Never too old
Posted by Badger Bill at 3/2/2008 1:51 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
I've heard all my life that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks". I've also heard that we should be adding to our knowledge and improving our talents continually, all our lives. I'm casting my official vote in favor of the stand that we are never too old to learn and that only when we stop trying to learn and to progress does it get more difficult to do so.
Recently, my brother Tom and I were trying to figure out how to add hyperlinks to our online sporting goods store, www.cougarhollow.biz so that we could trade hyperlinks with the Gold Prospecting Association of America and not only help our customers that are interested in prospecting to find the GPAA's website, but also get people who are visiting their site to link over to ours in order to find a place to find a large inventory of prospecting equipment at good prices. Neither Tom nor I are anything approaching computer gurus and find ourselves lacking in this area quite often. We are, however, learning. We now knew that we needed to learn enough about HTML coding that we then could figure out how and where to post the hyperlink instructions in our site programing to tell the program how to link the user over to the proper URL address. It did take some time to figure it all out (even though it's very simple to do once you get the basics down...as with most things) and we finally were able to do it. With gold at an all time high and so much of it still out there to be found (and I'm not kidding you about this) many people are looking back to the land to help augment their budgets. I looked tonight and gold closed out on the world markets at $973.00 per ounce. It's been bouncing around in that area since about October or so and many people think that it is bound to go over $1000 per ounce before it's finished. Weather this is true or not, this is still an awfully lot for gold. Most people don't know how much gold it takes to make a troy ounce (gold is measured in "troy" weights, which vary slightly from "standard" weights). Generally speaking, a gold coin approximately the size of a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, or so, is about equal to an ounce. That would be about $970 dollars or so as far as "bullion" or bulk gold is concerned. If your gold is in the form of true naturally formed nuggets (still not all that hard to find with a metal detector as well as other methods in many areas) then the price or value of the nugget goes way up and you could be looking at between $2500 to $9000 per ounce depending on the uniqueness and beauty of the nugget.
Even forgetting prospecting as such, With the price of gold what it is, coin and relic hunting with a metal detector still has people going out and having a very fun time learning this hobby that to some is a true family endeavor. I have seen total novices swinging a metal detector for the first time and find rings and coins that were very valuable and impressive. One friend of mine found an old metal detector at a yard sale several years ago and took it outside to practice with it and to get the feel of it. He was just walking up the sidewalk in front of his own house, passing the head of the detector over the cement and then the lawn as he walked. When it sounded off, he said that he really didn't believe that it could be anything of any importance, but he was curious about what could have set the thing off, so he took a screwdriver that he had with him, and "dug the target". It turned out to be a gold ring with ruby stones in it that appraised at $3000 plus. You never know. I've seen kids as young as 10 and 12 years old with their own inexpensive detectors out in fields and picknick areas doing quite well. More importantly, they were having a ball, getting their exercise and doing something constructive rather than some other things that kids could get interested in.
We've been having fun at our house this last couple of days. We have had six and sometimes seven of my grandkids here for a bit of an extended stay. They have had to share sleeping facilities with each other, but have been very good about doing so. I'm continually amazed at how young kids seem to be able to learn things today. I do attribute a large part of it to the fantastic jobs that their folks are doing at home schooling the kids, but I also wonder if the kids themselves are predisposed to learning more and faster with the PBS programs and access to computers and all that they have that we did not have when I was growing up. However they are getting it, they really are getting it!!! This same learning and assimilating of knowledge not only applies to the academic areas, but also the the gospel that they are being taught at an earlier age. My folks taught us the gospel and I think that we were at least normal in what we were retaining about the scriptures and all, but if put up against the kids of today, I fear that we would look like we had been playing hooky instead of doing our studies. These kids not only can tell you the stories and the lessons to be learned from these stories, but also the principles that pertain to it all. I think that they truly do have testimonies of it's truthfulness. I'm proud to be their grandpa.
Sooner,
Badger Bill
Recently, my brother Tom and I were trying to figure out how to add hyperlinks to our online sporting goods store, www.cougarhollow.biz so that we could trade hyperlinks with the Gold Prospecting Association of America and not only help our customers that are interested in prospecting to find the GPAA's website, but also get people who are visiting their site to link over to ours in order to find a place to find a large inventory of prospecting equipment at good prices. Neither Tom nor I are anything approaching computer gurus and find ourselves lacking in this area quite often. We are, however, learning. We now knew that we needed to learn enough about HTML coding that we then could figure out how and where to post the hyperlink instructions in our site programing to tell the program how to link the user over to the proper URL address. It did take some time to figure it all out (even though it's very simple to do once you get the basics down...as with most things) and we finally were able to do it. With gold at an all time high and so much of it still out there to be found (and I'm not kidding you about this) many people are looking back to the land to help augment their budgets. I looked tonight and gold closed out on the world markets at $973.00 per ounce. It's been bouncing around in that area since about October or so and many people think that it is bound to go over $1000 per ounce before it's finished. Weather this is true or not, this is still an awfully lot for gold. Most people don't know how much gold it takes to make a troy ounce (gold is measured in "troy" weights, which vary slightly from "standard" weights). Generally speaking, a gold coin approximately the size of a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, or so, is about equal to an ounce. That would be about $970 dollars or so as far as "bullion" or bulk gold is concerned. If your gold is in the form of true naturally formed nuggets (still not all that hard to find with a metal detector as well as other methods in many areas) then the price or value of the nugget goes way up and you could be looking at between $2500 to $9000 per ounce depending on the uniqueness and beauty of the nugget.
Even forgetting prospecting as such, With the price of gold what it is, coin and relic hunting with a metal detector still has people going out and having a very fun time learning this hobby that to some is a true family endeavor. I have seen total novices swinging a metal detector for the first time and find rings and coins that were very valuable and impressive. One friend of mine found an old metal detector at a yard sale several years ago and took it outside to practice with it and to get the feel of it. He was just walking up the sidewalk in front of his own house, passing the head of the detector over the cement and then the lawn as he walked. When it sounded off, he said that he really didn't believe that it could be anything of any importance, but he was curious about what could have set the thing off, so he took a screwdriver that he had with him, and "dug the target". It turned out to be a gold ring with ruby stones in it that appraised at $3000 plus. You never know. I've seen kids as young as 10 and 12 years old with their own inexpensive detectors out in fields and picknick areas doing quite well. More importantly, they were having a ball, getting their exercise and doing something constructive rather than some other things that kids could get interested in.
We've been having fun at our house this last couple of days. We have had six and sometimes seven of my grandkids here for a bit of an extended stay. They have had to share sleeping facilities with each other, but have been very good about doing so. I'm continually amazed at how young kids seem to be able to learn things today. I do attribute a large part of it to the fantastic jobs that their folks are doing at home schooling the kids, but I also wonder if the kids themselves are predisposed to learning more and faster with the PBS programs and access to computers and all that they have that we did not have when I was growing up. However they are getting it, they really are getting it!!! This same learning and assimilating of knowledge not only applies to the academic areas, but also the the gospel that they are being taught at an earlier age. My folks taught us the gospel and I think that we were at least normal in what we were retaining about the scriptures and all, but if put up against the kids of today, I fear that we would look like we had been playing hooky instead of doing our studies. These kids not only can tell you the stories and the lessons to be learned from these stories, but also the principles that pertain to it all. I think that they truly do have testimonies of it's truthfulness. I'm proud to be their grandpa.
Sooner,
Badger Bill
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