—>This is a goodly sized piece of raw copper ore we found on the roadside on the Duvall Mine Road [or is it Duval, with one "L"...can't remember] just south of Tucson while we were leaving the Titan Missle Museum near Green Valley Arizona. And naturally, when I saw it laying on the roadside I had to stop the car and back up to retrieve it. Bud of course, couldn’t believe that I actually wanted to pick up a ‘rock’ and tote it home. [there's more to this story, hang tight!] Anyway, he obliged me, got out of the car, I opened the hood from inside the car [there are rattlesnakes galore, and I wasn't about to step foot out of the car, are you kiddin'?]. He lifted the ore into the trunk, slammed the trunk lid and grumbled, mumbled something as he sat back inside the car while wiping his dusty hands off and his dirt covered jeans! We drove around the valley a while enjoying the Springtime wildflowers. If you’ve never been to Arizona in the Spring, after a wet winter, you’re missing some of the most spectacular scenery around the nation!
Okay, so anyway, he wanted to tour the missle crap stuff, I just figured it’s of his best interest to get out, get the rock, and know I’m satisfied!!
We got back home, after we stopped at Egee’s for a deli ham sandwich, and he started by opening the back door to our house. I, on the other hand, went to the trunk to unload ‘my’ rock!! Now for sure, this is NOT a boulder sized rock. It’s just a small to medium chunk of stone! Beautiful turquoise and copper veins running through it! I reach down with both my hands, and lifted. Only to find out it seriously weighed a TON! [well, not seriously, but I bet it's close to 60-75 pounds!! --it's probably no more than 18 inches across in length and my guesstimation is maybe 12 inches in diameter!!] I nearly smashed my fingers trying to lift it. I couldn’t believe it!
Needless to say, to make this story short, HA! –Bud took it from the trunk to our backyard. Where it illuminated one of my rock gardens …xeriscape as the desert dwellers call it now-a-days. But, it doesn’t end there…I actually had him load it in the car once again when we relocated to Texas!!! Yep, sure did. We toted that 1000′s of miles to Texas with us. And it’s still just as pretty and colorful as it was when he picked it up along the old mining road half way between Tucson and the Mexican border years ago!!<—
