range between 3 grams and just under 8 grams.  They won't be cheap, either, as the price of Australian gold is going up more than anyone elses.  I was also able to make an Australian direct dealer contact who will be at the Denver show in September, and that will help with the prices.  If you are interested in anything, (they have the really BIG ones and specimen gold, too) let me know and I will price it for you.  Want an ounce or more?  We can get that, too.   That's enough for today.  Tomorrow I can tell you about the Convention Center buys.

February 6, 2007.

The Tucson Show is as big as we had heard....by at least three times!!!!!  Once you find a place to park for the day, you can shuttle around which gives your feet and brain a nice rest!  We found a chipped opal at a great price, nugget jewelry for the website and have also located some Australian nuggets reasonably priced.  Opals abound, and we contacted several of the vendors we know, most of whom will be setting up tomorrow in the Convention Center to open Thursday through Sunday for the last days of this show.  Next week end will begin another round of more shows.  We will finish viewing what we can tomorrow and spend time with family.  Then a full day at the convention center before we head back to Humbolt and home.  For our first year, we saw a lot, bought a lot, and got around a lot more!  We will not even touch most of the areas as there simply is not enough time to get it all in, but we expected that.  The first trip out anywhere is always exploratory.  The second, you come closer to what you are looking for, and the third is the most productive.  Prospecting is the same way.  We never expect to find anything the first time into a new area.  It always takes time to find "the good stuff". -------Be patient with us on the question of the week.  Get your answers in and we WILL get to them when we have a chance to view the answers. 

February 5, 2006.

Yes, we are in Tucson!  We did not find the arastra we went looking for as it is now located in the Augua Fria National Monument along with a lost treasure we wanted to search for.  So much for that!  We detected near Bummble Bee, and there is a DEEP open shaft at the spot we stopped at, and then in a quartz field and found nails and some of the nicest bull quartz we have seen.  Got a half inch cactus spine lodged in my leg.  Then we were off to Jerome to see the old swimming pool, but the city of Jerome has the area fenced and posted.  Story of our lives, right?  The only gold we have found was in Rose Creek, and that was with the pans.  We do get nice strings out of that creek, though.  So, now we are in Tucson, and we saw a bald eagle perched on a saguaro this morning and did make some good contacts for gold and gold nugget jewelry for the site.   Gold is back down to $648.90 this evening, and we missed the 18 below zero weather in Denver.  We feel SOOOO bad.  NOT!  Popped corn and tequilla around.

February 1, 2007.

Yesterday's trip to the museum was anticlimatic.  For as much mining as was done in Prescott, we thought we would have been able to find more historical information on it.  We did find a few books (4), but not much.  Today we are headed for an arastra for some metal detecting.  Congratulations to our question winner Greg!  Off to have some fun!

January 31, 2007.

YES!  We found GOLD!  It has been raining for the past two days, here, but we did manage to pull out one nice gold on Monday.  Today we are off to the museum and to buy some more books on the area and history.  The weather should clear later today, so we will take the metal detector out tomorrow and see what we can find while the ground is still damp.  Finding a golld connection to upload with has been a challenge, but that is always true when taking the laptop somewhere we haven't used it before.  A nice long blog on the last part of our trip is on blogspot, too.  The question is easy, but it will be the end of the day today before I can get back to the answers, so be patient.  We will have pictures of our gold for you in the next day or so.  That is, unless we find the mother lode! 

January 26, 2007.

We are away and headed to gold tomorrow.  Wonderful trip.  I have posted a longer blog on blogspot for those of you who are interested in how we got here tonight.  The length of it was more than I thought should go here.   For more click on over to www.hookedongold.blogspot.com  I will put really long blogs there for the next two weeks, so bookmark it so I won't need to link it every day .  We changed our route, saw some amazing scenery, and I have a link to a summer activity you might like to read more about, as well as an historic place.  We hear it is snowing in Denver.  Is that true?  We may have gotten out in the nick of time! 

January 25, 2007.

One more day to go before we are off!  Both of us are itching to get our hands in the water gold panning, and swinging the detectors in a couple of days.  It will be great to get away to some warmer weather!  I don't know about you, but I'm tired of being cold, not to mention not being able to even get the pans in the creek for a couple of hours or out to metal detect, what with all the snow on the ground and ice in the creek!  Snow is on the way for Denver again this weekend, but we will be far away by the time the front moves in on Friday afternoon for the 5th weekend in a row.  There are bets on how many consecutive days there will be snow on the ground this year.  Can't be bothered with that right now....we are GOLD dreaming!  YEEHA!

January 24, 2007.

Gold is at $647.40 this afternoon as I post the Question of the week winner and answer.  Winner was Jim, by the way.  Two more days and counting til we are Arizona bound.  The next two weeks questions will be easier, but still fun and informative.  We will be suspending sending out pooptubes, gold and sand orders until we get back February 12th.  Tomorrow, Jan 25th will be last day we can ship before we leave, and there are postings to that effect on the pages this effects.  Look for the beginning of the Mine Tours and Museum page that is now posted.

January 23, 2007.

Alright, for those of you haven't found the links yet, there is a short panning demonstration video on the "Finding Gold" page, and a 3 minute slide show video on the 2006 Colorado Gold Panning Championships on the GPOC temp. page.  Beware that if you have dial up it will take up to an hour to load the GPOC video, and the panning demo could take about 20 minutes.  Other than that, you will find both entertaining.  We are busy getting ready for the Arizona trip this weekend and hoping that the weather cooperates!   The Tucson show sould be a blast.  Anybody watching gold today?  It is sitting at $644.60 as I watch my streamer.  Silver is at $13.14. 

January 19, 2007.

Well,  as you can tell by the lack of blog time, we have been busy....VERY busy as you will see in a day or so.  If you are curious about what we have been up to, cruise the site and see if you can find the BIG changes.  Oh, not to worry.  You WILL know what it (they)is when you find it.  Waiting for Eric to take a look before we send out e-mail and announce it here, but if you are curious take a look for yourself!  Drop us a note and tell us what you think.  If any of you remember the mining tours and museums page we were trying to put up last fall, guess what!  I have decided to go at it in a different way, and I should have enough of it written this weekend to begin sharing it with you.  It won't be complete when it goes live, but new content shared over a period of time is prefered by the search engines.  Big things this year.  Watch us grow!!!!!

January 14, 2007. 

Snow and clouds and wind or sun today.  Decided we had had enough of cabin fever and ventured to the mall on the slick roads, AFTER the walks and drive had the snow shoveled off.  GPR will be having their belated Christmas gathering this Wednesday a 6:30p.m.  Covered dish and dress for Christmas.  The Denver blizzard of 2006, part one, cancelled the festivities, but we ain't a gonna let it dampen our enthusiasm for a party!!!  I have found some interesting prospecting videos for you to look at.  I'll be posting more as time goes by, and we will put some of our own up as well. The link is at the top of the blog so you can find it when you have a minute, and you might want to bookmark it for future watching.  Kind of fun on a cold and windy day.  Some are family vacation stuff, but there are a couple  that are VERY well done.  The one on the Klondike is really worth watching.   You can access it HERE right now as well.

January 13, 2007.

The golden sun is out today and there is plenty of light reflecting off of the snow.  Temperatures are around 5 degrees right now, but there is little wind, so your face  freezes in 2 minutes instead of one.  Anyone who is using the new Internet Explorer 7.0, (the one that came loaded on the new computer you got at Christmas) will have difficulty veiwing some websites, including this one, until all the webhost get the buge worked out of makeing the new software work.  If you know someone who is using it and views this site, please pass on the infomraiton as they may not be able to read it on this page.  Everything gets scrammbled with other stuff or the pages get "folded over".  Thanks for being patient.  Tech will resolve the problem as soon as possible.

January 11, 2007.

Wish it were a golden day today, but it is grey.  The ground is grey, the sky is grey, and so is my mood.  We will be putting up the newsletter in a slightly different template this week.  This one will allow a picture on the side bar.   I may have deleted last week's newsletter by mistake, so anyone looking to download it today may find it missing.  It seems to have stayed in any downloads prior to today.  We will add the DIY links from last week to this week so everyone will have those.  Also, I have found some prospecting, panning, and equipment use videos that I will be putting into a videosense file by themselves for you to see.  I'll let you know the link as soon as I am finished uploading them.  We will, also, be putting together a slide show video with some of the pictures we collected from the Colorado State Panning Championships this last August.  Get out your UV lamps and stay warm if you are out here in the west.  We will be in the deep freeze with - 0 temps for the next 5 days or so.  Pray that our snow shovels don't break, 'cause you can't find another one!

January 9, 2007.

With the lull between storms, (yeah, we're gonna get hit again on Friday), I've had a bit of time to start getting up some of the MXT settings for you.  Gold is back down to 611, but up from the 601.50 low of last week.  There is more information on gold and prospecting roaming around in my head than I have time to write and put up sites for it all.  That coupled with cleaning the house from the holidays and shoveling snow everytime the wind blows has kept us busy since the first of the year.  We are certainly hoping we get out of this weather pattern soon, or our trip to Tuscon at the end of the month, could be down the drain!  New Mexico and northern Arizona don't look much better than we do.  Enjoy the warm weather tomorrow before the next one moves in. 

January 6, 2007.

Did anyone watch gold plummet from 624 to 605 yesterday?  We got another 8 inches of snow yesterday which brings our total here at the house to 39 inches since the Thursday before New Year's and after the first day of winter.  Good news, though.  We will have balmy days next week ahead of the next system.  Yup, could be another BIG snowstorm headed our way Thursday and Friday.  Should give us plenty of time to separate gold.  Oops, nope, we'll probably be shoveling snow for days again.  Our oldest son up in Greeley, had a "good samaratin" come to the house and offer to use his snowblower to clear their driveway and walks......for 50 bucks!  Snowblower must have been MADE of gold!  Now, I don't mind people making a dollar to do this type of thing, but come one, that's a bit steep!  If you had it done for the three storms we have had in 2 weeks, that would have been $150.00 already for just the one house.  AND they RENT!  Anyway, those of you who have the good weather can still separate your cons outside.  The rest of us will either wait until the snow stops or do it indoors.  Separate gold, that is.  LOL!

Jan. 4, 2007.

OMG!  Today the home page is GONE!  I have an e-mail in to my host to try and find out what the problem is.  Don't panic!  I'll try not to. 

January 3, 2007.

Question of the week is back! Pictures of the Denver Blizzard of 2006 have been put into the computer and are being uploaded this week. Check the HOME page for the first one of Larry and his snow shovel. Others will be posted on the Events Page and maybe here as well. The snow and the time it has taken to deal with it has left us with little time to get to the MXT page to post the new information on settings we have, but we will have that up as soon as we can.

JANUARY 1, 2007.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Was your New Year's Eve GREAT?  We spent ours with friends, dinner, and good conversation, and then sleeping late this morning.  (Hey, we didn't get home until 1:00 a.m.)  The news this morning was grim, however, as we heard the report of Darrent Williams, Denver Broncos defensive back, being shot and killed at 2:00 a.m. after an altercation with others at a bar.  He and his companions left the bar and were followed to their stretch hummer where he was shot to death.  No word on whether the shooter was caught.  We certainly thought we would have better news this morning to report, but this event seems to warrant mentioning.  All of you who are getting the reader newsletter will notice that the links are now yellow and can be read much better.  The code for changing it was buried in an area  that was unexpected.  (The usual routes didn't work).  We also have found a template that may actually work to replace the basic one that we are using now, and if we can get the font size a little bigger, we will have a new one for this week.  Also, watch for the first question of the new year on Wednesday.  With all the Holiday activities, we are sure you didn't miss us .......much.  LOL!  May you find more golden treasures this year than you found last year, and may you accomplish all your New Year's Resolutions

December 30, 2006.

The sun is shinning here today!  The clouds are moving south and east and we all hope they won't be back this year!  LOL!  We ended up with about 12 inches total for the two days, which was NOT accompanied by wind.  Out east the wind is fierce and has I-70 still closed due to blowing snow and drifts 7 feet high.  We stayed in and cleaned gold.  A great passtime..... better than puzzles!  Also, chipping ice which is coming up in great chunks.  The sky is so blue right now that it hurts your eyes!  Where will you be New Year's Eve?  Have you decided who you will kiss at midnight?

December 29, 2006.

It's hard to go searching for gold when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground and 8 more inches comin'!  LOL!  White, white, white.  Even the clouds are the same color as the snow.  This storm dumped about 9 inches on us so far, but they are saying we could get another 10 inches before it leaves........Sunday!  At least we are not getting the high winds we got with the last one, and the airport has been able to stay open with very limited flights in and out.  I-70 is closed out east with high winds that have made the highway a skating rink, and west traffic sat while emergency crews tried to get around the jam to clear the wrecks.  Me, I'm working on the computer looking for html templates to use, drinking chocolate and wrapped in my farorite fleece blanket.  Larry went to work this morning at 5:00 a.m., even though the Gov declared a state of emergency.  Men and big 4 wheel drive trucks......go figure.  LOL!  For those of you not in the deep freeze, just remember.....you'll get it next, 'cause it's comin' your way.  Hopefully you won't have snow but then again, maybe it is better than the ice storms.  Long weekend coming up.  Happy New Year to all of you!

December 28, 2006.

Snow is falling here at 11:00 a.m., and we could get another 1 to 2 feet in the city.  For those of you who still get the newsletter by e-mail, I went to find it to edit it, and the 22nd edition was no where, so I hope you got it!  The new reader is so much better in delivery it isn't funny.  If you haven't downloaded it yet, you will need to, to continue getting the newsletter.  Instructions are on the panning tips page.   We will be adding to the site this winter, but we will be doing that with satellite websites instead of on this site alone.  The embedded codes will make it look like you are still here, but the background will be different as this format is only on this webhost.  Several more satellite websites will give us more and better coverage in cyberspace than just the one.  The new ones will be specific to one type of prospecting and will all be linked together for easy navigation among them.  Adding to this site exclusively would cost us more than putting up several smaller sites on another webhost would.   It will be yet another adventure for us this year in our ongoing attempts to make our website the best it can be.  Anyone who has information they would like us to consider for use can forward copies to hookedongold@msn.com  and we will review them for content relevancy.  We have had several readers send us information that we can use on our pages and share that information with you.  Thanks to all who have participated this past year, and also to those who have given assistance in oh, so many ways.  YOU are the reason we continue, and YOU are the reason will be better! 

December 27, 2006.

Ah, 6 days of holiday bliss!  Of course, during those 6 days we spent most of them digging out SOMEONE, somewhere.  We were thinking of putting the snow shovel in the truck, but everyone had one we could use.  AND we are supposed to get another 10 to 18 inches of snow tomorrow and Friday.  Did you have a GREAT holiday?  We did!  Most everyone did without something at their holiday table, as the stores were out of everything fresh and eggs and milk.  But, it is the time together that is important, not the food.  Yeah, I know you all expect to stuff yourselves this time of year, but if you couldn't, would it completely ruin your days with family and friends?  I would hope not.  To Auntie Marlene.......the chocolate covered pretzels are DELICIOUS!  Question of the Week will resume next Wednesday.  Hope you will be watching for it!  Our "After Christmas" sale on gold is now going on.  Get yours before the first of the year for the best price.  Many of our affiliates also have stuff on sale, so check them out as well.  This time next week will be a new year.  We sincerely hope your past year was what you wanted it to be.  You have all contributed to making ours a great one.  Next year will be just as good and probably better!  Good Prospecting To You in all you do.  GOLD is up today!

December 21, 2006.

I hear that the rest of the country is moving around today.  We on the Front Range of Colorado are digging out from one of the worst storms on record.  Not just a lot of snow, but winds that whipped the snow into huge drifts and left some motorists stranded on highways for more than 8 hours. Cars that high centered were abandoned where they stopped, and we, here, got around 23 inches of snow and it is still falling, although more slowly.  We dug out 3 times yesterday and there was another 10 inches on the ground to shovel this morning.  5 to 6 THOUSAND people were stranded at DIA, and the airport will not open before late tonight or tomorrow morning.  The snow is still being blown around out east making visibility very bad and the highways icy.  Most roads in Colorado are closed.  By contrast, Colorado Springs and Pueblo are reported to have gotten around 6 to 8 inches in the same amount of time.  Tomorrow will be a better day!  Stay warm.

December 19, 2006.

Are you having a Merry Holiday week?  We will get snow tomorrow that will stay until Christmas, so we will have one of our  white Christmases.  You would think we would have a white one more often, but more than half are not white.  Our first celebration was this past weekend with our kids, most of whom will be driving to Iowa for Christmas.  We have 3 parties this week, Christmas Eve and Christmas day with family.  After that, we can relax and go back to work!  LOL!  If we do not get back to the blog this week, we want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas week filled with all that you want, with lots of loved ones around - family and friends.  Stay tuned after the New Year for the prospectors diet and exercise program coming to you in the Newsletter delivered by the new 'Reader"  You can get that HERE!

December 14, 2006.

Our question winner came up with 9 Christmas Carols/Hymns with the word Gold in the titles.  I' m sure there are more, but this was a contest to see who could come up with the most within the first day.   If you are still shopping for last minute Christmas ideas, hobbytron is running some very nice specials with free shipping, sales, and coupons listed above.  Check these guys out.  Their site is really good! 

We have apparently been having a problem with our shopping cart, and a reader pointed it out to us yesterday.  We spent the day troubleshooting it and trying so find someone who could fix the problems, while jumping through hoops for everyone to find the problem.  We are happy to report that the cart is up and runnng again, and appologize to anyone who was inconvenienced by it.  Unless someone tells about some of these things, we can't know about them as we are not in a habit of ordering our own stock.  Many thanks to Mark for pointing it out so we could get it fixed.  He is being awarded a 2 lb. bag of MQS Magic Panning Sand for alerting us to this very important problem. 

December 13, 2006.

How's your gold prosecting going this month?  The only prospecting it seems that we have done is at the malls.......for gold jewery.  LOL!!!  We've also been prospecting the internet for more.  As Christmas approaches, we find less and less time to update the website, so the Question of the week this week, will be the last for this year.  We will resume the fun January 3, 2007.  Rejoin the Question then to see what the first question of the new year will be.  In the mean time, we will be working on site changes.  Remember to download your reader for the newlsetter.  We wil not be sending it out in the two formats for long......too much work to do both as neither version transfers to the other.  The new desktop reader is an RSS feed directly to your taskbar icon, and is safer for you to get than e-mail.  Also, you WILL get it.  That link is HERE.

December 8, 2006.

Ok, here it is.  The contest is over and your text link is here and on the newsletter page.

http://downloads.desktopsubscriber.com//reader/win/146/354

The new reader is FREE, more efficient, faster, guaranteed delivery, safer than e-mail, easily opted out of and uninstalled.  All of this type of mail will be converting over in the next year or so, so download your copy now.  YOU WILL NOT BE ADDED TO ANYONE ELSES LIST…..EVER!  Readers are purely up to you whether you wish to receive information from the provider of the reader, and you can opt out any time you want to with ease.  Information collected is: first and last name, company (That one is for you to put in your Colorado Club affiliation so we can get information to only you), State and Country.  Those last two are only ‘cause we would like to know how many states and countries we send to.  You will get a yellow “caution” sign on your taskbar that will let you access your messages, delete them, mark as read, or read.  Right click on it to see the option menu.  You will get a “pinging” pop up when there is a new message for you.  IF YOU GET A SECURITY WARNING WHEN YOU CLICK THE LINK, pick “yes” to continue your download.  Your filters are only trying to make sure you know what is going on. .   That’s all there is to it. You are welcome to contact us if you have any problems at hookedongold@msn.com.   

December 7, 2006.

March 27, 2006.

Did anyone see the half of Colorado that blew into Kansas on Sunday?  If you did, please return it!  At 70 miles an hour, it probably didn't take any of it very long to get there.  Sunday was warm, but too windy to even stand up outside, but Saturday was beautiful and Friday evening was very nice.  The metal detector got a great work out on both days, Saturday with one of the grandchildren in the back of the townhouse.  The picture says it all!  Yes, we were able to afford dinner again.  Both of us have to treat the sunburn, though.  I can't remember ever getting sunburned in March before.  65 degrees will do that.  The weather is warming up, and the rest of the week looks good, except for Thursday, when we are supposed to get a little rain.  That's OK.  We just hate it when we have to slide around on it when it's frozen!  The eastern part of Colorado is still extremely dry and we are getting wild fires every week or so.  A little more wetness would be good.  The mountains continue to get snow each week, but not quite as much as earlier in the season.  Wolf Creek caught up with its averages with several really big storms.  One dumped 100 inches on the area. 

March 23, 2006.

The weather looks like it might cooperate this weekend for some metal detecting.  Temps are supposed to stay in the 50's, so, after watching the spelling bee and wrestling match with our grandchildren, we should have a bit of time for ourselves!  The weather looks like it will be good for the next week.  GPOC is supposed to have their small equipment use day at the Mining Museum in Colorado Springs on Saturday.  Anyone in the area who would be interested in seeing how some of the small equipment is used should mosey out there and take a look.     

March 21, 2006.

Whoa! I didn't realize it had been so long since I had posted anything!  We've been busy revamping the site.  The question of the week has its' own page now.  We have been able to get more menu buttons to show up in more places this week as well.  Hopefully it will make the sites' navigation easier.  That's about all we can do what with all this SNOW!  Three more days in the deep freeze.  I think spring and winter are confused.  Dredging season on the Arkansas starts in less than two weeks, and I can't even leave the house for very long without freezing my fingers off.  Puts a right nasty damper on metal detecting as well.  Sure is a bummer when you can't make prospecting meetings.  We are completely in the dark about what GPOC is doing!  They are supposed to be having an outing at the Mining Museum this weekend, but we haven't heard a whisper as to whether it is going off or not.  We hear that the Beaver Creek claims will be under severe restrictions this year due to too much damage.  NO MOTORS, is what we hear.  Panning and sluicing exclusively.  More as we hear more.  The weather should be heating up soon.  Good Prospecting to you.  

March 14, 2006.

Taxes - What can I say?  Gotta be done sometime, and better sooner than later!  Saturday, Hooked on Gold joined Gold Prospectors of the Rockies for an all day panning demo with the Boys Scouts of America in Highlands Ranch teaching scout leaders about how to pan, prospecting, and equipment use, so they can take it back to their troops.  What a terrific bunch of people!  Both the scouts and GPR. 

March 12,2006.

Newsletter is late, cause the taxes can't be!  Why taxes?  Snow and cold.  More on what we did this weekend tomorrow.  Stay Tuned!

March 8, 2006.

Snow in the city today.  3-6 inches!  Welcome moisture, but it may prevent us from cruising down to Colorado Springs for GPOC's meeting tonight.  BUMMER!  Dan Gerard from the BLM is speaking on what will be going on on the Arkansas River this year, and any changes in BLM regs for the rest of the state. Ah, well, we will have to get our info second hand on this, I guess.  Maybe the snow gods will be kind and gives us less snow tonight, but we really NEED the moisture here. 

The question was too easy!  We already have a winner for the gold!  Congratulations to Glenn for a correct answer.  Visit the question page to see the answer.  The next one will be put up on Sunday night.  What Fun!  The 2 grain vial of gold that is the prize is from the Madd Muther Mine in Nevada.  Real sparkely . 

March 5, 2006.

Wow! What a beautiful day!  Too bad we were stuck indoors at the Gem show in Denver looking at all those FABULOUS gemstones!  Our good friend Pedro has the MOST beautiful emeralds!  His Columbian mines produce really nice material; facetted and rough crystals.  Yum.  Next Sunday we should be doing a panning demo with about 500 Boy Scout Leaders with Gold Prospectors of the Rockies. 

March 3, 2006.

Well, all has turned out well.  The surgery has gone terrifically, and mother is up and walking around already.  (Big Sigh of relief)!  Thanks for all of your support, prayers, and patience this past week.  We are once again moving forward with getting the pooptube kit together, and putting more gold for sale on the site.  I am hopeful we will find a source for more prospecting supplies as the spring comes. The newsletter will be back up this next week, as well.  If you aren't getting it yet, sign up for it on the tips page.  Hey, give us some feedback on the question of the week.  Not many answers lately, but there seems to be a lot of interest in the answers.  If you like this spot, let us know so we will know if we should keep it going or not.  We will if you all like it, even though you don't answer.  It's fun for us to find the questions and get some fun information out there. 

Feb. 26. 2006.

Mom is back in the hospital and scheduled for open heart surgery this Wed.  Things will be slow around here for a little while, so bear with us while we tend to important family business.  We are working on getting the kit together for the corregated mini sluice package and getting more gold posted on the site.  The blog page upgrade will be coming along soon, as well.  Good prospecting to all of you as the weather warms and the streams have less ice, and warmer weather will find you out with the metal detectors.

Feb. 22, 2006.

My Mom was in the hospital this past week, so I have been delayed getting the new blog page started.  She is fine now.  The weather is supposed to be really good this weekend, so Hooked On Gold is itching to get out and play.  March is already filling up with panning demos with GPR, and big Gem show and a big wrestling tournament with our grandsons.  We will let you know how the weekend goes.  We are supposed to have temps in the 60's next week.  A welcome change from 19 below LAST weekend!

Feb. 18, 2006.

Wow! That week went FAST!  Hooked on Gold has been working on finding a really good blog page to add to this site.  Everyone seems to like to keep up with it as we have had a lot of hits on it since it was begun.  Since it has been cold most of the week, it has given me time to search and ask questions.  Soon,  I will be putting the new page up, so watch for it.  (By the way, it was -12 degrees here this morning).  BBRRRRRRR!  Taking pictures of gold has been a problem with the old camera, and so we now have a new one that can take closeups MUCH better.  We should have some more gold in the catalog before too long.  It closed Friday at $551.80, in case you didn't notice.  Down from the high over 570, but still not bad.  I wonder what will happen to silver once the new ETF (Electronically Traded Fund) is unleashed.  Check out mineweb.com for some industry news.  The article on mining/energy partnerships was interesting.  Looks like the big boys have decided they need to band together.  It is interesting what the environmentalists who were at the meeting DIDN'T say as much as what they did say.

Feb. 12, 2006.

The snow has kept Hooked on Gold indoors this weekend watching the Olympics and working on the new downloadable video on using a corregated mini sluice.  Man, can those guys on skis FLY!  I guess snow is good for something.  LOL!  When I can figure out my new software to burn this video and also be able to download it I will have it on the website.  Look for it.  And now to go and post the new question of the week. 

Feb. 11, 2006.

SNOW IN THE CITY! Ppbbbbbbbbbfth!

Feb. 5, 2006.

Got to go out with the metal detectors yesterday, and the weather was reasonable.  About 45 degrees and just a breeze.  Not like this morning when it was blowing at 80 to 90 miles an hour at dawn!  Glad to be indoors for the Super Bowl today!!  We tried a park about a half hour away, but it must get hunted, 'cause we only found a couple of quarters and a couple of pennies.  The dry soil this winter really messes with the signals.  We dug stuff that should have registered as trash, which means we walked over stuff that should have been dug.  Ah, well.  Another day!  I've had a lot to put together on the calendar and events page, so publishing this week has been slow.  February is warming up again with the end of the week in the mid 50's.  Everyone around here is worrying about flooding this spring what with all the snow, and it just keeps coming!

Feb. 2, 2006.

Happy Ground Hogs Day!  So, will you have 6 more weeks of winter where you are, or not?  Seems like the three major ground hogs could not agree this morning.  Something about clouds.  I know I'm SICK of the wind we have had this winter.  While the temperatures have been mild, the 40 mile an hour wind makes it feel 15 degrees colder.  Brrrrrrrr!  Sucks the heat right out of the house as well, and keeps the furnace running.  At least there have been a few weekends to go metal detecting and panning.  Still looking at doing some hunting this weekend before the Super Bowl.  I got a surprise in my change this last week.  Someone had spent their buffalo head nickels and I got one in change.  Not a piece of junk, either.  Everything is visible and it has little wear.  VERY nice find!  Anybody got their eyes and ears open about that SILVER Electronically Traded Fund that may get approved in the next few weeks?  Could make silver very interesting.  So, who do you think will win the Super Bowl  this Sunday? 

Jan 30, 2006.

Happy Chinese New Year!  No luck with the one armed bandits, but the beavers have been busy on North Clear Creek!  Last year there were several dams on the creek, but this year it looks like there are a few more.  Lots of skating ponds.  We looked over the areas we always want to prospect and never seem to get to, all the way to Blackhawk.   The wind was fierce coming off the snow, and blew around 40 to 50 miles an hour, with the high in Central City at about freezing. Temperatures will still be in the mid 50's here in the Denver area and snow in the mountains this week.  The northern and central mountains have in excess of 150% of snowpack, and almost 60% now down on Wolf Creek Pass.  And MARCH, usually our snowiest month, is coming!  The weekend is shaping up to be a metal detecting weekend, so we may head for the park.  I am collecting a long list of question for all of you as I read through my gold library this winter.  Are you ready?

Jan. 27,2006.

I've been going back over Ben Parkers yellow books  about the placer deposits in Colorado since December, and BOY, is there more stuff in there than I remember!  Of, course, each time you review them, you see more of what you are interested in NOW, as opposed to what you were interested in THEN.  Always gives me more to look for each year I read them.  There are SO many opportunities to explore, and SO little time.  His blue book version can be found on the prospecting books page.  The yellow books are his thesis from the Colorado School of Mines and gets pretty technical.  Repairing and replacing equipment is high on the priority list right now, but with all this fantastic weather here on the Front Range, it's hard to stay at home and get it done.  I think I may take a day and go visit the one armed bandits up in Black Hawk and Central City.  It's still a little cold up there to do much else, and the ice on the river banks makes it hard to get to the water too.  We will be up in Roxborough Park at the new Library with Gold Prospectors of the Rockie for a panning demonstration for their opening.  Sure wish someone would answer that question correctly.  I HATE not being able to give away the gold! 

Jan. 24, 2006.

Well, all those prospectors out there are starting to get antsy.  I can't blame them!!!!  The weather is warming up here again this week, and with February coming, we MAY be out of the coldest weather time of the year.  We can only hope.  The ski areas are in heaven with all of the snow.  the Northern and Central mountains are reporting in excess of 120% of snowpack.  The melt should bring some gold out of the mountains for us this year.  However, with that much snow around the rivers could stay high for a while.  April 1st could be interesting.

Jan 19, 2006.

Snows here today.  First we have had in town for a month or more.  Last nights meeting with Gold Prospectors of the Rockies was good.  Lots of prospecting talk, the latest finds, and information.  A panning demo will be held at the new library at Roxburough Park on Jan 28th from 1:00 to 4:00.  EVERYONE is ready to hit the river, and some do.  The water is COLD!  As to that review on the Trinity Bowl, it's coming.  I'vebeen busy changing stie styles, and relinking everything.  Thanks to Dick for finding the broken line for me since I changed the name.  I found another one as well, and I THOUGHT I had tested all of them.   NOT!  Sorry to anyone who tried the broken links.  Hopefully they are all fixed now.  If not, please let me know.  Another big football weekend coming up, so I don't know how much prostepting we will get in, but you never know! 

Jan. 14, 2006.

Ah, what a beautiful day!  We took the pans out on Clear Creek in Golden and gave the new trinity bowl a try.  A first time out reveiw will be posted later this week on the gold pans page.  Look for it.  THE BRONCOS WON AGAINST THE NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS!  Wasn't pretty, but what can you do when you are handed the ball so many times?  The Pats sure couldn't hold on to it very well.  Way too many errors.  Probably due to the "rarified" air.  Snow is in the forecast for early Monday morning here on the Front Range - 1 to 6 inches, and temps mearer to normal for the rest of the week.  Sure wish the wind would quit, though.  It's makin' folks jittery.  Thanks to all of you have visited the site recently and all of your kind comments on it.  We are humbled that we have been able to entertain, amuse, and inform you.  With the colder weather, maybe we can get some more equipment put together for the catalog.  We will be attending the Gold Prospectors of the Rockies monthly meeting this Wednesday.  Always a good night out with terrific folks.  If you are out and about, maybe we will "see you onthe river".

Jan. 13, 2006.

Whoa! Friday the thirteenth!  Scary for some, but I have always found it LUCKY!  The weather is TOO nice here in the Mile-Hi city for January.  It is making it REALLY hard to get that repair stuff done to equipment.  The Broncos play tomorrow against New England.  With the Stock Show also in full swing, and the terrific weather this January, the town is jumping.  Maybe I will get out with that new pan tomorrow before the Broncos play.  I don't know.  It is only supposed to be 66 tomorrow.  AND NO WIND!!!  You would think this was March the way everything is blowing around here.  The mountains continue to get slamed with snow.  Wolf Creek Pass is still dry for this time of year, but March and April are still coming, and thehighs will probably change by then and send the snowclouds south.  They've had more that their share the last 10 years, so it is probably about time for a dry year for them.  Not that I would wish that on any area in Colorado.  Drought here means REALLY tough times for those downstream as well.  Water issues NEVER go away here.  If the weather would get bad, I could get more poop tubes built, and then there is that bucket classifyer.  Ah, well, February is coming.

Jan. 12, 2006.

Wed. we made that long trip to Colorado Springs and the Gold Prospectors of Colorado meeting.  What a neat bunch of people!  Their new presidnet knows his stuff and the club is in good hands.  The January meeting is usually small, but there were still about 45 hands on board.  The plan for this year is to have more common group get togethers at their claims.  There are several new members who would like to learn how to use various pieces of equipment, so us old timers will get to show our stuff this summer.  Should be some good times!  Have you been watching gold this week?  It's been jumping around 540 to 550.  Makin me itch to sell some of that 250.  If the wind don't blow too hard this weekend I might get to take that new trinity bowl out for some testing, maybe around Golden.

Jan. 8, 2006.

What a difference a day makes!  The wind woke us up this morning about 12:30 a.m. howling away at about 70 miles an hour.  No sleeping was done until it subsided about an hour later.  Even after that, it blew HARD.  No metal detecting today.  Too windy to keep the headphones on!  Still dry here, but lots of snow in the high country.

Jan. 7, 2006.

Wow!  The end of the first week in January already!  The weather here in Denver was FABULOUS today.  We were almost 70 degrees, and the wind gave us a break!  Hooked on Gold took the metal detectors out to the park and came home with LOTS of trash, and enough coins to buy a couple of tacos.  Hey, at least we ate!  LOL!