Sweet Spring Rain

Life is full of treasures, but your imagination must help you see them.

Since the birds started chirping I've been itching to get the family outside. This Sunday morning comes with the sweet smell of rain and opportunity.

Instead off heading off to Sunday service, my wife and I cram the kids and dogs into the old minivan and head off for adventure. Our informal destination is Squaw Butte to find placer opals, but we are more interested in getting out of the house and into some fresh air.

On the way to Emmett one of the dogs loses his lunch in back of the van. Earlier, my wife had gently reminded me that we might want to consider taking Jo Jo back to the house after remembering an epispode of illness last year. I was too anxious to continue the journey so I offered to clean up the mess if there was one. There was one, a big one - but it cleans up well. The Emmett Stinker Station has very powerful vacuum cleaner.

After a healthy lunch of Subway subs and Sonic coneys we headed North for opalescent treasure.

Shortly after leaving Emmett the clouds gave us rain. Wonderful rain that would come down thick for a few minutes and then suddenly stop.

Before long we saw the Butte looming in the distance touching strong dark storm clouds.



Then, we run across our first chest of treasure - a dead porcupine. I see the dead critter and yell the siting back to the kids. My oldest son Jesse urgently and promptly tells me to stop the car. I do and the next thing I know kids are hopping out of the van. The wife and I giggle first and then yell at the kids, "Don't touch the body, touch only the quills". To add to the moment, Jo Jo decides to offer up what he has left to give into the back of the van - I'm back on the job.



The rain starts coming down really hard. We yell at the kids to come back to the van. My daughter informs me that the guts were hanging out. My youngest boy has a queazy yet fascinated look on his face and informs me that the dead porcupine's teeth are orange. The nice thing about hard rain -- it removes stench from the air. We obtain treasure # 1: A porcupine quill.

A little later we arrive at the turnout for lookout road; the last road up to Squaw Butte. Due to the rain, lookout road is muddy - we will definitely get stuck in the minivan. I decide to turn around and go to plan B - just wing it.

After driving around on the better gravel roads Jesse tells me to stop again. This time he sees some sage hen close to the road. Since we're stopped I let the dogs and kids out. The kids and dogs run and play to their hearts content. This happens a few more times on our journey in the hills. We see whistle pig, a hawk, a lightning storm attack a distant mountain, a dead coyote and calf, even a small nest of eggs that we leave untouched.



There are more treasures before I decide to head back down to Emmett: a few rocks, some shotgun and rifle shells, a long stick, even a copper slug.

I Sunday drive around the back country of Emmett for a while and then head East up Black Canyon road to see the dam.


The kids play.


At the dam, Jesse finds a chunk of basalt that has pretty white lines running throughout. I look closer at the white lines. They look a lot like opal.

We head home - a great day.